David Bowie
David Bowie (born David Jones) (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...{"ed":"2007 edition","1":"Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"}) was a singer from Earth. (PROSE: Life on Mars on Mars [+]Loading...["Life on Mars on Mars (short story)"])
Biography
In 1972, Bowie released the song "Starman". (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...["Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"])
Bowie played different characters while performing his music. One such character was Ziggy Stardust, (PROSE: Verdigris [+]Loading...["Verdigris (novel)"], AUDIO: Conspiracy in Space [+]Loading...["Conspiracy in Space (audio story)"]) otherwise known as just Ziggy. (AUDIO: Friend of the Family [+]Loading...["Friend of the Family (audio story)"]) In the summer of 1973, Bowie retired his Ziggy Stardust identity while onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon. (PROSE: Verdigris [+]Loading...["Verdigris (novel)"])
In 1977, Bowie was recorded saying that he had just recorded an album called Low, (PROSE: The Story of Fester Cat [+]Loading...["The Story of Fester Cat (novel)"]) his eleventh studio album. Most of this album had already been recorded in France. However, he was feeling tired and down at the time and looking for a way to reinvigorate himself artistically. (PROSE: Low/Profile [+]Loading...["Low/Profile (short story)"])
As a result, he moved to Berlin to "escape all the bad stuff". (PROSE: The Story of Fester Cat [+]Loading...["The Story of Fester Cat (novel)"]) This kickstarted the creation of the Berlin Trilogy in collaboration with Brian Eno. Bowie remounted Low in his West Berlin studio, and scouted Iris Wildthyme and Panda at a late night cabaret. Wildthyme, who he became enamoured with, inspired him to extend Low into a double album, which he called Low/Profile. He also met Marlene Dietrich by whom he was similarly smitten. It was eventually revealed to Bowie that Berlin was under attack by the creativity-consuming Nemenoids and that he had been used as a lure by Wildthyme; he decided to fight against the invasion by creating new music for Profile, which destroyed the Nemenoids by being too creatively rich for them. However, in their death throes, the aliens destroyed Profile in all its forms, meaning Bowie released Low only, with some calling Profile "one of greatest lost recordings of the modern age". (PROSE: Low/Profile [+]Loading...["Low/Profile (short story)"])
The Fourth Doctor once played Find The Lady with a young David Bowie in a punt that Romana was poling. (PROSE: No Future [+]Loading...["No Future (novel)"])
Bowie spent time aboard the Doctor's TARDIS while it was in Artron II Recharge Mode, with the arton pulses leaving Bowie's left eye permanently dilated, an incident the Thirteenth Doctor felt guilty about. (PROSE: Press Play [+]Loading...["Press Play (short story)"])
Legacy
David Bowie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Loading...["Time Traveller's Diary (novel)"])
On 12 November 1969, the newborn Paul Magrs dreamt that David Bowie sung The Laughing Gnome at Dr Oho's party. (PROSE: In the Sixties [+]Loading...["In the Sixties (short story)"])
In 1974, the Eighth Doctor mentioned Bowie as one of the great musicians of the period to Lucie Miller. (AUDIO: Horror of Glam Rock [+]Loading...["Horror of Glam Rock (audio story)"])
Derek wore a Let's Dance era David Bowie t-shirt in Perivale when he was transported to the Cheetah Planet. He was still wearing it when the Seventh Doctor and Ace rescued him and he returned to Perivale. (TV: Survival [+]Loading...["Survival (TV story)"])
Ace and Julian Milton listened to a Bowie tape during their trip to Lincolnshire. (PROSE: Love and War [+]Loading...["Love and War (novel)"])
Evelyn Smythe spoke of her experience in a space suit as "like that David Bowie song." (AUDIO: The Feast of Axos [+]Loading...["The Feast of Axos (audio story)"])
In early 2012, the BBC unearthed some archived recordings of Bowie from 1977, and they broadcast them on Radio 2. By this time, Fester Cat had listened to many of Bowie's songs on records owned by Paul Magrs and Jeremy. (PROSE: The Story of Fester Cat [+]Loading...["The Story of Fester Cat (novel)"])
When she was ten years old, Ruby Sunday dressed up as David Bowie. Carla Sunday kept photographs of this, which she told Louise Miller about. (TV: Empire of Death [+]Loading...["Empire of Death (TV story)"])
After his death, Erimem and Andy Hansen left a copy of Bowie's song "Life on Mars" on Mars. It was discovered by a Mars rover on New Year's Eve 2020. (PROSE: Life on Mars on Mars [+]Loading...["Life on Mars on Mars (short story)"])
The Twelfth Doctor recited some of his song "Ashes to Ashes" to a robot, with the line "I'm Happy, Hope You're Happy Too". (TV: Smile [+]Loading...["Smile (TV story)"])
While looking through the belongings of the tenants who had lived at 11 Cardinal Road in 1977, Harry found a vinyl single with David Bowie's "Heroes" on the A-side and "V-2 Schneider" on the B-side. (TV: Knock Knock [+]Loading...["Knock Knock (TV story)"])
On 22 December 2023, Clark wore David Bowie-inspired eyeliner to the gig his band had at a pub. The eyeliner was ruined when he cried from laughing when Ruby Sunday attempted to make Trudy wear a tinsel scarf. (PROSE: The Church on Ruby Road [+]Loading...{"page":"13-16","chaptnum":"Three","1":"The Church on Ruby Road (novelisation)"})
Bowie Base One was named after him. (PROSE: Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...["Doctor Who: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"], The Waters of Mars [+]Loading...["The Waters of Mars (novelisation)"])
Behind the scenes
- Bowie Base One being named in tribute to Bowie and his song, Life on Mars, was first revealed in The Waters of Mars' companion Doctor Who Confidential episode. It wasn't until the Target novelisation that this was more explicitly implied in-universe, with the Doctor citing the base as being named after "a music god".
- In 1983, Bowie was offered the role of Sharaz Jek in TV: The Caves of Androzani but the dates clashed with his Serious Moonlight tour.
- In 1973, Bowie and his band, The Spiders From Mars, mingled with the cast of Planet of the Daleks at BBC Television Centre, leading a passer-by to ask if they were playing aliens in the show.
- The Doctor Who Confidential episode Is There Life on Mars? is titled in reference to Bowie's song "Life on Mars".
- The novel Loving the Alien shares the title of a Bowie song.
- The comic strip The Woman Who Sold the World is a reference to the Bowie song "The Man Who Sold the World".
- The characters John Jones and Vince Cosmos were heavily inspired by Bowie.
- Bowie served as the basis for Peter Capaldi's portrayal of the Twelfth Doctor; Capaldi, a fan of Bowie, stated that he believed the musician would be an optimal template after searching through his "scrapbook of ideas".
- The novel Diamond Dogs shares the title of a Bowie song and album.
- Bowie's song, Starman, was used extra-diegetically in Random Shoes and was heard in Aliens of London when the Ninth Doctor left the Powell Estate to return to the TARDIS.
- Bowie had anisocoria, a condition which left one of his pupils permanently enlarged. The short story Press Play suggests that this was a result of a genetic mutation caused by him being aboard the TARDIS. In real life, Bowie's condition was caused when, as a teenager, he was punched in — and nearly lost the sight of — his left eye during a fight at school.
- He was one of many actors considered for the role of the Master in the Doctor Who TV movie.[1]
- David Bowie's albums have been referenced in Titan's Doctor Who comic covers:
11DY2 11 Cover A references Aladdin Sane
12DY2 3 Cover C references “Heroes”
12DY2 9 Cover A references Ziggy Stardust
