Doctor Who - Evolution of a Title Sequence (v3 - All titles / themes)

[plink0988]

im sure that the master made two account just to get him back..

[20109Andrew]

Okay, seriosly. Who could dislike this?

[StueyTheDuck]

also i dont like the new title bcos if look at the episode were master looks into the untemperd scism there was never lightning. theyve changed it to much for me personaly

[allanstevenson750]

@StueyTheDuck i remember hearing a while ago that the lightening and clouds in the vortex were somehow related to the cracks in time

[Neumie7]

doctor who title sequences can totally be used as a study of the development of special effects and computer graphics

[2000catalin]

My favourite Doctor is David Tennant! YEY!

[Extracter75]

Does anyone else notice the four knock in every them. O.o

[DarthLuminosity]

After watching all of the themes, I have to say that the best one is definitely the 2008 theme. Murray Gold rocks!

[Andregrindle]

Doctor Who has some of the best and flashiest openings in all TV science fiction. The most telling for me was the 1963 theme,with it's very proto psychedelic imagry and very early electronic music which reminded me of the early Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk music painstakingly created with oscillators,tone generators and other found sounds. Very very innovative theme music alone!

[raddaluigi]

No Delaware theme?

[TheOtherKaneda]

@raddaluigi - no. And no sepia-colored Tom Baker, slightly modified Pertwee, gothic era Baker, white-colored Peter Davison logo, or Voyage of the Damned theme either. Derbyshire preferred to imagine the Delaware theme never existed, and so do I. And as it wasn't ever broadcast in the UK, I didn't bother broadcasting the atrocity either. This has all been answered before. ;-)

[raddaluigi]

@TheOtherKaneda What exactly was different between the Voyage of the Damned theme and the Series 4 theme?

[DarthLuminosity]

@raddaluigi Aside from the actor names, nothing, I think...

[MrJarubo]

@TheOtherKaneda Can you PM me the link to the sepia baker,slightly modified Pertwee, Gothic Baker,White Davison Logo videos?

[ZambiblasianOgre]

I feel that at the beginning of the 10th title, the vortex is bluer than in the 9th title.

[GreekJR2]

I like how The Master's insanity is caused by the baseline for the Doctor Who theme song.  4 knocks.

[sutinrongwithu]

My favorite was the 8th doctor theme tune

[ChelseCreek84]

I like the 9th and a bit of the 10th doctor sequence...I love the music, the vortex and how they slow down the TARDIS at the one point in the music. I swear, I think I rewatch them just for the sequence...LOL

[SpanishScion]

I really like how you include the commentary; it provides context for the opening, and gives a sense of just how much thought goes into 45 seconds of screentime.

[craigybhoy94]

Start at the first one... now skip to 10:13

[Carbonite2008]

Brings back memories of watching vhs episodes at my aunt and uncles when little, it's how I grew up with this beauty despite being 17! :D

[dylancholy]

Series 2 and 3 had music slightly different from 1 and 4. The only remarkable difference I think between 2/3 and 4 is that 4 has more bass.

[sagitario114]

I've commented so much coz I love this!

[Isinia1979]

Oooh! Why'd you stop at best bit I was rather enjoying that!

[sagitario114]

2nd doctor is inpiration until 7th doctor 8th to 11th and more coming, 1st, nothing :/

[sagitario114]

This has changed alot for the past years, wow

[sagitario114]

Did Murray Gold do the very first opening too?

[bob93219]

I liked david tennant the best

[OliveTheBreloom]

@sockeatr

Yup, that is pretty much what it is. About 48 years of title sequences to the oldest running sci-fi.

[sagitario114]

How comes you didn't have much to say about the 7th doctor opening?

[Starguy256]

@sagitario114 Its obvious that everything is new.

[StickMarsChannel]

@Starguy256 Everything?

[sagitario114]

How do you know all the fonts and all that?

[TheOtherKaneda]

@sagitario114 most of the facts are from documentaries, books, websites... The fonts: I work in a field where I often need to know. Typefaces like Futura and Univers are easy to spot - very common. Took more time to be (pretty) sure about Times NR (7 capital letters are not much to go on). I may have used Identifont for the Berthold PA typeface, or I found it by accident. Someone pointed out that the 7th Doctor episode titles are likely Univers Cond too, but can't be sure because of the low res.

