I doubt the potential for a soundtrack was at the forefront of Moffat and Wilson's thoughts when they were trying to figure out how to stretch their limited pool of money for the anniversary and Christmas specials.
Music at End of The Day of the Doctor
- Thread starter Haytil
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I doubt the potential for a soundtrack was at the forefront of Moffat and Wilson's thoughts when they were trying to figure out how to stretch their limited pool of money for the anniversary and Christmas specials.
Most of the time, yes, I would agree with that. But with Time of the Doctor the recycled music stood out like a sore thumb. All the Strange, Strange Creatures is a Tennant theme which practically represents his era gets played for the first time since Matt Smith took over, and its his final episode.
Likewise, Four Knocks belongs with The End of Time, it's so identifiably a part of that episode and is the culmination of a musical motif that had been going throughout that two parter. It belongs there and should not be used again. Hearing that when Clara meets the elderly Doctor actually took me out of the scene entirely.
And finally, the regeneration is a significant enough event that it should have had its own original piece of music accompanying it. I'm not saying they should have gone over the top and try to outdo Vale Decem, but something new should have been done. Even Eccleston's regeneration scene had a new and exclusive piece of music done for it. Instead we get a tune which was so clearly written for The Rings of Akhaten.
Ironically, Matt Smith's finale doesn't make much use of I am the Doctor even though it is the defining theme of his era. But then, it really did get overplayed in Day of the Doctor.
Maybe for those who collect the albums and know the cues by name, but that doesn't exactly constitute "the casual and Not-We audience." Heck, I'm far more than a casual viewer, and I had no idea the score to either of these specials was tracked until I saw it stated here on this board.
Well, at the very least, hearing All the Strange, Strange Creatures in Time of the Doctor should have been noticed even by the "casual and not-we" gang. Even they must have suddenly noticed "the David Tennant trailer music" and thought it odd to hear in a Matt Smith episode.
I think I did notice the reprise of the theme, but I thought there was a story reason for it, like maybe it came when the Doctor was reflecting on his past.
Anyway, tracked music has been part of television for as long as there's been television. Sure, it would've been nice if they could've afforded original scores, but lots of shows over the decades have had to use tracked music for important episodes, and it's easy to understand why, because composers and musicians need to be paid.
And frankly, Murray Gold reuses themes so heavily that it's not that easy to tell the difference between an original score and a tracked one unless you're intimately familiar with the soundtracks.
Anyway, tracked music has been part of television for as long as there's been television. Sure, it would've been nice if they could've afforded original scores, but lots of shows over the decades have had to use tracked music for important episodes, and it's easy to understand why, because composers and musicians need to be paid.
And frankly, Murray Gold reuses themes so heavily that it's not that easy to tell the difference between an original score and a tracked one unless you're intimately familiar with the soundtracks.
Except, Strange Creatures is used in the scene where Tasha Lem declares the formation of the Church of Silence, which is significant development to the story arc of Smith's era and should have at least had a piece of music from the Smith era, not Tennant's equivalent of I am the Doctor.
Day of the Doctor and Time of the Doctor DO have new music, just not that much. For instance the Doctors regeneration attack against the Daleks was new. After that it was reuse of 'Trezalore', 'Infinite Potential', 'You and Me, Amy' and new piece of music when Capaldi appeared.
^Well, there you go. Sometimes there's only enough money for a few minutes of original music. Heck, Star Trek's most acclaimed episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever," only had about 6:44 of original music written for it, and 1:28 of that was a source cue. (Three minutes more were written for the episode but not used.) Most of its score was recycled or library cues. That's just the way it has to be sometimes. You take what you can get.
Well you have to hand it to Murray Gold, he is amazing and has been doing the music in Doctor Who for the past 9 years. Forget about Moffat and RTD, if you think about it, Murray is one of the biggest creative elements in New Doctor Who, every singe year he puts out some amazing stuff. There may have been budget or even scheduling reasons he could only contribute some and not all new music for these 2 specials.
Here I disagree. The centerpiece music of Akhaten "The long Song" and the follow up without lyrics "infinite Potential" was clearly written to foreshadow his regeneration and many people would have been disappointed if he regenerates to some other piece.
Even the lyrics back then screamed regeneration:
"rest now, my warrior, your hardships are over. Lay down. Wake up and let the cloak of life cling to your bones.' Slightly paraphrasing here.
I thought a similar thing that it could be used for both the God and the Doctor. Thing is, we have no way of knowing (unless Murray tells us) if they thought of that beforehand or just decided to use it when putting together the Time of the Doctor episode.
The proms version of this is amazing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGcvbuHLw6M
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I didn't consciously recognize the re-use of "All the Strange, Strange Creatures," and I'm someone who Doctor Who soundtracks are among the most-played tracks on his iPod. I did notice the Ahkaten music, but I thought it really worked.
Well, we did get a triumphant moment of the Gallifrey theme from "The End of Time" in The Time of the Doctor.
