Doctor Who/Awesome Music

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The Doctor Who score is chock full of Awesome Music.

Doctor Who Theme

Classic Doctor Who (1963-1989; 1996)

  • The epic guitar riff from Survival that plays on the cheetah planet.
  • Paddy Kingsland's music for Logopolis and Castrovalva was beyond cool.
    • Although it was really just a simple bit of 80s incidental music, the haunting "flashback" music that plays as the Fourth Doctor is seeing the images of his old enemies taunt him before he falls is unforgettable.
      • ...And the slow descent of single synthesiser tones down a minor scale as we see him lying on the floor just prior to regeneration. Very simple and yet very effective.
  • The background music during the Daleks' fight with the Mechanoids at the end of The Chase is also pretty awesome.
  • The music in Androids of Tara, especially that absolutely gloomy wedding march in Part 4.
  • The fabulous, Gershwin-inspired "running through Paris" music from City of Death.
  • "Space Adventure", the Cybermen's theme The Moonbase and The Tomb of the Cybermen. This is why kids hid behind the sofa to watch Doctor Who.
    • It also plays during the fight between UNIT and the Yeti in part 4 of The Web of Fear.
  • That creepy motif playing over Oak and Quill's attack on Maggie in Fury from the Deep.
    • And the other variations from lost scenes.
  • March of the Cybermen from Earthshock.
  • The music that plays when Professor Travers is trying to reason with Mr. Genre Blind, and when the Yeti comes to life in The Web of Fear.
  • "Chromophone Band" from The Macra Terror.
  • Who is the Doctor?
  • The marketplace music from The Underwater Menace.
  • The entire soundtrack to The Brain of Morbius, but especially the bit that plays over the iconic Mind-bending Contest scene.
  • Likewise, the soundtrack to Pyramids of Mars. Wonderfully eerie.
  • Everyone seems to hate the "Sea Devils" soundtrack, calling it a glorified series of electronic fart noises- listen to this arrangement, which captures the most eerie parts of the music and avoids the least well-regarded snippets.
  • The soundtack for The Invasion, a cross between a soundtrack from a western with one from a spy thriller.
  • The soundtrack from Remembrance of the Daleks is '80s-licious, especially the bit (0:00 - 1:15) where Seven and Ace are tearing down the street with the Daleks hot on their heels.
  • The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon from The Gunfighters, while hard to find a complete version of, is a really catchy western tune.

Dr. Who and the Daleks/Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1965-1966)

Big Finish Audios (1999-)

