I’d argue the Doctor makes that transition to being the hero of the show by the culmination of the 1st Doctor’s era. With Troughton there is certainly a shift in the machinations of the programme, and the Doctor is somebody who actively seeks injustice so as to prevent it. There’s a pivotal moment, the cliffhanger of Part 3 of The War Machines (very late Hartnell) where soldiers retreat but the Doctor stands defiantly facing an advancing War Machine. I see that moment as the moment the Doctor fully becomes the character they’ve been ever since.
I remember what moment you’re talking about and, yes you could read it as that. I just said that thing about the 3rd doctor for 2 reasons 1. That was when the transition was fully completed 2. I didn’t want to do a lengthy explanation of it and bog down the video. But yes I do remember that moment and you could be right about it. It could be why he chose such a young body when he regenerated not long afterwards. It would help with what he’d decided to do (also because of what he learns in Twice Upon a Time probably haha)
Pacing is actually my main concern when writing a script, so I’m glad all that work comes across. The intro was almost like 5 minutes of me just talking about Mario before I went “no this isn’t relevant, nobody cares” haha
While I agree with your sentiment, the idea of calling something "underrated" when people have only had two days to even *discover* it, let alone rate it, seems a bit silly. =;o}
The melody for 11’s theme was done using multiple, very unstable sine oscillators with a bit of cutoff and trimmed white noise with, lots of reverb, glide, and each phrase being its own separate track to accent it… It took a hell of a long time for me to get it perfect, but it’s definitely possible. It needs to be a soft synth to get the sound perfect as opposed to analog.
@@ennayanne I know what it means, but for the sake of explaining it to others not fully aware of the different types of synthesisers, it was just easier to generalise. Best not to assume prior knowledge :)
there's another video called "the ultimate history of the doctor who theme" by classical nerd which is another really fantastic video on the doctor who theme
Man this was great, such a cool deep dive into the theory of the theme music, that got me to consider parts of the music I'd never really thought about! Great work, honestly, I've been wanting a video like this for a while
Thank you. So many other "here's all the theme tune variants… for reasons" videos, but discussing (Western) music theory of the themes is a refreshing take.
Yeah possibly, I just couldn’t find a convenient place to mention their names in the script, but the 3 composers who made the classic remixes’ names do appear on the sheet music: Peter Howell, Dominic Glynn, Keff McCulloch
I think the point GP is making is not that you should have verbally name-checked Howell and the other composers, but that the “DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN” you mention at this time code derives from the Howell theme (around 1 minute into the album version of Howell)
[NODS] ...And there's what sounds like a distorted electric guitar (synthesized?) paralleling the upper synth line a couple of bars earlier, making that section very much an explicit nod to the Peter Howell "rocked up" version (which many people thought had electric guitars playing on it, but was actually all done with creative layering of every synth and gadget Peter could get his hands on at the time! There's a lovely presentation somewhere on TH-cam that he did for a convention, taking us through every element of his version, as well as section of a BBC educational programme about the Radiophonic Workshop where he demonstrates some of it with the actual gear).
I appreciated the observation about avoiding the tonic note, and about the minor changes made in 1967 and 1970. It is a very captivating tune. It is said that when I was a toddler in the late seventies, I always used to run to the TV in order to stand and listen. I feel like more could be said about the 1986 Trial of a Time Lord version. The spooky vibe feels as if the boundary between reality and unreality is melting and no-one can be sure what is real or safe. After watching this video, I went and rewatched the "Bill Bailey - The Doctor Who theme reimagined as Belgian jazz" video published by Royal Ballet and Opera on 29 July 2021.
The 2005 version eschewed the Middle 8 in the credits but it was rerecorded for 2006, where it was restored. It’s also in the 2008 version and it appears ONCE (in The Beast Below) in the 2010 version.
Good video. One criticism. You seem to be under the impression that the latter two seasons of the McCoy era have the same tone as his first season, which isn't the case.
I apologise for that Ok I will confess (and this is maybe something I should’ve said in the video) I made this video as I was watching the series. As of finishing the video I’d only seen up to 1979. I just didn’t want to wait in case my motivation got lower
Yes, thank you for this video. Have listened to all of these so many times. You finally discovered some things I've loved and you showed me a few more 💙💙💙
One of the things that I've always felt about the Baker/Davidson/Baker themes was that at the time there was a real revolution in synthesiser technology happening, and there was an element of "We have all these shiny toys - let's use them!", hence all the changes. I'll just add my thanks to the pile already present. I've been wanting someone knowledgeable to do a video like this, and I'm a happy man for watching it 😄 Thank you!
I'd love to see you're analysis of the Big Finish themes. David Arnold's opening for the 8th Dr from 2001 is hands down my favourite doccy who title theme of all time.
@@chiptunehuman Glad I introduced you to it (if you're in the UK, it's debut is available to listen to in full on Spotify. The story is called "Storm Warning"; 8 is my favourite Dr). Big finish has a nice variety of unique themes, some better than others. Another good one is the main title for Derek Jacobi's War Master series, which is an interesting inversion of the main theme.
Definitely will, as soon as I've finished the classic series (me watching that was actually the inspiration for making this video lol) I'm realising that Big Finish can often just do random wacky concepts that the TV series would never try and get away with
Have you heard the theme for Big Finish ‘Light at the end’? By Jamie Robertson, he takes the theme apart and them chucks everything at it, totally unhinged and definitely one of my favourites
The draft version of 2005 “Rose” has an exact replica of the 1963 theme - or more like 1973, to be honest - mixed by Murray Gold. Side note: It’s probably the best mix of the Derbyshire version ever made, but it never went to air. It ended up leaked on the internet. This goes a long way to explian how we got the actual 2005 version. Murray Gold made a late decision to add more punch. (After having earlier declaring he wanted to avoid a Phil Spectre scenario).
