Full Series I'M HOLDING OUT FOR A THEME SONG! (EMBEDDED VIDEO HEAVY)

I'm holding out for a theme song til the end of my life!
It's gotta be strong,
it's gotta be fast,
and it's gotta be fresh from the fight!

(Shut up, I know it doesn't rhyme, til the end of the night isn't very long, is it?)

BACK TO SERIOUS.

Every great cartoon should have a great theme song, it gets you in...the mood. A good theme song can get you hyped, it can make you smile and feel all warm inside like hot chocolate after a day of playing in the snow, a good theme song can make any kid come running so they don't miss it. You want the kids of today to remember Rebels? Give them a theme song. I know my generation still remembers cartoon theme songs from our childhood decades later, long after we've forgotten everything else about the cartoons.

A theme song can make a difference. A theme song makes a cartoon a better cartoon, a great cartoon an amazing cartoon by harnessing all of it's strength into a minute of pure awesome played at the beginning of every episode.

TCW didn't even have a theme song and that's just a shame. No, that sad thing they called a theme song doesn't count, that ain't no intro.

Give me a montage of blasters, lightsabers and space battles to get me pumped up for the show. Give me a tenor singing with far more enthusiasm than any adult has any right to. Don't even try to be "hip", ham it up like it's Star Wars.

Mr. Filoni, I ask you to help us. No, I beg you to help us. We are your humble servants. Our fate is in your hands.

LACWACers, live up to the name. Make yourselves heard. Get this out there to the people making the decisions, get this to Dave Filoni. I pray he will bring sanity and compassion back to Star Wars cartoons.

I want this thread to carry the fire until a theme song is heard. Rebels is scheduled to premiere in the Fall of 2014, that's about one year. Let's keep this thread on the first page of LACWAC for an entire year. I don't care how you do it, spam it up if you have to, just keep hope alive.

Tell your friends. Tell your kids. Tell random strangers on the street! Tell everyone why Rebels needs a theme! Tell them why theme songs are so important, why you love them so. Tell me and everyone in LACWAC every thought, feeling and opinion you have about theme songs, I'm sure they're all great because everyone loves theme songs.

I was going to spam up this post with my favorite theme songs, but I'll let you guys get in a few first. After that I'll jump in with my favorites and use my expert knowledge to explain to you why they're so great and why a theme is so desperately needed. I'm sure you'll all agree.

 

Rebellion, Rebel teenagers
Rebel teens are the champions!
Rebellion, Rebel teenagers
Rebel teens are the champions!

 

Nah. In a constrained 22-minute format, more theme song means less actual content. I'd rather see that time devoted to story.

 

The one thing the lack of a classic theme song does have going for it is that shortening the intro allows episodes to squeeze a precious minute of narrative time from what is, as far as storytelling is concerned, unnecessary decoration. So many half-hour series desperately need every single second they can get to tell their story, and it makes sense to cut the fat down to a few familiar notes and a flashy title card.

At the same time, though, there have been some really great intro themes. I still remember being a kid and hearing the drums from Beast Wars, and the horns from the Superman and Batman animated series. Back then it was exciting, and in its way, really set the universe with nothing but sound. Now the excitement factor may have faded some with maturity, but I don't see outgrowing an appreciation for good, powerful pieces of music. I loved that even when other shows were starting to shorten their intros, Justice League Unlimited was still banging out its awesome rock orchestral piece before every episode because it was just that good. I miss the extended opening The Last Airbender and the first few episodes of The Legend of Korra had; finding an episode with the full version of Green Lantern: TAS' theme on the internet was eye opening and a little disappointing to know that it wasn't getting the use it deserved.

TCW...tried, I suppose, but it's reimagining of the classic Star Wars theme into something sharper and more militarized to fit the war setting was hindered by it's short length. It never gets to build any strength because we're immediately cut away to the narrator's scene-setting. I think that, in shortening the theme for TCW, it actually made it even more irrelevant. I always skip over the TCW intro when I watch. But I almost never skip JLU's, despite the longer length, because it let itself be entertaining, and the writers knew that they could give up that extra minute without the episode suffering for it.

 

More theme songs! Put Ahsoka in her sailor moon suit from the concept art.

 

Well there is a song called Rebel Yell, unfortunately it's rather sexual and not really about rebellions at all.

Hmm there is RAtM Killing In The Name Of... "**** you I won't do what you tell me!" but that would never fly for obvious reasons.

Something metal methinks...

 

Yes, anime series usually do have full-length intros and outros, but they also have a longer content runtime due to having fewer commercials, so it balances out.

Also, the intro and outro songs are usually some manner of revenue source, because they're normally sung by some up-and-coming idol singer whose management company is paying the producers of the series (either officially, under the table, or with some kind of quid pro quo) to get her song in front of more people by using it in their show. That's not always true in Japan, but it very often is. Here in the US, it's basically never true. Anime fans also tend to buy soundtrack albums a lot, which American fans tend not to do, even with shows that have notably great music in them (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc). So there's no financial incentive to do a full-length intro/outro.

And again, I'm fine with that. Unless an anime has an intro song that's really super exceptional - which will happen maybe a handful of times a decade - I usually find myself fast-forwarding through it by episode three or so. The last ones I can really think of where I didn't do that were maybe Macross Frontier or Ghost in the Shell: SAC.

