Board 8 > Jesse Ranks TV Show Intros - The Rankings

(+) Yeah! (+)

Following along and love the write-ups, but also not much to say yet.

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98. The Amazing Race (season 22) - Raka_Putra
https://youtu.be/jtp9GzvWh9U

Unique: 1.5
Story: 1.25
Music: 5
Animation: N/A
Personal: 1.5
Average: 2.3125

I dont like reality shows. At all. Im going to spare everyone my rant about the genre and leave it at that. But it certainly affected my scoring.

One aspect of this intro I liked was the footage of people and places from around the world. But I would have liked to see more of the culture and less (or should I say none) of the contestants who I dont care about. Speaking of which, I think I already hate Chuck & Wynona, and I havent even seen the show. And while on that subject, aside from the fleeting clips of other countries, this comes across as a fairly conventional reality show sequence.

This is one of those intros where the story is the premise of the show. Its a bunch of teams racing around the world. One way to make that an interesting narrative while focusing on the contestants could be to show them immersed in different environments. But this intro shows the contestants in their natural element, cut off from the places they will be visiting. And the personalities of the contestants barely come across from the brief shots of them looking into the camera.

The music has a lively, energetic tone which suits the theme of the show being a race. But not to beat a dead horse, it sounds like the type of music Id expect to hear on most any reality show. It could have been cool to hear the theme incorporate musical styles from other regions of the world to showcase how this program differs from other reality shows. Regardless, I did like the song for the most part, particularly the backing vocals.

As a final note, I was surprised to learn this show has been on the air for 31 seasons.

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97. Kirby: Right Back at Ya! - WhiteLens
https://youtu.be/guePAKUEcvA

Unique: 1.5
Story: 1
Music: 5.25
Animation: 1.25
Personal: 4
Average: 2.6

This intro has a lot of problems, but the theme song is actually pretty good. I dont know who looked at Kirby and decided this character needs big band music, but it somehow worked, making the intro more fun and lively than it probably would have been with a more conventional theme song.

But aside from the theme song, theres nothing unique about the presentation and hardly any story. Weve got a dum pink ball with lots of weird powers and a penguin who wants to kill him. And if anything, that sentence just made the story sound more interesting than what we actually see in the intro.

As for the low animation score, I had no choice but to penalize this intro heavily for the astonishingly bad animation during the talking sequence (starting at around 0:21). Literally no portion of King Dedede or the character with him (whose name I admittedly dont know) moves other than their mouths when they speak, and it really stands out. Its inexcusably sloppy work, and although the rest of the intro looks much better, its hardly ever impressive.

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One more before I call it a night.

96. Skeleton Warriors - Murphiroth
https://youtu.be/a3ZlpTp_dJA

Unique: 1
Story: 1.25
Music: 1.75
Animation: 3.75
Personal: 5.25
Average: 2.6

I actually had to look this one up to make sure it was a real show because that intro seemed like such self-parody. But like the intro for Monster by Mistake, I enjoyed this one for its humor value. Sure, I started off shaking my head, but right about the time that skeleton riding the hoverbike did its sinister laugh (at 0:27), I couldnt help but grin. So for me, this fell into the category of so bad its actually kind of good.

But moving onto the objective criteria, I am forced to score this as the low tier intro that it is. The animation is okay, but below average when you consider that this show was made in 1995, not the 80s as it might appear. And the music is some kind of watered down hard rock that sounds like a character in a PG rated 80s movie playing guitar in a way thats supposed to be edgy.

As for the story, well, its about Skeleton Warriors I guess, which apparently means the heroes battle evil skeletons who shoot lasers. Its not much of a story, but we at least get a sense of the conflict.

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Well, that's a fair assessment. It's not among my top favorites, but I think it's pretty nice for the genre to have at least a representation here.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

I dont like reality shows. At all. Im going to spare everyone my rant about the genre and leave it at that.

I would like to hear this rant. I can't stand the genre, and I'd be curious if we share reasons why.

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Skeleton Warriors is indeed not great and more humorously dumb than anything. The only reason I have a fondness for it and it still sticks around in my brain is because it was a running joke with the Super Best Friends YouTube channel, which eventually led to this remix from audio of their Dark Souls 3 LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de-ArDJjUDY

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TomNook posted...

