Expository Theme Tune: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A [[Theme Tune]] which explains, fairly specifically, the premise of the show. An [[Opening Narration]] in verse. It might also throw in an [[Intro Dump]] for the central characters during the middle 10 seconds.

* The ''[[Nerima Daikon Brothers]]'' opening has shades of this, but the English dub cranks it up a notch.

* The English dub of ''Amazing Three''. "''Spacemen with a mission, you must make a very big decision...''"

** [[Anime Theme Song]]s are rarely directly related to their shows. English dubs for children's TV tend to invoke this trope more often.

** The (undubbed) 5th season, replaces the standard opening theme, "Moonlight Densetsu", with "Sailor Star Song", which was written just for the show (the lyrics were actually written by the Mangaka of the original manga) but still isn't really this.

* The theme to the English dubbed version of ''[[8 Man]]'' combined this trope and [[Never Trust a Trailer]], as the theme and ([[Importation Expansion|American animated]]) opening sequence described 8th Man fighting aliens (which he never does) and flying (which he can't do).

* ''[[Ulysses 31]]'': "''Ulysses! Ulysses! Soaring through all the galaxies! In search of earth, flying into the night!''"

* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', while being one of the better dubs in existence, suffers from a particularly repetitive, if kind of catchy, theme song.

** [[Digimon Frontier]] on the other hand, has a more vagueish, yet still quite expository theme.

 

 

 

 

== Fan Works ==

** Here are the Lost titles done ''Battlestar Galactica'' style, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUShe6H6eVE Battlestar: Lostica]".

** And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waIyUb_3vSE another], inspired by a ''[[Shortpacked]]'' strip.

** The theme actually helped to get the show on the air in the first place! [[Sherwood Schwartz]] had trouble selling it to [[CBS]] because the head of the network thought it would be a pain explaining to everyone every week why they were on the island, so he wrote [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvslFMAaew an opening song to get the point across]. It worked, but because it was a calypso and the show [[Did Not Do the Research|was set in the Pacific]], it was drastically changed for the series...

* ''[[The Nanny]]'', in a deliberate retro spoof of 1960s shows ("... That's how she became The Nanny...")

* The ''[[Knight Rider]]'' intro explains who David Hasselhoff's Michael Night is. Arguably, it fits more in the [[Theme Tune Roll Call]] trope, except only one character is introduced.

* ''[[Small Wonder]]''

''Had a normal childhood, did OK in school

''Graduated from Columbus High in 1962... }}

 

== Music ==

* ''"Lee likes playing videogames/And when you really think about it, that's not really so strange/But you would wonder if it's why the man was put on this Earth/it's time to reevaluate how much a picture is worth/You can be informed and entertained/No need to explain, watch the review of a game/Lee is [[That Guy With The Glasses|Still Gaming]]!/And I'm pretty sure that is something that won't ever change/Lee is Still Gaming/and it won't just as long as he lives/as long as there are games."''

* [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]: "''He's gonna take you back to the past/To play the shitty games that suck ass...''"

* ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' has a theme song that lists off [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]]'s name, possessions, and mission, along with some of the stuff he reviews.

** For his anniversary show, the extended version of the theme appeared, including a verse which focuses on Linkara's pet peeves ("''They made ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'' without the slimy squid''") and At4W's supporting characters ("''He'll have you know that's pretty low / But not like the standards of the 90's Kid''")

* ''[[The Legend of Neil]]'''s theme song explains exactly how Neil ended up inside the game, then has a very hurried follow-up summarising events up to the beginning of the episode.

 

* ''[[Making Fiends]]''

* As [[Marz Gurl]] mentions in her top 10 list of expository theme songs to animated shows, Disney has a bad habit of doing this.

** ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'': "''Some times some crimes/Are slipping through the cracks/But these two gumshoes/Are picking up the slack''"

** ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'': "''Darkwing Duck! When there's trouble, you call DW! Darkwing Duck! [[Let's Get Dangerous]]!''"

** ''[[Bonkers]]'', according to MarzGurl, takes the cake in Disney's repertoire.

** ''[[Pepper Ann]]'': "''Who's that girl? What's her name? Is she cool? Is she lame? Oh, you're talkin' 'bout what's-her-name...''"

** ''[[The Weekenders]]''

** ''[[Kim Possible]]'': "''[[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World|I'm your basic, average girl/And I'm here to save the world...]]''"

{{quote|''Around the world in eighty days (Passepartout)

''So Fogg can marry Belinda Maze (Passepartout)!''}}

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Theme Tune]]