In many ways since the start of the revived Doctor Who back in 2005, Murray Gold has been the production’s Most Valuable Player. Whilst writers, directors, showrunners, Companions and Doctors have come and gone, he has always been there to provide a musical accompaniment to the Doctor’s adventures, sometimes even raising the material to new heights.
The eleventh soundtrack for the revival series was released earlier in 2015 in a three disc set, comprising of the music of Series 8 (34) across two discs, with the third disc containing the soundtrack for the 2014 Christmas Special, “Last Christmas”.
To my great enjoyment, the music is arranged according to its use in each episode, with the two themes utilised throughout the whole series first, followed by each episode’s incidental music. I’ll look at these two themes first but then look at the remaining music by episode.
Overarcing Themes
“Doctor Who Theme (Series 8)”
“A Good Man? (Twelve’s Theme)”
I’ll refrain from making the obvious joke about a new theme for a new Doctor.
The new show theme for Series 8 (34) is not the best so far, but nor is it by any means the worst. I will give Gold credit; every time he’s tasked with doing a new version of this theme, he manages to find a fresh approach. Here we have something darker than the Eleventh Doctor’s show theme, with hints of the show’s musical past in the original series with a sense of modernity lurking beneath it. It does exactly what it is meant to do; let the viewer know that the Doctor is in.
Gold has written a theme for each of the Modern Doctors, and they have pride of place in the Doctor Who musical landscape. I must admit that I found the Twelfth Doctor’s theme to be less overt throughout the season, mostly because unlike his predecessor’s, this new Doctor doesn’t need his own theme; he hasn’t got time for that sort of malarkey.
That being said, “A Good Man?” continues Gold’s great work in this vein. Starting almost like a lost track of Jeff Wayne’s “The War of the Worlds” before getting into something much more dynamic and dare I say heroic. This is a rousing theme when done, and despite its length does not outstay its welcome.
Deep Breath
“Something It Ate”
“Concussed”
“It’s Still Him”
“Pudding Brains”
“Breath”
“Hello Hello”
“A Drink First”
“Missy’s Theme”
The first three tracks for this episode have an almost melancholic feel, slowly easing into the sense that things are going to be all right; this is still the Doctor, after all, despite the new face and sudden forgetfulness. But I’d argue that it’s not until “Pudding Brains” that a sense of fun enters the score. “Breath” leads into something darker in the tensest moment of the episode, before the new Doctor’s theme emerges as he does in “Hello Hello” and “A Drink First”.
Finally, “Missy’s Theme” feels like something broken and disturbing, leaving one ill at ease. Gold has done an amazing job with nailing the character in a musical sense there.
Into the Dalek
“Aristotle, We Have Been Hit”
“We’re Still Going To Kill You”
“Tell Me, Am I A Good Man?”
“What Difference A Good Dalek?”
“The Truth About The Daleks”
The opening track for this episode has a retro video game feel to it, before moving into the quieter and eerie “We’re Still Going To Kill You”, which seems to take cues from Classic Doctor Who incidental music. The remaining music has an air of introspection, which is appropriate given the subject matter of the episode.
Robot of Sherwood
“Old Fashioned Hero”
“This Is My Spoon”
“Robert, Earl of Loxley”
“The Legend of Robin Hood”
“Robin of Sherwood”
“The Golden Arrow”
“Robot of Sherwood” was probably my favourite episode of this season, and the music composed by Gold for it captures why; it is a fun swashbuckling tale of old fashioned heroes. The music here manages to find common ground between the classic swashbucklers of Errol Flynn with the sensibilities of their modern successors like the Pirates of the Caribbean films, which despite sounding like something natural, feels like quite the achievement.
Listen
“Listen”
“Rupert Pink”
“Fear”
The title track for this episode is an appropriately eerie affair for this season’s stab at a ghost story. It creates a sense of unease that disappointingly feels somewhat lost by the end.
“Rupert Pink”, the theme for the new character better known as Danny continues the eerie aspect of the episode’s music, highlighting the deep sadness within the character with surprising effectiveness.
The final track for the first disc manages to convey the gravity of the scenes it played over, of a scared boy on a lost world getting a glimpse of his greater destiny, and what that would mean in a few millennium’s time. Even stripped of that context, “Fear” is a lovely peace of music for quieter moments.
