Just started season 5 last night and noticed that the theme was changed slightly agian (what is it like the millionth time? ), and that some of the snippets in the intro were "redone." Particularly noticable were the ice cream eating bit and the escape through the closing fence.

Are these from newer episodes or just refilmed for the opening?

Kev

Just refilmed. There's one during the intro where in MacGyver shuts a door in a hurry in a jeans and black tanktop. That might presumably be filmed during the shooting of either The Secret of Parker House or Black Corsage.

And why the theme is changed? Well it's not entirely changed it's just during the explosion title there's a lot more like I call it more firepower to it than in the fourth. This is also the last time they changed it, it remains like that for the rest of the series.

I think the original change would have been to increase the length of the tune allow for the extra snippets they added to the opening credits.

It would be interesting to see if each season the tune changed had an increase in length of the opening credits.

I've got all the themes and they are all the same length. 1 minute and 10 seconds long. Old ones got replaced with new ones. Only the third season got shortened to 0:45 seconds.

ok.. so scrap that idea then.

I guess they just wanted to try and improve the tune.

I'm trying to think of other shows which have re-done the opening theme.. I'm struggling... maybe I just didn't take that much notice of themes.

Doctor Who: the opening credits have been re-done repeatedly as visual effects technology improved (over the course of 40 years!) The theme music, which was groundbreaking when the series started in 1963, has also been re-done at least three or four times.

Star Trek The Next Generation changed fonts then went back. A lot have done that, I guess. (Hunter comes to mind-had white, yellow, and red credits that I remember.)

And of course, many shows changed when characters changed.

The X-Files changed a few times-longer version of the music to shorter version, with different graphics. This happened without cast changes and with them.

Stargate SG-1 has changed opening titles several times. And again, not just with cast changes. The first two seasons had the big flashy intro. Then 3 and 4 had the boring sphinx thing only. Then back to flashy. Then Season 9 had that disasterous shortened theme. Now back to full but still flashy. At least I think that's right from memory.

There's been plenty of TV shows that have had different opening theme songs. Happy Days springs to mind off the bat- the first 2 seasons used that grandfather of rock and roll songs (and it still ROCKS!)- "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and his Comets- and then in Season 3, the familiar "Happy Days" theme song replaced it and it was used through the end with Season 11.

Another famous example is The Cosby Show, which had a different theme song for every season! Bill Cosby is big into jazz and so he had a different jazz piece used for each season's theme song (and of course, accompanying video footage- the tux motif, the island theme, etc.)

The A-Team changed its theme in the 5th. Season, along with a different narration. At some point the "Ten years ago" line got changed to "In 1972..."

Obviously, most every show goes through a different set of video footage throughout the seasons of the show. But as far as the music itself- a lot of times variations of the main theme are used, as is the case with MacGyver.

But some shows have actually had a completely different song used- either instrumental or one with lyrics.

Gimme a Break! is another example of a show with 2 different opening intros (and different lyrics.) Small Wonder had 2 different opening intros- but the lyrics stayed the same, just set to a different variation of the same theme music.

Even Sesame Street's theme song has gone through various musical styles over the years, including what's described as a "calypso" style theme- though I think it leans more toward rap or something like that.

My Secret Identity also had two different theme songs- but the main theme music stayed the same- it just had some different lyrics and an amped up version of the music in later seasons.

Gilligan's Island also had a completely different song for the original pilot episode- totally different lyrics and musical style as well as the music itself. (This one definitely was more of a calpyso-style.) But when it was picked up as a regular series, Sherwood Schwartz gave us the much more familiar theme song.

The Adventures of Superboy had at least 2 theme songs that it went through- 2 totally different instrumental compositions.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 1980s cartoon) went through a couple of different intros- with a different piece of music and changed lyrics used for the last few seasons (including spliced in footage from the live action movies).

