In the United States openings for TV shows tend to be very boring. Title credits. Maybe some cool music. But in the UK, the openings for Doctor Who have been a visual spectacle since the 1960’s. For the new season of Doctor Who, which aired this last weekend, they took the opening in a whole new direction. It all started with Billy Henshaw. Henshaw is a professional designer of motion graphics and created a video for his clients based on the Doctor Who opening. Usually, the opening takes the viewer through space or a time vortex, but he reasoned “The Doctor is a Time Lord, he’s not a Space Lord. A lot of people have said that cogs and clocks are an obvious metaphor to use. But if it’s so obvious, why hasn’t it be done before?”
It’s a great question and executive producer Steven Moffat thought the same thing. “Hanshaw created this title sequence, put it up on YouTube. I happened to cross it, and it was the only new title idea I’d seen since 1963,” Moffat told a New York fan event. “We got in touch with him, and said, ‘OK, we’re going to do that one.'”
They made some changes to the opening like the deletion of the Seal of Rassilon, the Doctor’s watch, adding some random planets, changing the font for the credits and adding Peter Capaldi’s eyes instead of his face.
Here’s the video that inspired Steven Moffat
Here’s the new opening
Here are all the openings of Doctor Who through the years:
What do you think of the new opening? If you watched the latest episode of Doctor Who, what did you think?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="34478 ">13 Comments
I like the visuals of the new opening. The theme music is a little soft – I like it big and bombastic.
Interesting. I did not realize they opened it different ways. Living in the US I agree the credits can be a little much in the beginning.
I love the new opening. It's so eye-catching.
I like both but the new one is a little better.
Bring on the daleks, exterminate!
It's got its own charm Alex.
It really draws you in Clarissa.
LOL
They can be overwhelming if your not used to them Lilith.
It's more subtle Craig, so it'll take some getting used to.
Loved that they used a fans idea.
I can't wait to go inside a Dalek!
Loved reading about Billy Henshaw's work here. Not sure why you had to open with a put down of U.S. TV title sequences. Through the years, there have been many iconic openers here's a short list: Mission Impossible, Star Trek, The Addams Family, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, M*A*S*H, The Simpsons, Cheers, The Wire, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Six Feet Under, True Detective, Dexter, Fringe, Lost, Nip Tuck, Boardwalk Empire. I could go on and on. But I'll give you just one more to chew on: Game of Thrones.
Truth Michael! These are great, but I just feel like it’s a lost art form. Game of Thrones is a great modern example though. Thanks for the short list!