2005-ongoing revival

  • Most of the work of Murray Gold, composer on Doctor Who since the revival. Not counting the Theme Tune (which is hugely awesome anyway), "All the Strange, Strange Creatures" is particularly good, especially during "Utopia" as Professor Yana becomes the Master. Russell T. Davies' instructions were to "give it everything". Magnificent piece, used to perfection in the series.
    • That song was used in the final few minutes of "Turn Left". As the Doctor questions Donna on the alternate reality that had been built around her, the music is soft and in the background. Then when she talks about Rose, the music picks up, and when Donna passes on the message, "Bad wolf", the music picks right the hell up and punches you in the gut. It's fast and crazy and can't help but get your heart pounding.
      • The scene in question, you can clearly see how the music builds up with the Doctor's Oh Crap face.
      • Also used to great effect in The End of Time as the Doctor finishes his frantic race back to Earth to face The Master and Rassilon.
  • "Doomsday", from the episode of the same name, contributes just as much to the Tear Jerker ending as the acting.
  • Whenever the Daleks' Leitmotif begins, you know that the body count is going to start soaring.
  • The Daleks up the ante in Season 4, with the absolutely terrifying "The Dark and Endless Dalek Night".
  • The new series' Cybermen Theme.
  • Hell, any music in "The Stolen Earth" gets CMOA syndrome. "The Doctor's Theme" and "Doomsday" get upgrades (the former having first been unleashed in "Forest of the Dead"), whereas "Rose's Theme" and "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister" become awesome without change.
    • The full version of the Doctor's Theme upgrade.
    • Then there's another not-on-the-soundtracks violin piece you can hear at the end of "The Runaway Bride".
  • Murray often uses big, bold fanfares in place of traditional tear-jerking cues for emotional scenes, which give them all the more power. The afore-mentioned "Doomsday", the Master's death in "Last of the Time Lords", and Donna's decision to go to her death in "Turn Left". The latter is reprised with Donna's final sacrifice in "Journey's End"; and it's even been bolstered with the riff from "Doomsday".
  • The glorious "This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home". Absolutely perfect, soaring, gorgeous, heartbreaking and utterly epic.
    • A short, dark, and utterly awesome version of "This is Gallifrey" plays at the beginning of Part 2 of The End of Time. The song, along with Gallifrey's ruined, Dalek-saucer-littered landscape, gives an inkling of just how twisted and desperate the Time Lords have become in the last days of the Time War.[1]
    • A slower, sadder version pops up in "The Doctor's Daughter", when, to steal from Russell, "things get Time Lordy".
    • Behold this bassoon-eriffic, subdued version from the 2010 Proms—followed by the magisterial Vale Decem no less, and showing footage of all the Doctor's regenerations. Extra points for the audience's standing ovations at Pertwee, Tom Baker and Tennant.
      • Starting Vale Decem 2 seconds before This Is Gallifrey, and playing with the latter's volume just a bit at times, produces a heartrendingly beautiful song. They play off of each other really well... the beginning is a little discordant, but it soon resolves. For example: the swell in T.I.G. at ~1:45 - it's perfectly mirrored in Vale Decem, and that's only the most prominent matchup.
  • In "Journey's End," when the TARDIS is towing the Earth back home, there is some truly, truly awe-inspiring music: the Oodsong writ large and glorious as the "Song of Freedom". Ten minutes later, however, and it's back to being a Tear Jerker. Thank god Murray isn't leaving the show anytime soon.
  • The 2008 and 2010 Doctor Who Proms were a glorious Crowning Moment for the series' most bombastic themes, reworked to even more awesome levels.
    • Props goes to the medley of Martha and the Master's theme as well as "Martha's Quest", aka "Martha vs. The Master".
  • The Master, Magnificent Bastard that he is, gets two Crowning Music(s) of Awesome: "The Master Vainglorious", symbolizing the "Sound of Drums" that torments him every moment, and "The Master Tape" for his out-of-control lunacy. Evil WIN.
  • "Song for Ten" from "The Christmas Invasion", and "Love Don't Roam".
    • It's not on the soundtrack album, but "School Reunion" has a beautiful little instrumental version of "Song for Ten" at the end of the episode as Sarah Jane says her farewells.
    • "The Stowaway" deserves a mention too.
  • My bad, bad angel/Ya put the devil in me!
  • How awesome did Donna Noble turn out to be? This track sums it up nicely. Seriously, it sounds like the sort of music that would be playing if the girls from Sex and the City were out saving the freaking universe.
  • Martha's Theme is pretty good, but "Martha Triumphant" is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
    • The start of "Martha's Quest" is even more awesome.
    • ...and the ending is such a tear jerker, makes sense considering there are Toclafane decimating the world's population right above Martha.
  • The Doctor Forever has an epic part about 2 minutes in. It involves the score when the Doctor is hopping through the cars in Gridlock.
  • That moment when Jenny steps out of the clone machine. That electric guitar riff...
    • The piece on the soundtrack composed for "The Doctor's Daughter" fits perfectly with that scene.
