Mood: Melting…!!
Music: Murray Gold - This is Gallifrey

Today was something I had been waiting for almost 5 months; it certainly has been a while since I found out there would be a special Doctor Who Proms at the Royal Albert Hall this year. I promptly enlisted my fellow Doctor Who fangeek Joey, and put my name down to (hopefully!) be offered tickets and thankfully we was! We had an amazing view of the stage from the Circle and I couldn’t have asked for more it was just the best day. I have been sort of up and down about the end of series 4 of Doctor Who since it was so depressing! I was looking forward to this for lifting my Whovian spirits and it did just that–as the Doctor would say–BRILLIANT!

It was an eclectic mix of music from both Doctor Who and popular classical pieces that had a connection to either the show itself or simply time and space. From the Earthly patriotism of Fanfare for the Common Man by Copland to the modern and bizarre Torino Scale by Mark-Anthony Turnage to the classic space faring opus The Planets - Jupiter by Hoist. We were also treated to Wagner’s The Ride of the Valkyries and Prokokiev’s infamous ode to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet The Montagues and Capulets, also known as Dance of the Knights. While all of them were a treat and amazing to hear all in one sitting, the real meat and potatoes of the day was the Doctor Who score, it was what we had come for and we were not disappointed.

As soon as the event started to the haunting vocals of Melanie Pappenheim we knew it was going to be epic, her voice has permeated the whole of NuWho to it’s great benefit. I can’t think of a TV score I have loved more in recent years, in fact I really can’t think of any TV score that has topped the over the top drama and theatrics of the Doctor Who score. It’s beautiful and powerful, epic and empowering. It really adds an edge to the scenes of the show and I’m looking forward to hearing more in the specials and series 5 in 2010.

While every last bit of it was amazing, the Doctor Who tracks that really stood out for me were All the Strange, Strange Creatures, which is the thundering action packed music used in the BBC trailers and Rose, which is the only theme tune for a character that doesn’t have the word “theme” attached. Rose has always gotta be special eh? It’s a tune that has been a part of the series since the very beginning of NuWho and it was just fabulous to hear it live. I was a tad disappointed that they didn’t play the series 4 rendition of Rose which was more orchestral, but forgetting that it was a beautiful performance. I also loved This is Gallifrey, which is the masterful combination of classic and modern instruments to create a cinematic and breathtaking orchestral performance depicting the Doctor’s home planet. (I’ve been playing it non-stop since getting the series 3 soundtrack!)

Then of course, you can never forget the perfectly minimal Doomsday. Easily the best piece of music Murray Gold has composed for the series as it carries such a huge emoional impact yet features so few instruments; one is simply a piano playing the same key over and over! It’s truly composition genius. During the whole sequence–introduced by Freema Agyeman as a trip to Dårlig Ulv Stranden–there was clips shown of the Doctor and Rose from Doomsday and Journey’s End. It was really poignant, stilling and somehow happy too; really moving! The whole hall was deathly silent throughout, not a stray clap was heard as the music quieted down before reaching its crescendo–everyone has heard this music several times before! Melanie Pappenheim was fantastic, shame we couldn’t really see her well since she was up the back next to the TARDIS and the “Bad Wolf” graffiti, but she sang admirably and I thought it was a vast improvement over her performance at Cardiff.

Now, it wasn’t just the music that had the audience enthralled for the two hour show, there was some highly anticipated and some completely unexpected appearances up on the stage (and in the audience!) too. Of course everyone was absolutely delighted the second Freema Agyeman appeared on stage as the clapping noticably hitched as she announced herself as the actress who plays Martha Jones. But not only was Freema in attendance but so was Noel Clarke and Camille Coduri who play Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler respectively. I hadn’t bought a programme before the show so I had no idea they were going to be there and I think Joey thought I was slightly insane as I turned into squeeing fangirl for a bit! Gotta love a bit of Mickey and Jackie, they are the best support characters. Then the big thrill came with the completely unannounced appearance of Catherine Tate who plays Donna Noble. She only appeared once introducing Donna’s Theme but she was fantastically funny; remarking that the audience’s excited cheering had done nothing for her hang over. As she exited the stage a random audience member screamed “DONNA ROCKS!” which got a few giggles. You are indeed right crazy audience member, Donna indeed rocks.

