Bill & Heather
experimenting with brushes
bill potts
The awesome @askflimsy and I collaborated on these covers for @titancomics Doctor Who. So much greater than the sum of their parts.
Bill Potts Appreciation Day: Bill’s Theme by Murray Gold
Sheet Music and Arrangement by Richard Lloyd
I think it was the Grand Moff Steven himself who pointed out how a new companion is as much a tonal shift for Doctor Who as a new Doctor.
This isn’t just limited to how the show is written or looks, but also includes how it sounds. With every new companion Murray Gold completely reinvents himself and the show, a fact made even more impressive considering that he has been one of the view constant members of doctor who production since its revival in 2005. And while he could just phone it in and give us some string chords whenever we are meant to feel sad, he still goes all in and gives us thematic leitmotifs each more hummable than the other. His themes are as much part of creating memorable characters than the actors’ performances.
Bill’s theme is perhaps most notable for being mostly percussion driven and quiet. Both of these things are true for much of season 10’s score, establishing a clear difference to the romantic string music previously heard on the show during Miss Oswald’s time in the Tardis. You can also hear a female choir and an e-piano in the background, giving the piece a slightly 70’s r&b feel.
But the main thing about Bill’s theme is the playful piano melody, which has a sort of daydream quality to it. It is not only incredibly catchy (after the first listen alone, it was stuck in my head for days), but it also captures Bill’s character extremely well. It start’s out slow and quiet, but cheerful nonetheless. After just the first eight bars the melody comes to a halt and starts from the beginning, getting higher and brighter until it almost reaches a point of triumph. Just before it can do so, however, it slightly loses its momentum and collapses into a sad chord. Not sad in the way a violin can be sad but in the way Bill feels when her foster mother can’t be bothered to buy her a Christmas present. It really is the perfect theme for her.
Of Stories Told and Futures Never Dreamt, Yet Lived
Bill Potts is the latest in Moffat’s storyteller protagonists. Where Amy told stories of what she remembered and Clara told stories of what she could be, Bill tells stories of what could have been. Amy never tells stories of the parents she never remembered having, choosing instead to tell stories of impossible raggedy doctors. Clara remembers her mother but rarely tells stories of her, most are of herself and maybe somewhere in those are stories of what her mother thought she could be. Bill, on the other hand, tells stories upon stories of the mother that she never had a chance to make memories of or memories with.
Bill is not angry at the world for taking away those she loved, like Amy. She doesn’t demand that the world gives her what she is owed, like Clara. No, instead she accepts her loss and tells stories of what could have been instead. In her mind, her mother is fully-fleshed, before the doctor even thinks to brings her the pictures. Her image of her mother is alive enough to pass on whimsical knowledge of the world and its people: “With some people you can smell the wind in their clothes.”. Her mother is real enough to sit across her at a table and listen to her, in a world where there is no one else to listen to her. And her construction of her mother is definitely powerful enough to break through the Monk’s broadcast of their lies. Breaking the spell over a world, trapped in their web.
Bill does not rage against the world or demand it to do better by her, but instead accepts her lot in life and approaches every day with a smile. Bill is not an optimist. Yet she is not a pessimist either. She chooses not to expect more from the world than it had given her. She does not blame the world for her misfortunes or place expectations on it for her future. She just goes wherever it takes her. If she cannot study at the university she wanted, she works there. And if there’s a girl she has a crush on, she content to serve her extra chips or listen to her worries, even if she never notices her or reciprocates her affections. And if the Doctor wants to wipe her memory of “the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to” her, then all she asks is to remember for “just a week. Okay, well, just for tonight. Just one night.”
Bill Potts has never expected much from the universe but that doesn’t mean she does not have love for it. It doesn’t mean that she is not kinder to the world than it is to her.
When she doesn’t understand something, she smiles rather than frown.
She speaks up for those who can’t speak for themselves; whether it’s orphans trying to survive the winter the only way they can or creatures chained up to serve the greed of others. She speaks for peace and kindness in places where it seems like they have no place. And she brings that peace and kindness to those places, by not just her words but also by her actions. The universe didn’t always do right by her, but she makes sure that it does right by others.
Bill Potts has never expected more from the universe than it’s given her, and when it does give her an opportunity she did not expect, it takes her a moment to she grab it but when she does it’s with all the enthusiasm and determination it deserves.
When the Doctor offers to be her personal tutor, she responds with the reasons he can’t: “But I’m not a student. I’m not part of the university. I never even applied.” But when she does accept it, she does it with complete sincerity; trying and doing better than most students can dream of. When the girl she has a crush on, offers to show her the universe, she does not take it. “I was too scared.” But when she has had time to think and the Doctor offers it to her, she takes it and enjoys it completely. And then, even later, when Heather repeats her offer, she takes her moment to think, before she grabs her hand and steps out into the big wide universe, ready to show it to her crush.
And suddenly the future, she never planned for is here and it is full of possibilities she never imagined. Bill Potts never really expected much from the universe but the universe gives her the story she deserves nonetheless. And it is everything, she dared to dream of and more.
(Written for Bill Potts Appreciation Day)