[kiwitardis]

Fascinating. I love the new who graphics and the really old 60s ones. Too bad they lost the plot a bit in the 80s with the bad synth theme and corny fonts but then, that was the 80s!

[RGreinerPhotography]

Thanks! Now I can go to work happy... although I have this strange electronic kazoo sound from the 80s sequence stuck in my head...

[ThorusCZ]

@sockeatr Intro themes from all Doctor Who series. By the way... are you serious?

[theymusthatetesla]

1970....The Doctor had come of age. Jon Pertwee....the ONLY Doctor Who!!!

[rsfeller]

i can almost read your comments that go by so quickly at time. there is a lot to digest between comments in the corner and center and still trying to watch what you are talking about. interesting but due for a major re-edit on readability.

[fattyboombah42]

missed out on Amy Pond's introduction to the show in the newest series for the dumb American audience. BURN IN HELL OPENING STORY THINGY, I HATE YOU!

[Pipesy2000]

It wasn't Toby Crawford from Red Bee who designed the new logo but Tony Pipes.

The officla credits are - Logo design- Matt Rhodes and Tony Pipes  Art Direction- Simon Crabtree.

[CheapSushi]

By FAR the best is the 10th Doctors. The 5th is a close second. The worst? 7th Doctor.

[MrElliotpaige]

@CheapSushi

The 7th Doctor was awesome. 10 was dreadful. Unless you enjoy a lovesick Doctor, who leaps about and mugs to the camera like timmy mallet on acid?

[GreekJR2]

@MrElliotpaige You must be the only person I've ever seen to have said that David Tennant was an awful Doctor.

[rsfeller]

@CheapSushi one of the reasons so many americans have trouble with Dr. Who is all the changes. You can tell they were beating a dead horse for to many years. Great idea but no talent the viewer could connect with. Every time we see a rerun it's not like the last one we say...at least in 40 years there were only a couple star treks and only two Kirks...get a grip UK on your Dr. Who!

[redbeejw]

not sure about the typeface, i was just referring to the 'DW' as the tardis idea, which i agree is great. :-)

[TheOtherKaneda]

@redbeejw - yeah, Framestore credit the typeface for the title sequence to Christian Manz, and as far as I can tell, it's the same one (although maybe different weight) used for both actor credit and "Doctor Who" - I've added the info about Red Bee now. :-)

[redbeejw]

The latest DW logo was created by Matt Rhodes and Toby Crawford from Red Bee Media.

[TheOtherKaneda]

@redbeejw - thanks for that, I'll add that info at some point when I have the time. It's still using the typeface created for the credits, though? That is to say, the one created by Christian Manz/Framestore. I.e. for the "DOCTOR WHO" part, not the (great) visual idea of the "DW" "TARDIS".

[JesusPabloRangel]

i like that this has no dislikes

[hoehoerendous]

@JesusPabloRangel Ops!

[tangerinealarm]

Fantastic work, a fascinating look at all the typefaces.

I genuinely did not know that Futura came back to the series after so long away.

Watching them all in line like this, 2005-Series 1-3 sequence looks *really* fast compared to series 4, and in fact any of the others.

[KingShrykull92]

Of all these I like Colin Bakers second theme. I really like the colour effects and I prefer the lower pitched version of the music to be honest.

[SalTheRef]

The font used in the Starfield sequences is called Formula One.

[TheOtherKaneda]

@SalTheRef - you're absolutely right. I still prefer calling it "generic 80's TV editing font", though, since that's more descriptive, and it was *everywhere* on cheap TV productions in the 80's - at least here in Denmark. ;-)

[TheCalamityWeb]

After seeing all of them I have to say my favorite title is the 11th

[brittlebrit187]

No dislikes. Brilliant.

[ImagenaryFriendd]

Wow. This is so .. complete !

I can't believe you did it, didn't it take like .. forever to make ?

