From: ph9991_manfr@rivers.acc.uwrf.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Re: Theme Music
Date: 20 Jan 93 18:35:31 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin - River Falls

In article <C1590G.HLB@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>, asheffie@napier.uwaterloo.ca () writes:
> Hi guys!  I just recently discovered this news group.  Lots of die-hard
> Whovians here, it seems.  It's great!!
> 
> Anyways, I'm trying to build a collection of Dr. Who theme music
> varations.  I've got most of the TV versions, with a couple of exceptions:
> I cannot locate an authentic version of the original William Hartnell
> theme music (the so-called "original" theme music distributed by the BBC
> is obviously a re-make), and I cannot locate the remix that was used for
> the opening of Carnival of Monsters.

I'd be interested in this too, but it depends on which original theme
music you mean.  

There is the very very original used only on the pilot episode of "An 
Unearthly Child" which wasn't transmitted until very recently.

Then there is the real original used on all the Hartnell stores and
as the closing theme music on most of the Troughton stories.

Then there is the pseudo-original, a slight reworking of the theme by
the same people who did it the first time to accompany the new opening
title sequence for Patrick Troughton in 1967.  Slightly re-edited every
now and then, this version was used from 1967 all the way until 1980 and
"The Horns of Nimon," and would have been used in "Shada."
This is my personal favorite.

Then comes the first major reworking, Peter Howell's arrangement as 
John Nathan-Turner became producer in 1980, used from "The Leisure Hive"
to "Revelation of the Daleks."

Next is the most controversial version, Dominic Glynn's 1986 arrangement
for "The Trial of a Time Lord."  The televisied version seemed to lack
a lot of weight and caused a storm of protests from the fans.
Thus, when Sylvester McCoy became the Doctor, JNT ordered the music
rearranged again to correct this problem and  to match the new titles
for McCoy.

Bringing us to the 1987 Keff McCulloch version, used on all the Sylvester
McCoy stories.  Many didn't like this one either, but it was better, and
I think it served its purpose.  It's OK.  

That's the TV themes.  The ones on the records are not like these...

The "original" theme you hear on The Music Vol I, the Anniversary Album,
and in The Pescatons isn't what was used on the show, you are quite
correct.  It was done by Delia Derbyshire who did the show's two "original"
versions, and I wish the second one were available somewhere instead of
this.  I get sick of hearing the TARDIS takeoff spoil the music.  Also
the second original has a very doom-laden atmosphere to it after the
first bridge is finished up until the bassline goes solo.  You can hear
what I mean on the closing credits of Pertwee's "Silurians."

Peter Howell's record version also has distinct differences from the
way it was heard on television, most noteably the lack of "rocket" sound
effects you hear in the opening sequence, and obviously the structure
of the piece is also different to make the long version.
This record version was actually used once on the series itself, in
edited form.  "The Five Doctors" opens with the record version, and
for the closing credits, yet another pseudo-original version was used
on the two main verses, "breaking down" into the second bridge on
Howell's record version, then an edit to the end of Howell's record
version.
One other curiosity about this version.  On "Meglos" Part Four, an "early
draft" of the theme was heard in the close by mistake.  It had all the
normal elements, but it was transposed down into the same key as the
original theme.  Compare this with the one heard on most other episodes
and you can tell why he raised his version several keys, i.e. it doesn't
sound good that low.

Dominic Glynn's record version is exquisite.  Everything that is wrong
with the TV version is eliminated in this record version, letting
everything that is good about the arrangement to shine.  My particular
favorites are the long bassline solo and the new notes added to the
final close of the theme.  

Keff McCulloch doesn't seem to have ever done a "record" version.  The
one heard on the 25th anniversary album is the real TV version, minus
some of Dick Mills' sound effects.  Another piece of trivia about this
theme, but it seemed to me that on every episode, Mills placed certain
sound effects in different places or at different volumes every time.
This happens at least on the American versions, "Paradise Towers" being
the most obvious, and also the opens show it more than the closes.
I think the British versions did stabilize or perhaps were never different.

So the only real TV version theme you're going to be able to get on record
is the Keff McCulloch arrangement, unless someone out there knows of a
source where we can get these other versions.  
Delia Derbyshire definitely did a long version form of the second original
for the Workshop to use segments of at different times, and I would dearly
love a copy of that.  

The other version you speak of, the failed version she and Dick Mills
tried for Season Ten, can be heard on "The Pertwee Years" videotape now
currently available in the US on CBS/Fox video.  If your local video
store doesn't have it, ask them to special order it for you.  All you need
do is give the full title :Doctor Who The Pertwee Years and that it's on
CBS/Fox.  
It's a real blessing this version was never used, as it is horrible, and
definitely the worst I've ever heard.

> 
> However, I'm even more interested in other versions of the theme music,
> produced by independent sources.  This includes computer-generated music,
> instrumental music, etc.  Any suggestions?  (Yes, I've already got the
> Variations on a Theme CD and the music from the Curse of Fenric CD.)
> 

See if you can find The Greatest Show in the Galaxy CD.  Mark Ayres'
"Mood Version" shows up here again, but slightly rearranged, for the better
in my humble opinion.

Also, see if you can find the Timelords/the KLF's version called
"Doctorin' the TARDIS."  There is a CD single with four different arrangements
of this song that hit Number One on the Pop Charts in the UK and did get
onto Billboard's Hot 100 in the US six or seven months later.

There is also a really dreadful version (which I'll say is worse than
the aborted Season Ten version) by a group called Mankind from the early
80s.  It sounds very, very late 70s and just murders it.  That version,
should you wish to commit mental suicide, can be found on Side Two of the
holograph record issued just after Dominic Glynn's version was released,
which is also on the record and was in fact the primary reason for this
record's release.  

Steven.K.Manfred