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Posted: |
Oct 18, 2013 - 8:37 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Back story:
When I was a kid in the mid 80's, DOCTOR WHO sometimes popped up on the telly (we had cable with access to Sky and Super Channel). I remember not caring for it much, finding it cheap and cheesy and silly even then; I think it was the Tom Baker era they showed. So I decided never to revisit it again. Fastforward to the 2005 reboot. I decided to give it another chance, now that it had upgraded its production values. I was hesitant at first, but eventually got to love it. So I saw all the new episodes.
Today:
Then in April this year, I decided to do something new. I set out to see ALL the previous episodes of the series since 1963. Not because I was a fan of the show as a whole, but because I was a fan of the new show and I wanted to catch all the references and back stories. I'm a sucker for franchise context! Then just a few days ago, 6 months later, I had seen all 800 episodes of the series, including a revisit of the new ones. Just in time for the 50th anniversary episode in a month.
To be perfectly honest, the majority of classic Who is still rather silly, despite some occasional good writing and the occasional decent episode, but now I've seen it all. Furthermore -- and on-topic for this forum -- I got to hear the various scores. Some of it is rather unlistenable, but once in a while a gem pops up. I remember liking some of Tristam Cary's stuff for the earlier series, the ones Geoffrey Burgon did and a few more. And of course, I'm already a fan of Murray Gold's work on the new series.
Anyways, just wanted to share this as I've previously shared my 'virginity losses' in relation to JAMES BOND and STAR TREK here on the board.
Has anyone else seen all the episodes? Any favourite composers or scores throughout its long history?
(PS. I'm spending the last few weeks before the new episode to go through THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES -- even though it's for kiddies -- and maybe go through all the TORCHWOODs again, but after that it's stop).
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You are going to find THE SARAH JANE CHRONICLES very silly, if you thought the early DR WHO episodes were silly. I would bypass K-9:The Series also, it is worst than TSJC, because it was also made for kids. The K-9:Series was compared to The Power Rangers in some article a few years ago. Some of the music by Sam and Dan Watts was good in TSJC, if you can get through the episodes.
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Been a fan all my life, and I was born two years before it started. My first actual memory was Part 6 of The Chase, titled on screen Planet of Decision, and that battle between the Daleks and the Mechanoids.
Remember most of the Patrick Troughton era, and became a real fan of the lead character when Jon Pertwee appeared in 1970.
My only down period is the latter 80s, with Sylvester McCoy, though accept it in context.
Musically speaking, I love the originality of that iconic first version of Ron Grainer's wonderful theme. I like the electronic soundscapes of some of the 60s serials (first Dalek story/The Invasion/The Krotons etc). I like the cheesy synth sound of Dudley Simpson's Pertwee scores, and all his Gallifrey stories with the organ work, plus The Ribos Operation.
I was over the moon when the BBC Radiophonic Workshop started scoring duties in the 80s. My favourite composers being Peter Howell and Paddy Kingsland, with Roger Limb really doing his best on The Caves of Androzani, a result of working closely with director Graham Harper.
Of the McCoy era the only composer to alienate me was Keff McCulloch, the drum macjhine king!
The three composer soundtrack for the Paul McGann tv movie was great, and of course not only the first fully movie style score, but was the first time the theme had been done with conventional instruments, and very interesting it was starting in the middle!
But yes, Murray Gold really has brought the series to full musical perfection on occasion. I especially loved the more thematic approach taken for the series produced by Russell T Davies.
Made all but the first Prom, being on holiday at the time, and also the very first Gold concert at the Millenium Centre, Cardiff in 2006.
So yes, I'm a fan of both Doctor Who and it's music, of the highest order!
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Posted: |
Oct 18, 2013 - 9:46 AM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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You are going to find THE SARAH JANE CHRONICLES very silly, if you thought the early DR WHO episodes were silly. I would bypass K-9:The Series also, it is worst than TSJC, because it was also made for kids. The K-9:Series was compared to The Power Rangers in some article a few years ago. Some of the music by Sam and Dan Watts was good in TSJC, if you can get through the episodes.
Sarah Jane Chronicles was made by CBBC, so it was aimed towards a younger audience. For most of us fans, that was pretty well accepted. It was just another chance to see Elisabeth Sladen back in the part again. The series boasted guest appearances from David Tennant, Matt Smith and the wonderful Katy Manning.
