With all the excitement of meeting the new female Doctor last week, fans did notice one thing that was missing from the very beginning of the premiere episode of ‘Doctor Who.’ Yes, the unforgettable opening theme and credits for the series! We didn’t have to wait long (well, maybe a week could be considered long… well, if you’re a time traveler it went by in a flash… well, timey wimey and all that… anyway…). As promised, the second episode gave us the familiar “woo we ooo” and we couldn’t be more excited about the new theme and opening! Take a look:
The new theme was composed by Segun Akinola who has taken over the job that was previously held by Murray Gold. And while there have been a few variations of the theme throughout the show’s history, long time (and I really mean long time) fans of the series will feel a bit of nostalgia as the theme directly connects to the show’s past by the inclusion of a sample from the original 1963 version of the opening music.
In an interview with Radio Times, Akinola spoke about the inspiration for the new theme:
“I really just stuck to the original [theme], like the very very first one, and tried to glean as much from that as I could. And tried to honour it as much as I could as well. It’s such an iconic theme, one that people walking down the street can whistle, and it’s one that people really care about as well… It’s Doctor Who! And it’s really great, but it’s also a really big deal.
“Our viewpoint across the whole thing was basically that it should be new – but new didn’t mean that it had to be the opposite of everything that has come before. It was really just a blank slate, an opportunity to look and start again at it. There wasn’t anything that I particularly tried to avoid in any grand way. I just tried to make it the best it could be.”
The new theme does seem to be a great mix of old and new, encompassing the essence of the Doctor himself, don’t you think?
Another significant difference is the absence of the TARDIS. Could this be because the TARDIS was lost in the first episode and needs to be found? Will the TARDIS be seen in next week’s opening? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
What do you think of the new theme and opening of the ‘Doctor Who’? Let us know in the comments below!