While we all knew David Tennant wasn’t going to be making an appearance due to his Hamlet commitments, he was set to make an apperance via a mini-episode called The Music of the Spheres. It was a comedic little sketch that featured the Graske character from the interactive Doctor Who game Attack of the Graske from series 2. (I wholeheartedly recommend playing the little game, it’s quite amusing. I think it can still be found somewhere on the Doctor Who website.) It was great fun because it was somewhat interactive between the audience and the Doctor as he finds a portal in the TARDIS which he looks through to find all of us sitting in the Royal Albert Hall; oh joy! We then have a bit of a “Punch and Judy” exchange while as he yells “I said hello!” and the audience shouts back “Hello!” and then of course the obligatory “no no, I can’t hear you… you’re going to have to shout. I said–HELLO!” Then the audience rumbles out a massive HELLO! back. Ah it was simple minded sillyness but I really didn’t care at that moment we were talking to the Doctor! xD

It was nice to see the audience burst into loud cheers and clapping as Russel T. Davies’ name appeared on the screen before the episode began. Quite right, too! He was the reason we were all there after all, being the man to bring the show back to our screens. Thinking he was in the audience somewhere (later confirmed by members of the Doctor Who Forum) made it a touch more special too–good on you Davies! You can view the mini-episode on Youtube here, while sadly it loses some of it’s oomph being viewed without the aid of a 8000 strong audience, it’s still amusing to watch. You’ll have to imagine the audience shouting back and the Graske running around the stage squirting people with a water pistol and the Doctor’s musical composition flying out of the TV onto the orchestra who scamper to pick it all up! Great stuff.

Despite all of that excitement, there was still more to be had. From the beginning we had Cybermen wandering around in the audience along with Judoon, Sontarans and Ood. I thought we’d have to view them from afar being in the Circle but fantastically at the end during the final performance of the Doctor Who Theme, the Ood appeared very close to me and Joey up in the Circle! It was awesome to see an Ood up close with their crazy tentacles and everything. He waved at the children around him, it was very sweet. He even did all the Ood mannerisms, tilting his head to the side and holding out his translation orb. I was very impressed.

But that wasn’t even the best of the shocking monster appearances, before that a Dalek appeared on stage moving quite fast actually! When you watch the series they certinaly move at a languid pace and you can’t help thinking “Are you sure they’re the most terrifying race in the universe?” but the Dalek on stage was rather speedy! It was great to see a real Dalek on stage, extremely exciting stuff but that was nothing compared to Davros himself appearing out of the floor in the middle of the audience! Julian Bleach, the actor who played Davros in The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End appeared in his full gory informing the audience that the Royal Albert Hall was under Dalek control and that we were to all become his pitiful slaves! I have to say, I’ve never been quite so excited to become a pitiful slave in all my life! Everyone moved forward in their seats to stare in awe at Davros looking fantastic… and he stayed there during the orchestra’s performance of The Daleks and Davros.

All in all it was the best day and I couldn’t have asked for more–except maybe less non-Doctor Who music and have amazing tracks like The Lone Dalek, Rose Deafeats the Daleks or Westminster instead? Heh ok… maybe it could have been a little more Doctor Who but I think we had a nice balance. I look forward to a repeat performance in 2009’s Proms!

Quick note for those who are interested in reliving the experience, on the BBCi Player there is the Radio broadcast from BBC Radio 3 of the entire show complete with a very interesting piece written and read by Justina Robson that was heard during the intermission. It’s quite a light-hearted and enjoyable take on the Doctor and how he’s changed over the years. The part I enjoyed about it most was her description of Rose–Joan of Arc without the religious fixation. So true!