It's funny how 8 was so jovial in the beginning and this theme felt like a loose fit, but then the audios got dark and so did he, and then it felt just right.
Imagine hearing the BBC announcer say "and now time for an adventure in time and space with everyone's favourite timelord doctor who" and then this version of the theme starts playing and you see Paul's face appear on the screen people would go fucking nuts if Paul had a new televised episode as the eighth doctor
Sadly, I believe that the only time we'll get a televised episode with the Eighth Doctor would be in Multi-Doctor stories, a mini episode (Night of the Doctor), or both (Time Crash).
I imagine this as the theme song for TV episodes in 2001-2003 where Paul McGann got 3 seasons and then John Hurt got a two part special called Time War and then handed it over to Eccleston in 2005
I feel like this title sequence captures who the Doctor really is. Get rid of all those companions and there he is, alone, sitting in the Tardis floating in the vastness of space.
see I feel like it just gets across the whole point of the show - horror stories with monsters in space. Put really basically that's what the show was prior to 2005, whereas the rebooted show is a character drama that happens to have sci fi adventures as window dressing to the character arcs. Each to their own as to which is preferred but it fundamentally changed the franchise which is why I think you get so many people saying things like 'this captures who the Doctor really is' as opposed to yeah this is just a good Doctor Who theme.
@@Albotextras it usually takes 6 crew to properly operate a type 40 tardis,at least one pilot needs to be a time lord and 5 intelligence species that the time lord trust.
Disturbing. Eldritch. Mystical, gothic, gritty, ancient, very nineties-ish, archaic and contemporary all simultaneously... like a lonesome, timeless alien chant from a Steampunk-fashioned House of Heaven. I do love the 1996 telefilm Doctor Who theme, but I have to admit that this variant better enraptures the essence of the Eighth Doctor's Dark Ages. Or of any pre-Chris Chibnall Era Doctor whatsoever, whether Old or New (1963-2017) .
@@hothemeep1219 The show began to lose many of its core markers, by the 1980's. The McCoy Era was the pinnacle of these recurrent patterns, in spite the showrunners and writers best efforts to get back to their race horse by the last season. Add to that the staggering loss in viewerships and accrescence in jadedness by the BBC in regard to science fiction and the franchise, the mistreatment of the past latest few lead actors and overall... Chris Chibnall. Again.
This version of the Doctor Who theme is possibly the most ASMR thing I've ever heard, but back in 2008 when I first listened to it of course ASMR wasn't known about, so I was like "why is this making me shiver uncontrollably"
If Paul McGann ever got a live action series this needs to be the theme... Best rendition of the Dr Who opening theme ever, by 10 billion miles. It's haunting.
Only two dramas in and I already feel like we've been robbed of a televised season with Paul McGann. Never watched classic Who but the quality of these is astounding (Spectre of Lanyon Moor was very good too, first one I got).
Love this. It has a mysterious, otherworldly sound to it and isn't over the top unlike Murray Gold's themes - all the best qualities of Derbyshire's original.
The only time I felt Murray Gold got a solid theme down was with Peter Calpadi’s theme, the others kinda could be skipped, but that one theme deserves some love man!
This one definitely fits the Doctor's history. Kinda like looking back and knowing that this is when everything went wrong for the Time Lords and put so much on the Doctor's shoulders. Its such a departure from the other themes before and after because the 8th Doctor's era was when everything changed.
@@caleb7551 I think that this theme is the only one after the original that gets the tone right and gets across what the original was meant to get across. All of the news series ones besides the 2005 theme are way too upbeat and energetic. Personally I find the Capaldi era one awful for the Christmas bells and cat screech sound but that’s just my own opinion on it. Howell theme is great but still a massive departure from the original.
@@dommoore6180 I think the 12th Doctor theme is supposed to sound like Victorian gothic horror, like a Cthulu chant crossed with Steam-era industrial metallurgical machinery. It's not technologically innovative like the Derbyshire theme was (and neither is this Arnold version), but I like it.
I like this version. Not as much as the one from the TV movie though, as it strikes me as vibrant, romantic, heroic and nostalgic at the same time. Arnold's brooding and mysterious, but also so cold.
Fun fact: Arnold composed the music for most of Brosnan and Craig's James Bond movies, and I think the description of "brooding, mysterious and cold" could fit both this doctor and James Bond. Arnold was just born for Doctor Who and 007
It's weird how starting with the middle eight gives the verse that much more gravitas when it comes in. Kudos to whoever made that decision. I love this title sequence, the theme is great and uplifting and the vortex is brilliant, you can clearly see how it inspired the 2005 version! If there's any Doctor that deserves a full television series revival, it's McGann.