As for the K-9 series, I agree, it was awful.
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Easy to like those other shows you mention Thor, because they're on film, and quite slickly Hollywood. Doctor Who was mainly on video (with most location work on film), and thus looked cheaper. Like the common soap or sitcom.
And yes, I forgot to mention how bad the Glynn version of the Grainer theme was, probably pipping the McCulloch one to the post, because the Keff one does have that 'chiming clock' bit in the middle. But Glynn's incidentals always had an orchestral sound to them, and his opening to Trial of a Timelord was wonderful.
But both his and Keff's versions of the Grainer theme were the two worst ever. My stock description of them is: Glynn, the rubber band between the teeth version; Keff, the the paper and comb (or kazoo) version.
Now, as far as the Doctor Who spin-offs go I prefer SJA to Torchwood. Because for me the kids' spin-off succeeded in it's aim to be what it was, compared to the adult one.
SJA won all sorts of awards and was very popular among it's audience, while Torchwood was a fairly crass attempt at times to be adult with a capital 'A', in terms of language etc., and pretty childish in all other respects.
But there are always exceptions to the rule. And they are simply, with SJA the two stories that genuinely cross-over to the parent show and feature the incumbent Doctor actors, are superb and can almost be regarded as DW itself. The Matt Smith one is sillier than the David Tennant one, but both have excellent moments of pathos and other lovely dramatic elements. Though overall I found the series stupidly full of bubblegum 'lightness' when most of the kids watching were perfectly happy with the more serious tone of the original family show.
And with Torchwood it's that third series Children of Earth. A five episode serial stripped
through the week, each ending begging you to watch the next. It felt like somewhere between an old fashioned paced Doctor Who serial of the 60s and 70s, and a genuinely mature aimed drama. And it starred the next Doctor, Peter Capaldi in a blindingly good written and acted performance.
BUT! Back on topic and the music.... Neither show has a good theme. Bizarre when you think of the amount of great themes dreamt up by their composer Murray Gold for Doctor Who's incidentals. SJA also had forgettable scoring. I can't remember a single moment. But again, with Torchwood it's Children of Earth scored by Gold's orchestrator/conductor Ben Foster that stands out from the crowd, so good it is. And of course available on Silva Screen.
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At the risk of going too off topic, I have been watching the blu-ray release of Spearhead from Space (Jon Pertwee's first story) which was made entire on film due to a strike. It's made me wonder how much better Classic Doctor Who might have held up had it all been made on film. It's still not the budget of Star Trek for Irwin Allen shows, but film just gives it that extra illusion of quality and the lack of horrible, overlit studio sets isn't a problem. All there rubber monsters would doubtless have been easier to get away with on film too. Shame they couldn't even budget it for this one improvement. Of course, ironically, the show is now entirely made on video, but just at such a high resolution and with the ability to give it a filmic look that each episode looks like a Hollywood movie rather than a tv show. Murray Gold's terrific music is the icing on the cake.
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I personally love both original and new Doctor Who. I'm quite happy that it moved with the times, and feel the great production values give it that extra quality it should always have had. At the very least so that it stands well in the company of the Hollywood based series that have come out of the US over the years.
The main complaint it seems to me from many of we older fans is mainly the pacing of the drama and action. In some episodes, especially with the single 45 min format, characters barely have time to have a conversation.
As regards the older production values, as has been noted there are some remarkable exceptions where the production values hardly matter. Spearhead From Space is a good example, and I can recommend the recently recovered Web of Fear. I'm up to episode 4 of this, and the careful direction, with the extended amount of film produce a marvelous 50s British film feel. And the cutting between video and film is less jarring in b/w. And it struck me how the story unfolds in the claustrophobic location of the London Underground, but the script tellls a story that if they indeed had a better budget, it could be expanded to be more spectacular. BUT it works perfectly well as it is through skillful choices, particularly in atmosphere, where you really do not miss spectacle of gloss.
Anyway, last night saw the first broadcast of a brand new trailer, complete with a new Murray Gold version of the famous theme. And I too think his music is one of the best things to come from the revamp. Just look at this!!:
www.doctorwhonews.net/
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