    • The track in question.
    • Also in that episode, "The Source", which is another one of Murray's gentler and still-epic pieces.
  • Davros gets his own motif in Series 4, which doesn't quite suit him but is creepy as hell.
    • That descending brass sound midway through sounded like something straight out of Lost.
  • And speaking of creepy, just listen to the Blink suite or the music from Midnight. Anyone who can listen to those without looking around in paranoia and getting goosebumps wasn't really listening.
  • The "Voyage of the Damned" suite from the Series Four soundtrack. In particular, three passages: Astrid's Theme followed by a Braveheart-flavoured rendition of "The Doctor Forever"; the reworking of "All the Strange, Strange Creatures" as the Titanic falls before rising into a glorious instrumental of "The Stowaway"; and the finale with the Doctor's goodbyes to Astrid and Mr. Copper.
  • "Turn Left" got one of the most chilling themes ever, combining all sorts of recognizable snippets into one haunting piece that NEVER gets old. EVER.
  • "The Greatest Story Never Told". Very moving piece, especially in light of how little we know of River Song at that point.
  • "The Lone Dalek" Not only was it beautifully used during the episode "Dalek" but it was AMAZINGLY used at the end of "Doomsday" (admittedly, most people assume that the last piece of music in that episode is Doomsday or Rose's Theme). But when the music reaches its final climax JUST as the tear falls down the Doctor's cheek as he finds himself alone in the TARDIS at the end...it also has the benefit of providing another point of comparison for the Doctor and the Daleks that a song about a Dalek's loneliness can be used so effectively for the Doctor. This piece of music is one of the most beautiful and haunting pieces of music EVER.
  • In The End of Time part two, whatever that music was that started up when the Master told the Doctor to get out of the way. That was pure badass. And it's a heroic sounding theme, used for the Master, without feeling the slightest bit out of place.
  • Speaking of The End of Time, what about that song Ood Sigma sings for the Doctor?
    • The song is called Vale Decem, or "Farewell Ten". It's in latin, and it is actually a true goodbye to the Tenth Doctor. Apparently this translation is a bit rough and inaccurate, but it's close enough for us to get the overall meaning. That made the scene even more meaningful. If it was a Tear Jerker before, it's even more now.
      • "We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep."
      • The rousing choral crescendo that plays as the 10th Doctor begins to regenerate in the TARDIS. It's a reprise of "the Doctor's theme" that's been with us since day one of the new series, but it manages to be bombastically triumphant and desperately sad at the same time.
  • The music for Matt Smith's first scene. Geronimo, indeed.
  • In The Waters of Mars, a fast-paced, action-oriented piece of music begins to play in the climactic scene of the episode, continuing on until the base explodes at the end. It's such a fitting piece that pretty much defines the urgency and heroic nature of the situation, but what's even weirder is that a good deal of the same piece is later used in The End of Time as the Master's plan to turn everyone into himself comes to fruition. It doesn't sound a bit out of place in the new context and now sounds utterly diabolical.
  • The Eleventh Doctor's theme -- "I Am the Doctor". (version from the Proms included, for extra goodness) It sounds like the orchestra managed to purify badass down to its essence, drenched their instruments in it, and just started to rock the hell out. You know things are about to get intense.
  • The stirring, Dambusters-esque march heard during the Spitfire sequence in Victory of the Daleks.
    • It's given the fitting name "Battle in the Skies".
  • Unit Rocks, the second version. Wherein UNIT stops being the Redshirt Army, finally kicking ass and taking names.
  • The Dream of a Normal Death is one of the most beautiful orchestral pieces from Doctor Who. Soaring, gorgeous, and heartbreaking.
    • Especially the way it was used at the end of "Journey's End".
  • The Liz, Lizards, Vampires and Vincent tune has got to be one of the most epic themes (especially towards the end) of the 2010 series.
  • Amy's theme is a mixture of haunting and calm.
    • "The Life and Death of Amy Pond" sounds like something out of Lost, right down to its name. Beautiful. It plays at the end of "The Pandorica Opens", followed by this eerie reverb of the track that creepily...stops.
  • The one playing during "Planet of the Ood" when the Doctor says "The Ood are coming home" was just so.....Suffice to say, it was the best timed line in the most beautiful song in the whole episode.
  • "The Shakespeare Code" has the track "The Carrionites Swarm", which rivals even All the Strange Strange Creatures in soaring epicness.
  • "Life Among the Distant Stars". Quieter, softer and sadder, but equally as beautiful as the new series' action themes.
  • How about the very first track after the title theme -- "Westminster Bridge". A crazy awesome Who / 007 mashup that's perfectly designed to let new viewers know they're in for a hell of a ride.
  • "I Remember You" plays over the climax in The Big Bang at Amy's wedding. It's, in a word, triumphant.
  • The Vampires of Venice is a very awesome song. It is also used in the 2010 Christmas Special trailer too. Good god, that's scary.