Amazing job though (:

[sirbruce1970]

There's also the experimental "brown" title sequence used in some Tom Baker episodes.  And of course you don't have all the variations of the theme from the new Doctor Who nor various other bits and bobs like the Pilot episode, the Peter Cushing movies, and so on. Nice collection, though.

[sirbruce1970]

Your video include several "missing" opening/theme combinations. Troughton used the original titles, then the new titles with the 1963 theme from The Macra Terror through Episode One of The Faceless Ones. In the Pertwee era, several episodes in season 8 use Troughton's 1967 arrangement rather than the new one, and the stutter effect at the beginning of Pertwee's new arrangement disappears after season 9. There's also the Delaware Theme, used in at least two episodes rebroadcast in Australia.

[dodgyb2001]

I could have sworn there was a sequence with Tom Baker which had him smile like Colin's sequence (which I didn't really like). Anyone else remember such a sequence?

[matthewakian2]

Nice.

[sagitario114]

You didn't have much to say about the 7th doctor opening

[DrMac94]

my thumb is up XD

[BeyondBirthday222]

I watched Rose the other day and I'm positive the font for the episode title and writer wasn't as awful as it was.

[sagitario114]

Did you use the film opening for the 8th doctor?

[sagitario114]

When you said nearly Times New Roman, I think the font is called David, try it out, I think it's that

[TheOtherKaneda]

@sagitario114 - nah, considering that David is a font that was created specifically for Hebrew text, and most likely didn't even exist in 1967, much less in the BBC's possession, I don't think so. Also, it seems to me that some sites are merely using Times to display the missing roman characters of the David font. More likely, it *is* Times New Roman - or Times Ten - which just got slightly distorted when the logo was recorded. After all, it also seems to have been shot at a slight angle.

[sagitario114]

@TheOtherKaneda But, it looks like it right?

[motherfan55]

@TheOtherKaneda You should have said that the font is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Times New Roman.

[ThePolerbearproducts]

The Doctor Who TV movie was made in the year i was born :-) and that, my friends is how awesome i am LOL!!!

[ThePolerbearproducts]

I like the somewhat pulsing noise at the end of the third doctors theme, reminds me of a wired drum or something like that

[sebastian122]

Thank you, SO much, for posting this!!

[theyorkshire1]

Why are there no annotations for the Seventh Doctor's titles?

[bluejeckett]

Thanks very much for doing that, Ive been through quite alot of peoples Who theme collages and this was by far thr best, u let the tunes play out mostly (with the exception of 1987 where u faded it before it got to the crash bit I like) and left adding graphics out of it which others tend to do, and we get some explanation on what tye were doing, so well done.

[Ozzie2191]

Thanks much for this. Was just watching the newest version (after watching all the Tennant ones over the past few months) and was wondering about the changes in both the title songs and sequences. Your comments are perfect - just enough info!

Appreciate your effort on this.

[BowTiesRCool]

this is so great!

[Archangel3583]

Wow, brilliant work. Very insightful and nice touches of humour, too. Many thanks.

[fjccommish]

Interesting that the title sequence for 9 and 10 reflected the hyperactive pacing of the episodes. Whereas 11 slowed down the pacing of the title sequence, and sometimes of the episodes. The pace is still to fast, like end of episode climactic pacing for the whole episode.

[PhantomStella]

Brilliant! I love reading all the bits about the themes and how they differ...

[ShootStyleZombie]

surprised no mention of the briefly used "Delaware" theme that was used for the 3rd Doctor serial, Carnival of Monsters, that's one I'm a bit curious about since after one episode, they went back into the traditional theme instead

[TheOtherKaneda]

@ShootStyleZombie - the reason it isn't mentioned is that it was actually never broadcast on an episode in the UK - not on Carnival of Monsters either. :-) Some early edits of Carnival of Monsters and Frontier in Space were sent to Australia by mistake with the Delaware theme still on one episode of each, and so, ABC turned out to be the only ones to broadcast an episode with that version. Derbyshire didn't like the "remix", and neither did just about anyone else at the BBC. :-)

[bluejeckett]

@TheOtherKaneda Im glad you cleared that up cos I was about to say the same, I havent seen one person yet whose done a comprehenesive loading of every single change in the titles no matter how small and I thought youd covered them all until I noticed that omission. I can confirm that the ABC did indeed play Dr Who from start to finish in 2004 in the lead up to the new series launch and for the 3rd Doctor they played the tune youve omited and no, I didnt like it much either

[wargo1]

Wow, excellent job! Very well done.

