"Faster than a speeding bullet..."--favorite openings
 

My co-workers and I were talking about old TV shows at lunch. Remember how the TV dramas of the 50s and 60s used to have voice-over introductions at the beginning of each episode? Some of these were pretty cool, and really set the mood. Some have become classics. Seems like few modern TV shows have these intros anymore (Law and Order is one exception.) Wonder why?

Because it was one of favorite shows as a kid, I like the opening sequence of "Ben Casey." Where the hand writes the symbols on the blackboard, and Sam Jaffe's voice says, "Man....woman...birth...death...infinity."


http://www.vinceedwards.tv/casey1.html

That curling wave on "Hawaii 5-0" that appears with no sound for just an instant before the theme song kicks in. That, my friends, is beautiful.

Ken

I Spy -- sillhouettes of them playing tennis transitioning James-Bond style to them holding guns, all very stylistically done.

Any Quinn-Martin production like The Fugitive,Cannon etc

Wasn't it Outer Limits that started out: "Do not adjust your set...we will control the horizontal...we will control the vertical..."

"Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aid Kato, and their rolling arsenal the Black Beauty. On Police records a wanted criminal, the Green Hornet is really Britt Reid, owner-publisher of the Daily Sentinel, his dual identity known only to his secretary and the district attorney. And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, rides THE GREEN HORNET" {Green Hornet theme played by Al Hirt starts}

The narration is by William Dozier, producer of the show, who also narrated Batman. Awesome stuff!

"Little did John Kent know as he slipped behind the wheel that day, that his truck had become his ticket to (swell music) the Twilight Zone..."

Out of the blue of the western sky.......

Was that Sky King?

Yup

I'm still trying to identify the march used in the old 50s Tvshow,"Rin Tin Tin".

I love the opening of "The Incredible Hulk" very much!

Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

The Six Dollar Man on Sesame St was a great take-off of that... :D

"With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early Western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse Silver."

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/dressed/bek019.gif

That, dear friends is sheer poetry.