Another difficult list here. If you ask me next week I might change the order of this list. And if I was focussing on best intro sequences I might order it a bit differently too. But for this one I was focussing on the music and lyrics. How hummable or sing-alongable is it. I do find myself singing the top 3 in the shower sometimes so that’s why they had to be that high up.

10. Danger Mouse A classic British cartoon here and the theme tune is suitably dramatic and theatrical.

9. Trap Door Most of this intro is actually spoken. I’ll be doing another Top Ten of best TV spoken intros at some point but the reason this one is in this list today is for the last 15 seconds. I love the power of the voice singing ‘Don’t you open that trap door!’. I think about it every time I open my loft hatch. I’ve even got my 3 yr old son singing this every time we open the trap door in his toy pirate ship, and he’s never even seen the cartoon. And yes I know it’s not strictly a cartoon but it’s animated, so it counts.

8. Transformers Many people may put this higher up and that’s fair enough. I’ve always loved it and for years I thought they were singing “Autobots wave their paddles to…” instead of “wage their battles”. Cool theme tune though.

7. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe There’s not really any singing in this one but it’s just fantastic music. I love that brassy synthy sound and it’s such a catchy tune. I’ve got really vivid memories of humming this tune all the way home on the school bus right before watching the cartoon.

6. Jamie and the Magic Torch This one is legendary in the UK. Such a great cartoon too, but the intro (after the lengthy slow bit) kicks into such a great rock gear. “Jamie, Jamie! Wordsworth, Wordsworth!”. Awesome stuff. My little nephew is called Jamie and I’m going to have to try really hard not to sing this really loudly every time I see him.

5. M.A.S.K. This screams 80s to me. The first few bars are classic 80s synth and drums and then the obligatory male rock voice kicks in. The whole theme tune is great. Great intro in general. Probably one of the best cartoon intros.

4. Pole Position Think what you want about the cartoon but Pole Position has got an awesome theme tune. It could seriously probably have been a chart hit for someone like John Farnham back in the 80s. Fantastic 80s pop rock theme tune.

3. Gummi Bears Now we’re talking business. The Gummi Bears theme tune has everything you would expect from Disney. Great lyrics, great tune, great production. I’ve found myself in an embarassing situation more than once singing this theme tune in public.

2. Defenders of the Earth This was so close to being my no.1. I think it’s fantastic. I love the structure of it and how it introduces all the characters (although it always makes me laugh how it introduces the superhero ones in detail and then just skips over the rest of the normal humans in one line). And I’ve always loved the “Earth…Earth…Earth” bit at the end.

1. ThunderCats So ThunderCats takes the top spot. Well deserved I think. Awesome guitar riffs, a dramatic pace and easy to sing a long too. It’s got everything you need!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Muppet Babies – This was so close to being in the Top Ten. Great theme tune
Godzilla – This was also in my Top Ten for a while before it got kicked out
Spiderman & His Amazing Friends – Again this one very nearly made it. This theme tune has so much nostalgia for me
Battle of the Planets – Fantastic 70s orchestral piece
Pigeon Street – You’ve got to love the disco pop first few beats
Chip n Dale – Great Disney theme tune again, although they did rip off MacGyver!
Raggy Dolls – Incredibly catchy
The Flintstones – An absolute classic, of course
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds – Thanks to @KernowDeth for the reminder of this great theme tune!

What theme tunes would you have added to your list?

Check out our other Top Ten blog posts or alternatively view the Top Ten archive page.