Grating electronic voices screeching “EXTERMINATE!” are coming to the New Eden star cluster come January 13, when one of the longest-running science fiction MMOs meets the world’s longest-running science fiction television show. EVE Online’s “Interstellar Convergence” event will give clone pilots a chance to be horribly murdered by Daleks over and over again. Lucky them.
It’s hard to believe EVE Online, launched way back in 2003, has never had a major crossover event with a movie or television series. No Star Wars. No Star Trek. No Hitchhiker’s Guide. It’s a wonder New Eden isn’t overrun with licensed spaceships at this point. What better way to start exploring the game’s crossover potential than with Doctor Who, a British television series that launched in 1963 and used to craft alien costumes out of black trash bags and duct tape.
The “Interstellar Convergence” will see EVE Online players exploring a new area of space based on The Doctor’s home planet of Gallifrey. There they will use artifacts from the Great Time War to track down the Doctor’s iconic enemies, the robotic Daleks, engaging them in fierce space battles. Players who survive will reap Doctor Who-themed rewards. Those who do not shall face a Doctor Who-themed death.
“2022 will be off to an (inter)stellar start with EVE Online x Doctor Who,” said the game’s creative director Bergur Finnbogason in a press release. “We are always pushing the boundaries of what is possible in EVE Online. Collaborating with BBC Studios gives us the opportunity to pay homage to an iconic series that has inspired us at CCP. We hope you’ll join us in New Eden on January 13 to see what happens when galaxies collide!”
My personal background with Doctor Who started when I was quite young. When I was 12, I used to sit in my bedroom on Saturday nights and watch the show on PBS on an old black-and-white television set. When I was 13, my parents found a local fan club that met one Sunday a month at Emory University to screen episodes. They’d sell copies of Doctor Who Magazine and little boxes of Jelly Babies. One Saturday in 1986, after my weekend classes at the Art Centre in Atlanta, they dropped me at a convention called Dixie Trek, gave me some money, and told me to take the train home when I was done. I got home Sunday afternoon. I attribute these things to why I am like this.
Anyhow, way to open up the universe, CCP. Hopefully, this event will encourage EVE Online to do crossovers with other British science fiction classics like Blake’s 7, Red Dwarf, The Great British Bake Off, and Parliament.
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