[whateverwhynosymbols]

That is an absolutely awesome bit of production. Thank you for entertaining me in between episodes.

[echoesmag]

brilliant finaly an up to date one

[legomailman]

Forget what I said about missing one of Colin's theme.

[legomailman]

Quite good. There are a few themes missing liked one of Pertwee also one of Colin's theme plus so others but that would take ages so it doesn't matter. I like how you gave facts about the themes. What's your favourite theme(s). Mine are the 2010 proms theme, 7th's, 5th's and the original one.

[moonlightkisu]

wow, you must gave done a ton of research for this. o.o

[moonlightkisu]

@moonlightkisu : er, done, not "gave"'' ...

[E9ODOC7890]

Moffat comes along it's Doctor Who again!

[Mooncowsback]

@E9ODOC7890 But what about Moffet 2010?

[Mooncowsback]

@E9ODOC7890 Oops, sorry, Didnt see this ^^;

[E9ODOC7890]

RTD got me hating Doctor Who cringe cringe 2005 onwards.

[MrHarrybongo]

Truly fantastic and brilliant facts all put together. Well done.

[ShroudedFury]

Thumbs up if you think Doctor Who kicks ass! xD

[DrSeussThing1]

For your next one, could you add the "The Five Doctors" title sequence? Not just Hartnell's monologue but also to show the extra sound effects.

[TheOtherKaneda]

@DrSeussThing1 - good idea - could, but I probably won't :-) There are way too many variations to include them all. The sepia/orange tinted version for The Ark in Space; the slight changes in the post-Spearhead Pertwee sequence; the change to Della Robbia typeface during the Tom Baker gothic era; the white letters version of the Peter Davison sequence; the one-off re-arrangement for Voyage of the Damned; the version with new logo but old arrangement in season 2 of the new series etc.

[DRAGORNDRAGON]

you got #3 wrong. its a very good video and you skipped one.

[DRAGORNDRAGON]

you got #3 wrong. its a very good video

[misspaddylee]

Fascinating information and lots of memories.

[god598]

i am very astonished how u used trial and error and now youve gota genuine movie with good graphics and comments are fine and comoflauged the comment boxes ill rate it 10/10

[aparent300]

Viva La Doctor Who!!!!!

[coolcabbage43]

excuse me great video but where did you get all those theme videos?

[TheOtherKaneda]

@coolcabbage43 - they're all taken from DVDs of the episodes - sometimes I've replaced the audio with a CD version (to be able to fade out properly without audio from the episode being heard at the end of the theme) - so they're not all completely authentic. The episode selection is rather random - just picked a random DVD for each. If I redid it now, I'd probably use the first episode for each title version. :-)

[TheOtherKaneda]

@coolcabbage43 - other than that, the additional howlaround bits (shown after the first title sequence) are unused (and used) bits taken from a "full" video that's on the "Beginnings" box set (IIRC)

[coolcabbage43]

@TheOtherKaneda Oh ok cheers

[god598]

7.27 sounded awsome

[coolcabbage43]

@god598 07:27

[poglad]

An excellent anthology - love it. I'm pretty sure we kids used the term 'vortex' for the 70s Tom Baker intro too, along with 'time/space tunnel'. RTD decided to make it red or blue depending on which direction in time you were travelling, but really that's pretty ridiculous. You're taking an inter-dimensional shortcut between two arbitrary points on the space-time continuum. You're not travelling forwards or backwards along the time dimension. Anyways - BRILLIANT VID!!!

[TheOtherKaneda]

@poglad - thanks :-) And yes, I did consider that "vortex" was probably used before RTD (I'm a Dane, so I didn't have much access to Who culture then). But unlike the annotations, it was made as part of the video, and I didn't want to upload a fourth version. ;-)

[gamerguy263]

@poglad yes, it is taking an inter-dimensional shortcut between two arbitrary points on the space-time continuum... but either way, your still travelling forwards or backwards in time. or travelling through the present time.