Wonder Woman had slightly different lyrics used for the 1st. Season and for the 2nd and 3rd Seasons. Since the 1st. Season was still set in the 1940s, the line about "Make the Axis fold" made sense- but when the timeline jumped to the 1970s in the 2nd. Season- the lyrics were changed accordingly.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries went through a big overhaul for the 3rd. Season- changing the pretty cool maze intro music to an equally pretty cool disco theme song carrying just the name of The Hardy Boys (as Pamela Sue Martin had left the show midway in the 2nd. Season- and though Janet Louise Johnson replaced her for a few episodes- by the 3rd. Season, the Nancy Drew character was dropped altogether.)

Family Matters is another show that started with one theme song and finished with another. Originally the theme song was "What A Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong- but by the 2nd. Season and on through the 9th. the theme song was the now familiar "As Days Go By" theme song.

Boy Meets World also had one pretty cool instrumental theme song used for its 1st. Season and by the 2nd. Season had gotten a new instrumental theme song- and then by the 5th. Season or so had gotten yet another theme song- this time with words!

Well- I'm sure there are many other examples and I could probably think of some others- but there's a few examples of this phenonemon anyway.

Yep I was right.. I never took any notice of the themes. Of all those shows you mentioned I can only recall the A-Team, Happy days and Sesame street

I only know Boy Meets World from it's last three seasons, never saw the other 4. Of course Happy Days is good example.

There's also Magnum PI, which had a very different tune in the first 11 episodes. It had a very jazzy sound and whole lotta of fun. The actual theme was first used in the 8th episode during a few action scenes and from episode 12 on till the end of the series it had the actual theme. Also changing the intro footage from episode 12 and from season 2 changing every season.

Xena never changed unfortunately not till the last season but that was probably because she killed the Gods in the fifth seasons finally. In the original opening she waves her sword to Poseidon.

The Power Rangers changes their songs and intro's every other season, with exception of the first three season. The last ten episodes of the third season got a new song based on the original song but Power Rangers got replaced with Alien Rangers.

The "boring sphinx thing" as you call it () actually was the series theme right from the beginning, when it was shown in TV. Only when they started to sell the DVDs they changed to a more common opening with scenes from the series, since they figured that people would like that better.

I'm actually glad that we got the sphinx at least at some DVDs, since that has been THE opening I always think of when thinking about the series. This and the music - made my skin crawl in excitement for the things to come every week.

The shortened "if I blink I will miss it" from season 9 was apparently since other new shows only have such a short thing - "Lost", "Heroes"... more time for the story itself, I guess?

See? Shows what I know. THANKS!

I never saw SG-1 on TV-I didn't have cable. And somehow I have managed to not add this little tidbit to my knowledge yet. And that is unacceptable.

Must know all I can about Stargate...must...know...

So, thanks, Astra. Really.

Good to know.

I got to see seasons 8-10 on TV, but that's it. The rest have been DVD for me.

I'm one of the legion of SG fans out there who started watching once SG got syndicated here in the US and started showing on reruns on regular TV on Saturdays. So, I started in season 7. There are tons of us. We saw a few eps on TV, got a DVD or two, and then it was all over. All. Over.

For me, it was my friend Becky who did it. She saw a few shows, liked them, and then bought season one on DVD-yeah, all over after that for her. And she leant it to me.

Kiss my sanity and any other fandoms goodbye, right?

Pretty much. Although Jack brought me back to Mac, so...good times.

I agree with you, though, in light of this fact-glad they gave the fans some original theme footage, and in my mind they probably should've done it all the way through...but...

It's all good.

And yeah, the Season 9 thing was for that reason, but it was so unpopular it went away quick. I love how they make fun of it in '200'. Course, they make fun of everything in '200', so...no big surprise.

The re-filming of scenes in the opening credits isn't that unusual either.

Originally I thought it was a mac thing, but it turns out that other TV shows have also done it.

Apparently the idea is to keep the actors looking as they appear in the current episode, so the show doesn't look dated, or doesn't distract viewers into thinking how young the actors looked, or where way back then when the show first started.. stuff like that.

Personally I think they should have left the original scenes in, or used completely different ones, becasue for me, it just distracted me into thinking "HEY!! They re-did the scene! WTH??"