Really? I assumed they'd just dubbed on the Mark Ayres mix as a placeholder. I never analysed it in detail (I only watched the leaked bootleg once or twice, I think. Best thing about it at the time was that it didn't have Graham Norton and his audience accidentally intruding on the soundtrack, thus making it much less annoying than my off-air recording of the finished product! =:o} ).
@@therealpbristow I'm not prepared to bet money on it, but I remember doing a comparison all those years ago and it did sound new. If I'm wrong it'll be exactly like you said - Ayres mix, and I probably hadn't found it yet.
4:27 just wanna point out it goes to the V not the IV chord here - if you can’t up in the scale of E minor you’ll see the fifth degree of the scale is B and the fourth is A. Even if you count downwards from E to B, we still call it the fifth even if they’re only a fourth apart (because it’s still the fifth degree of the scale)
This is a stunning video, wonderful analysis! A real deep and interesting appreciation of the theme that I thoroughly enjoyed! Keep up the great work. :D Also, thanks for the delicious transcripts of all the music! Muahahahaha it's all ours now >:D Have a lovely day!
I'm sorry but whilst yes the Doctor wasn't the hero of his own show right from the start, Ian and Barbara were, the Doctor had become as much long before the 3rd Doctor and he can really only be called heartless for his first 3 stories. Once Ian and Barbara have left in the Chase, The Doctor is the only original character left and one that actually because over 2 seasons we've had plenty of time to see the Doctor's softer side he's one the audience and particularly the kids were very attached to and he is very much the heart of the show from there on, maybe not the most traditional "hero" in the modern sense, but certainly a figure of heroism and the core force the audience trusts in and roots for. I think it would be most accurate to say though even from the beginning what the real feeling the music was trying to convey right from the start was one of strangeness and mystery after all it's "Doctor Who?", but also it was always meant to be an adventure show and we were always meant to like the Doctor eventually, the main reason he quickly softened after 3 stories was over feeling that they'd gone too far with his crotity/untrustworthy side. They were after all supposed to be having fun adventures together and they would have to be likeable.
This is so cool, you should totally make a supplement to this with some other themes you missed like the 2001 Eighth Doctor theme and the Series 7B theme, which has a VERY different bassline
So if any of you want to know what synthesizers were for the 1980's themes, well here you go. For Peter Howell's version in 1980, he used a Yamaha CS-80 for the bass line, an ARP Odyssey for the main theremin melody, for the Middle-8, it was played on a Roland Jupiter-4 and if you listen carefully, you can hear that the sound is actually playing in octaves at a high speed to give the sort "glassy" or sparkly, twinkly effect. The Jupiter-4 also plays the brass section after the Middle-8. The "synthy" sound you hear after the main Theremin line is actually a vocoder line, performed using an EMS 5000 vocoder. For Dominick Glynn's "Trial of A Time Lord" theme, he used a Roland Juno-6 and the main line was played on a Yamaha DX21 and Korg 770. Keff Mucculloch's version of the theme I think only uses in instrument, a Sequential Prophet-5.
Good post, but I'm afraid you triggered a pet peeve of mine: I hate it when people refer to Theremin in relation to the "Doctor Who" theme, as so many people seem to think it was originally played on one. Nothing so simple! =;o}
@@therealpbristow I know that the main line is more complicated than that. It's not "really" a theremin, I believe a sine wave oscillator of some sort. I just used the word "theremin" because that's the best way to describe it.
@@TheOfficialArtOfAsh [NODS] A huge Bruel & Kjaer (spelling?) test oscillator with a lovely big dial on the front, with which Delia manually swept the frequency to get the swoops she wanted captured on tape. And then an *AWFUL LOT* of cutting and splicing of said tape, to get all the right notes/swoops/whooshes/etc. put together in the right order.
My one complaint with the 2023 version of the theme is that they remove part of the melody towards the end of the title sequence. I don't know what to call the part but it's usually plays at around 25 seconds in of the modern title sequences.
Oh… you’re right, it does do that! Informally in this video, I was describing that as the part that echoes. Yeah, I think you’re right in that case, it doesn’t have any chance to echo, so it’s not as spooky… I suppose they just cut it for time haha
@@ennayanne They started the rushing of the intro with the series 11 theme, where the main part of the theme starts a few beats too early. I quite like both the series 11 and the current theme, but I don't know why they cut different parts out.
There's probably not enough time in the world to truly explore all this and do it justice, but I commend you for giving it a go! All credit should absolutely be thrown at the original Delia Derbyshire/Ron Grainer piece - no matter where anyone is coming at this from. But for me, Peter Howell's 1980 analog synth version is an astonishing bit of work. It was the first time the theme had such an overhaul and must have been shocking on its debut, but it was there in my formative years - it terrified me and excited me in equal measure, just as it should do. Now decades later, I think it's my favourite of all of them. There could be nostalgia creeping in there, but I think it's aged astonishingly well - much better than the two later 80s versions. But anyway, thanks for this, you obviously put a lot of work into it, and it's appreciated. :)
First *successful* time, anyway. (See above under "we don't talk about the Delaware version!". Which is a shame, because if we did, I could mention my theory that Delia deliberately sabotaged it so they'd be forced to keep the old one... And then quit the BBC in sheer horror that it almost got used anyway! =;o} )
What!! You just spilled the tea!! Wow I feel like I’m learning more about Doctor Who reading this comment section than I did while I was making the entire video lol
Great video. Though when you didn't have much to say about Thirteen's theme, I was hoping you might cover the Indian variant from Demons of Punjab. Any thoughts off the top of your head?