+nathanwhoproductions Oh yes, it's great, some bits I had never heard before. I'll be receiving the CD in May. Thank you for uploading it to your channel! Now that I have a digital copy, I don't have to go through the trouble of finding a way to rip it from the CD! Production on my Eighth Doctor AFA, "Shadow of the Daleks" can go much faster now! You will be credited as a "special thanks" when the time comes! :D
When I first heard this I thought it didn't fit the character of the Eighth Doctor at all, because he was so hopeful and romantic and this piece is very melancholy and dark. Over time however, the character of the Eighth Doctor has gradually lost his wide-eyed wonder of the universe and in the later audios this theme suits him perfectly.
Disturbing. Eldritch. Mystical, gothic, gritty, ancient, very nineties-ish, archaic and contemporary all simultaneously... like a lonesome, timeless alien chant from a Steampunk-fashioned House of Heaven. I do love the 1996 telefilm Doctor Who theme, but I have to admit that this variant better enraptures the essence of the Eighth Doctor's Dark Ages. Or of any pre-Chris Chibnall Era Doctor whatsoever, whether Old or New (1963-2017) .
thank you so much for uploading this!! i was looking for the disks to buy to listen to this and i can't find it aywhere, this is one of my fave intros and i was dieing to hear the extended version!!! thank you so so much!!
Can we have an episode where 8 returns with president Romana to meet 13, Yaz and Dan, that starts with the movie titles but with this theme playing. Starring Jodie Whittaker, Paul Mcgann, Mandip Gill with Lalla Ward and John Bishop. BBC, you make I will write it.
As a franchise overall and in respect to its own identity as a franchise and what it should be doing with the stories it tells - yeah it was without any doubt in a better place before 2005. (Well I’d argue 2006 is the more specific turning point of things going downhill.) The modern show made money and made fans and that’s good but the show has totally lost its identity and ironically Andy sense of credibility. They haven’t been making doctor who. They’ve been making a very different show centred around melodrama and mystery box plots and whilst that’s fine on its own after series 1 they payed so little attention to making Doctor Who the sci fi horror series from 1963-89 and instead payed loads of attention on making Doctor who the character drama made for 10 year olds specifically about a space Jesus doctor and his demi god companions.
The dark tone and sound is sort of the point of the theme on the first place even if subsequent versions moved away from that. Also doctor who regardless of era is supposed to be essentially a series of sci fi horror stories. Now yes the modern series stopped bothering with that really quickly and now it’s just sort of a comic book show in tone and style but it is supposed to have that weirdness and horror element and at the time this theme was composed the franchise still understood that.
I've never ever liked David Arnold's arrangement for one reason and one reason only, that "extra note" he just jabs in making the theme sound like the notes are being violently bumped Ace Ventura style down a flight of stairs instead of gracefully gliding down a chute. That extra note just sticks out like a sore thumb screaming "rank amateur" which to me is really surprising since David has composed some incredible pieces of music in his time, all very well liked but that extra note is just too cringeworthy like he'd never ever heard of Doctor Who before being asked to do the 8th Doctors theme. Maybe the reason Björk worked with him was cos he's as odd a quirky wierdo as she is. Ron Grainer obviously knew what he was doing when he wrote the theme and that's why even Murray Gold, Keff McCulloch and Dominic Glynn (with the exception of the last bar of Dom's where it fades out so isn't that noticeable anyway) all kept their re-vamps true to the original notes Ron scribbled down. It's just one of those pieces of music that just can't be deviated from except to either miss out or include the middle eight.
It's funny how 8 was so jovial in the beginning and this theme felt like a loose fit, but then the audios got dark and so did he, and then it felt just right.
When you live such a long life, everything is a battlefield... everything has fallen behind you.
Then they ruined it In the second series of the ed's
From the companions he lost over the years and the time war ravaging all of time and space, it’s no wonder he gave up his name and became a warrior
The perfect bridge between the classic and modern generations of the show.
@@ms.antithesis do you mean the audios or books? I'm loving his character in the books and in the audios. Same with the 7th doctor
Imagine hearing the BBC announcer say "and now time for an adventure in time and space with everyone's favourite timelord doctor who" and then this version of the theme starts playing and you see Paul's face appear on the screen people would go fucking nuts if Paul had a new televised episode as the eighth doctor
This needs a kickstarter project
Sadly, I believe that the only time we'll get a televised episode with the Eighth Doctor would be in Multi-Doctor stories, a mini episode (Night of the Doctor), or both (Time Crash).
This would be as awesome as that scene in an entirely unrelated franchise that involves theft, one minute, and space doors. Just saying.
