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Favourite Animated TV Show Intro

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Favourite Animated TV Show Intro

In a lot of cases animated TV shows' intros by far exceed the animation quality of the epsiodes. We're talking just the intros now, regardless of the quality of the actual show. Which ones are your favourites?

My absolute favourite is the intro of the animated Beetlejuice that ran from '89 to '91. (Not the later, crappier intro.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rindbfViVDk
(Sorry, couldn't find a better version.)

Love the zany characters and the over-the-top animation.

The Simpsons intro is the best. I'm a little eager to see how they modify it for next year's movie.
Futurama, Family Guy, Jetsons, Flintstones, King of the Hill, Jonny Quest are also good.

I agree Harvey....but...

Hello.

I agree with Harvey Human. Did I actually write that?

Though I must say Crusader Rabbit and the Mickey Mouse Club were my favorites- last century.

Thanks

... and the Mickey Mouse Club were my favorites- last century.

If we're including animated intros to live action shows, then Bewitched & I Dream of Jeannie are hot.

Hello.

I agree with Harvey Human. Did I actually write that?

Though I must say Crusader Rabbit and the Mickey Mouse Club were my favorites- last century.

Thanks

Last millennium even.
We never got the classic Mickey Mouse Club in Germany, just a "modern" version hosted by German showmasters during the 90s. Could be Cruasder Rabbit one ran here but I can't remember it.

Intro

I was never really a big fan of the show, but i always thought that Thundercats always had an incredible intro. Intense camera swings and animating of pretty unforgiving character models.

Too bad the animation was never half that good once the show started.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2Qd_IsxgAf8&search=thundercats

I was also a big fan of the original Batman: The Animated Series opening. Always loved the staging, pace, and use of silhouette. Always loved that show and pretty much anything out of the Bruce Timm camp

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lEx9r5enZsk&search=batman%20animated%20series

KalEl118

George of the Jungle

I was never really a big fan of the show, but i always thought that Thundercats always had an incredible intro. Intense camera swings and animating of pretty unforgiving character models.

Too bad the animation was never half that good once the show started.

KalEl118

There was an article in a recent issue of Toyfare that said practically the same thing. Said the intro was the best animation of all the '80's cartoons, while the actual cartoon was the some of the worst.

I always liked the Transformers intros. They may not have been as good as Thundercats in quality, but I loved how they updated it every half-season or so. In the end when they would show all the new characters was when it looked the best.

It's weird, one of the most distinctive animation elements to me of the Batman opening that I'll never forget is the way the face of the bank blows up.

Oh, and I second the Bewitched opening. Sweet stuff.

Ren and Stimpy!

...which reminds me, the new DVD should be out soon!

Joy!

Splatman:D

The key to a great opening is the music. With "George of the Jungle", "Super Chicken" and "Tom Slick", it was all about those songs - I really loved them. The opening to "Jonny Quest" (original please) was a great package - great score and exciting shots. "The Simpsons" works so well because the music holds together the little story of everyone going home.

Alan

Get some "Good Advice" at http://www.decksawash.net

rocky and bullwinkle :D

Don't forget my Favorite . . .

"The Tick"

Steely

Ergo Proxy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuD2ct1N9iU&mode=related&search=monoral

You'd have to watch a few episodes, but its my fav because the tone matches the show so perfectly. Also, you have to watch it in HD to really appreciate it...

Evar Simon
The Phi Phenomenon

animaniacs - I can sing that song over and over and over.

Don't do nothing because you can't do everything.

I still get a strange sense of elation when I see the 60s Batman show intro. Very primitive sub-Filmation level of animation, but I enjoy the comic book style. Of course, the Nelson Riddle arrangement of the Neil Hefti theme is one of the most famous in TV history. To say it punches up the opening would be an understatement. And that show was a religion when I was little, and didn't know it was a comedy.

I taped a bunch of episodes off of FX a few years ago. The quality is wildly uneven-- from brilliantly funny to embarassingly bad. So I got the Adam West book, Back To the Batcave, and sure enough-- the show started out good and went downhill. Everybody involved kind of laments the third season. The rights are in some weird kind of limbo, and rumors of a box set get started every couple of years without one DVD actually coming out. The 66 movie is uneven, but still fun. They shouldn't have shot it without Julie Newmar, and Frank Gorshin was underused. It also suffers from the 3rd season sin of too many villians. But the disc is crazy cheap, and the extras are cool. But I digress...

I also enjoyed the Wild, Wild West intro with the cards. I'm glad to see that's coming out on DVD, because I haven't seen it in years.

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The 66 movie is uneven, but still fun.

There's a soft spot in my heart for "Batman, The Movie." 20 years ago, I watched it the night before my wedding with a bunch of friends. The cheesy goodness of that movie was the right backdrop for one of the best impromptu parties I've ever been at... :D

For me: GIJOE the movie. The epic, pitched battle on the Statue of Liberty with COBRA vs the Joes is my fav opening sequence. Sets the tone for the whole movie and the various animated series.