Oh wow I forgot that existed Yeah it uses a tabla (which I’m familiar with) and the voice has a lot of microtonal vibrato, because the Indian music system (I believe) uses the same 7 notes we do, except the notes are pitch *ranges*. Indian music is also a lot more about a soloist improvising, which is why there’s not much accompaniment This is just based off what I already know about Indian music theory lol. I hope it answers your question!
@@chiptunehuman Sounds about right. Thankyou! If a novice could take a crack of the whip, the call and response of the acompanying melody adds a wistful dirge quality, and there's a cool backing voal flourish that's made to sound distant adding to the effect. Given how predicated the newer themes are to bombastic adventure, it's a version that's always stuck very strongly in my head.
I never noticed the 2005 theme is basically the 1963 one either until one day I was listening to the outro music and noticed the 2nd doctor theme in the background almost hidden but it's there if you really listen
The B section played for most of the credits in David Tennant's series, and in exactly 2 episodes of Matt Smith's series. It wasn't in Eccleston or Capaldi's series, and to my recollection was sporadically in Whittaker's.
@@chiptunehumanBut the music is different. Yes, the notes are the same, but that's hardly unusual for the doctor who theme. It has completely new instrumentation and it's mixed totally differently. So the "music" is actually not the same. So maybe OP isn't a fool after all🥴
AT LAST! Someone else pointing out the "never quite makes it back home" element of the theme, constantly overshooting the tonic note. Rather like a time machine that keeps swinging back and forth between ancient past and distant future, somehow never quite getting our two heroes (Ian and Barbara) back to "today".... =:o} (I'm quite certain Ron Grainer must have taken note of that aspect of the show's nature from whatever description Verity gave him, and taken inspiration from it.)
The first Doctor has the best character arc, going from being crotchety and disdainful of humans, as lesser beings to warm and fatherly. This is the Doctor that learned to love the universe and its peoples. Anyway, 1980 Howell theme is the best one imo, I just love the base guitar in it.
To be fair, that never became an official "on-air" version. It only went out on one episode in Australia by mistake! (They were sent the wrong edit of the ep.)
We do get the B section for every David Tennant episode, not just on the soundtrack. I hadn't clocked onto the fact that the B sections of Moffat's era were released on the soundtrack but not in the actual series though. Jodie Whittaker's also evolves in the latter half, but not into a B section (and that's replicated on the soundtrack). The B section returned for RTD2 though (will we ever get an officially released soundtrack for that? Or Series 10? Who knows?). It is also worth pointing out there are differences in the mix between Series 1 and 2. I don't know if the piece was actually rerecorded or the instruments changed at all. I believe it is a minor difference in the mix, but I'm no expert. The same applies to Series 11 and 12, and more obviously Series 7, Part 1 and Series 7, Part 2. I appreciate that you're obviously not that into Jodie Whittaker's era, but I feel like you're letting your biases get the better of you when you say there's not much to talk about with the music. That's doing the theme and your analysis a disservice. There are plenty of differences that can't just be summed up with "dubstep". It's your video, talk about what you want, but don't act like it's not doing anything of note (as it were) because that's just not true. Generally speaking, thank you for an interesting video. There were just a few things here that grated me.
I'm interested to see what you think about the brass melody that accompanies the first 8 bars of the 2023/4 theme. I personally think it's one of the strongest aspects of the new theme (my feelings on which are pretty mixed)
Amazing work!! I’ve seen people mentioning the major 8, but I’ll be more specific. The B side of the theme was used (starting with the Tennant Era and fazed out with Smith). Instead of playing the next time trailer right away and immediately spoiling the cliffhanger, the credits would roll to the A theme. After the credits had rolled the next time trailer would play accompanied by the B theme rather than the typical A theme. Of course a next time trailer directly works against the philosophy of a good cliffhanger, however to discover our heroes manage to escape coupled with this fanfare is glorious, and so camp in the best way. (There are notable exceptions where the middle 8 doesn’t play and alternative music is selected, The Family of Blood is one that comes to mind.) And in situations where the stakes only get higher in the second part- the crisis imagery mixed with the major music creates a striking juxtaposition. Watch the next time trailers for The Satan Pit, and The Sound of Drums for examples.
Similarly to the 2005 theme using the 1963 theme, I've always felt that there's a small bit of the 12th Doctor's theme that samples or is inspired by the baseline from the unused Delaware theme from the third doctor's era (it's around 7-8 seconds into the titles, and lasts about 5 seconds)
I'd argue that the Series 7b (and by extension the Day of the Doctor credits theme since it's the same with no melody) are different enough from Smith's main theme to warrant proper mention especially with the instruments and composition changes as well as the differences between the version in The Snowmen and every other episode with the removal of the E note beep and the melody no longer winding down at the "chorus".
2008 Series 4 got its DUN DUN DUN chords from the 1980 version, same point Was 2013 Series 7B really not an updated version entirely? I was at the Sydney Opera House when Murray Gold revealed it for the first time. The 2023 version “breaths” always made me assume it was whispering “Doctor Who, Doctor Who, Doctor Who” …
Uhh nope I was as surprised as you are that 2013 isn’t different, but after a few bars I just realised I was transcribing the same thing twice lol I’m quite relieved actually… 2013 has so many really loud sound effects it would’ve been hard to get everything down properly into sheet music
Now this was quite interesting to watch. Although, there are some Big Finish (Audio Novels) Themes that are also really unique and outstanding, like the War Doctor Theme or 2001 Arnold Theme. Or even the 2011 Jamie Robertson theme.
like how the idea of synths intended for the 80s after Peter Howell's arrangement shaken the show, or let alone each idea of the sounds make the sequence unique enough.
