Thread by @rob_sheridan

It's #SaturdayMorning, perfect time for a thread of great 80s/90s cartoon intro themes, a spectacular lost animation/music art form that's a joy to revisit. Chosen for epic intros/songs, not on quality of the actual shows.

Let's start with my personal favorite, M.A.S.K. (1985)

SPIRAL ZONE (1987). Hell of a metal theme song here.

SILVERHAWKS (1986). Come for the space rainbows, stay for the space cowboy guitar solo.

BRAVESTARR (1987). Space cowboys were for some reason a big thing in the mid-80s, and naturally had some of the best and wildest intros.

C.O.P.S. (1988). "Fighting crime in a future time!" I don't really remember much about this show, but damned if I don't remember the theme music like it was yesterday.

DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH (1985). You could tell me this is a @jackblack Tenacious D song and I wouldn't question you.

THUNDERCATS (1985). One of the all-time greats, of course.

JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS (1985). Can't have a glam show without a great glam theme song.

This thread to be continued next Saturday

"Set your axe on stun!" ADVENTURES OF THE GALAXY RANGERS (1986), yet another space cowboy entry, went the extra mile with its 80s theme song, making a full-length music video for "No Guts No Glory." The whole thing won't even fit on Twitter, find it here:

POLE POSITION (1984), based obviously very loosely on the classic arcade game, has a great synth riff and some high-energy hair-metal high notes.

JAYCE AND THE WHEELED WARRIORS (1985). One hell of a motivational 80s power-rock anthem here.

TRANSFORMERS (1984). Obviously one of the all-time classics. That radical robot voice is permanently burned into the memory of every 80s kid.

KIDD VIDEO (1984). This one is a little bit different than the others, but it's just too hilariously 80s to leave out.

TIGERSHARKS (1987). Someone definitely pitched "what if Thundercats, but... fish?" This intro distinguishes itself with a jazzy theme.

INHUMANOIDS (1986). There are some genuinely brilliantly-crafted songs in 80s cartoon intros, and then there's INHUMANOIDS, with its alarming guttural growl.

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1987). One of the most beloved and widely-remembered cartoon intros of all time, and for good reason.

Tune in next Saturday morning for another batch of animated goodness!

Kicking off another round of classic #SaturdayMorning cartoon intros/themes with STAR WARS: DROIDS (1985). It's #StarWars so obvs they'll use the most memorable film theme of all time, right? No way man, that's so 1977! What 80s kids crave is an original song by Stewart Copeland!

VISIONARIES: KNIGHTS OF THE MAGICAL LIGHT (1987). These action figures had holograms on them, and holograms were EXTREMELY COOL in 1987. There's also some fantastic animation here, as it was outsourced by Hasbro to Japanese anime studio TMS Entertainment.

DENVER: THE LAST DINOSAUR (1988). "What are kids into? Skateboards! BMX bikes! Guitars! Radical sunglasses! Rock music! DINOSAURS! Okay, throw them all together!" They're trying extremely hard here, but it sure is a catchy theme.

GALAXY HIGH SCHOOL (1986). I mean, how is this not a Daft Punk song?

DINOSAUCERS (1987). What's better than dinosaurs? Dinosaurs from space, of course! I'm going for memorable musical themes here as opposed to plot-explainy intros (sorry, HE-MAN), and this one is on the fence, but the passionate belting of "Dinooosaauuuceerrrrs!" can't be ignored.

SABER RIDER AND THE STAR SHERIFFS (1987). More from the prolific space cowboy genre, with a truly epic, basically full-length original song.

INSPECTOR GADGET (1983). One of the most memorable and unique cartoon theme songs of all time, of course. Simple, catchy, and full of personality.

G.I. JOE (1983). Since it's almost July 4th, we'll close today with the most over-the-top patriotic cartoon intro theme of all time. An ubiquitous staple of every 80s childhood. 🇺🇸

CHIP N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS (1989). This week let's take a brief detour into the DISNEY AFTERNOON. A bit different than the #SaturdayMorning action/adventure intros I've been focusing on, skewing towards a younger audience, but the formula was similar and the songs unforgettable.

DARKWING DUCK (1991). Easily the jazziest of the Disney Afternoon theme songs, with a great catchphrase.

DISNEY'S ADVENTURES OF THE GUMMI BEARS (1985). This one actually started as a Saturday morning cartoon, and later became part of the Disney Afternoon in 1991. I loved this show as a kid, and if you ever saw it, you're already singing the theme song...

TALESPIN (1990). This intro song has so much fun with the series' JUNGLE BOOK roots, and is truly a joy to revisit.

And of course, the GOAT, an intro that needs no intro... the one and only, DUCKTALES (1987).

Welcome back to the #SaturdayMorning 80s (+early 90s) cartoon intro theme song thread. This week we'll have some more obscure and international selections, including some I'm not familiar with that were recommended in the comments.

ULYSSES 31 (1981). A French-Japanese production with a wonderfully bonkers premise updating the myth of Odysseus to the 31st century. Once you get past the explainy voiceover part, at around :45 an absolutely banging 80s theme song kicks in.

THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD (1982). Another French-Japanese production that's fairly obscure in the US but had widespread international distribution.

BOTS MASTER (1993). I don't want to dip too far into the 90s on this list (that's a whole different beast), but a few people recommended the intro of this French/American/Canadian series and, well, it does not disappoint.

Shout out to the director of BOTS MASTER who has a rare and badass double-@SirPatStew name.

@SirPatStew RUBIK, THE AMAZING CUBE (1983). One of a long string of short-lived toy brand tie-ins, but this one is notable for the Hispanic representation in its characters, voice actors, and its theme song - performed by Menudo.

@SirPatStew THE WORLD OF DAVID THE GNOME (1985). Originally a Spanish cartoon based on a Dutch book, it was adapted to English-speaking countries by a Canadian studio and, of all people, Bob & Harvey Weinstein. It also had narration by Christopher Plummer, and a damn charming theme song.

@SirPatStew THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS (1986). This one is cheating because it just takes the famous theme directly from the movie, but for a lot of kids of a certain age, the movie's theme song is inseparable from that cartoon ghost strutting down the street.

@SirPatStew It's called "REAL" GHOSTBUSTERS to distinguish it from FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS, released the same year out of spite over a contract dispute. The story is pretty interesting: bit.ly/2cj5kik

Mostly this resulted in Grandma giving you the wrong Ghostbusters toys at Xmas.

We’ll be back next week with another round of #SaturdayMorning cartoon intros!

I've mostly focused on intro themes with vocals in this thread, but for this week's final installment of #SaturdayMorning cartoon intro, let's look at some instrumental themes. Starting with ROBOTECH (1985), with its epic space military fanfare.

SUPER FRIENDS ran from 1973 to 1985 in various iterations, and was my absolute favorite show in my early childhood. It had many different opening sequences over the years: - but they all carried the same heroic fanfare. Here's one of the later 80s intros:

TERRAHAWKS (1983). Although this British sci-fi show from the creators of THUNDERBIRDS was puppet-based, its intro has some great sci-fi UX animation (including some rad early computer animation) and an epic theme.

VOLTRON (1984). They only use one small fanfare theme in this intro, but if you loved this show (and its toys, of course) as much as I did, you'll remember it right away.

My childhood was primarily in the 80s so that's been the focus of this thread, but I called this an "80s/90s" cartoon intro thread because I knew it had to end with two of the greatest ever, from 1992. I think you might know where this is heading...

X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992). This epic intro took every lesson from the style and rhythm of great 80s action cartoon intros, and turned it up to 11. For a whole generation, this is THE X-Men theme song, and this show remains the best adaptation of X-Men outside of comics.

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992). This intro is an absolute masterpiece in every way, a stunning piece of retro-noir art. Best of all, the show itself lived up to the promise of its incredible opening, and stands the test of time. It's available in HD now and looks magnificent.

I hope you enjoyed this musical/visual journey through the past as much as I did! Nostalgia gets way overplayed, especially lately, but it's still a great way to rediscover relics of pop art from the past that might be forgotten if they didn't give us that warm fuzzy feeling.

If I skipped your fav or if you want to share some intros from the 90s/00s, leave them in the replies!

THE DARK KNIGHT'S FIRST NIGHT is an unaired two-minute test pilot created by Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski to show Fox what they were planning to do with BATMAN:TAS. A lot of ideas in here that would become parts of the series' iconic intro animation. More: batmantheanimatedseries.fandom.com/wiki/The_Dark_…