BTW, I love the 60's Batman series. I can watch it daily on TVLAND and I'm rediscovering just how fun this show is. Yes, its bad ( and its VERY bad when its bad), but its also got some surprisingly good, sincere moments to it. Must have been that stuff I responded to as a kid because I was 100% enthralled by this show.

I also loved the Hal Mancini Jonny Quest theme, the opening AND closing themes. Aslo the openingg titles for Space Ghost Battle of the Planets and Birdman, the Mighty Orbots, and the closing title theme for Superfriends.
Lots of Hoyt Curtin music in there--wish they'd cut a CD of just his themes and music.

Btw, you can find a lot of great themes and sound clips from these various shows ( in decent to semi-decent wav. files) at www.soundamerica.com
Alot are recordings taken from broadcasts of the actual shows, so quality can vary from CD-grade to nearly mush.
But they are nice to listen to.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

I wouldn't say the animation is better on the intro than the show, but I like the intro for Full Metal Alcemist. Maybe it's the music. Coyboy Bebop is also in that catagory, not really better, but a cool intro none the less. Yeah, Bewitched, I dream of Jennie and Johnny Quest are also some of my favorite intros. I also have a soft spot for into to Thundar the Barbarrian. Oocla! Ariel! We ride!! Yeaahhhhh Heeee!!!!

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Originally Posted by Animated Ape
I wouldn't say the animation is better on the intro than the show, but I like the intro for Full Metal Alcemist.

Haha which intro? There are several, each with a different song.

As for me, I've never been much of a fan for intros...
However I do like the Witch Hunter Robin intro and the ending, more for their music then the animation.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qAynt6iYqLA&search=Witch%20Hunter%20Robin%20opening
I think the animation for the intro is very misleading into what the show is actually about. Just to make it clear, Witch Hunter Robin is about Witch Hunters who hunt down witches in modern day times, it just so happens that the main character Robin, who can make things burst into fire just by looking at them, is a witch. When people realize it, they hunt her down but her coworkers don't want to because they know her....dang another plot that I can't describe very well.
Anyways it appears that youtube has some episodes up if you're interested in the series. I didn't watch them on youtube so I don't know what the quality is like on it.

The intro to Bruno Bozzetto's "Mr. Rossi Searches for Happiness" ("Herr Rossi sucht das Glück") is great, mostly because of the song.

"Herr Rossi hat 'nen Wunsch: Eis vom Nordpol flambiert mit Punsch. Eine Schokoladenburg, dreimal Kuchen, sechs Kaffee, zwanzig Törtchen, dazu Tee."
Ah yes, I remember that!

The German Pink Panther lyrics were written by the ingenious Eberhard Storeck. I'm not sure whether he was involved with Signor Rossi. Not too long ago, Storeck (who was born in 1932) wrote the German lyrics for the dubbed version of Oggy et les Cafards. Not always as witty as the Pink Panther ones but still TOWERING over the listless voice-over work that's the standard these days. Dr Erika Fuchs (bless her) didn't have anything to do with it as far as I know.

The most recent South Park intro is cool like how at the start it shows the characters being made using construction paper.

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Actually

Hello.

If you are talking about movie titles ( the next progressive step)

I say- THE PINK PANTHER

...and the opening and closing of MAX DUGGAN RETURNS

Thanks.

wow

Doraemon, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Sailor Moon (heeheee), Cowboy Bebop (The Seatbelts theme tune is amazing), Trap Door, Dragon Ball, even Powerpuff girls...

Most of these I choose as I watched them when I was a kid in the 80's, and was blown away.

~Don't Give Up!~

although i'm not really a fan of the show, i like the japanese intro to dragonball gt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aei6JdF5K4M

and the original intro to the xmen cartoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl-6OKPWAIE

http://ben-reynolds.com
Animation and Design

http://ben-reynolds.com
Animation and Design

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Read or Die: The Movie. I haven't seen the TV show, so I don't know if it uses the same sequence or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-GJk18sZA

Bobby's World

"Recruit a team of teenagers with attitudes." Don't get much better than that.

I've always found it really disappointing when a cartoon's intro was just clips from the show. Disney was the worst - I think every cartoon they had, from DuckTales up to Jungle Cubs and beyond did that. Just seems very lazy.

Cowboy Bebop has one sweet opening.

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Cowboy Bebop has one sweet opening.

If you like Cowboy Bebop's opening, check out my Read or Die link, about four posts above this. I don't know this for sure because I don't follow things like this much, but I think they might have the same composer.

Sorry but the video you have is no longer available. The composer for Cowboy Bebop was Yoko Kanno and she did not work on R.O.D.

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the read or die tv show intro is pretty slick too

http://ben-reynolds.com
Animation and Design

I love the intro to The Real Ghostbusters. It's just got that perfect classic feel to it!
Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGM01IIJvRE

I recently just bought The Real Ghostbusters volume 1 on DVD from amazon, and it's awesome! It's got a ton of special features including cast/crew introductions to the episodes, a making of documentary, scripts and storyboards, and more! Plus it's got that awesome intro sequence :D
If you're interested, you can check it out here

Another ad spammer. Ban, please?

Transformers. not from the first season.

this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFg54yRgrG4&search=transformers%20intro
so dynamic.
late.
:cool: