Best Opening Credits

[Vintage Paw]

TV wise nothing has ever beaten The Littlest Hobo.

All together now....

"There's a voice that keeps on calling me......"

Oh, indeed

The opening titles to Catch Me If You Can were probably the best bit of the film.

Rip off of Hitchcock. He has some of the best opening credits ever.

Of course I've a soft spot for The Addam's Family TV opening/closing. And I appreciate Two and a Half Men for its brevity. Series 2 of The Wire for Tom Waits. Mysterious Cities of Gold because it's legendary.

 

[kabbes]

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

 

[Vintage Paw]

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

That reminds me, I have the whole of Season 2 sat on my hard drive waiting to be watched. I now have something to do today

Also, I know someone who looks very, very much like Wolowitz.

 

[Badgers]

TV wise nothing has ever beaten The Littlest Hobo.

All together now....

"There's a voice that keeps on calling me......"

Now in my head all day!

 

[kerb]

Sergio Leone's classic Western 'Once Upon A Time In The West' springs to mind.

Agreed

 

[kabbes]

Also, I know someone who looks very, very much like Wolowitz.

That's nothing. I know an actuary who doesn't look very, very much like Wolowitz.

 

[seeformiles]

I like the opening of "Head" when Mickey Dolenz jumps off the Golden Gate bridge, hits the water and then everything goes psychedelic!

 

[Augie March]

Has no-one mentioned Superman yet? The whoosing letters and THAT score stick with you for the rest of your life.

I always liked Eternal Sunshine too, merely for the fact that the credits start about 10 minutes into the film and totally throw you as you think they won't even bother with them by the time they arrive.

 

[beeboo]

Rip off of Hitchcock. He has some of the best opening credits ever.

Certainly a homage But it's quite bold these days to do a big opening title sequence, it's often usurped by the desire to cut straight to the action.

Other than Bond films, where it's obviously iconic.

 

[kabbes]

I'm going to have to go with that 1970s/1980s* seminal classic "The Waterbabies".


*Presumably. I saw it as a kid in any case.

 

[Melinda]

I always liked Eternal Sunshine too, merely for the fact that the credits start about 10 minutes into the film and totally throw you as you think they won't even bother with them by the time they arrive.

There are quite a few shows now that start before the opening credits.
Its brave of the producers to assume people are going to be sitting waiting patiently because they know when the show is due to start.

 

[Cid]

Sergio Leone's classic Western 'Once Upon A Time In The West' springs to mind.

I win the thread, methinks. Otherwise I shall send Harmonica Man round to play you all a little tune...

Yep, win...

.

 

[Augie March]

Jebus wept, 2 pages in and no-one has said The Wire either? For shame Urban.

 

[g force]

Silent Light....the opening 6 minutes of dawn breaking is sublime, stars in the sky and almost completely silent aside from the occassional cricket.

 

[Melinda]

Jebus wept, 2 pages in and no-one has said The Wire either? For shame Urban.

Series 2 of The Wire for Tom Waits.

 

[kabbes]

Jebus wept, 2 pages in and no-one has said The Wire either? For shame Urban.

That reminds me -- NYPD Blue. That used to have an awesome beginning.

 

[Augie March]

There are quite a few shows now that start before the opening credits.
Its brave of the producers to assume people are going to be sitting waiting patiently because they know when the show is due to start.

They're mostly American shows. This is due to adverts being screened before the credits, so you get about 5 minutes of the show, cut to ad break, then start with the credits.

 

[Sadken]

The Watchmen were amazing, shame about the film.

 

[kabbes]

They're mostly American shows. This is due to adverts being screened before the credits, so you get about 5 minutes of the show, cut to ad break, then start with the credits.

I thought you got the first few minutes, then the credits, then the ad break?

 

[Santino]

Sometimes you get the 'Previously on...', then ads, then the prologue bit, then credits, then ads, then the first 7 minutes of the actual programme, then more ads.

 

[BlackArab]

The original Grange Hill one with the comic strip

 

[Augie March]

I thought you got the first few minutes, then the credits, then the ad break?

Or that. Either way it's pretty silly, although the idea of it has been exploited creatively by some TV show makers. I know Six Feet Under was a HBO show and doesn't have advert breaks, but they used the pre-credit sequence bit in such a clever and brilliant way.

 

[Santino]

The original Grange Hill one with the comic strip

Sausage!

 

[Melinda]

The Day Today.

 

[Augie March]

I've just remembered another brilliant film opening, Lord of War. The life of a bullet from creation to landing in someone's head. Absolute genius sequence.

 

[Melinda]

I've just remembered another brilliant film opening, Lord of War. The life of a bullet from creation to landing in someone's head. Absolute genius sequence.

Ooh that sounds good, I might go look at that. We have the dvd somewhere.

 

[Stigmata]

Poetry in motion

 

[Augie March]

More great telly show starts:

The Simpsons
Doctor Who
Star Trek
The Outer Limits
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Father Ted
Friends
The A-Team

 

[Augie March]

Ooh that sounds good, I might go look at that. We have the dvd somewhere.

It's a good film, but it probably never lives up to the great start tbh.

 

[Stigmata]

has a cool intro, and is a mighty film in general.