I would like to hear this rant. I can't stand the genre, and I'd be curious if we share reasons why.

Sure, why not? I have many issues with the genre, but the biggest would have to be the way it incentives participants to maintain some kind of persona (good or bad) to get attention, and the way participants are built up into essentially celebrities based on having the winning persona, rather than on actual ability and talent. And while there is perhaps some element of truth to the personalities displayed, it comes across to me as mostly dishonest and for show. Because nobody is going to act the way they normally do when they know theyre being filmed, and the only way you could truly do a reality show is to film someone who doesnt realize the camera is running.

To a lesser extent, I also hate the contrived sense of drama and suspense they try to create with eliminations, and the way so many of these shows tend to follow the same exact format. Thats just a few issues off the top of my head.

How about for you?

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Jesse_Custer posted...

How about for you?

I agree with all of your points.

In an expansion to your first point, the bad thing about regular people taking it upon themselves to exaggerate a personality is that they aren't writers. They are mostly untalented people seeking fame, so their attempts at 'writing' a character of themselves is based on what they have seen on TV, which leads to a lot of dull cliches, more than you'd get from an actual written show, so it's not even worthwhile as a low-brow drama/comedy/whatever they are going for. Most of these people lack any real improvisation skill too, which makes it bad.

In addition, many shows straight up script false drama (Kardashians, Pawn Stars, Survivor, The Bachelor, etc) and the people clearly aren't actors, so it's never able to be sold, and it's often vapid in content anyway.

I suppose I hold more of a grudge against the genre for what it did to TV for a while, especially in the 2000s when all the networks were heavily bandwagoning into it.

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TomNook posted...

In an expansion to your first point, the bad thing about regular people taking it upon themselves to exaggerate a personality is that they aren't writers. They are mostly untalented people seeking fame, so their attempts at 'writing' a character of themselves is based on what they have seen on TV, which leads to a lot of dull cliches, more than you'd get from an actual written show, so it's not even worthwhile as a low-brow drama/comedy/whatever they are going for. Most of these people lack any real improvisation skill too, which makes it bad.

This is a really interesting point. Because it might initially sound strange to consider a fictional show more believable than a show involving real people. But thats exactly what a good writer can do is make you care about a fictional character as if theyre someone close to you. Whereas I have trouble getting invested in the personalities I see in reality shows, perhaps because like you said, theyre not good writers.

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I actually hate reality tv but I hate things like amazing race or the voice less than say big brother.
i actually cant fathom why anybody would spend hours of their lives just watching other people in a house doing the exact same things you yourself are doing.
we dont have survivor here so I cant comment but I imagine Id hate that too, one of my biggest peeves is that there are so many reality shows that are nothing to do with reality. Im a celebrity and survivor are good examples of this. Thats not reality so why is it called a reality show.
Anyway, enjoying the ranking hope this doesnt sidetrack the topic with a reality tv debate

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95. Community (Basic Lupine Urology) - Mega Mana
https://youtu.be/bl0rCGjxW-Q

Unique: 1.25
Story: 1
Music: 4.25
Animation: N/A
Personal: 4.25
Average: 2.6875

This was a pretty clever parody of the intro to Law and Order:

https://youtu.be/TzJm9vTCff8

If you watch them together, you can see the close attention to details down to the style of the music. But the trouble is my scoring factors simply arent designed for an intro of this type. Every intro is supposed to be scored on its own individual merit, without considering the actual show, let alone an entirely different show. And what this intro fails to tell me is what the show is actually about (aside from perhaps the genre).

All of which is to explain why this intro, no matter how clever a parody it might be, didnt score all that well. Without context, this is a series of disconnected images without a coherent story. The intro doesnt give me any insight into the characters personalities or even the premise of the show. And its not presented in a particularly novel manner (which makes sense given that its presentation is literally taken from another intro).

As for my personal score, I appreciate what they were going for with this sequence, but its not resonating much with me because I havent actually watched Community (which I probably should at some point because Ive only ever heard good things).

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I do understand the sentiment. But at least The Amazing Race could showcase different places all around the world and interesting challenges and not rely on interpersonal drama too much.