  • A Pressing Need to Save the World. Says it all, really.
  • A Victorian Christmas. A beautiful, epic Christmassy theme...interrupted by the sweeping jazzy entrance of the next Doctor.
  • "A Lonely Decision" from The Beast Below, which is both beautiful and haunting.
  • "The Runaway Bride". What better song to accompany the TARDIS chasing a London cab with a kidnapped bride? Then there's "After The Chase"...after the chase, another one of Murray's slower, peaceful ones.
  • Another theme of Eleven, "The Mad Man With a Box" and its Dark Reprise "The Sad Man With A Box".
  • Any track from Vincent and the Doctor qualifies, really, especially "A Troubled Man" and "With Love, Vincent". Not to mention Athlete's "Chances" at the museum.
  • Abigail's Song from "A Christmas Carol". Haunting, beautiful, and with a slight suggestion of the Arc Words "Silence will fall".
  • Two more saddening and heart-wrenching tracks from David Tennant's final moments: Four Knocks and this reprise of "Song for Ten".
    • Even more heart-wrenching when you consider the fact that the last thing the Doctor said before Wilf knocks was his astonished statement of "I'm still alive."
  • "You. Are. Not. Alone."
  • The Cyberman theme from series 2 turns into a dark march for "The Next Doctor", ending with a rousing hint of "The Doctor Forever".
  • "Hologram" alternates between emotional and triumphant.
  • "A River of Tears" is not only a very haunting piece, it also features backmasked sections, which symbolise River's relationship with the Doctor, always meeting in reverse order. And if you play it backwards you get a similar piece that sounds a little darker and more intense...
  • "Goodbyes". Bravo sir indeed.
  • "Rose Defeats the Daleks"...where, yeah.
  • This piece from "The Vampires of Venice," particularly from the 2:50 mark, where you can almost feel the Doctor's promise to "tear down the House of Calvierri brick by brick."
  • The End Draws Near, from the cliffhanger of The End of Time Part One, another soft, emotional Tennant piece that increases into a Time Lord march.
  • The Girl with no Name and Silence in the Library from "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead". Very eerie, almost fairy-tale, quality to it.
  • A Dazzling End is the music played in "Turn Left" as Donna chooses to sacrifice her potential future self to save her potential past self so that her life with the Doctor continues to exist.
  • Slitheen is some really cool action music.
  • Father's Day is so downbeat and haunting.
  • The Impossible Planet. Some rather scary, mournful strings, evoking the ancient and impossible setting of the episode of the same name well, before turning to a more emotional piece of Murray's midway through.
  • Madame de Pompadour was already good, but then the Proms came along and made it all dramatic and chorussy.
  • Down to Earth is a sweeping big bang of an action theme that starts off series 5 pretty well.
  • You and Me, Amy is a sad remix of several series 5 pieces, before closing with a quiet, soft piece.
  • "Tell Me Who You Are", "Melody Pond", "Forgiven" and "The Wedding of River Song" are all beautiful, heartbreaking pieces symbolizing River, her identity, and her past as revealed in Series 6.
  • A Special Sort of Bus. No kidding.
  • Lithuania, a joyous fanfare.
  • The Patient Centurion is lovely. Listen closely and you'll hear a slower, more melancholy version of the melody in "I Am The Doctor".
  • "Your Father, the Last Centurion", aka the epic, swashbuckling march of Rory-badassery.
  • The bonus track "Emotions Get the Better of Him" from the Series 5 soundtrack is intense, to say the least.
  • "Come Along Pond", which later became used as the trailer music to "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe".
  • "Day of the Moon", truely heroic music played in The Girl Who Waited during the scene where Amy, Rory and Samurai!Amy fight off the handbots while heading back to the TARDIS.
  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart is an amazing piece starting out small and sad, yet quite beautiful as the Doctor finds out about one of his oldest and best friend's death, then builds up to an awesome arrangement of I Am The Doctor that captures the bittersweetness of revisiting the events of The Impossible Astronaut and the death of the Doctor from the Doctor's perspective.
  • "The Majestic Tale (Of A Madman In A Box)", the epic, triumphant variation of I Am The Doctor that plays as the Doctor defeats the Silence and River's ensuing ass kicking of said Silence in "Day of the Moon".
  • "The Impossible Astronaut", yet another creepy One-Woman Wail.
  • "The Enigma of River Song", just this song.
  • "Help Is On Its Way". Scary, intense, foreboding, and all round epic.

Trailer music (2010-present)

K-9 and Company

The Sarah Jane Adventures

  • The Sarah Jane Adventures Theme.
  • Mr. Smith? I need you. *cue awesome fanfare*
    • Made even better by the reveal in The Stolen Earth that Mr. Smith actually plays the fanfare in-universe.
  • One more: the "next time" theme.
  • At the conclusion of many episodes, there's this beautiful heartwarming little piano piece that just screams "it's not all doom and gloom".
  • The really lovely music that plays when Sarah Jane sees her parents in The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith, as well as the heartwrenching score from the beginning.

Torchwood

  1. ↑ And yes, the resemblance to The Imperial March is intentional. Apparently.
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