Coincidence, prescience, inspiration… No matter the reason, sometimes things in the Universe just align in a way that intrigues our brains. It seems rather appropriate when it happens in regards to a franchise such as Doctor Who.
In this past Saturday’s exciting reveal of Pearl Mackie as Bill, the newest companion on Doctor Who, she donned a particularly interesting wardrobe detail. With music artist Prince’s death having just occurred this past Thursday, Bill was shown wearing a t-shirt featuring the image on the inner sleeve of the album Purple Rain.
Bill’s Purple Rain t-shirt – credit: screenrant.com, soundcloud.com
The uncanny thing is that, according to Doctor Who brand manager Edward Russell, the footage was shot ten days prior to its airing.
Speaking of eerie coincidences surrounding Bill, at the end of last month, the first images were released online of the Doctor Who comic companion Natalie, created by artist Rachael Stott. The character bears a striking resemblance to that of Bill. It makes one wonder whether or not the BBC was influenced by the comic character in their casting decision.
I CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE. She looks exactly like the fill in companion for issue #2.5 O_o #NewCompanion pic.twitter.com/QuSBg87ThF
— Rachael Stott (@RachaelAtWork) April 23, 2016
I tweeted this like a month ago O_o pic.twitter.com/D3J3vEDr8A
— Rachael Stott (@RachaelAtWork) April 23, 2016
After Bill’s reveal, Stott created a lovely welcome for her.
Night night! pic.twitter.com/UvSPoyxOf8
— Rachael Stott (@RachaelAtWork) April 23, 2016
For more tweets on the matter, go to Bleeding Cool.
Ian, Susan, and the First Doctor with Daleks – credit: BBC
During the clip in which Bill was introduced to the world, the following exchange occurs:
"Bill: Why do they keep saying “Exterminate”?Doctor: Because they want to kill us.Bill: Wouldn’t it be quicker to just say “Kill”?Doctor: Do we really want them to save time?Bill: Good point."
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Well, just this past Wednesday, Radio Times posted an article titled ‘How many times have the Daleks said “exterminate” in Doctor Who?‘ According to RT, the pepper pot villains have said either “exterminate” or “exterminated” “no less than 514 times,” beginning with ‘The Daleks,’ which was the second story in the show’s history. The article further breaks down the stats into least and most times per Doctor (twelve for Tom Baker, eighty three for David Tennant). Also, the average per year of the show’s run is nine times.
After all this time, leave it to Bill to make such a clever observation of the use of the word.
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Next: Doctor Who: The Visceral Reaction to Bill
What do you think of this collection of oddities from around the Whoniverse? Let us know in the comments.