Tv Openings/Movie Intros That Really Stand Out

[Sora383]

Good Evening fellow escapist members,

I was cruising YouTube tonight and I started thinking about how much tv and movie streaming that I along with the rest of the world has had to/got to do this past year and I started to wonder what intros/openings really in my memory over the span of my tv watching life and maybe other peoples as well. So I thought it be kinda fun to post a few and see what other people post to, heck may even discover new shows or movies to watch while we are still at home.

I personally am an anime addict and have watched a lot. But two that always kind of pop into my head are:

Kiznaiver’s opening:


And Guilty Crown especially the first op:


When it comes to non anime tv can’t go wrong with the nice straight forward person of interest intro:




Hopefully this is the right part of the forum to post this and I look forward to seeing what anyone else’s posts.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

 

[Gordon_4]

A better openning for a political satire I cannot imagine

There are better ops in anime - Cowboy Bebop comes to mind - but it truly is one sequence I will always remember, that shot of Unit-01 with the wings was my buy in.

This isn't the first opening of 'The Bill' but its probably one of the most well remembered variants.

 

[09philj]

Almost every version of the Doctor Who theme is great, but I particularly like this version for the first series of the revival.

The BBC's old sports program Grandstand had an absurdly catchy theme.

Come to think of it, the BBC's intros for sport are consistently great.

Spoiler

Formula 1: Wimbledon: Match of the Day: Beijing 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr5ZWYRaAyw

 

[BrawlMan]

​

 

[stroopwafel]

This immaculately written mini series had an intro I never skipped.


The entire ost of Legend of the Galactic Heroes is sublime but the intro of season 2 is still one of my favorites.

 

[Xprimentyl]

​

A'yup.

 

[Cicada 5]

Teen Wolf


Buffy the Vampire Slayer


Angel


Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go

 

[Cicada 5]

The first five intros of the American Digimon dubs.

 

[Cicada 5]

One Tree Hill

 

[BrawlMan]

The first five intros of the American Digimon dubs.

My personal favorite is the Frontier opening. I find this opening the most unique.

 

[happyninja42]

The original Matrix opening. It's a perfect example of establishing a lot of the elements, especially the threat of the Agents, by showing us someone do something badass, but be terrified of THEM.


I'm annoyed that this clip cuts out the very next sequence, where Trinity dives through the window, directly into a tumble/roll down some stairs, instantly flips around onto her back, and draws out 2 pistols, aiming at the way she came from. It's such a great capstone on the threat of the Agents. We just see her easily clear a room full of cops, without breaking a sweat, when she's told 3 Agents are there, she's about to panic, and is told to run like hell. Which she does, and is doggedly pursued, when they start doing impossible things, and we see Trinity execute a precision dive/tumble/etc, she's visibly terrified. She's shaking, panting, FULLY expects the Agent to come through that same impossible leap she did, like the fucking Terminator, and has to forcibly shake herself out of being frozen in place from fear "Get up Trinity......GET UP!" she tells herself. And then proceeds to run some more.

It felt so perfect, on setting the tone, the threat level of the players, and how they are viewed by each other. Even the Agents acknowledge the power of people like Trinity, when Smith calmly says "No Lieutenant, they're already dead." And yet HE doesn't seem phased at all.

The way the scenes transition from the opening logo, to the data crawl, to the simulation rendering of the real world, and boom, we're in. Such a solid opening.

 

[BrawlMan]

The original Matrix opening. It's a perfect example of establishing a lot of the elements, especially the threat of the Agents, by showing us someone do something badass, but be terrified of THEM.


I'm annoyed that this clip cuts out the very next sequence, where Trinity dives through the window, directly into a tumble/roll down some stairs, instantly flips around onto her back, and draws out 2 pistols, aiming at the way she came from. It's such a great capstone on the threat of the Agents. We just see her easily clear a room full of cops, without breaking a sweat, when she's told 3 Agents are there, she's about to panic, and is told to run like hell. Which she does, and is doggedly pursued, when they start doing impossible things, and we see Trinity execute a precision dive/tumble/etc, she's visibly terrified. She's shaking, panting, FULLY expects the Agent to come through that same impossible leap she did, like the fucking Terminator, and has to forcibly shake herself out of being frozen in place from fear "Get up Trinity......GET UP!" she tells herself. And then proceeds to run some more.

It felt so perfect, on setting the tone, the threat level of the players, and how they are viewed by each other. Even the Agents acknowledge the power of people like Trinity, when Smith calmly says "No Lieutenant, they're already dead." And yet HE doesn't seem phased at all.

The way the scenes transition from the opening logo, to the data crawl, to the simulation rendering of the real world, and boom, we're in. Such a solid opening.

When my family and I first saw this on video back in 99, all of our faces were set to stun. As far as favorite movie openings, it's been a while but here some I remember off back of my head.

​

 

[09philj]

Oh, and how could I forget all the great opening title sequences for Gerry Anderson series?

Spoiler

Thunderbirds

Stingray (Stingraaaaaay Stingray!)

UFO

Space: 1999

One Tree Hill

That's one of the most aggressively "early 2000s" things I've ever seen.

 

[Gordon_4]

Oh, and how could I forget all the great opening title sequences for Gerry Anderson series?

Spoiler

Thunderbirds

Stingray (Stingraaaaaay Stingray!)

UFO

Space: 1999

That's one of the most aggressively "early 2000s" things I've ever seen.

You missed one.

 

[Ringo]

Z

The music kicks ass, but the use of text and imagery, and the off-kilter rhythms of the editing (and how the text is always positioned differently) really let you know this film has energy and a lot of it is going to be used to illustrate how corrupt and wrong things were in Greece. Also who could dislike the note the credits end on:

"“Any resemblance to real events and dead or living people is not a coincidence. It is INTENTIONAL.”"

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Always been a big fan of the Hellsing opening.

 

[Dalisclock]

I can think of a bunch off the top of my head.

The one for the Wire captures the feel nicely.


The Expanse(which I'm watching now) has a beatiful etheral tone to it.


Carnival Row had a cool intro which sadly the show rarely lived up to.


Speaking of which, Canivale had a haunting intro and really makes me sad we only got 2 seasons of it


Of course, there was ROME, which felt like blended the grounded and the background religion in a rather interesting manner.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Ok, bit different from the others posted above, but one that really stands out for me.

 

[Gordon_4]

Actually now that I think of it, a fair few British police shows had very memorable intros. I have listed two below, though I suspect there are many others.

Spoiler

-The Sweeney. The show about the Met's legendarily rough (and bent as fuck) armed robbery group, The Flying Squad.

-The Professionals. Okay, uh, imagine Starsky and Hutch if they had James Bond's remit.