STOP THAT YOU
@@sealance why?
I imagine this as the theme song for TV episodes in 2001-2003 where Paul McGann got 3 seasons and then John Hurt got a two part special called Time War and then handed it over to Eccleston in 2005
I feel like this title sequence captures who the Doctor really is. Get rid of all those companions and there he is, alone, sitting in the Tardis floating in the vastness of space.
You are not wrong
see I feel like it just gets across the whole point of the show - horror stories with monsters in space. Put really basically that's what the show was prior to 2005, whereas the rebooted show is a character drama that happens to have sci fi adventures as window dressing to the character arcs. Each to their own as to which is preferred but it fundamentally changed the franchise which is why I think you get so many people saying things like 'this captures who the Doctor really is' as opposed to yeah this is just a good Doctor Who theme.
The 8th doctor did actually have companions. This describes the 2009 specials
@@Albotextras it usually takes 6 crew to properly operate a type 40 tardis,at least one pilot needs to be a time lord and 5 intelligence species that the time lord trust.
Lol.
Absolutely love this theme for Mcgann. It's quite timeless and gothic and dark perfect for Paul Mcgann's incarnation of the Doctor
Indeed.
Disturbing. Eldritch. Mystical, gothic, gritty, ancient, very nineties-ish, archaic and contemporary all simultaneously... like a lonesome, timeless alien chant from a Steampunk-fashioned House of Heaven.
I do love the 1996 telefilm Doctor Who theme, but I have to admit that this variant better enraptures the essence of the Eighth Doctor's Dark Ages. Or of any pre-Chris Chibnall Era Doctor whatsoever, whether Old or New (1963-2017) .
@@ptolemeeselenion1542even season 24 ?
@@hothemeep1219 The show began to lose many of its core markers, by the 1980's. The McCoy Era was the pinnacle of these recurrent patterns, in spite the showrunners and writers best efforts to get back to their race horse by the last season. Add to that the staggering loss in viewerships and accrescence in jadedness by the BBC in regard to science fiction and the franchise, the mistreatment of the past latest few lead actors and overall... Chris Chibnall. Again.
@@ptolemeeselenion1542chibnall almost ruined new who jodies doctor could have been so much more
This version of the Doctor Who theme is possibly the most ASMR thing I've ever heard, but back in 2008 when I first listened to it of course ASMR wasn't known about, so I was like "why is this making me shiver uncontrollably"
hell paul's voice gives you that asmr vibe
If Paul McGann ever got a live action series this needs to be the theme... Best rendition of the Dr Who opening theme ever, by 10 billion miles. It's haunting.
Only two dramas in and I already feel like we've been robbed of a televised season with Paul McGann. Never watched classic Who but the quality of these is astounding (Spectre of Lanyon Moor was very good too, first one I got).
This theme fits McGann so well. It’s perfect
For a doctor who started his brief televised tenure in the 90s, its rather fitting that this theme has an x-files esque spooky atmospheric vibe to it.
I get what you mean still curious to this day what a 90s Americanised version of doctor who would look like
Quite possibly the best version of the theme for quite possibly the best Doctor...
It truly captures that feeling of traveling through the vastness of space and time. It’s so mysterious and haunting a little, but also big and grand.
I love the middle eight of this version. So f**king awesome.
Love the Etherial Erie sounds of the TARDIS in the background
Love this. It has a mysterious, otherworldly sound to it and isn't over the top unlike Murray Gold's themes - all the best qualities of Derbyshire's original.
I agree I find Murray Gold's attemptes generic and bland.
Craig Evans same
It sounds ValeYardey
The only time I felt Murray Gold got a solid theme down was with Peter Calpadi’s theme, the others kinda could be skipped, but that one theme deserves some love man!
Modern Who theme is messy has no structure. All over the spectrum. Start with original then retrack and structure. Less is more.
I appreciate the little “Hesh-Hesh” at 0:43
Just completes the theme somehow
The best who theme it’s just ugh it’s amazing it really is
Ikr
Nah, can't top the 1st to 4th Theme.
@minicle426 2nd to 4th. The original theme used by the 1st Doctor was a different recording entirely.
This is what I consider to be the darkest version of the theme. So ambient and scary.
Quite possibly the greatest Doctor Who theme of all time
This one definitely fits the Doctor's history. Kinda like looking back and knowing that this is when everything went wrong for the Time Lords and put so much on the Doctor's shoulders. Its such a departure from the other themes before and after because the 8th Doctor's era was when everything changed.
It has a hazy mystery to it that almost
Conjures up the image of the R101 from the cover of Storm Warning.
The only version of the theme that rivals the original Delia Derbyshire version.
