It’s a crossover of epic proportions for geeks – Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation will be appearing on the next season of Doctor Who. According to London’s the Sun, Patrick Stewart will be making an appearance on the show as a renegade Time Lord known as the Meddling Monk.

Stewart and Tennant worked together over the summer of 2008 in a London production of Hamlet, and were eager to work together again, which in part led to Stewart being offered the role. Despite his near-iconic status as the Enterprise’s Captain Picard, Stewart says he is eager to return to science-fiction in a very different kind of series. “I have been a fan, actually yes, and I’m deeply dismayed that I was never asked to be in it. I think it’s a terrific series.”

The new season of Doctor Who, scheduled to begin filming in 2009, will feature the return of classic Who villains the Ice Warriors and the Zygons. And of course, the Daleks will be back, sharing the screen with Stewart’s Meddling Monk. The appearance of the Monk should have a major impact on Tennant’s Doctor, who has recently come to accept the fact that he was the last of the Time Lords. “The Doctor thought his entire race was wiped out and gets a huge surprise to find another member of his species,” says one source from within the production.

Doctor Who airs in England on BBC, and is re-broadcast in America on the Sci-Fi Channel and BBC America. One of the longest-running science fiction shows in television history, it took a several year hiatus before restarting in 2005. Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor on the first season of the new series, to be replaced by David Tennant in the second season. Currently taking a one-year hiatus, Doctor Who will begin production again in 2009.