Top 5 Fantasy Opening Credits

I’ve always had a soft spot for the opening credits of a show. In a lot of ways they used to be able to tell you so much about the show, specifically of course the actors and creators, but more importantly an overarching feel of the show as a whole. The right sequence, animation, or clips, paired with the right song can substantially effect how a person reacts. It gives a tone of what to expect in the next hour. However, television has begun to stop with these- partly because opening credits take up time and space better spent on story or on sponsoring. So, in no particualr order here are the top 5 fantasy opening credits so as to honor all those other opening credits we will never see again.

1) Charmed ( “How Soon is Now?” by Love Spit Love)

Say what you will about the writing of Charmed, but the opening credits of the show deserve some recognition. There is an aesthetic symmetry within them. It is not just images and clips of the actors and actress throughout the show, but rather an amalgamation of and pairing of clips from the show to demonstrate what is at the heart of Charmed: three young women attempting to lead relatively safe and normal lives, while also balancing their destiny of having to kick demon ass. There is a certain emotional tone that resonates as the chorus of the song is played ( “I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else”) because that is all they really want. The fantasy and supernatural element is added in by the depictions of witchcraft in their show interspersed throughout and it sort of captures the problems that these characters face. Also, it is a bit melodramatic, also like Charmed.

2) Dead Like Me (Composed by Stewart Copeland)

Despite being a little pretentious and angsty ( although the angst is sort of understandable when your main character is an eighteen year old that has just died), Dead Like Me was a decent show that effectively capture the idea of dark comedy. often times dealing with emotional trauma and trying to make it through their undead lives, the characters met an awful lot upsetting issues. And then in the next scene one of them is shoving illegals up their bottom. Its opening credits are notable because it sets the idea of the show- that happy and bubbly as your music may be, death could always be in the next cubicle over. The way in which it demonstrates reapers going about their daily lives, having to do every day normal things that no one notices is seen in how they wear all black and no one notices and how it is we go about our lives never knowing when death will come and get us.  And also how bored death is in an office environment.

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( Composed by Nerf Herder)

Buffy started out as a metaphor for high school life only instead of the demons people have to face regularly like self confidence and body issues and all these weird bubbling hormones, they also happened to deal with physical ones trying to eat them or sacrifice them every week. What is so great about the opening credits to the show is that fact that like much of high school, the song is a catchy pop rock deal that’s fast and with a lot of drum banging. Similarly with Charmed, it intersperses what it is that each of the characters do in the series with elements of the show- different demons, different fight scenes, as well as the normal everyday high school life. Dealing with cheerleading practice, a basketball game, the dreaded algebra quiz. Again it is the aspect of juggling the possibility of leading a normal life with destiny, but with a teenage twist.

4) True Blood ( “Bad Things” by Jace Everett)

When you think of True Blood, the three things that come to mind tend to be southern, sex, and vampires- all of which are incorporated into these opening credits. Part of what makes this opening sequence particualrly good is the fact that it plays into the vampire lore while simultaneously tying into the show. Vampires are about raw, animalistic desires and within the credits the various images include people gridnign in bars, a person smoking, a toddler chowing down on some type of berry making it look like blood. And also, the idea of death- there are multiple shots of dead or decaying animals in the opening credits. As well, the fanaticism and indulgence into religion, also part of southern culture is seen within the credits as well. Again all of this si tied together by the smokier and grainier filters that are over these clips, giving an older and creepier feeling.

5) Game of Thrones ( Composed by Raman Djawadi)

Game of Thrones was one of those shows that seemingly sprang out of nowhere and into popularity. Part of the whole “book adapted into a television series craze” the show has become a success. And while I haven’t gotten into it just yet, if the opening credits are any indication, along with the ravings of everyone on my college campus, I will be soon. Part of what is so enticing about them is the fact that its s stylized animation that demonstrates the part of the title and an overall idea of emergence. The gears and machinery of each of the cities turns, and the grow and rise, but they also look like nothing more than children’s play things. Toys. Games. Combine that with the instrumental music.

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