For a really good video on this topic I would recommend "the ultimate history of the doctor who theme" by classical nerd. but knowing you, you've already seen it
I think it’s unfair to skip from 1969 to 1980. 1973-1979 had a tight version made for the new titles, with a couple of flourishes in just 1973 that they removed. Whereas things were a bit sloppier in 1969-1972. In fact 1969 was all over the place with experiments happening every episode, and introducing the stings for the first time. I did like however that 1980, 1986 and 1987 all had proper explosions to end with. A supernova was always fitting.
21:19 I have to be honest, I think this version of the intro could have been so good but I feel like the synth for the oweeoo part is just so weak, it just doesn’t work
26:57 By this point, I can express, I think you disappointingly skipped over what was unique in 2018 by calling it "mostly harmless". Otherwise, I'd say this guide to the galaxy has been very enjoyable. 💙
I hate that the arrangements just seem to get busier and busier over time. Less is more. That's one reason I think the Trial of Time Lord version is unfairly overlooked - it has a sparse, almost feral quality to it that's quite unsettling
@digitig sorry I shouldn’t have been so rude in my response to you, I didn’t realise it was a genuine question, I thought you were just trying to correct me ;-; To more fully answer your question in that case, you can often tell what key a piece is by humming a note over it. The note that’s being emphasised the most is still E even though the tune never plays an E. it’s more often about what everything else is doing rather than just the tune
@@chiptunehuman I didn't think it rude, just a direct answer. I'm trying to get to grips with how one tells the modes apart, given they have the same notes. I can get Dorian and Mixolydian because of their extensive use in British folk music, but the others...
@digitig Oh I’m glad you weren’t offended. Yeah, I don’t know much about modes… I’d probably have to look them up if I wanted to know which was which lol
I think the B part (or the 'Middle 8' as it seems to be called) was played in the episodes, but specifically during the end credits And I'm honestly kinda glad you forgot about the second Eleventh theme, I wasn't much of a fan of it XD
12:24 There's far too much emphasis on the bassline in Seven's theme. Iconinc though the bassline is, they should have reminded Keff that the iconic theme is "oee-eee-ooo, eee-ooo", not "ba-da-da-dum, da-dum, da-diddly..." In fact, even that's overcooked: the basic rhythm is simply "ba-da-da-dum... ba-da-da-dum...", so I found the extra "da-dum-da-diddly" bits too busy and distracting.
![ILLSLICK - WINTER IS COMING [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dwTMeM1zIhQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I’d argue the Doctor makes that transition to being the hero of the show by the culmination of the 1st Doctor’s era. With Troughton there is certainly a shift in the machinations of the programme, and the Doctor is somebody who actively seeks injustice so as to prevent it. There’s a pivotal moment, the cliffhanger of Part 3 of The War Machines (very late Hartnell) where soldiers retreat but the Doctor stands defiantly facing an advancing War Machine. I see that moment as the moment the Doctor fully becomes the character they’ve been ever since.
I remember what moment you’re talking about and, yes you could read it as that. I just said that thing about the 3rd doctor for 2 reasons
1. That was when the transition was fully completed
2. I didn’t want to do a lengthy explanation of it and bog down the video.
But yes I do remember that moment and you could be right about it. It could be why he chose such a young body when he regenerated not long afterwards. It would help with what he’d decided to do (also because of what he learns in Twice Upon a Time probably haha)
there arent many youtubers that can make a 30 minute video and it feels like 10 minutes. this is very underrated and paced quite well!
Pacing is actually my main concern when writing a script, so I’m glad all that work comes across.
The intro was almost like 5 minutes of me just talking about Mario before I went “no this isn’t relevant, nobody cares” haha
While I agree with your sentiment, the idea of calling something "underrated" when people have only had two days to even *discover* it, let alone rate it, seems a bit silly. =;o}
this deserves so much more attention dude
This NEEDS more views.
The McCoy theme slander... 😢 one of my favourites.
The melody for 11’s theme was done using multiple, very unstable sine oscillators with a bit of cutoff and trimmed white noise with, lots of reverb, glide, and each phrase being its own separate track to accent it…
It took a hell of a long time for me to get it perfect, but it’s definitely possible. It needs to be a soft synth to get the sound perfect as opposed to analog.
Oh wow, that’s pretty cool! Thanks for this info haha
guess you mean digital
@@ennayanne not all digital synths are soft synths and some soft synths are sample based.
@@EllisGeorgeComposer soft synth just means software synth. software synths are all digital, but some hardware synths are also digital.
@@ennayanne I know what it means, but for the sake of explaining it to others not fully aware of the different types of synthesisers, it was just easier to generalise. Best not to assume prior knowledge :)
thanks so much ive been looking for exactly this kind of video for ages
there's another video called "the ultimate history of the doctor who theme" by classical nerd which is another really fantastic video on the doctor who theme
Man this was great, such a cool deep dive into the theory of the theme music, that got me to consider parts of the music I'd never really thought about! Great work, honestly, I've been wanting a video like this for a while
Thank you. So many other "here's all the theme tune variants… for reasons" videos, but discussing (Western) music theory of the themes is a refreshing take.
Yep! That was the idea. The shot which is a splitscreen of all the different intros is actually a reference to how they’re normally presented
This was absolutely fascinating! Thank you so much for this .
20:44 would’ve been worth noting that Peter Howell created this for his 1980 version of the theme.