[RedWine2go]

My dad (Oliver Elmes) did the graphics (@6.11) in 1986.

[DoctorWhoCenterFilms]

@RedWine2go

Your kidding right? But if your not that's awesome!!!!

[TheOtherKaneda]

@RedWine2go - awesome! Like I said earlier, I really wish I had more information about that particular title sequence. Not much is known about what went into it.

[DefconWarningSystem]

It's interesting to note that, for the 9th Doctor, only Rose had the TARDIS fly-by sound effect in the right place. The rest of the season the effect is off. Apparently, no one told The Mill that the sting was not generally going to be used as the start of the title graphics.

[NHWBS08]

Great video!

[blofeld39]

Very nice! Very authoritative, too, although I WOULD have liked a bit more information and comments on the Seventh Doctor's titles... ;-)

[TheOtherKaneda]

@blofeld39 - Thanks, and yeah, sorry, I wanted to get back to that, but somehow I just didn't feel I had anything say about it, although I actually like it. Well, the typeface of the episode title (the same as the Eleventh Doctor's titles, actually - Univers Light Ultra Condensed), but that's about it. :-) Someday I might look into it some more.

[TheBurtmeister]

greatest trip through history i've had for a while, good work

[mysteryperson1976]

I noticed that all of these opening titles represent the time periods.

[DCWario886]

my faves are the 2nd Tom Baker, first Sylvester Mccoy, first Paul McGan, first Christopher Eccleston, and first Matt Smith.

Thanks for uploading these! You're a legend!

[Doctorwholoquendo]

Incredible video, great work. Regards from Mexico

[VeinAST]

Epic video. Really good. Thanks for compiling it :)

[DoctorWhoCenter2010]

Do you know that Delia Derbyshire was insulted when She heard the Keff McCullouch theme?

[TheOtherKaneda]

@DoctorWhoCenter2010 - Yeah, sadly, actual material about or interviews with Derbyshire are rather limited (which is strange, since she was a rather outspoken woman) but it appears that the only version she actually approved of was Howell's arrangement - although I'm not even sure where I read that anymore. But then, she didn't like being asked to modify the theme herself either (i.e., the addition of "electronic spangles" etc.).

[DoctorWhoCenter2010]

@TheOtherKaneda

Is Delia Derbyshire still alive?

[TheOtherKaneda]

@DoctorWhoCenter2010

No, she died in 2001. Check "The Alchemists of Sound" (it's here on YouTube somewhere) for probably one of the best documentaries on her and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in general. There's a good one, more Delia and Who-specific, on the DVD for "The Edge of Destruction" too.

[vegunited06]

7th one is the best!!! but im biased because that's for nostelgia reasons!

[GreatBritishGamers]

i know people are gonna hate me for this, but i think that the new intro is one of the worst intros of them all. It just seems to lack something. The vortex looks like clouds and the lightening bolts do not help-they just feel out of place. I also prefer the old series logo, I thought it was original and looked pretty good while the new one, it's clear they have gone for a retro look but I thought that was trying to reinvent the show and the titles do the exact opposite of that.

[TheOtherKaneda]

Not sure people will hate you for it. It's a common opinion. I try to be neutral in the annotations and pre-titles, although it's hard being so with the Colin Baker titles and especially the TV movie :-) But after watching the latest titles a LOT of times, the design and even the music is growing on me. It does feel retro, but I'm not sure I agree that it isn't reinvention.

[SilkroadBot2]

@GreatBritishGamers GreatBritishGamers, I agree fully..........

[oliversmillie4]

i like the new Theme. It feels as though it kicks of a new era and decade of Doctor Who.

[Shomononosh]

Well, the colour of the vortex does not fit very well with the title around 10:38.

[TheOtherKaneda]

Just had to make yet another new version - since the audio levels and mixing of the new theme for the 11th doctor was way off. Too bad AudioSwap doesn't work for my own audio. And good thing I found a hack to quickly reinstate the annotations, when YouTube doesn't have such a feature built in :-P