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Raka_Putra posted...

I do understand the sentiment. But at least The Amazing Race could showcase different places all around the world and interesting challenges and not rely on interpersonal drama too much.

Absolutely, if I was going to watch a reality show, The Amazing Race would probably be one of my first choices. And I hope I didnt give the impression I was picking on that show, I was speaking more to the genre with shows like Big Brother or, shudder, Jersey Shore.

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Ooh that's the first really surprising entry.

But i think i get what youre saying

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Eddv posted...

Ooh that's the first really surprising entry.

But i think i get what youre saying

Yeah, I think its the first one so far where I really have no gripes with the intro itself and wouldnt even change a thing about it. So perhaps Im being unfair ranking it so low, but my goal with this topic is to (as much as possible) watch these intros in a vacuum without context and see if they work. Kind of the way I did when ranking cover art.

Of course, the exception to that is the Personal score.

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I'm enjoying the list a lot too, though I'm kinda shocked one of mine hasn't appeared yet. It seemed a shoe-in for the bottom of the list, but thinking about it again, I suppose it does tell a story quite well.

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94. Kim Possible - kateee
https://youtu.be/GIgLqN_rAXU

Unique: 1.25
Story: 2.25
Music: 3.5
Animation: 5
Personal: 1.5
Average: 2.7

I cant bring myself to like this intro, but Im sure Im not the target audience.

The animation is fine, but has no distinctive qualities. In fact, this intro looks like plenty of other cartoons, and immediately made me think of Phineas and Ferb. The only thing that makes this intro slightly unique are the parts with a digital look.

Theres some story here, but its mostly just the premise of the show. An ordinary girl whos also a super spy, and a surprisingly large amount of focus on another male character who seems to serve no purpose other than comic relief. It would have been more interesting to see more scenes that showcase her double identity, such as the way she notices trouble while cheerleading.

Lastly, I didnt much care for the theme song, which sounds like generic pop music designed to appeal to a specific age group. But its tolerable, and at least suits the tone of the intro they were going for.

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93. Pole Position - Raetsel_Lapin
https://youtu.be/EQXqHNHPLHI

Unique: 1.75
Story: 1.25
Music: 2.25
Animation: 3.75
Personal: 4.5
Average: 2.7

This is a candidate for the most 80s thing ever. Its strange that I dont specifically remember ever watching this show, but Id swear Ive seen those talking faces in the cars before.

I actually liked the extremely 80s synthesizer at the start, but the theme song went downhill from there, especially the chorus with really subpar vocals. The artwork for the characters' faces looks amateurish even by 80s standards, and the animation of the vehicle going up the ramp into a flip is just plain lazy. That being said, the animation at least did a good job of creating a sense of rapid motion with some interesting background details that give the feel of a digital world.

Theres hardly any story here. All we get are some kids riding around in knock-off Knight Rider cars, and a vague statement about how the kids, like their parents before them, are the secret force of Pole Position. Is that supposed to mean something to someone who hasnt seen the show other than the name of a video game? And exactly what happened to these kids parents? Were they tragically killed while trying to perform some aerial flip set to 80s synthesizers? I have many questions, including whats the deal with that large rat creature in the car (at 0:48)?

Regardless of its faults, this intro screams the 80s enough that I cant really dislike it.

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I was today years old when I realized Pole Position got an animated tv series.

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92. Burn Notice (Season 6) - Murphiroth
https://youtu.be/pKXkls2djVA

Unique: 1
Story: 3.75
Music: N/A
Animation: N/A
Personal: 3.5
Average: 2.75

It wouldnt really be fair to call this a bad intro. In fact, it wouldnt exactly be fair to call this an intro. This strikes me as a commercial masquerading as an intro. Theres only the faintest hint of music in the background (not enough for me to even assign a meaningful score), while the main character narrates the premise of the show with a series of clips. I half expected to hear tune in Tuesdays at 8 PM at the end.

You might think spelling out the plot of the show for the viewers would at least warrant a higher score for Story. But the plot as described by the narrator comes across like someone pitching a premise to a studio executive, distilled of any meaningful details. For instance, we learn the narrator is in Miami, with a cliche shot of women in bikinis, and the narrator later tells us about such exciting characters as a down and out spy he met along the way, which is not much more interesting than starting out a book with it was a dark and stormy night.

What the intro never gives us, however, is some reason to care because its so impressed with its own premise that it believes thats a good enough reason to watch the show. Of course, the show could be great. But I could have had about the exact same reaction from reading a blurb about this show on Wikipedia as I did watching this sequence. So it doesnt work as an intro.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

Theres hardly any story here. All we get are some kids riding around in knock-off Knight Rider cars, and a vague statement about how the kids, like their parents before them, are the secret force of Pole Position. Is that supposed to mean something to someone who hasnt seen the show other than the name of a video game?

Haven't actually watched the show, but I think the lyrics spell out more of the setup than that.

Never too far behind, they're always fighting crime
Undercover and facing adventure in the DANGER ZONE

...

What's behind this stunt show? Only their uncle knows.

So they're traveling the world fighting crime, using a traveling stunt exhibition as their cover. You could say it's a terrible story littered with plot holes--if you're undercover, you probably don't want to draw a lot of attention to your special vehicles; there's no given reason these kids should be part of a crime-fighting organization other than family ties--but I think there's more there than just riding cars.

Animal sidekick was probably just a lame attempt at mimicking Speed Racer. Speed Racer had a much younger sibling and a pet monkey, they have a younger sibling and a pet...*googles* genetically created monkey/raccoon hybrid.

...I'm torn between saying "that sounds as incredibly dangerous as it is stupid" and "I love the idea of stealing animal sidekicks and just splicing an unrelated animal to pretend it's an original idea. We should do this for all cartoons! He-Man had a giant cat, our show should have a...*rolls dice*...giant cat/manatee hybrid!"

So yeah. It's a weird knock-off that steals ideas from Knight Rider & Speed Racer that somehow has the license of a completely unrelated videogame, with a plot that falls apart under the slightest amount of scrutiny. But there was a plot in those lyrics!

...Also unrelated, but I swear there was some band that released an instrumental cover of this song under a completely unrelated name. I found it on YouTube once, but I don't recall any details and none of my search terms bring up anything related. A pity, it would have actually been halfway relevant.
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Jesse_Custer posted...

Burn Notice (Season 6)

I don't know anything about this show, but I am impressed by how many explosions they crammed into this intro. I almost want to watch just to see if everything around the main character is constantly exploding like this video implied.
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Raetsel_Lapin posted...

Haven't actually watched the show, but I think the lyrics spell out more of the setup than that.

Never too far behind, they're always fighting crime
Undercover and facing adventure in the DANGER ZONE

...

What's behind this stunt show? Only their uncle knows.

So they're traveling the world fighting crime, using a traveling stunt exhibition as their cover. You could say it's a terrible story littered with plot holes--if you're undercover, you probably don't want to draw a lot of attention to your special vehicles; there's no given reason these kids should be part of a crime-fighting organization other than family ties--but I think there's more there than just riding cars.

I cant say I noticed that line about fighting crime. It actually makes the intro seem less effective to me, since that seems like a pretty vital plot point that doesnt come across from anything shown for the entire intro. We dont actually see them chasing after a criminal or doing anything other than driving around performing stunts. It seems to me like if thats the premise of the show, it should be more than something alluded to in the song lyrics.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

I cant say I noticed that line about fighting crime. It actually makes the intro seem less effective to me, since that seems like a pretty vital plot point that doesnt come across from anything shown for the entire intro. We dont actually see them chasing after a criminal or doing anything other than driving around performing stunts. It seems to me like if thats the premise of the show, it should be more than a brief mention in the song lyrics.

