The third season of the series' 21st century run is assuredly not the soundtrack to the 1966 adventures that introduced the Chumbleys, WOTAN, and the Monoids, and brought us our first-ever musical adventure, "The Gunfighters." Tenth Doctor David Tennant continues mourning the loss of companion Rose by hooking up with mouthy nurse Marsha, and together they encounter (deep breath) Judoon spacemen, William Shakespeare, Daleks, Angels, Scarecrows, and, digging way back into the series' past, the giant crabs known as the Macra. The world ends, and an arch-enemy returns. In other words, a topsy-turvy series of generally genuine thrills, and
Murray Gold's soundtrack traces every twist with the best kind of scoring there is: music that is so integral to the action and dialogue that you don't even notice it's there half the time. But you would certainly regret its omission. Experienced in isolation, it is clear that
Gold has his trademark tricks, the majority of which were mapped out in series one and two: one character's signature quirky melody, one villain's unique doomy march, and so on. But again, they blend so well that Martha would not be Martha without the theme we know to be hers, and if the Doctor's changing moods are beginning to be signposted a little too obviously, who is to say that it isn't our familiarity with the process at work, rather than any deficiency in
Gold's creations. For this soundtrack does stand alone, brilliantly and sometimes brutally, and if some themes are hard to listen to without the television action unfolding in your mind, then that is another sign of a job well done. ~ Dave Thompson