But I suppose for the newer viewers who started watching in the later seasons, it would make the show seem more current and not so aged

*shrugs*

Yeah- generally shows want to reflect the latest and newest episodes, perhaps mixed in with some all time classic iconic moments in the opening credits. It gives you a feel for the series and reminds you of the cool adventures Mac's had (or fun, memorable scenes for whatever show you may be talking about.)
And it helps keep things fresh and exciting so you're not just seeing the same thing over and over again.

Yeah, why to go through all this trouble to let a scene just look like the previous? Would it not have been easier just to edit new scenes together?

I'm usually coming late into every show, I almost never watch it right from the start. I need friends who tell me if something is good and then I try myself. With that, when I see re-runs of older episodes after I know some scenes from the opening already, it's always a great discovery for me, if I finally can put an episode to a particular scene. It's like déjà-vu, some kind of "Oh, THAT! Now it makes sense!"

And I also got very confused by the new filmed scenes, because I always thought they belonged to an episode I just hadn't been able to watch yet and wondered what that one would be about. I think inwardly I'm still waiting for that episode with Mac in the black shirt bumping at the closed door to appear.

Some hidden footage, somewhere, maybe? *looking hopefully* No? Well, didn't think so.


But I really can't remember any other show re-doing scenes for the opening, that looked almost the same. Can you give some examples, Rock?

That's what has always struck me as odd about Mac. Changing scenes is one thing, but making new ones that look almost exactly like the old ones and that don't appear anywhere in the series is just odd.

A friend has a theory that for Mac it was the idea of 'hair continuity'. Hee, hee!

Let's face it, the season five mullett is, well, the most mullett-ish. WOW!

Oh, well, it gives a friend and I endless laughs to debate which is better:

Strawberry or vanilla?

And that, friends, purely depends on mood. I'm generally a strawberry girl (I like the hair, ok? Amongst other things...) but vanilla sometimes strikes my fancy, too.

Speaking of strawberries...Hey-Astra-if you do go to Gatecon, you should stop by the diner from the SG episode 'Holiday' and order a strawberry sundae. Traditional SG fan activity, you know. (Another reason to choose strawberry over vanilla...it connect to Daniel Jackson...) Apparently the wait staff there just roll their eyes and know exactly where you are coming from.

I'll make it there one day!

I'm pretty sure Star trek:TNG and Knight Rider have both done it.

Hmm- Star Trek: The Next Generation's opening scenes have always just been the cast credits in the same blue font with the Enterprise-D going to warp speed at the end.

I'd have to look more closely at the Knight Rider opening credits- I'm not too sure on redone scenes on that one.

Okay- this isn't the best example, but it's the best I can think of at the moment. Family Matters sort of did a similar thing where they maintained some scenes in the opening credits in some sort of fashion. For instance, I believe almost all Reginald VelJohnson's credits were shot with him either standing at the end of the stairs or coming down them. And there's always a closing shot on the family in the living room- playing with baby Richie in early seasons or singing around the piano in later seasons.

Not a real great example- but there you go. There may be other shows that did this reshooting of opening intro scenes, but I'd have to really did to figure out which ones. There aren't a whole lot leaping to mind at the moment- other than MacGyver, of course.

Okay- also, on Happy Days, I believe there was some version of Fonzie's famous "not combing his hair" scene at the mirror in the various versions of the opening credits. In earlier seasons he was at the mirror in his apartment and in later seasons he was in the bathroom at Arnold's.

