It’s like you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge a show by its theme tune. Sometimes a great show has a lousy theme song, and vice versa. Case in point, one of my favourite 80s cartoons, “Visionaries: Knights Of The Magical Light” has arguably the dodgiest theme song ever (at least, the sung bit is awful - Malachi Throne’s voiceover is amazing).
Here’s my top ten theme songs from cartoons (I’ve limited it to cartoons and to actual sung themes, but feel free to include instrumentals if you like - it would allow classics like The Animals Of Farthing Wood).
King Arthur And The Knights Of Justice
if you’ve never heard of it, the premise was iffy but the theme tune was epic!
The Legend Of Prince Valiant
works beautifully as a song in its own right
Ghostbusters
of course!
Duck Tales
woo hoo!
Thundercats
I was pleasantly surprised how well this had aged when I first saw it again as an adult
The Mysterious Cities Of Gold
very geographically evocative
The Raggy Dolls
very poignant song for a kids’ show
Gummi Bears
whoever that singer is, he’s amazing!
Pole Position
unusually complex for a cartoon theme (anyone else spot the Hitch**** influence on the show?)
And I’ve just noticed the “bleeper” facility on this messageboard, so just in case anyone doesn’t know what I meant about the influence on Pole Position, I was referring to the director of such films as Psycho, North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief - Alfred Hitcchock (which I’ve deliberately typoed here so it should go through).
Ah, Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors - quality theme song! I remember getting up at 0600 to watch that on channel 4 during the week . . . watched an episode on youtube last week though and while I can see why I liked the show as a kid, I don’t think it’s aged that well.
Mind you some things don’t. My best friend once put on some old videos of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, and when I thought how much I loved it as a kid and how little I liked it as an adult, I cringed. Similarly, the theme from Bucky O’Hare was one of my favourites as a kid, but very much a product of its time, and watching the title sequence as an adult, I found myself shaking my head.
I only ever saw just a couple of episodes of JATWW. I didn’t find it very appealing. But the theme song always stuck with me. I think it was composed by Shuki Levy, if I’m not mistaken.
Oh and how could I forget to include the theme song of M.A.S.K. in my list? That was very catchy too!
The JATWW theme was indeed Shuky Levy, who also did the themes for Ulysses 31 (great concept, cringeworthy theme tune), and Pole Position (unusually complex for a cartoon theme). And I would guess he also did the theme for King Arthur & The Knights Of Justice - on the basis that, like the others, it was produced by Jean Chalopin, and Levy appears to be his composer of choice (like Steven Spielberg always using John Williams, or Robert Zemeckis always using Alan Silvestri).
But you’re right, there’s something about the show that’s just a little too contrived. I watched episode 1 but will not bother watching any more. The “radiation created sentient evil humanoid plants” concept is dodgier than your average B-movie! Jayce is meant to be yet another Lion-O/He-Man type figure, Oon is more annoying than Snarfer, Herc is a cliche of a mercenary and Gillian, although on the surface a potentially interesting character, needs to make up his mind - magician or mechanic?