Yeah, I agree with that. Focusing only on the secret identity is a bit baffling; skimming the Wikipedia article and video comments, allegedly, the show didn't have any recurring villains or evil organizations to deal with. Which might have put the intro animators in a rough spot--can't really show the characters fighting evil, if there's...no specific evil to fight against?
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91. Channel Umptee 3 - GameBopAdv
https://youtu.be/cIw-bfK8UWw

Unique: 6
Story: 5
Music: 0.5
Animation: 2.5
Personal: 0.75
Average: 2.95

While I disliked the juvenile tone of this intro that seemed way too impressed with itself, I have to admit it was fairly unique. You dont tend to see a lot of fourth wall breaking intros among childrens cartoons (or any type of show for that matter). And it was an interesting touch to start with someone rapidly flipping through channels as one of the characters keeps screaming for your attention until he finally gets it. Its kind of obnoxious, but its also honest, since perhaps the main goal of a TV intro really is to hold your attention long enough to get you to watch the show.

However, the rest of the intro is not nearly as novel, and there was really no need to repeat the TV channel gimmick later on. The sequence is way too long, with what is basically a cartoon short crammed in the middle of the opening gimmick and the segment with the theme song. But despite how dull I found it, the intro does manage to tell a story about the characters deciding to create their own network, particularly with the self-aware character who speaks directly to the viewer.

The theme song really irritated me. It seemed like it was going for an Animaniacs vibe, but really missed the mark. At times the characters just sing the same note over and over, and theres hardly any sense of melody. Also, the animation is highly simplistic, and at times was just downright ugly.

Basically this intro had a decent concept to work with, but the execution wasnt too good.

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90. One Punch Man - Xeybozn
https://youtu.be/atxYe-nOa9w

Unique: 3
Story: 0.5
Music: 2.5
Animation: 5.5
Personal: 3.5
Average: 3

I could actually see this one ranking high for some people, especially if they werent considering things like story and novelty.

Most problematic, theres hardly any story here that I can discern. All Im really taking away from the intro is its about a hero whos really really good at punching bad guys, which you should be able to figure out from the title (although on a personal level, the title of this show has always made me think of Batman decking Guy Gardner).

The brief segment from around 0:17 to 0:19 was interesting, with the enormous creatures facing the hero, who diminishes in size with each one. Its a shame the rest of the intro was much more conventional. The only other attribute that prevented the Unique score from coming in lower was the animation, which involved a fairly distinct style, although its hardly groundbreaking. And speaking of the animation, it looks pretty good for the most part, but there were a few weird frames in which I disliked the style (most notably the grotesque facial expression at around 1:01).

As for the theme song, I think this is one you either love or hate, and it didnt work for me. Honestly I found it so grating I would have scored this intro even lower on Music if not for the fact that it often tied in so well to the visuals.

Like I said, I think a different person could have a very different ranking for this one, and increasingly youll start to see more debatable intros like this one on the list now.

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One more for tonight.

89. One Piece - RyoCaliente
https://youtu.be/Tyr7Ymbtl2Y

Unique: 1.5
Story: 1.5
Music: 3.75
Animation: 4.75
Personal: 3.75
Average: 3.05

This is a mostly generic intro where the novelty comes mostly from the distinctive animation style. And on the subject of animation, some parts of this intro look really nice, most notably the water starting at around 0:14. But way too many portions of the intro are just still shots of the characters, many of whom are lacking much in the way of details.

The theme song was on the repetitive side, although certainly not unpleasant to listen to. I think the song (much like the intro as a whole) could have come across better if it was about 30 seconds shorter, as this starts to drag on.

As for Story, its fairly shallow. You get some sense of the camaraderie of the group, and many of the character designs have an innate sense of personality to them. But the sequence plays like a series of random clips from episodes taken out of context, with little meaning to those who havent seen the show.

Finally, while having no bearing on my ranking, Ill note that I tried watching the first couple episodes of this show for the first time recently. Im not sure its grabbing me yet, but Im guessing its way too early to form a meaningful opinion.

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I love Burn Notice's intro but you're not really wrong with anything you said about it. It's got a strong vibe that it shares with a lot of the shows USA Network was airing at the time, definitely a late 2000s/early 2010s feel.

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Raetsel_Lapin posted...

I don't know anything about this show, but I am impressed by how many explosions they crammed into this intro. I almost want to watch just to see if everything around the main character is constantly exploding like this video implied.

There's explosions probably every other episode!

The show was kind of like a modern MacGuyver.

It's not anything mind blowing but watching Jeffrey Donovan throw on different accents and take on different cover IDs every episode was great, and occasionally he'd get to ham it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmVUU_B0obo

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Murphiroth posted...

