The Music Theory behind EVERY SINGLE Doctor Who Intro Sequence

there arent many youtubers that can make a 30 minute video and it feels like 10 minutes. this is very underrated and paced quite well!

this deserves so much more attention dude

I’d argue the Doctor makes that transition to being the hero of the show by the culmination of the 1st Doctor’s era. With Troughton there is certainly a shift in the machinations of the programme, and the Doctor is somebody who actively seeks injustice so as to prevent it. There’s a pivotal moment, the cliffhanger of Part 3 of The War Machines (very late Hartnell) where soldiers retreat but the Doctor stands defiantly facing an advancing War Machine. I see that moment as the moment the Doctor fully becomes the character they’ve been ever since.

thanks so much ive been looking for exactly this kind of video for ages

20:44 would’ve been worth noting that Peter Howell created this for his 1980 version of the theme.

The McCoy theme slander... 😢 one of my favourites.

Man this was great, such a cool deep dive into the theory of the theme music, that got me to consider parts of the music I'd never really thought about! Great work, honestly, I've been wanting a video like this for a while

I'm sorry but whilst yes the Doctor wasn't the hero of his own show right from the start, Ian and Barbara were, the Doctor had become as much long before the 3rd Doctor and he can really only be called heartless for his first 3 stories. Once Ian and Barbara have left in the Chase, The Doctor is the only original character left and one that actually because over 2 seasons we've had plenty of time to see the Doctor's softer side he's one the audience and particularly the kids were very attached to and he is very much the heart of the show from there on, maybe not the most traditional "hero" in the modern sense, but certainly a figure of heroism and the core force the audience trusts in and roots for. I think it would be most accurate to say though even from the beginning what the real feeling the music was trying to convey right from the start was one of strangeness and mystery after all it's "Doctor Who?", but also it was always meant to be an adventure show and we were always meant to like the Doctor eventually, the main reason he quickly softened after 3 stories was over feeling that they'd gone too far with his crotity/untrustworthy side. They were after all supposed to be having fun adventures together and they would have to be likeable.

Thank you. So many other "here's all the theme tune variants… for reasons" videos, but discussing (Western) music theory of the themes is a refreshing take.

Music theory, doctor who, and breath of the wild? And it’s fantastic? Hell yeah.

This is a stunning video, wonderful analysis! A real deep and interesting appreciation of the theme that I thoroughly enjoyed! Keep up the great work. :D Also, thanks for the delicious transcripts of all the music! Muahahahaha it's all ours now >:D Have a lovely day!

The first Doctor has the best character arc, going from being crotchety and disdainful of humans, as lesser beings to warm and fatherly. This is the Doctor that learned to love the universe and its peoples. Anyway, 1980 Howell theme is the best one imo, I just love the base guitar in it.

The melody for 11’s theme was done using multiple, very unstable sine oscillators with a bit of cutoff and trimmed white noise with, lots of reverb, glide, and each phrase being its own separate track to accent it… It took a hell of a long time for me to get it perfect, but it’s definitely possible. It needs to be a soft synth to get the sound perfect as opposed to analog.

the b section does sometimes play at the end of the episode in new who, during the "next time" trailers

This vid earned you a sub. Love this video. Exactly the video I needed. 🔥

4:27 just wanna point out it goes to the V not the IV chord here - if you can’t up in the scale of E minor you’ll see the fifth degree of the scale is B and the fourth is A. Even if you count downwards from E to B, we still call it the fifth even if they’re only a fourth apart (because it’s still the fifth degree of the scale)

20:43 most of the themes have this section actually, my favourite is the Howell version

I've found the best video in the world.

i am LISTENING sir

How did you not know the 2005 theme used the 1963 bassline? I've known that since the shows revival its so obvious.