I like the Peter Howell and Gold 2014-2017 ones as well
@@caleb7551 I think that this theme is the only one after the original that gets the tone right and gets across what the original was meant to get across. All of the news series ones besides the 2005 theme are way too upbeat and energetic. Personally I find the Capaldi era one awful for the Christmas bells and cat screech sound but that’s just my own opinion on it. Howell theme is great but still a massive departure from the original.
@@dommoore6180 well yeah, but that's the point. Doctor Who has very different eras.
@@dommoore6180 I think the 12th Doctor theme is supposed to sound like Victorian gothic horror, like a Cthulu chant crossed with Steam-era industrial metallurgical machinery.
It's not technologically innovative like the Derbyshire theme was (and neither is this Arnold version), but I like it.
To me the 80s one could do it too, but I can see what you mean
My fav doctor and idol 🌌
I like this version. Not as much as the one from the TV movie though, as it strikes me as vibrant, romantic, heroic and nostalgic at the same time. Arnold's brooding and mysterious, but also so cold.
Fun fact: Arnold composed the music for most of Brosnan and Craig's James Bond movies, and I think the description of "brooding, mysterious and cold" could fit both this doctor and James Bond. Arnold was just born for Doctor Who and 007
It's weird how starting with the middle eight gives the verse that much more gravitas when it comes in. Kudos to whoever made that decision.
I love this title sequence, the theme is great and uplifting and the vortex is brilliant, you can clearly see how it inspired the 2005 version!
If there's any Doctor that deserves a full television series revival, it's McGann.
If I were showrunner, this would be the tune with which Paul arrives for a multi Doctor special.
This theme is perfect for audio since the style seems like it wouldn't fit visual and what would the title sequence even look like? Big question there
Ngl id kinda imagine the viduals with some simplistic black cut outs of mysterious yet ominous images
I imagine silhouette style or a lot of lighter movement underneath heavy filters of black
Merganman4 did a pretty good mock-up: th-cam.com/video/4wWHLw5eIM0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8gjLVlTrswFiqb1Y
This is also another of my favourite tracks.
+nathanwhoproductions Oh yes, it's great, some bits I had never heard before. I'll be receiving the CD in May. Thank you for uploading it to your channel! Now that I have a digital copy, I don't have to go through the trouble of finding a way to rip it from the CD! Production on my Eighth Doctor AFA, "Shadow of the Daleks" can go much faster now! You will be credited as a "special thanks" when the time comes! :D
+Briarheart02 Could you subscribe to my channel if its okay? 😶😶
+nathanwhoproductions I already did about a week or two ago
+Briarheart02 This just proves I am losing my mind, sorry about that and I am grateful that you did subscribe to me!😎
MCGANN FOREVER!!!
Absolutely tripping on this, truely cosmic and an inspired interpretation.
One of the best versions absolutely
Wooo-woh-woooo-whooo...whoooo+wooo-woh-woooo-whooo.... whoo whoop...... Whoooo whooo
I'm glad I finally got the chance to listen to this theme
This really deserves a Buffy-style opening sequence.
Please get David Arnold to score the music for Doctor Who for the show's 60th anniversary
Paul McGann should have been the War Doctor with this theme. He was robbed.
I distinctly remember absolutely hating this when I first heard it. But it’s quickly become one of my favorites!
When I first heard this I thought it didn't fit the character of the Eighth Doctor at all, because he was so hopeful and romantic and this piece is very melancholy and dark. Over time however, the character of the Eighth Doctor has gradually lost his wide-eyed wonder of the universe and in the later audios this theme suits him perfectly.
Thsi theme feats is kind of good and horror and good and there there still a little bit of light
Wow this version gave me chills, it's amazing
Well this theme's melody is also the melody that I want hardwire to implement into my doctor who theme.
years passed and idk if hardwire did it or not
Plot twist: the theme would be composed by myself since I learned the hard way he doesn't do requests
This is amazing, how did i never know about it before
finally...after searching for 3 years...I found it
A Dalek that's always tracking the doctor
The best doctor who theme. Change my mind.
Disturbing. Eldritch. Mystical, gothic, gritty, ancient, very nineties-ish, archaic and contemporary all simultaneously... like a lonesome, timeless alien chant from a Steampunk-fashioned House of Heaven.
I do love the 1996 telefilm Doctor Who theme, but I have to admit that this variant better enraptures the essence of the Eighth Doctor's Dark Ages. Or of any pre-Chris Chibnall Era Doctor whatsoever, whether Old or New (1963-2017) .
I love this so much
Memories
Does anyone know where to find the album pictured above? It doesn't appear to be on TH-cam.
