The Eleventh Doctor
Style: Oh, dear. I remember being bitterly disappointed when this opening sequence kicked in at the beginning of the Eleventh Hour. The vortex has been redecorated with cotton wool and the TARDIS seems need the batteries changing as it just lollops about the Vortex before being overtaken by the camera, in which case the cameraman is travelling faster than a super duper time machine. It's pretty disappointing, like the comedown after drinking a whole bottle of cola. It doesn't put a patch on its predecessor. This is because it tries to recreate that title sequence and took away everything that made it great rather than creating a new title sequence. It's a thin veil of disguise that is very unimpressive. Also the drop into the orange vortex feels like being flushed down a toilet filled with lucozade. You may well have noticed that in Series 7 someone got to play with some buttons and Instagram filters leading to the title sequence being different colours for each story, which was catastrophically awful. What were they thinking!
Score: 4 The Logo: When the new logo was originally revealed I got really excited because it was previewed in the old 'Doctor' atop the 'Who' and actually looked really good. I wasn't too fond of the 'DW' TARDIS as it was too gimmicky but I could overlook that as it wouldn't be part of the actual title sequence. Wrong on both accounts. 'Doctor Who' was on the one line then of all the things, the DW was slap bang in the middle. I thought briefly, 'They wont be as obvious as to, oh wait, yep it's going to turn into the TARDIS'. A lot of effort must have been put into that little design element. Whilst the logo does have a lot more impact than the previous, they have shown how it could be so much better and bad decision making has spoiled it.
Score: 4 The Theme: Like everything else in this sequence the theme is just as lacklustre. When this was released on the Series 5 album it states (best enjoyed at full volume). You can't make a theme that can only be enjoyed at a certain level, that wasn't necessary before, why is it necessary now! It's a poor rendition, which while incorporating some more ethereal sounds, just doesn't compete. The original Derbyshire arrangement is now a long forgotten memory, which could have successfully underpinned this. Also why do we now have the diddly dums replaced by rising notes, which make my eyebrows want to rise further and further up my head whenever it is heard.
Score: 4
Overall Score: 12