15 - Arc of Infinity

Composer: Roger Limb
Director: Ron Jones

What's the score?
Here Roger Limb bridges the gap between Seasons 19 and 20, just as Paddy Kingsland did for Seasons 18 and 19. In a similar way, this provides a kind of musical continuity (probably unintended) across the show's off-air months. In other words, the score for Arc of Infinity isn't a radical departure from Limb's other DW work to date. This time he gives full vent to his unmelodic muse, with raucous mid-range trumpet sounds throughout on a base of higher-range noodlings.

Musical notes

• This story features sinister goings-on in Amsterdam. Limb sets the scene by playing a snatch of "Tulips From Amsterdam" in the style of a calliope before shifting straight into some sinister synth business.
• There's a pleasant treble fanfare when Tegan shows up in Part Two. It's an oasis in a cacophonous desert, which (intentionally or not) gives a welcome air to her reappearance after her apparent departure in Time-Flight. As previously noted, Tegan doesn't actually have a theme - this is another one to add to the list of candidates that didn't make it.
• The Roger Limb Four Note Structure of Villainy is all over this score, although the arrangement of the notes changes during the story. It's three notes up and one down in Part One, in which the villain's identity is a mystery - we might perhaps read a questioning tone into this phrase. Later, it changes to a stepped sequence that's closer to earlier instances of the Four Notes - it's actually the inverse of George Cranleigh's tragic Four Notes in Black Orchid. By the time Omega is running around Amsterdam in Part Four, the phrase has entered fully tragic territory, as has the villain himself.
• When we see the zombie Colin Frazer in Part One, there's a sound as if Limb has leant his whole arm across the keyboard. It could perhaps be described as an electronic vomiting sound. This one moment sums up this score for me.

Vox pop
Once again, there's not much to say about Limb's score, because there aren't many notable features to it. (Is it just down to Limb's creative choices, or is it because for a third time he's being given notes by director Ron Jones?) It's less varied even than the score for Time-Flight, and it's a lot more confrontational - one might wonder whether Limb was in a particularly bad mood that week. Sometimes it's nearly tuneful, sometimes it sounds like someone screaming into a kazoo. Quite a lot of the time it's just a wall of noise. It could be argued (cruelly, perhaps) that it's a fitting soundtrack for Arc of Infinity, but in isolation it's appalling.

Availability

• The BBC DVD release includes the full isolated score as an audio option.
• Three tracks on Doctor Who - The Music were taken from this story, all augmented by Dick Mills' sound effects. "Omega Field Force" (sic, presumably meant to read "Omega Force Field") is a combination of two cues from Part One that play as Omega invades the TARDIS and attempts to bond with the Doctor. "Ergon Threat" is the cue immediately following that, during the scene of the Ergon firing at the young backpackers. "The Termination of the Doctor" is the penultimate cue from Part Two, leading into the Doctor's apparent (and very noisy) execution.