The show was kind of like a modern MacGuyver.

Now youre intriguing me.

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Jesse_Custer posted...

Now youre intriguing me.

Spy gets stuck in Miami, has to take on random jobs with his friends as backup while traversing the metaplot of why he's been burned from the spy world and abandoned in Miami.

Lots of improvising with makeshift gadgets, scenarios, and cover IDs is the bit that reminded me of MacGuyver. Usually this is all done very quickly for whatever the client of the week needs done. It's fun stuff.

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Murphiroth posted...

There's explosions probably every other episode!

I have no idea why, but that's a pretty good selling point. I'll have to look into an episode or two someday. (Same with Gokaiger actually, I forgot to respond to that one earlier.)
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There's usually a voiceover of what he's doing and why during the MacGuyvering. Even the pilot has it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4f-RDr2B8U

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I gather this is kind of an unpopular opinion, but that's actually one of my least favorite One Piece openings.

Anyway, yeah, One Piece takes a little while to get going. There's a few arcs before the one where it starts to be great, a few more before the one where it starts to be amazing, and then a couple more before it starts to be truly extraordinary. Unfortunately, that's a lot of episodes in an anime of that length.

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Murphiroth posted...

There's usually a voiceover of what he's doing and why during the MacGuyvering. Even the pilot has it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4f-RDr2B8U

I liked that clip. I may check this show out sometime, assuming I can find it.

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NBIceman posted...

Anyway, yeah, One Piece takes a little while to get going. There's a few arcs before the one where it starts to be great, a few more before the one where it starts to be amazing, and then a couple more before it starts to be truly extraordinary. Unfortunately, that's a lot of episodes in an anime of that length.

Good to know. Ill probably try to keep going with it and see how it goes.

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Let me know if you want me to be more specific. I'm always wary of talking about particular arcs or seasons in a TV show since that always plays with expectations, but again, for something the breadth of OP I could understand wanting to have an idea of where you're supposed to kind of find your footing as far as an opinion on its quality.

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I used to love burn notice

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I'm not surprised BNW is the first of my openings to go. I think it's one of the best ones and super hype especially for when it aired. I don't really think any One Piece opening does a really great job at being representative to the story except for maaaybe One Day (or Share the World which I love but is longer and has a lot of stuff in it, but that one might've worked better.

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88. Nightmare Cafe - Snake5555555555
https://youtu.be/6ss4ctfUDIo

Unique: 2
Story: 2
Music: 4.75
Animation: N/A
Personal: 3.5
Average: 3.0625

This intro seems thrown together without a coherent vision of what they wanted it to accomplish. It starts out with an extended narration segment, followed by what seems like an entirely different intro thats just a series of images set to music. Its almost as if they made two intros, and decided neither worked on its own, so they threw them both together.

With a few exceptions to come later on this list, using narration to tell a story doesnt tend to work that well. It gets the plot across clearly, but the intro never tells us what makes Frank and Faye interesting as characters, just that theyre both stuck in this weird diner. And the musical segment gives the viewer even less in the way of story, with clips plucked from the show and taken out of context like a random explosion (presumably to show theres going to be action).

The theme song isnt bad, with synthesizers that vaguely reminded me of the X-Files theme (before the X-Files theme ever aired), although its obviously nowhere near as interesting a song. The theme song seemed intended to create a moody sense of atmosphere, but one problem with it is it often didnt seem to fit the accompanying visuals.

And on the subject of the visuals, theres very little that stands out as memorable, let alone remotely scary. One part I did find interesting was when Faye opened the door to see what looked like outer space, which had a Twilight Zone vibe to it. It would have been nice to see more weird stuff like that, and less bland shots of the characters doing nothing.

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The intro definitely reflects the show's messiness in its conception. It was originally supposed to be an anthology show but it was changed last minute to star Frank and Faye every episode instead, and the show became more of a sitcom meets horror show instead. But I do love the early 90s vibes of the intro anyway, especially the effect used to make the title come into view. That is so good! Admittedly though some parts are too blatantly Twilight Zone rip-offs, especially the floating eye-balls.

