Director: Fiona Cumming
What's the score?
Malcolm Clarke, the (re)discovery of 1982, is brought back this season to round off the "Black Guardian trilogy". There's a nautical theme to the story, which informs several of Clarke's cues. The soundscape in general is high-pitched and sparkly, tentative and mysterious much of the time, but tending towards the theatrical in dramatic moments in the final episode.
Musical notes
- Clarke doesn't continue the use of the Black Guardian theme, although like Limb, he does incorporate the “Turlough's crystal” sound effect into his score. Poor old Blacky is reduced to a grumpy descending three-note phrase that sounds strangely reminiscent of the Cybermen's theme from Earthshock. The White Guardian, meanwhile, gets a theme of his own to mark his long-awaited appearance. It's a high-pitched phrase, seven notes long, over a repeated lower-pitched four-note phrase. (Does the four-note phrase remind anyone else of the Flying Pickets cover of "Only You"?) The seven-note phrase is liberally repeated during the story whenever something Guardian-ish happens, in various forms - timid and jangling when the White Guardian is attempting to make contact with the Doctor at the start, more subdued at quiet moments in the middle, grandiose when the Guardians' pavilion is revealed in Part Four.
- Billowing, rolling sounds are used to reinforce the maritime atmosphere when the TARDIS first materialises in the hold of the 'Shadow'. More maritime flavour is provided by the jolly hornpipe-like march that represents the human deck hands. Later, when we go up on deck and see the stars, Clarke employs an ethereal choral sound that seems to suggest a combination of awe and terror.
- Several boatswain's (or bosun's) pipes are incorporated into the soundtrack (apparently one plays a pipe on the call, rather than a call on the pipe, although your humble civilian blogger welcomes corrections). The shrill whistle of the boatswain's call has been used for hundreds of years to communicate orders at sea on military ships; I've no idea whether it would have been used on a racing vessel like the 'Shadow'. The little research I've carried out suggests that - horror of horrors - the pipes heard in Enlightenment aren't entirely authentic. They should probably all be preceded by a call to attention and end with an abrupt high note, for a start.
- The low-high-low pipe that announces Captain Striker's entry to dinner is the “Pipe the Side” or “Pipe Aboard” (played at twice the speed it should be). It's generally used to announce the arrival of officers or royalty on board the ship, or as a show of respect for passing vessels or those being buried at sea. Serving aperitifs probably isn't a standard occasion for its use. Then again, given the nature of the Eternals - and none of the deck hands have seen him at this point - this could literally be the moment at which Striker arrives on board. A sarcastic version of this pipe is played when the piratical Captain Wrack makes her first appearance.
- The pip-pip-pip-warble that calls the sailors onto the deck during the race past Venus is probably meant to be some kind of “all hands on deck” or “action stations” pipe, but it doesn't bear any resemblance to any relevant pipes that I've been able to find online. Still, it sounds convincingly urgent.
- The pipe that sounds after the ship has rounded Venus actually does start with (a close approximation of) an attention call. We then get a downward trill and a sustained high note. This isn't the “Carry On” or the “Secure Quarters”; at a push, it might be taken for the “Pipe Down”, which is usually played to announce lights out or other moments of quiet nautical reflection.
- The music heard during the party scenes on board Captain Wrack's ship is a pre-existing piece by Clarke called "The Milonga". "The Milonga" is included in the double CD release BBC Radiophonic Workshop: A Retrospective - it was originally composed as the closing theme for a BBC Radio 3 programme about Jorge Luis Borges in 1979. Clarke must have been fond of the piece - thinly disguised versions of it feature on three of the five albums of Radiophonic Workshop material licensed out by BBC Enterprises to the Cavendish Music Library in 1994.
- We get a sad little burst of the DW theme tune in Part Four when Tegan thinks the Doctor's been thrown overboard.
Vox pop
Another fine score from Clarke. It doesn't have the same impact as his previous incidental scores for DW, but the more gentle tone of much of the music here shows another side to his work that suits this contemplative story.
Availability
- The BBC DVD release includes the full isolated score as an audio option.
- This is the first story to be represented by a suite of music on the Radiophonic Workshop's follow-up album, Doctor Who - The Music II.
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