War of the Worlds
1988–1990SyndicationSci-Fi
A sequel to the 1953 film in which the aliens were never defeated, only dormant.
War of the Worlds opens with a main title sequence of 89 seconds.
At 89 seconds, it opens well above the 58-second median for sci-fi sequences in this catalogue.
It arrived on Syndication in 1988, when Romper Room, Truth or Consequences and Soul Train were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
89sFan upload of the first season's credits.
More sci-fi opening titles from the 1980s
3 sequences
Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Enterprise-D passing the camera at warp while Patrick Stewart reads the mission statement. Stately, slow and completely confident — it takes almost a minute and a half before anything happens, and it never once feels the need to hurry.
- Season 1
- Season 2
- Seasons 3–7
2 sequences
Quantum Leap
Narration explaining a premise too complicated to infer, over a theme by Mike Post — the anthology format's problem solved in sixty seconds every week.
- Season 1
- Season 4
1 sequenceThe Twilight Zone (1985)
The first revival, with the Grateful Dead re-recording Marius Constant's motif — the middle of three attempts at the same idea, all of which are now in this catalogue.
- Season 1
1 sequenceAlien Nation
The film continued as a series, with a buddy-cop format used to work through immigration and prejudice week by week.
- Season 1
1 sequenceAmazing Stories
John Williams scoring an animated history of storytelling — cave paintings to campfires to television — for Spielberg's anthology.
- Season 1
1 sequenceMax Headroom
A cyberpunk satire about television, broadcast on television, twenty minutes into the future.
- Season 1