And here's one other example- and this one actually really makes sense.
The 1980s sitcom formerly known as "Valerie" went through quite a few intro changes! (not to mention names!) The show ran from 1986-1991.
The show started off being called "Valerie"- which was fitting, since it starred Valerie Harper! (Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and her own spin-off, "Rhoda")
However, Valerie Harper left the show after the 2nd. season and so the opening credits had to be redone. So, for the 1987-1988 season (Season 3), the show's name was changed to Valerie's Family and Sandy Duncan came onboard to fill in the role of surrogate mother. (It was explained that Valerie Hogan had died and so Sandy Hogan, Michael Hogan's sister, moved in to help raise the family.)
By the 1988-1989 season, the show was simply called "The Hogan Family".
And incidentally, by the last season, Season 6 (1990-1991), John Hillerman came onboard as Grandpa Lloyd Hogan- Michael and Sandy's recently divorced father who came to live with the family. John Hillerman is probably best known as Higgins on "Magnum, P.I." (And maybe was he also perhaps secretly the mysterious Robin Masters? Fans still speculate about that to this day! )

So all this was leading up to say that the show went through quite a few intros. And they were always sports-themed. Football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, skiing, running- you name it.
The first two seasons started with a football being kicked off and Valerie Harper catching it. To recreate a similar scene, for Season 3, Sandy Duncan caught a baseball that was hit at the start of the intro.
And they also had a family picnic on the last shot in Seasons 1 and 2- and Sandy Duncan's character continued this tradition with the family for Season 3.

You can view the intros online here to see the comparisons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU4fpgYgSIw&feature=related
(Valerie- Season 1 and 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfrschcCNBg&feature=related
(Valerie's Family- Season 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UumiZKltAPQ&feature=related
(The Hogan Family- Season 6)

From as soon I've got the other five seasons, I really am going to look for the Magnum Forum.

I never watched TNG and also can't remember anything about this at "Knight Rider", but guess what, I just realized that even "Stargate" does it! There is a scene at the end of every opening where the team of that particular season goes through the gate together and you see them from behind. This scene changes during the years and though the first one might have been one of "real" footage I'm pretty sure we have not as often seen the team go through the gate all together at once. Usually there is one behind the other, or two and two.

So, that must be footage only shot for the opening. In season six you even can see Rick limping, if you look closely.



And I'm not sure now, but it also might be the case for "Full House", there was a scene in every opening, where they all sat together eating, after all... *tries to think of more*

yeah I think the practice is a lot more common than we think.

Any show which uses scenes as part of its opening credits probably does it to some extent. Obviously show which changes a cast member would have to alter any shots in the opening credits which had the old cast member.. this would mean they would need to re-film a scene if they wanted to keep it in the opening credits.

I wonder if thats one of the reasons shows seem to be moving away from having opening credits and opting instead to just have a quick opening with the title and a little music jingle?

Good call, Astra. You're right on Full House- they definitely had a scene where they all sat down to eat, either at the dinner table inside, or at a table outside for a barbecue. There were at least 3 versions of that family scene. I should've remembered this one sooner- Full House is one of my favorite shows!

Yep- the death of the TV theme song- and cool opening intro montage.
Now it's just a few rubber bands twanging and the credits popping while the show's already underway.

I much prefer back when shows had those opening theme songs that might actually take up to 1 or maybe 2 or 3 minutes to run! (Think "The Greatest American Hero" or "The Fall Guy") Of course, commercials didn't take up quite as much time then either... I pretty much miss most of the good classic shows from the '80s and prior- it gets more selective from the '90s and the 2000s...

I know what you mean about TV openings for current shows. I watched House the other night, just because I am intrigued by the sarcastic doc character, and I couldn't believe how short the opening was!

I'm intrigued by House, too, but I've never watched it.

Hey, MacGyver...I might fall from an open drawbridge, or tarzan from a vine!!!

(cuz I'm the unknown stuntman who makes Eastwood look so fine)

Great theme, The Fall Guy, but it can't touch Greatest American Hero.

Good times.

Oh, and if I remember correctly, ST:TNG did change fonts for any least a while. I think one season. They went to the three-dimensional font. It wasn't a good thing. Still the same letter stying and color, but with some sort of thee-d effect.

Not good.

But it's possible I'm smoking crack...don't quote me on it.

That may have been during the original run perhaps and never used again in syndication. Though I did watch the show from the start in 1987 through the last episode in 1994 and I don't recall that opening.

.....
Believe it or not, I'm walking on air- I never thought I could feel so free...

(That was actually a radio hit in 1981!)

Yep, that it was...