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87. Sonic the Hedgehog - Raetsel_Lapin
https://youtu.be/7R2vFDIBToI

Unique: 1
Story: 3.5
Music: 5
Animation: 4.5
Personal: 1.5
Average: 3.1

While I liked this more than the intro to Sonic X, it still seemed like it was going out of its way to make Sonic seem cool. Without any hint of subtlety, the singer reminds us, hes got an attitude. Im guessing this intro would appeal much more to those who actually like Sonic than it did for me.

Despite my not caring for the lyrics, however, I thought the theme song was surprisingly good for a cartoon of this nature. The singer, at times, was over the top, but has a pleasant voice, and the song has a decent melody.

I initially was going to score this intro lower on Story, but after a few watches Im seeing more to it. For one thing, theres the way Dr. Robotniks airship casts a menacing shadow over the peaceful village. I also thought it was effective the way the intro depicts Sonic and friends sneaking around in the ship, and hiding when the shadow of a robot guard can be seen. If the entire intro was like that, I could have gone much higher on the Story score, but it falls into mostly conventional uninteresting action sequences after that. The only other story that comes across is this community of anthropomorphic animals living in the woods celebrating at the end (which is making me think of an Ewok party). So yeah, there is some story hiding in this intro, but in my view, its overtaken by a bunch of generic action scenes and shallow characterization.

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86. That 70s Show - ChaosTonyV4
https://youtu.be/YdDC0XzhOEo

Unique: 5
Story: 1.75
Music: 5
Animation: N/A
Personal: 0.75
Average: 3.125

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I hate this show. I dont like any of the characters, I dont find any of the jokes funny, and I cant stand the thinly veiled racism involving Fez. I could go on and on, but Im supposed to be talking about the intro.

Despite my personal feelings, this isnt a bad intro objectively. The theme song fits the intended carefree tone and works well for the characters to sing along with. And although the sequence is basically a less interesting version of the Bohemian Rhapsody scene from Waynes World, it manages to avoid being a generic series of clips of each of the characters like so many sitcom intros.

But the intro falls short on story. We do get a sense of the strong bond between each of these friends having a good time just living and being young. But theres no differentiating any of them from each other in this sequence, theyre all acting pretty much the same. Regardless, the intro accomplishes what it tries to do, and not every intro has to have some deeper meaning.

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Finally somebody else who doesnt like this show!

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Not that I think the season 2+ OP is better but its weird he went with season 1


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That 70s Show is great

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85. My Mother, the Car - bryans7
https://youtu.be/A_3jcDKUBtQ

Unique: 1.75
Story: 2.25
Music: 4.25
Animation: N/A
Personal: 4.25
Average: 3.125

Sometimes I get to thinking humanity is getting dumber over time. But then I see something like this and am reminded that humanity has always been this way. Thats not to say I hated this intro. Its got a whimsical quality thats kind of difficult to hate. Just that its, well, a dumb concept.

This is one of those intros where the story is basically the premise of the show. And I cant help but wonder how much time was spent thinking up that premise. Did they consider alternate versions like My Mother, the Kitchen Table, or My Mother, the Bed (which could make for some awkward scenes involving the main characters love life). The only reason I didnt score this lower on Story is they went to the trouble of creating a bizarre kind of mythology (on a very superficial level) about reincarnation, and even gave the car some hint of personality with those noises it keeps making. That and the unexpected twist that the mother apparently chose to come back as the car, which raises all kinds of questions about what kind of person would want to be a car (which Im probably not meant to be considering).

The theme song seems generic for its era and kind of forgettable, but is also pleasant enough to listen to and works for this intro. The presentation is also not too novel, although it is at least a bit unusual to see a sitcom intro with only one character (unless you count the car) just doing the same activity for the entire sequence.

And Im actually surprised I found that much to say about this one.

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A better question is how she came back as such an old car, even for the time. Did she possess an existing car, or was a new 1928 Porter created just for her?

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Anagram posted...

A better question is how she came back as such an old car, even for the time. Did she possess an existing car, or was a new 1928 Porter created just for her?

I hadnt even considered the concept that they manufactured an old car to contain the consciousness of a dead person. Sounds like a concept Charlie Brooker could work with.

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