You'll have to find it on CD. It went out of print long before I got into Big Finish and was never released digitally.
thank you so much for uploading this!! i was looking for the disks to buy to listen to this and i can't find it aywhere, this is one of my fave intros and i was dieing to hear the extended version!!! thank you so so much!!
Glad I could help!
If Jodie's theme is anything close to this, I'll be a very happy Doctor Who fan.
Fuck you
Gavin Johns May I ask why?
Oli Everett don’t listen to him; you made a perfectly valid point 😃
for Gavin johns
I heartily agree with you sir.
The best theme by far since peter Davison's theme in the 80s
I love this theme
Can we have an episode where 8 returns with president Romana to meet 13, Yaz and Dan, that starts with the movie titles but with this theme playing. Starring Jodie Whittaker, Paul Mcgann, Mandip Gill with Lalla Ward and John Bishop. BBC, you make I will write it.
I thought this was a fan made theme for awhile… 😳
i mean it technically is.
If the 8th Doctor did get a series, then this should've been the intro theme
it was...?
I think this should have been the theme for the Shalka Doctor.
Would've fit the Shalka doctor's spikier and grittier style
Are there different versions of the Arnold theme? I listened to two different videos and they sounded different
There are two versions of the opening theme which use different segments from the same full theme.
Light years ahead of what we've had since 2005! Sort of think Doctor Who was in a better place before it came back to tv!
As a franchise overall and in respect to its own identity as a franchise and what it should be doing with the stories it tells - yeah it was without any doubt in a better place before 2005. (Well I’d argue 2006 is the more specific turning point of things going downhill.) The modern show made money and made fans and that’s good but the show has totally lost its identity and ironically Andy sense of credibility. They haven’t been making doctor who. They’ve been making a very different show centred around melodrama and mystery box plots and whilst that’s fine on its own after series 1 they payed so little attention to making Doctor Who the sci fi horror series from 1963-89 and instead payed loads of attention on making Doctor who the character drama made for 10 year olds specifically about a space Jesus doctor and his demi god companions.
That middle 8 tho
The guy that did the Stargate theme did this?! Impressive though not as bombastic as the Stargate theme.
I do wish David Arnold scored the music 🎵 for the series itself. This is what the series has been lacking recently.
0:29
why is this giving me matt smith vibes?
I always felt like this theme was a bit to “Drudgy” and much much to dark for this Doctor, though I feel like this would work for the War Doctor.
Daniel Stirland the mysterious and dark tone does kinda make sense considering how mysterious / dark a lot of 8th Doctor stories were lmao
The dark tone and sound is sort of the point of the theme on the first place even if subsequent versions moved away from that. Also doctor who regardless of era is supposed to be essentially a series of sci fi horror stories. Now yes the modern series stopped bothering with that really quickly and now it’s just sort of a comic book show in tone and style but it is supposed to have that weirdness and horror element and at the time this theme was composed the franchise still understood that.
this theme really shows up the flaws with the american tv movies soundtrack...
Which cd was it taken from?
This is ghastly.
I've never ever liked David Arnold's arrangement for one reason and one reason only, that "extra note" he just jabs in making the theme sound like the notes are being violently bumped Ace Ventura style down a flight of stairs instead of gracefully gliding down a chute. That extra note just sticks out like a sore thumb screaming "rank amateur" which to me is really surprising since David has composed some incredible pieces of music in his time, all very well liked but that extra note is just too cringeworthy like he'd never ever heard of Doctor Who before being asked to do the 8th Doctors theme. Maybe the reason Björk worked with him was cos he's as odd a quirky wierdo as she is. Ron Grainer obviously knew what he was doing when he wrote the theme and that's why even Murray Gold, Keff McCulloch and Dominic Glynn (with the exception of the last bar of Dom's where it fades out so isn't that noticeable anyway) all kept their re-vamps true to the original notes Ron scribbled down. It's just one of those pieces of music that just can't be deviated from except to either miss out or include the middle eight.
Where is the extra note?
@@thomasbicknell175 ikr lol
Thomas Bicknell I noticed that only they cut a note after the reboot series 1 . Maybe they mean that one?
That's a poor version!
Elaborate.
It's slow, there seems a lack of enthusiasm. There is no "oomph"!
The last 20 seconds is pretty much nothing but "oomphs".
Yeah I get it it's mysterious and alien, which is the total opposite of his TV theme, but I loved his TV theme. This one is just mediocre.
What the hell is this?
Eighth Doctor's main theme from the Big Finish audios
It literally says what it is on the screen
Absolutely awful
I love this version. :)
Are you in the class of 2020?
@@alexthemtaandr211weatherfa2 No. Class of 2008.