"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."
This time we will cover the theme song for The Great Space Coaster. "It’s the Great Space Coaster. Get on board. On the Great Space Coaster. We’ll explore." The Great Space Coaster is a children's show which debuted in January of 1981 running five seasons and 250 episodes in first run syndication. The show had a pretty far out premise, but I remember finding it quite entertaining back then regardless. The Great Space Coaster is about three young human singers who are brought to a habitable asteroid in space called Coasterville by a clown named Baxter who pilots the "space coaster", a roller coaster-like spaceship. The asteroid is populated by strange-looking, wise-cracking puppet characters such as Goriddle Gorilla, Knock Knock the Woodpecker, Edison the Elephant, and Gary Gnu among others.
The theme song for The Great Space Coaster was written by Spencer Michilin and Anne Bryant. Michelin went on to also compose the theme music for the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon series as well as the My Little Pony movie and television series. Bryant joined Michilin to co-write the My Little Pony theme music and then also is credited with co-writing the theme songs for the InHumanoids cartoon as well as The Transformers cartoon theme songs along with the role of Music Arranger on the Jem and the Holograms cartoon series. Between G.I. Joe and The Transformers, the two created a couple other big time theme songs.
The theme song was sung by the three characters Francine, Danny and Roy played by Emily Bindiger, Chris Gifford and Ray Stephens respectively. Bindinger went on to a career in music performing with many artists and on several movie soundtracks as well as performing the theme song for The Baby-Sitters Club '90s television series. Gifford actually went on to co-create Dora the Explorer and all of its spin-offs and is an executive producer at Nickelodeon. Stephens briefly became the lead singer of The Village People in 1985, but sadly died in 1990 at the age of 35.
Here is the opening for seasons 1-3 of The Great Space Coaster featuring the theme song...
The opening changed a little for seasons 4-5...
After hearing this theme song, I will probably find myself humming it to myself the rest of the day. A soundtrack album for The Great Space Coaster was actually released by Columbia Records in 1982 and it featured the theme song fittingly as the first track. "On the Great Space Coaster. Oh-oh-oh. On the Great Space Coaster, Get on board. On the Great Space Coaster. Off we go!"
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!