4 - State of Decay

Composer: Paddy Kingsland
Director: Peter Moffatt

What's the score?
The first story in production order to be scored by Paddy Kingsland, although not his first transmitted work for DW. Once again he uses woodwind sounds, lyricism and repeated motifs. The woodwind sounds are pitched lower this time, more like the oboe or bassoon than Full Circle's flute.

Musical notes

• Remember the "TARDIS flying through space" cue from Full Circle? There's a very similar cue in Part One over the very similar shot of the TARDIS flying through E-Space. A side-by-side comparison illustrates nicely the different timbre and texture of the two scores.
• There's a bit of a Hitchhiker's Guide moment in Part One when the Doctor accesses the Hydrax's databanks. I'm prepared to guess that this is one computer sound effect that Kingsland provided himself.
• The end of Part One features the sound that I like to call the "singing owl". It's that theremin-like sound that's routinely used in film and TV as shorthand for "spooky". The owl sings while the Doctor and Romana fight their way through the woods pursued by a swarm of vampire bats. However, it doesn't feature in the reprise in Part Two...
• It's not uncommon for DW composers to rework their music from the end of one episode at the start of the next, either to extend cues to bridge gaps in the soundtrack or in response to re-edited visuals. This kind of recap switcheroo tends to happen at the start of the final episode of a story, when a strong musical entrance is needed. Here, Kingsland performs pretty much the same composition in Part Two that he used in Part One, but he changes the sound palette: the singing owl is gone, replaced with rumbling bass tones. The owl sings again at the end of Part Three when Zargo shows off his vampire strength by hurling a man across a room.
• My favourite cue from this story is the sombre theme from Part Three that plays as the Doctor returns to the TARDIS to check his records on vampires. It's heroic in a grim, determined sort of way, which I feel gives us a plausible impression of the Doctor's state of mind at this point.
• The latter half of Part Four is dominated by one simple musical phrase, repeated in descending tones. It plays at some length over the shots of the vampires aging and crumbling to dust. The repetition of a motif in the latter part of a story is something I associate with Kingsland's scores, and although on this occasion it's not exactly overpowering, it's indicative of stronger examples to come.

Vox pop
Although this is another pleasant score from Paddy Kingsland, I can't help feeling that it's the Full Circle score's poor relation. It's less vibrant - Kingsland always sounds more alive when he's working at the treble end of the sonic spectrum. (Perhaps there's a comment to be made here about the aptness of a less lively score for a story about the undead.) His electric guitar is pretty notable by its absence too. It's a good score, but not one I'd consider essential.

Availability

• The BBC DVD release includes the full isolated score as an audio option.