By Segun Akinola

Silva Screen, out now

 

Scores from last year’s TARDIS tales…

Closing out Akinola’s time as Doctor Who’s composer, this three-disc release provides the soundtracks to the final three stories of the 13th Doctor’s  era: Disc 1 contains the score for “Eve Of The Daleks,” the 2022 New Year’s Day special; Disc 2 has the music from the Spring 2022 special “Legend Of The Sea Devils,” and Disc 3 covers the final 13th Doctor story, “The Power Of The Doctor.”

The “Eve Of The Daleks” score, being from an episode about a time loop, features a lot of repetition, which looks like a bad thing when written down, but actually works really well with its various refrains and the introduction of changes as the loops progress and the tension builds. There’s an ever-present set of ticking and beeping and other countdown-conveying sounds and tones that keep the pace and tension going, in much the same way that Brad Fiedel did in Terminator 2’s score, and this is par for the course for the thriller and action sequences in Akinola’s Doctor Who music, but what elevates this one is the engagement of those styles with – at last – a proper and clearly recognisable theme for the Daleks themselves.

Well, more accurately, it’s more of a three-note refrain, so still a long way from Murray Gold’s epic Dalek themes, but it’s a suitably threatening and sinister refrain, the very sound of a Dalek victim’s heart sinking at the realisation of imminent extermination, first sounding clear in “I Am Not Nick,” before returning quickly in “Deja Vu,” “The Correction,” and several other tracks, each time blended with the countdown pacing and/or the Doctor’s or Fam’s themes, and so forth. And they work. They all work very well, giving us a pacy and exciting soundtrack.

Disc 2 takes a different tack, with very Chinese-themed score – or, more precisely, a very Hollywood idea of a Chinese-themed score, which is handled very nicely. Much of the score has a very Kung Fu Panda kind of vibe to it, with “Pirate Queen” in particular blending an intro reminiscent of Yo-Yo Ma’s accompaniment to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with the feel of Hans Zimmer’s Kung Fu Panda, leading into more Who-ish threatening horns and a surprising – and totally coincidental – echo of the four-beat refrain that Nu Who fans now undoubtedly associate with the Master.

That Ma-inspired sound thankfully takes over as the score progresses, helping give it a more authentic feel, and certainly it fits with the kind of music you might expect hear in a classic Hong Kong film, or a Hollywood film taking pains to play well with Chinese audiences, all mixed with Akinola’s sounds of the 13th Doctor’s era. It’s probably the most different of all the Segun Akinola scores for the show, and quite honestly the best disc released in this era.

Finally, it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for, and so has the soundtrack. “The Power Of The Doctor” on screen was, if anything, a homage to Classic Who on many levels, but the soundtrack is a grand wrap-up of Segun Akinola’s time scoring the series. It’s a greatest hits, of sorts, opening with the use of the Cybermen and Cyber-Masters theme from series 12 in “You Shall Not Disrupt Our Mission,” before taking a wild tour through the styles and tones that Akinola has brought to his scoring, both in terms of the mix of synths and musique concrete sounds – pacey ticking, and long off-kilter tones – and the use of themes, such as the aforementioned Cybermasters, a variant crisp and mechanical outing for the Dalek theme from Disc 1 in “Say Hello To My Friends,” through to a marvellously emotional and evocative use of the Thirteenth Doctor’s theme from Series 11 for the lead into her regeneration, in “She’s The Doctor”.

There are some lovely moments throughout, with unexpected tender piano notes underlaying pieces such as in “Dealing With Multiple Somethings,” which runs the gamut through almost all the familiar themes of the era, with the Master’s and Cybermen’s themes gaining the most focus. Speaking of the Master, if you’re hoping for that certain Boney M track, you’ll be disappointed – but then, neither “Voodoo Child” not “I Can’t Decide” appeared on the Series 3 album, so why should it?

Verdict: Overall, it’s very mixed, but certainly the best Segun Akinola Doctor Who release by a long way. Disc 1’s “Eve Of The Daleks” works way better as a listening experience divorced from the action on screen than it really should, and “The Power Of The Doctor” on Disc 3 is a good roundup to celebrate his contribution with. Disc 2’s score for “Legend Of The Sea Devils” is the highlight, though; easily the best thing Akinola has done on the show, far better than the actual episode was, and definitely worth the admission price on its own. It’d get a 10 on its own, but the others are 9 each, so that’s a majority… 9/10

David A McIntee