Thundarr the Barbarian
A post-apocalyptic Earth designed by Jack Kirby, with a narrated prologue doing all the world-building in twenty seconds.
Thundarr the Barbarian opens with a main title sequence of 67 seconds.
It arrived on ABC in 1980, when One Life to Live, All My Children and The Bugs Bunny Show were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
67sFan upload of the 1980 credits.
More animation opening titles from the 1980s
2 sequencesThe Simpsons
The only main title in television built to be different every week: the chalkboard, the saxophone solo and the couch gag all change, so the sequence is a format rather than a film.
- Seasons 1–20
- Season 21
1 sequencePingu
A Swiss claymation penguin speaking an invented language, so it needed no dubbing to sell anywhere.
- Season 1
1 sequenceDuckTales
One of the most durable theme songs ever written for television, over a minute of ducks solving problems with money.
- Season 1
1 sequencePostman Pat
A rural postman and his black and white cat, stop-motion, with a theme everyone in Britain can finish.
- Season 1
1 sequenceInspector Gadget
A Peter Sellers impression with helicopter arms, and a theme that is In the Hall of the Mountain King with the serial numbers filed off.
- Season 1
1 sequenceFireman Sam
A Welsh fire station in stop-motion, made in Welsh first and dubbed into English second.
- Season 1