According to director Rachel Talalay*, she had no involvement with filming "The Star Beast" cold open (pre-titles) which featured the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) recapping the events of Series 4. That got me speculating about whether there were plans for the first 60th anniversary special to begin with the title sequence, immediately followed by the establishing shot of London.
With a clean version of the extended title sequence finally produced (obviously superior to my rough version - [ Ссылка ]), featuring the colourful nebula effect inside the TARDIS lamp, it gave me an opportunity to turn my speculation into something creative. And the results are flawless, perfectly showcasing the titles in its entirety, by introducing them in the exact same manner as Series 1's "Rose" (also written by RTD); something that Series 5's "The Eleventh Hour" made the mistake of not doing ([ Ссылка ]). Rather than just starting with the titles, I thought the Whoniverse ident would be more fitting as an introduction, like the broadcast version of "The Star Beast" (later released on BBC iPlayer - UK only).
In hindsight, despite enjoying the cold open, it would've worked better as a separate prequel to "The Star Beast". An optional 'recap' for fans and casual viewers alike, along the lines of "The Name of the Doctor" prequel [ Ссылка ].
* Here's my DWC article on the subject: [ Ссылка ]
Feel free to check out the title sequence without the Whoniverse ident: [ Ссылка ]
Special thanks to @dyloneth2 for the clean extended title sequence ([ Ссылка ]), and @Merganman4 for the 1080p version of the episode.
No copyright infringement intended. Doctor Who is owned by the BBC.