Time Heist
“The Architect”
“Rob The Bank”
“Account Closed”
“Open Up”
Disc 2 opens with a somewhat cyberpunk vibe for “The Architect” before taking on an almost Bondian motif for “Rob the Bank”. These influences remain throughout the rest of “Time Heist”’s tracks, and work well as incidental music despite being in a somewhat disappointing episode.
The Caretaker
“The Caretaker”
I’d argue that the lone track from this episode is more fun and worth your time than the episode itself, which is a sad indictment. Still, this was an enjoyable piece of music.
Kill the Moon
“Are You Going To Shoot Me?”
“When I Say Run”
“That Is The Moon”
We get an almost Vangelis/Blade Runner vibe with the music for this episode, mixed in with some motifs reminiscent of the music from classic Doctor Who Scary Aliens/Base Under Siege stories.
Mummy on the Orient Express
“Start The Clock”
“There’s That Smile”
“The Sarcophagus Opens”
“The Artefact”
“Study Our Own Demise”
Gold goes for a sort of faux period feel with the music for this episode, which makes stylistic sense given that the plot is a mash up of Hammer Horror and Agatha Christie murder mystery. At time surprisingly up tempo and brassy, at others more eerie and contemplative, stripped of the visual context this music feels like the perfect accompaniment for the story that was being told.
Flatline
“Not Knowing”
“Siege Mode”
Being a straight up Monster of the Week story, albeit with a twist, while the music here is good, it doesn’t really distinguish itself from the incidental music of other episodes in a lot of ways, despite still being good.
In the Forest of the Night
“We Weren’t Asleep That Long”
“Forgetting”
“The Song of Danny and Clara”
The music here catches the fairytale aspect of the episode surprisingly well. The highlight here is “The Song of Danny and Clara”, which makes their “romance” (I like these characters but have issue with their relationship) seem much more epic than perhaps was really deserved.
Dark Water
“Throw Away The Key”
“Browsing”
“They Walk Among Us”
Unsurprisingly, a funerary atmosphere suffuses the music of this episode. It soon becomes somehow darker but with a quicker tempo as the machinations of the plot are revealed.
Death in Heaven
“There is No Clara Oswald”
“Missy And Her Boys”
“A Good Man, An Incredible Liar”
“Freefall”
“I Need To Know”
“Missy’s Theme – Extended”
“Missy’s Gift”
“(The Majestic Tale of) An Idiot With a Box”
The darker motifs continue in “There is No Clara Oswald” before the music takes an almost farcical bent in “Missy And Her Boys” before settling into something more dynamic with “A Good Man, An Incredible Liar”. The heroic themes continue until we get to the extended version of “Missy’s Theme”, which is much more contemplative than the earlier version. Musically speaking, this extended version makes much more sense in regards to the character of Missy. But naturally, they couldn’t reveal too much at the onset about the character.
The final track is as the name suggests, majestic. Being a triumphant reprise of the Twelfth Doctor’s theme, it is arguably better than the climax of “Death in Heaven” deserved. This is a rousing track to end the second disc and the season on.
Last Christmas
“3 Perfectly Ordinary Roof People”
“Do You Really Believe In Santa?”
“Unsealing the Infirmary”
“Ghosts”
“What Seems to be the Problem?”
“We Don’t Know What’s Real”
“Thinking About It”
“Clara’s Dream Christmas”
“The Doctor’s Dream Christmas”
“Dreams Within Dreams”
“Believe in Santa”
“Sleigh Ride”
“A Reunion”
“Every Christmas is Last Christmas”
Generally speaking, I have found that even if the Christmas Special itself hasn’t been great (I’m looking at you, “Voyage of the Damned”) the music has still been good to listen to separately. “Last Christmas” is a good Christmas Special, but even then the music is still enjoyable stripped of that. A seeming recycling of earlier themes; “Do You Really Believe In Santa?” is beyond heroic given the title. The soundtrack then takes an almost Morricone bent with “What Seems to be the Problem?”
From there, the dream and horror aspects of the story come into play through the music, finding range between fast paced and soothing whilst still managing to mix in some more whimsical Christmas styled themes such as “Sleigh Ride”.
This is a fine wrap up to the Series 8 (34) soundtrack (though technically this is now 9/35, but I digress), and the inclusion means not having to make a separate purchase if like me you are a collector of the Doctor Who soundtracks.
Murray Gold has once again proven why he is still writing music for Doctor Who after ten years of the revival starting. Even if you aren’t an old fan (even New Who can have old fans by this stage), I’d recommend picking this soundtrack up, as it is an excellent starting off point for the music of Doctor Who.
