Upon the arrival of the 2007 summer blockbuster season, where movies are larger than life and special effects are abundant, fans of film music will shift their attention to the top flight composers who are attached to big budget projects in hopes of hearing epic score material. Sadly, with each season, there seems to be less and less of these films producing great soundtracks and so far, 2007 doesn't seem to be any different ("Pirates of the Caribbean 3" being one of the lone exceptions). It's time for everyone to shift their attention, which is what I did when I purchased the music of BBC's "Dr. Who."
To my great surprise, I discovered the music from the new Dr. Who series to be an entertaining venture. Murray Gold, who composed the music for the first two seasons represented on this television soundtrack release, provides a vastly entertaining landscape of music that can rival anything you'll hear at the movies. Perhaps the best news of all is that this soundtrack actually is fun to listen to, full of colorful notes and other-worldly melodies that take the listener on a far off adventure.
One of the biggest pitfalls in television scores are the drab nature in which they are composed, lacking the guts to make a statement. Much of this has to do with the exectives who merely want the music to blend into the background as an atmospheric element. Thank goodness that this didn't happen with Dr. Who! This first track alone, which offers a shortened version of the show's theme, has more punch than anything you would have ever heard in all of the "Enterprise" shows lumped together. The tune also plays homage to the older versions of the Dr. Who series with a modern-retro delivery.
The flow of the soundtrack follows the first two season, thus you'll hear some of the segments linked to one another thematically. The score has the ability to shift gears seemlessly, thus depending on the story arc of a particular sequence, we get to hear dramatic motifs, alien battles or apocalyptic terror, depending on the occassion . Of course, in other moments you very well may hear catchy pop tunes to tap your foot to. And no, don't worry -- the majority of the album is score material, so no need to fret about pop music tracks getting in the way. In fact, there are only a couple employed and they fit in nicely.
"Dr. Who" is an all-around great effort. I can't recall the last time a television soundtrack prompted me to make such a declaration, but I am saying it now. I enjoyed the music so much, in fact, that I've already lined up my queu in Netflix with discs from the show. I can't think of higher praise for a score, from any level, than to say it made me want to watch the material it was written for. That is what Murray Gold's music has done for me, and I invite you all to join in on the fun. This score is definitely worth your time
