TV show intros aren’t what they used to be. When they aren't simple, slow-panning closeups like in The Crown or Stranger Things, they're brief flashes of text like Lost. There are still some fine intros out there, particularly with children’s shows that hit that sweet spot between just introducing the show and giving it some dramatic flair.
But back in the past, before studios decided to cut them short to make room for more advertising, some shows would go for the hard sell. They'd turn up the volume, play their tunes harder, and amp up their shows' premises in the hopes of catching kids' attentions. It led to these children's shows, whose intros perhaps went a little too hard in their search for viewers.
8 The Mysterious Cities Of Gold
This list will largely focus on Western shows, otherwise it’d be full of teen anime. However, there's still room for shows with a Japanese touch. Like this collaboration between France’s DiC Audiovisuel and Japan’s Studio Pierrot. The show about a young Spanish boy trying to find his lost father and the legendary El Dorado was quite popular back in the day, airing on Nickelodeon alongside other imports like Danger Mouse and Bananaman.
While anime shows are well-known for their dramatic intros, the show’s Japanese intro is actually rather tame compared to the Western one. Composed by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban, it’s a soaring, mesmerizing score that succeeds at sounding like the start of a rousing adventure. Maybe a little too rousing with its harmonies and wistful tunes, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
If the names ‘Shuki Levy’ and ‘Haim Saban’ sounded familiar, then it’s likely because they’re behind Saban Entertainment and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was their way of localizing Japanese super sentai shows for a Western audience, and it worked out quite well for them. The two also contributed to the show’s score, but the intro was by Ron Wasserman.
Superhero shows got more energetic, exciting intros around the early 1990s, be it Batman: The Animated Series using the 1989 film’s theme, or the guitar wails of the Spider-Man cartoon. Wasserman’s original Power Rangers intro seemed intent on outdoing them by shredding the guitar harder, slamming the heck out of the drums, and pumping the volume up to max. If it wasn’t the wildest intro to a kids’ show at the time, it was certainly the loudest.
6 X-Men: The Animated Series (Japanese)
The 1990s X-Men cartoon had a fairly intense intro too, with swooping close-ups, dramatic attacks, and the heroes and villains causing an explosion by charging into each other. But it apparently wasn’t exciting enough for Japanese audiences, as Toei made their own intro that turns things up way past 11. The art style isn’t 1:1 to the show, yet it really ramped up what the show was about.
It had Wolverine diving right at the screen with his claws, Storm filling the sky with lightning, Cable (who didn’t appear in the Western intro) blasting away, and Jubilee actually using her powers for something. It’s all cut together to ‘Rising’, a rock song by Ambience that thunders with electric guitars and pounding drums, before ending with a curious English bellow (“CRY FOR THE MOOOOOOOOONNNN!”).
5 Cybersix
Based on the Argentinian comic by Carlos Trillo and Carlos Meglia, this Canadian-Japanese co-production would probably do better today than back in 1999. The show followed the titular gynoid as she works as a male teacher by day, and as a hero at night, seeking revenge against her creator Dr Von Reichter. It did get some recognition on release though, like winning the ‘Best Overall Sound of an Animated Program’ at the Leo Awards.
It’s hard to argue against Robbi Finkel’s score, nor his heroic intro. Instead of wailing guitars, it’s a swelling orchestra that’s gentler on the ears than the prior entries, yet no less dramatic. It’s akin to the intros used in the DCAU’s shows, except it’s livened up further with some passionate vocals by Coral Egan. The intro sounds less like a kids’ show intro and more like a primetime action-drama series.
4 Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Speaking of dramatic vocals. While people might be more familiar with the bouncy acapella theme from the live-action Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego show, it’s not exactly over the top. However, the cartoon version Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego makes up for that in spades. Like Cybersix, it’s an orchestral theme with vocals, only the score sounds more theatrical, and the singers are going full bore with operatic singing.
Which is surprisingly fitting. The DiC show credits Tom Worrall with the score, with a little inspiration from the classics. He based the theme on the melody from Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, notably the chorus to ‘Sing Songs of the Great Pasha’. Which explains why the passionate woodwind section put their pipes as much through the wringer as the singers did.
3 Ulysses 31
Studio Pierrot wasn’t the only Japanese studio DiC Audiovisuel worked with. TMS Entertainment helped The Mysterious Cities of Gold writer Jean Chalopin and producer Nina Wolmark create this bizarre French sci-fi take on Homer’s The Odyssey. Space captain Ulysses upsets the Greek gods by saving some children from a Cyclops. Zeus puts Ulysses’ crew in a frozen state and orders him to find the Kingdom of Hades to free them. His only help now comes from his son Telemachus, his friends Yumi and Nono, and Shirka the ship's computer.
Not that fans of the show needed reminding. This backstory got recounted in every episode via some bombastic narration (“Mortals! You dare defy the gods?!). Then it segued into an intro that sounded like the missing link between ELO and hair metal (“Ulysee-eee-eees! Like a bolt of lightning from the blue!”). Like Cities of Gold, it had a separate Japanese version that was also wild, but Shuki Levy and Haim Saban's effort beats it by a hair.
2 Spartakus And The Sun Beneath The Sea
What did DiC Audiovisuel’s work look like when it was done in-house? It looked like Nina Wolmark’s Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea, or Les Mondes Engloutis (‘The Engulfed Worlds’) for short. This odd show was about the ex-slave Spartakus helping Matt, Rebecca, their stone robot Arkana, and two pangolin-like creatures called Bic & Bac save the realm of Arkadia by traveling to other worlds in search of an element to revive their dying sun Tehra.
It sounds like the origin story for a bizarre religion based around Hollow Earth theory, and the intro sounds like one of their hymns. Pathfinder’s dreamy, hypnotic tune sings wistfully about Arkadia and Tehra before urging the viewers to “Go! Follow Spartakus! To the sun beneath the sea!”. The original French version has the same vibes, just with more 80s synth and less funky basslines. Both are better than the American intro by Menudo, though Menudo also didn’t sound like they were going to give viewers the ‘good news’ about Arkadia.
1 Tugs
Tugs is the missing link between Thomas the Tank Engine and Theodore Tugboat. Created by Thomas director David Mitton and future Theodore Tugboat producer Robert Cardona in 1988, the show skewed towards an older audience, as it went through the trials and tribulations of the Starr Tugs in Bigg City during the 1920s. It didn’t last beyond a single series, yet it became a cult classic for its more mature tone. That, and its swooping score.
Thomas' composers Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell went all-out with Tugs’ intro. It starts off with sea sounds, and a soft string and woodwind section as a booming narration explains the show’s premise. Then it explodes with a stirring flourish and wild saxophone that the era's TV dramas to shame. The ED isn’t any more easy-going, as it’s just a less explosive take on the OP that’s sounds more like a 80s daytime chat show. For a show that looked like it was for little kids, it went way harder than it needed to.