Yeah possibly, I just couldn’t find a convenient place to mention their names in the script, but the 3 composers who made the classic remixes’ names do appear on the sheet music: Peter Howell, Dominic Glynn, Keff McCulloch
@@chiptunehuman And John Debney did the movie.
I think the point GP is making is not that you should have verbally name-checked Howell and the other composers, but that the “DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNN” you mention at this time code derives from the Howell theme (around 1 minute into the album version of Howell)
@@mikehall314yep and I posted about that too
[NODS] ...And there's what sounds like a distorted electric guitar (synthesized?) paralleling the upper synth line a couple of bars earlier, making that section very much an explicit nod to the Peter Howell "rocked up" version (which many people thought had electric guitars playing on it, but was actually all done with creative layering of every synth and gadget Peter could get his hands on at the time! There's a lovely presentation somewhere on TH-cam that he did for a convention, taking us through every element of his version, as well as section of a BBC educational programme about the Radiophonic Workshop where he demonstrates some of it with the actual gear).
I appreciated the observation about avoiding the tonic note, and about the minor changes made in 1967 and 1970. It is a very captivating tune. It is said that when I was a toddler in the late seventies, I always used to run to the TV in order to stand and listen.
I feel like more could be said about the 1986 Trial of a Time Lord version. The spooky vibe feels as if the boundary between reality and unreality is melting and no-one can be sure what is real or safe.
After watching this video, I went and rewatched the "Bill Bailey - The Doctor Who theme reimagined as Belgian jazz" video published by Royal Ballet and Opera on 29 July 2021.
I almost transcribed the Belgian jazz version for a joke at the end… I decided it was too much work though 😅
This vid earned you a sub. Love this video. Exactly the video I needed. 🔥
The 2005 version eschewed the Middle 8 in the credits but it was rerecorded for 2006, where it was restored. It’s also in the 2008 version and it appears ONCE (in The Beast Below) in the 2010 version.
[NODS] And they replaced the sample-synth orchestra with a real one (bigger budget, y'see! =:o} ).
the b section does sometimes play at the end of the episode in new who, during the "next time" trailers
Lol I didn’t remember this happening, oh well
@@chiptunehuman no worries, the videos great so its not a big deal
Good video. One criticism. You seem to be under the impression that the latter two seasons of the McCoy era have the same tone as his first season, which isn't the case.
I apologise for that
Ok I will confess (and this is maybe something I should’ve said in the video) I made this video as I was watching the series. As of finishing the video I’d only seen up to 1979. I just didn’t want to wait in case my motivation got lower
Yes, thank you for this video. Have listened to all of these so many times. You finally discovered some things I've loved and you showed me a few more 💙💙💙
One of the things that I've always felt about the Baker/Davidson/Baker themes was that at the time there was a real revolution in synthesiser technology happening, and there was an element of "We have all these shiny toys - let's use them!", hence all the changes.
I'll just add my thanks to the pile already present. I've been wanting someone knowledgeable to do a video like this, and I'm a happy man for watching it 😄 Thank you!
I'd love to see you're analysis of the Big Finish themes. David Arnold's opening for the 8th Dr from 2001 is hands down my favourite doccy who title theme of all time.
Omg I 100% did not know that existed, but it’s the coolest thing ever
Nooo I should've checked this! I wish I’d covered that so much now ;-;
@@chiptunehuman Glad I introduced you to it (if you're in the UK, it's debut is available to listen to in full on Spotify. The story is called "Storm Warning"; 8 is my favourite Dr). Big finish has a nice variety of unique themes, some better than others. Another good one is the main title for Derek Jacobi's War Master series, which is an interesting inversion of the main theme.
Definitely will, as soon as I've finished the classic series (me watching that was actually the inspiration for making this video lol)
I'm realising that Big Finish can often just do random wacky concepts that the TV series would never try and get away with
@@chiptunehumanI loved the Unbound War Doctor theme by big finish. It's like a warped version of the theme tune for a warped version of the doctor.
Have you heard the theme for Big Finish ‘Light at the end’? By Jamie Robertson, he takes the theme apart and them chucks everything at it, totally unhinged and definitely one of my favourites
The draft version of 2005 “Rose” has an exact replica of the 1963 theme - or more like 1973, to be honest - mixed by Murray Gold. Side note: It’s probably the best mix of the Derbyshire version ever made, but it never went to air. It ended up leaked on the internet.
This goes a long way to explian how we got the actual 2005 version. Murray Gold made a late decision to add more punch. (After having earlier declaring he wanted to avoid a Phil Spectre scenario).
Really? I assumed they'd just dubbed on the Mark Ayres mix as a placeholder. I never analysed it in detail (I only watched the leaked bootleg once or twice, I think. Best thing about it at the time was that it didn't have Graham Norton and his audience accidentally intruding on the soundtrack, thus making it much less annoying than my off-air recording of the finished product! =:o} ).
@@therealpbristow I'm not prepared to bet money on it, but I remember doing a comparison all those years ago and it did sound new. If I'm wrong it'll be exactly like you said - Ayres mix, and I probably hadn't found it yet.
4:27 just wanna point out it goes to the V not the IV chord here - if you can’t up in the scale of E minor you’ll see the fifth degree of the scale is B and the fourth is A. Even if you count downwards from E to B, we still call it the fifth even if they’re only a fourth apart (because it’s still the fifth degree of the scale)
Oof you’re right… how did I not catch that!
I have a real love for the McCoy era version, they added some lovely flourishes. And as said, they resurrected the B section nicely.
I've found the best video in the world.
This is a stunning video, wonderful analysis! A real deep and interesting appreciation of the theme that I thoroughly enjoyed! Keep up the great work. :D
Also, thanks for the delicious transcripts of all the music! Muahahahaha it's all ours now >:D
Have a lovely day!
Music theory, doctor who, and breath of the wild? And it’s fantastic? Hell yeah.
I'm sorry but whilst yes the Doctor wasn't the hero of his own show right from the start, Ian and Barbara were, the Doctor had become as much long before the 3rd Doctor and he can really only be called heartless for his first 3 stories. Once Ian and Barbara have left in the Chase, The Doctor is the only original character left and one that actually because over 2 seasons we've had plenty of time to see the Doctor's softer side he's one the audience and particularly the kids were very attached to and he is very much the heart of the show from there on, maybe not the most traditional "hero" in the modern sense, but certainly a figure of heroism and the core force the audience trusts in and roots for.
I think it would be most accurate to say though even from the beginning what the real feeling the music was trying to convey right from the start was one of strangeness and mystery after all it's "Doctor Who?", but also it was always meant to be an adventure show and we were always meant to like the Doctor eventually, the main reason he quickly softened after 3 stories was over feeling that they'd gone too far with his crotity/untrustworthy side. They were after all supposed to be having fun adventures together and they would have to be likeable.
The fact this is exists is wonderful! Thank you so much for making this :)
25:45 that's a good thing
i am LISTENING sir
This is so cool, you should totally make a supplement to this with some other themes you missed like the 2001 Eighth Doctor theme and the Series 7B theme, which has a VERY different bassline
Such a great video! Thank you!
Brilliant video, keep it up!
So if any of you want to know what synthesizers were for the 1980's themes, well here you go.
For Peter Howell's version in 1980, he used a Yamaha CS-80 for the bass line, an ARP Odyssey for the main theremin melody, for the Middle-8, it was played on a Roland Jupiter-4 and if you listen carefully, you can hear that the sound is actually playing in octaves at a high speed to give the sort "glassy" or sparkly, twinkly effect. The Jupiter-4 also plays the brass section after the Middle-8. The "synthy" sound you hear after the main Theremin line is actually a vocoder line, performed using an EMS 5000 vocoder.
For Dominick Glynn's "Trial of A Time Lord" theme, he used a Roland Juno-6 and the main line was played on a Yamaha DX21 and Korg 770.
Keff Mucculloch's version of the theme I think only uses in instrument, a Sequential Prophet-5.
Good post, but I'm afraid you triggered a pet peeve of mine: I hate it when people refer to Theremin in relation to the "Doctor Who" theme, as so many people seem to think it was originally played on one. Nothing so simple! =;o}
@@therealpbristow I know that the main line is more complicated than that. It's not "really" a theremin, I believe a sine wave oscillator of some sort. I just used the word "theremin" because that's the best way to describe it.
@@TheOfficialArtOfAsh [NODS] A huge Bruel & Kjaer (spelling?) test oscillator with a lovely big dial on the front, with which Delia manually swept the frequency to get the swoops she wanted captured on tape. And then an *AWFUL LOT* of cutting and splicing of said tape, to get all the right notes/swoops/whooshes/etc. put together in the right order.
My one complaint with the 2023 version of the theme is that they remove part of the melody towards the end of the title sequence. I don't know what to call the part but it's usually plays at around 25 seconds in of the modern title sequences.
Oh… you’re right, it does do that!
Informally in this video, I was describing that as the part that echoes. Yeah, I think you’re right in that case, it doesn’t have any chance to echo, so it’s not as spooky… I suppose they just cut it for time haha
yep, this is why the 2023 and 2024 versions feel really rushed to me, it might actually be my least favourite out of all the themes
@@ennayanne They started the rushing of the intro with the series 11 theme, where the main part of the theme starts a few beats too early.
I quite like both the series 11 and the current theme, but I don't know why they cut different parts out.
Ah I see you doing fantastic job making this video 👍👍👍👍👍👍 and also I’m a huge fan of doctor who theme tune
Most of the themes that we're actually used in the show is in 4/4 time, not 6/8 time
I love the 2005 theme exactly because it is like a new revision of the 1963 theme
How did you not know the 2005 theme used the 1963 bassline? I've known that since the shows revival its so obvious.
yes it was kinda weird how he phrased that like some huge revelation loll
@@ennayanne even murray gold said he used the original bassline and wanted to orchestrate it
This is sweet! Love the small comments on the scores!
GREAT video! I hope this blows up!
There's probably not enough time in the world to truly explore all this and do it justice, but I commend you for giving it a go!
All credit should absolutely be thrown at the original Delia Derbyshire/Ron Grainer piece - no matter where anyone is coming at this from.
But for me, Peter Howell's 1980 analog synth version is an astonishing bit of work. It was the first time the theme had such an overhaul and must have been shocking on its debut, but it was there in my formative years - it terrified me and excited me in equal measure, just as it should do. Now decades later, I think it's my favourite of all of them. There could be nostalgia creeping in there, but I think it's aged astonishingly well - much better than the two later 80s versions.
But anyway, thanks for this, you obviously put a lot of work into it, and it's appreciated. :)
First *successful* time, anyway. (See above under "we don't talk about the Delaware version!". Which is a shame, because if we did, I could mention my theory that Delia deliberately sabotaged it so they'd be forced to keep the old one... And then quit the BBC in sheer horror that it almost got used anyway! =;o} )
@@therealpbristow Oh yes lol. I forgot about "that"! Yes, best left in the bowels of the past where that belongs!
What!! You just spilled the tea!!
Wow I feel like I’m learning more about Doctor Who reading this comment section than I did while I was making the entire video lol
The crowning glory of Dominic Glynn's version is the eerie minor chord it ends on.
Great video. Though when you didn't have much to say about Thirteen's theme, I was hoping you might cover the Indian variant from Demons of Punjab. Any thoughts off the top of your head?
Oh wow I forgot that existed
Yeah it uses a tabla (which I’m familiar with) and the voice has a lot of microtonal vibrato, because the Indian music system (I believe) uses the same 7 notes we do, except the notes are pitch *ranges*.
Indian music is also a lot more about a soloist improvising, which is why there’s not much accompaniment
This is just based off what I already know about Indian music theory lol. I hope it answers your question!
@@chiptunehuman Sounds about right. Thankyou!
If a novice could take a crack of the whip, the call and response of the acompanying melody adds a wistful dirge quality, and there's a cool backing voal flourish that's made to sound distant adding to the effect.
Given how predicated the newer themes are to bombastic adventure, it's a version that's always stuck very strongly in my head.
I never noticed the 2005 theme is basically the 1963 one either until one day I was listening to the outro music and noticed the 2nd doctor theme in the background almost hidden but it's there if you really listen
15:08 Jesus christ I just shivered that would be such a dark timeline
Very, VERY impressive for a youtuber with just over five hundred subscribers.
No mention of the spine tingling descending piano arpeggio in the 8th doctors theme? :o
20:43 most of the themes have this section actually, my favourite is the Howell version
The B section played for most of the credits in David Tennant's series, and in exactly 2 episodes of Matt Smith's series. It wasn't in Eccleston or Capaldi's series, and to my recollection was sporadically in Whittaker's.
What do you mean Matt Smith’s second (series 7B) title music is “basically the same”… uh, no? Just like Series 4 was different to 2005…
I mean the music was the same ya fool! The only thing they changed was the sound effects
@@chiptunehumanBut the music is different. Yes, the notes are the same, but that's hardly unusual for the doctor who theme. It has completely new instrumentation and it's mixed totally differently. So the "music" is actually not the same. So maybe OP isn't a fool after all🥴
Ok… call me a fool for being right lol. They’re not the same
nice vid (could have more to write but I'm kinda tired rn after the day lol)
AT LAST! Someone else pointing out the "never quite makes it back home" element of the theme, constantly overshooting the tonic note. Rather like a time machine that keeps swinging back and forth between ancient past and distant future, somehow never quite getting our two heroes (Ian and Barbara) back to "today".... =:o} (I'm quite certain Ron Grainer must have taken note of that aspect of the show's nature from whatever description Verity gave him, and taken inspiration from it.)
What about the David Arnold version?
The first Doctor has the best character arc, going from being crotchety and disdainful of humans, as lesser beings to warm and fatherly. This is the Doctor that learned to love the universe and its peoples. Anyway, 1980 Howell theme is the best one imo, I just love the base guitar in it.
Kinda wish you talked about the mobile game re-endition. Was pretty interesting how they just scrapped most of it
Loved this video. 26:03 never heard that aspect ratio called that, I've always called it 20000:10000
Wow that’s a lot of unnecessary precision?!! 2:1 is fine. I hear it called that.
@@whophdyeah I was being facetious. Although I’ve heard of 60000/1001 used instead of 59.94 for NTSC, so high precision is sometimes needed
You forgot to cover 1972's Delaware Theme.
We don't talk about the Delaware Theme.
That’s correct. Ixnay.
To be fair, that never became an official "on-air" version. It only went out on one episode in Australia by mistake! (They were sent the wrong edit of the ep.)
@lbricks7631 ...Or at least, not while sober. [CLINKS GLASSES WITH YOU] =:o}
We do get the B section for every David Tennant episode, not just on the soundtrack. I hadn't clocked onto the fact that the B sections of Moffat's era were released on the soundtrack but not in the actual series though. Jodie Whittaker's also evolves in the latter half, but not into a B section (and that's replicated on the soundtrack). The B section returned for RTD2 though (will we ever get an officially released soundtrack for that? Or Series 10? Who knows?).
It is also worth pointing out there are differences in the mix between Series 1 and 2. I don't know if the piece was actually rerecorded or the instruments changed at all. I believe it is a minor difference in the mix, but I'm no expert. The same applies to Series 11 and 12, and more obviously Series 7, Part 1 and Series 7, Part 2.
I appreciate that you're obviously not that into Jodie Whittaker's era, but I feel like you're letting your biases get the better of you when you say there's not much to talk about with the music. That's doing the theme and your analysis a disservice. There are plenty of differences that can't just be summed up with "dubstep". It's your video, talk about what you want, but don't act like it's not doing anything of note (as it were) because that's just not true.
Generally speaking, thank you for an interesting video. There were just a few things here that grated me.
I'm interested to see what you think about the brass melody that accompanies the first 8 bars of the 2023/4 theme. I personally think it's one of the strongest aspects of the new theme (my feelings on which are pretty mixed)
Amazing work!!
I’ve seen people mentioning the major 8, but I’ll be more specific. The B side of the theme was used (starting with the Tennant Era and fazed out with Smith). Instead of playing the next time trailer right away and immediately spoiling the cliffhanger, the credits would roll to the A theme. After the credits had rolled the next time trailer would play accompanied by the B theme rather than the typical A theme. Of course a next time trailer directly works against the philosophy of a good cliffhanger, however to discover our heroes manage to escape coupled with this fanfare is glorious, and so camp in the best way.
(There are notable exceptions where the middle 8 doesn’t play and alternative music is selected, The Family of Blood is one that comes to mind.)