I will admit though, there were intro songs that made me watch the show they were attached to. All in the Family was one of those. I was too young to appreciate the humor or political commentary of AitF back in the day, but I always watched because of their opening song. It started with a line that the single-digit-aged me was sure was "Boy the Wigglin' Milliplaide...", and that was enough to grab me, because I definitely wanted to see what a Wigglin' Milliplaide was. Every week, I'd tune in and sit through a half hour of jokes I didn't laugh at and political arguments I didn't understand hoping that finally, this week would be the week when they'd show the Wigglin' Milliplaide.

But they never did.

 

As a long-time anime fan, I have nothing against cool intros. Bring it!

 

Narutakikun you've been reported. Expect a 24 hour ban.

Some....up and coming idol singer, eh? Like, one of those kids who pretend to sing on... the Disney Channel?

They already used a Selena Gomez song for Star Wars Kinect and it was always exciting. Amirite, Circular Logic?

[hovers finger over the ban button]

Okay you're cool. You have no idea how close I came to banning you just now.

Also credit/blame goes to 07jonesj for posting that Sonic theme the other day, which probably inspired this thread. I'll probably get to the Sonic theme at some point in this thread.

 

The opening song and animation are just another bone I have to pick with anime, but that's beside the point. As for popular opening theme songs, I really have a hard time finding them. Really, the only shows that I watch the intro theme are Bebop, Outlaw Star and Trigun. I kinda enjoyed GITS:SAC but I was creeped out by the uncanny valley crappy CGI ass shots of the Major.

 

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

 

Well, here's an opening sequence, complete with a non-lyrical theme song that might be nostalgic to fans of children's cartoons:

 

Rumors about Rebels have inspired comparisons to Scooby Doo, which had a decent theme song. It was a little too hippie for my tastes, but it fit the era, established the goofy/scary/mystery theme and fit the show's standard gags into a minute, letting you know what kind of humor to expect.

Nowhere near the best theme song, but I included it because of the recent rumors about teens traveling around in the Mystery Machine Ghost, and for this post by StarWarsFan91

That was an intentional reference, right SWF91?


I just realized that the mode age of LACWACers is like 12, so this one might be way too old for you younglings, but trust me there's at least an entire generation of people who grew up on this cartoon and can sing along with this song any time.

 

Honestly, I'm hoping for something old-school, if the show gets an intro. I have fond memories of older space fantasy animes with catchy opening sequences:
Vandread
Irresponsible Captain Tylor
Nadesico
Gundam Wing

 

Maybe something like this, perhaps not in music style, but in how it's dynamic and dramatic and cool.

 

TOGRUTA YOU COMPLETE ME

That's one of the best theme songs of all time, I was going to get to it. If Fox had put that song in the first X-Men movie, say during the suit up/boarding the Blackbird scene, I would have creamed my pants. If Rebels even comes close to something like this, I will lose my freaking mind.

The beginning is all in your face, like it's 3D or something. It's a great build up.

The entire ensemble gets their own little introduction. You know, because it's a team, not just Wolverine. The intro is probably the coolest Jubilee ever looked.

It gets across the whole "people hate us cuz we're different so they chase us" theme, that's really what X-Men is all about. It's got the Sentinels, the Danger Room, it has it all!

The ending is fantastic, with the good guys charging the bad guys, and humanity caught in the middle. IT'S LIKE SO ARTISTIC.

And the KIRBY power waves at the end!

Bonus vid



lol they rotated the X-Men like action figures! They even gave them a little infobox with their powers. Believe me, this made you want to buy action figures soooooo freakin' bad. It's so cool, I wish I had a vid of me revolving on a pedestal, with an infobox noting my sweet superpowers.

 

Snappy openers really get ya pumped up to watch a show. When I was a kid back in the Fox Kids, classic Nicktoons, Disney afteroon days I'd get so excited to hear the theme play. LOL, and those weren't all cartoons. I still think Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers had the catchiest theme. Sure its repetitive but it just rocks. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was never far behind.



Maybe an intro something like the Transformers Prime one would work for Rebels.


Catchy, short, modern, with unique animation.

I consider anime intros a whole other animal. When it comes to anime openings/ endings. I also tend to fast forward them after the first few watches unless they are really awful like the Sword Art Online intro which get skipped right away. The only ones I watch almost everytime are GITS:SAC 2nd Gig intro "Rise", Record of Lodoss War, Outlaw Star, Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, Revolutionary Girl Utena, not surprisingly all the FMA/ FMA:B intros/ ending except for Golden Time Lover, and my personal favorite Fushigi Yuugi 1st intro "Itooshii hito no tame ni".



And sorry, just gotta throw one more video in here since we got Weisman on Rebels.

 

It was the main theme... of one show at least.



Such a tragedy...

 

Cowabunga, dudes.

 

Seerow: I always loved the Fushigi Yuugi intro too.

 

Not my favorite series ever, but probably the best anime intro song ever:



Though for personal reasons this is probably my favorite opening:

 

Totally.The intro to the new cartoon on Nick isn't bad either.

 

Rebels should have an intro akin to the Droids one: