Doctor Who: Time And The Rani – music by Keff McCulloch

5 min read

Order this CDSo, picture this if you can: it’s the end of 1987, and my local PBS station presents the four-part Doctor Who story Time And The Rani in “movie” format during a pledge drive, talking about how viewer support keeps imported shows like Doctor Who on the schedule. Wow! I’m getting to see Sylvester McCoy’s first episode as the Doctor the same year it premiered! And the following week, Doctor Who was no longer on the schedule, leaving my home-recorded VHS tape of Time And The Rani as my only specimen of the seventh Doctor’s adventures until a tape trade in 1991 or so brought the rest of his televised adventures to me. By the time I saw any more of McCoy’s Doctor Who tenure, I had to experience it via Target novelizations and soundtracks such as the 25th anniversary album and the 1991 release of The Curse Of Fenric soundtrack. I’d go back and rewatch Time And The Rani a lot in that time, too, just trying to envision what the rest of the shows were like. Its soundtrack was burned into my brain.

And now, at least, it’s burned on a CD for everyone to hear independent of the dialogue and sound effects. I’ve always held the view that, for all of the awkwardness of Time And The Rani as a whole (not only is there a new Doctor, but incoming script editor Andrew Cartmel‘s influence was hardly felt on the scripts, which were originally conceived for Colin Baker’s Doctor), it holds a lot of charm as well, and one of my favorite elements was the soundtrack. It was Keff McCulloch’s first score for the show, as well as his first film or TV score of any kind, and it’s both identifiably ’80s and very atmospheric. In the CD liner notes, McCulloch pleads guilty on perhaps overusing the “orchestral stab” sample, and while that may be true, he’s hardly the only composer working during that period whose work over-relied on that sound. (I used to have a Yamaha keyboard with “orchestral stab” on it, and I too used the hell out of both that and the “handclaps” which would feature prominently in later McCulloch scores.)

The most interesting thing about the score for Time And The Rani, in hindsight, is that it brings a pop music sensibility to Doctor Who’s music that hadn’t been heard since, arguably, the last time Paddy Kingsland had scored the show during the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s early ’80s heyday of handling all of the series’ music. The various iterations of “Future Pleasure” have vocal samples that may sound whimsical now, but were still part of the Art of Noise‘s playbook when this music was first heard on TV – pretty cutting-edge stuff for television scoring. But the numerous musical visits to “The Tetrap Eyrie” and especially “Cliffhanger In The Eyrie” have a superbly eerie atmosphere. In an admittedly synthesized way, some of these tracks hint at an orchestral future for Doctor Who’s sound.

Bonus tracks reveal the evolution of McCulloch’s take on the Doctor Who theme from demo to the version used on the show, as well as the evolution of elements of the score. In particular, the gradual cluttering-up of what was a perfectly good piece of music for the new Doctor picking his new wardrobe was eye-opening; I wonder who made the decision that what that scene really needed was the sound of breaking glass as punctuation. (There was no breaking glass as part of the scene itself, where the sound comes across as a comedy affectation that really didn’t boost the scene’s chances of being taken seriously.)

4 out of 4With its mind-bendingly colorful cover artwork and the sounds within, this long overdue release is a reminder that, regardless of what some fans might claim, all was not lost when it came to late ’80s Doctor Who. I still have a lot of love for this score, orchestral stabs and all. It may be a more challenging listen for those who have been raised on 21st century Doctor Who’s less-sampled orchestral sound, but for those of us who watched the show in something not far removed from real time, this was the sound of the Doctor’s travels, and it’s a delightful nostalgia trip.

  1. The Rani Takes the TARDIS (Sound Effects) (0:22)
  2. Leave the Girl, It’s the Man I Want (0:23)
  3. Doctor Who (Opening Theme) (0:54)
  4. Einstein (0:21)
  5. A Nice Nap (0:34)
  6. Urak and Ikona (1:12)
  7. The Death of Sarn (1:05)
  8. Bull in a Barbershop (0:24)
  9. Not Your Enemy (1:52)
  10. The Tetrap Eyrie (1) (0:46)
  11. Landscape (0:25)
  12. New Wardrobe (1:27)
  13. Mel and the Bubble Trap (1:04)
  14. Mel and the Bubble Trap (continued) (1:33)
  15. The Tetrap Eyrie (2) (0:44)
  16. Wait Here (0:56)
  17. Memory Like An Elephant (1:18)
  18. Faroon, Ikona and the Mourning (1:34)
  19. Urak Nets The Rani (1:39)
  20. Pulses (0:26)
  21. The Rani’s TARDIS (1:03)
  22. You’re a Time Lord (0:39)
  23. She’s Coming (0:29)
  24. Cliffhanger in the Eyrie (1:30)
  25. Doctor on the Loose (Part 1) (0:55)
  26. Doctor on the Loose (Parts 2-4) (1:28)
  27. Doctor on the Loose (Part 5 – The Bubble Trap) (0:33)
  28. Faroon Forlorn / Doctor on the Loose (Part 6) (0:46)
  29. Future Pleasure (4:58)
  30. Beez (0:47)
  31. Hologram Mel (1:29)
  32. Just the Expert (0:24)
  33. As Sentimental as He Is (0:17)
  34. Fixed Trajectory (0:48)
  35. Second Bluff (0:47)
  36. All as Planned (0:20)
  37. The Brain (2:08)
  38. The Brain (reprise) (1:19)
  39. Dissidents to Heel (0:40)
  40. March of the Tetraps / Anklet Death (1:48)
  41. The Rani Explains (1:48)
  42. Urak Overhears (0:27)
  43. Loyhargil (1) (0:48)
  44. As You Snore So Shall You Sleep (0:38)
  45. Loyhargil (2) (0:14)
  46. Where there’s a Will (0:27)
  47. Loyhargil (3) (0:24)
  48. The Rani Leaves (0:20)
  49. Undoing The Rani (2:08)
  50. Fingers Crossed (0:21)
  51. Not Forgotten (0:54)
  52. Time and Tide Melts the Snowman (0:15)
  53. Doctor Who (Closing Theme) (1:13)
     
    Bonus Tracks
  54. Doctor Who 1987 (2:40)
  55. The Death of Sarn (part, alternative version without rattle) (0:22)
  56. Two “stings” (1m10 and 1m12) (0:18)
  57. New Wardrobe (original mono mix without overdubs) (0:57)
  58. New Wardrobe (overdubs) (0:57)
  59. New Wardrobe (original mono TV mix as used) (0:58)
  60. She’s Coming (unused version 1) (0:43)
  61. Cliffhanger in the Eyrie (unused version 1) (1:30)
  62. Cliffhanger in the Eyrie (Part Two Reprise edit) (1:18)
  63. Future Pleasure (original master) (4:32)
  64. The Brain (25th Anniversary Album edit) (3:03)
  65. Doctor Who Theme 1987 (original demo) (2:54)
  66. Doctor Who Opening Title 1987 (original demo) (0:43)
  67. Doctor Who Closing Title 1987 (original demo) (1:16)

Released by: Silva Screen Records
Release date: November 24, 2023
Total running time: 76:05