Doctor Who at the Proms...a great shame.

I'll be honest I recently watched Doctor Who at the Proms 2013. Now I'll be clear I love the music soundtracks of a lot of TV shows. Battlestar Galactica has one of the most phenomenal soundtrack ever. I listen to all four CD's on one long unbroken writing session. Bear McCreary, in common with Murray Gold, have a genius for writing music that is able to both stand on it's own two feet and raise the emotional level of TV shows a few notches. It's possible to listen to the music of these two composers and be led on an imaginative journey. The music is strong enough to survive without visuals. If you don't believe me then check out Doomsday (Comp. Murray Gold), The Shape of Things to Come (Comp. Bear McCreary) or even Henry V: Opening Title (Comp. Patrick Doyle) now stand those alongside Elegy (Comp. Faure). For my money they are all tracks that are beautifully composed and stand alone as music, rather than mere accompaniment.

What has this got to do with the Proms? Yes, I hear the question. Well I've never actually watched many of these proms and I was very surprised to see just how visual the event was made. Video screens, vast arrays of props and actors in costume and make-up terrifying the audience. What disheartened me though was that the music itself is strong enough that it doesn't need all that. So why did they include it? Apart from the use of bagpipes (a personal dislike of mine), doesn't The Name of The Doctor stand up as well as those other tracks? Why is it that the producers felt that visual accompaniment was required? Aside from soliciting inappropriate whoops and yells from and audience, who I would have hoped turned up to hear the music, the visuals turned the event into a place where the music was once again playing second fiddle. Perhaps though, the producers felt that this was just another money making opportunity for the franchise, rather and an opportunity to celebrate the music and musicians.

Leaving my own complaints about how the event was produced, the show left me wondering something. Is our society one that requires visual entertainment now? I have trouble believing that's the case, on one hand I have many friends who read and write widely, listen to audio books and radio plays; on the other hand there are the multitude of adaptations that have hit our movie screens, TVs and theatre. Perhaps it's a lack of time? Perhaps we do not have the time to pick up book and read for ten hours, but do have the time for a two-hour play?

I'm sure I could easily be wrong, perhaps the heavy visual element of the Proms was not what I think it was but merely an attempt at pleasing young children, rather than introducing them to another form of entertainment? It does still leave me wondering though. Why is it that we feel the need to adapt less visual forms of entertainment and package them in more crass and colourful displays?