And in situations where the stakes only get higher in the second part- the crisis imagery mixed with the major music creates a striking juxtaposition. Watch the next time trailers for The Satan Pit, and The Sound of Drums for examples.
Excellent, thank you! (might want to put the date as "1963" rather than "1969" in the description by the way)
Ooh nice catch. Thanks!
Amazing... Bloody brilliant!!!
Similarly to the 2005 theme using the 1963 theme, I've always felt that there's a small bit of the 12th Doctor's theme that samples or is inspired by the baseline from the unused Delaware theme from the third doctor's era (it's around 7-8 seconds into the titles, and lasts about 5 seconds)
i love this video
I'd argue that the Series 7b (and by extension the Day of the Doctor credits theme since it's the same with no melody) are different enough from Smith's main theme to warrant proper mention especially with the instruments and composition changes as well as the differences between the version in The Snowmen and every other episode with the removal of the E note beep and the melody no longer winding down at the "chorus".
your content is so fucking cool man
2008 Series 4 got its DUN DUN DUN chords from the 1980 version, same point
Was 2013 Series 7B really not an updated version entirely? I was at the Sydney Opera House when Murray Gold revealed it for the first time.
The 2023 version “breaths” always made me assume it was whispering “Doctor Who, Doctor Who, Doctor Who” …
Uhh nope I was as surprised as you are that 2013 isn’t different, but after a few bars I just realised I was transcribing the same thing twice lol
I’m quite relieved actually… 2013 has so many really loud sound effects it would’ve been hard to get everything down properly into sheet music
Now this was quite interesting to watch. Although, there are some Big Finish (Audio Novels) Themes that are also really unique and outstanding, like the War Doctor Theme or 2001 Arnold Theme. Or even the 2011 Jamie Robertson theme.
What do you think of the theme from the scream of the shalka webcast in I think 2003?
The storm in the 11th doctor's intro is the time vortex iirc
Nice video! Though, I feel like there was less theory shown and explained in the 80s part... :/
like how the idea of synths intended for the 80s after Peter Howell's arrangement shaken the show, or let alone each idea of the sounds make the sequence unique enough.
Maybe due to the fact that there is a difference in theory explained, and possible misunderstanding, but .... yeah.
For a really good video on this topic I would recommend "the ultimate history of the doctor who theme" by classical nerd. but knowing you, you've already seen it
Well, from a theory standpoint there's not much change to talk about there. From a *practice* standpoint, there's loads! =:o}
I feel like Jodie's opening theme and visuals would have worked better with Capaldi.
I think it’s unfair to skip from 1969 to 1980. 1973-1979 had a tight version made for the new titles, with a couple of flourishes in just 1973 that they removed.
Whereas things were a bit sloppier in 1969-1972. In fact 1969 was all over the place with experiments happening every episode, and introducing the stings for the first time.
I did like however that 1980, 1986 and 1987 all had proper explosions to end with. A supernova was always fitting.
There is a middle eight for the 12th doctor middle eight being the name the fandom gives the B section
Well that doesn’t make sense, it’s 16 bars!
@@chiptunehuman I have no idea either the fandom just calls it the middle eight
21:19 I have to be honest, I think this version of the intro could have been so good but I feel like the synth for the oweeoo part is just so weak, it just doesn’t work
So no live for the Delaware theme? Or if you get right down to it ‘I am the doctor’ which was 100% the theme tune for ‘The day of the Doctor’
Bro this video is made for me!
26:57
By this point, I can express, I think you disappointingly skipped over what was unique in 2018 by calling it "mostly harmless". Otherwise, I'd say this guide to the galaxy has been very enjoyable. 💙
no dimensions in time theme? no big finish 8 theme?
I hate that the arrangements just seem to get busier and busier over time. Less is more. That's one reason I think the Trial of Time Lord version is unfairly overlooked - it has a sparse, almost feral quality to it that's quite unsettling
If the initial theme avoids the E and repeatedly comes to rest on B, why is it in Em, not B Phrygian?
Because the bass is clearly always on an E
@@chiptunehuman Ah, thanks.
@digitig sorry I shouldn’t have been so rude in my response to you, I didn’t realise it was a genuine question, I thought you were just trying to correct me ;-;
To more fully answer your question in that case, you can often tell what key a piece is by humming a note over it. The note that’s being emphasised the most is still E even though the tune never plays an E. it’s more often about what everything else is doing rather than just the tune
@@chiptunehuman I didn't think it rude, just a direct answer. I'm trying to get to grips with how one tells the modes apart, given they have the same notes. I can get Dorian and Mixolydian because of their extensive use in British folk music, but the others...
@digitig Oh I’m glad you weren’t offended.
Yeah, I don’t know much about modes… I’d probably have to look them up if I wanted to know which was which lol
I hadn't noticed the "breaths" in the new intro
Now that I did... I like it significantly less
I literally don’t know why they’re there. Every single person I’ve talked to has said this exact same thing haha
I think the B part (or the 'Middle 8' as it seems to be called) was played in the episodes, but specifically during the end credits
And I'm honestly kinda glad you forgot about the second Eleventh theme, I wasn't much of a fan of it XD
12:24 There's far too much emphasis on the bassline in Seven's theme. Iconinc though the bassline is, they should have reminded Keff that the iconic theme is "oee-eee-ooo, eee-ooo", not "ba-da-da-dum, da-dum, da-diddly..." In fact, even that's overcooked: the basic rhythm is simply "ba-da-da-dum... ba-da-da-dum...", so I found the extra "da-dum-da-diddly" bits too busy and distracting.
2018 onward is just... No.
Honestly, I really don't like the piano added in the current version of the theme. It sounds so out of place compared to the previous ones.