"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 Transformers. "The Transformers! Robots in disguise! The Transformers! More than meets the eye!" The animated TV series debuted in September of 1984 in syndication with a 3-part miniseries as the pilot running for four seasons and 98 episodes. The cartoon was created to promote the Transformers toyline by Hasbro. The same iconic theme song was used in both the commercials for the toys as well as for The Transformers television series helping firmly engrain the tune into the brains of most kids who grew up during that time.
That original theme song was written by Anne Bryant and Ford Kinder. Bryant co-wrote the theme songs for The Great Space Coaster and My Little Pony with Spencer Michilin and then also is credited with co-writing the theme song for the InHumanoids cartoon also with Ford Kinder as well as the role of Music Arranger on the Jem and the Holograms cartoon series. Kinder was actually originally Bryant's assistant at ad agency Michilin & Company and he co-wrote the theme song for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero with Spencer Michilin. Then he formed Kinder & Bryant together with his former boss in 1983 and they worked on several Hasbro related projects together including, of course, The Transformers.
The Transformers theme song is relatively simple repeating the brand's rhyming slogans of "more than meets the eye" and "robots in disguise". Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of the series feature their own subtly distinct renditions of the theme tune and then for The Transformers: The Movie a new power metal arrangement performed by Lion was used. The original theme has followed the franchise in some form through its many renditions on both the small and big screen. Here is the opening for season 1 of The Transformers featuring the theme song...
I recently remembered The Transformers in a feature on My Christmas Memories from 1984 since it impacted my list for Santa that year for sure. "The Transformers! Robots in disguise! The Transformers! More than meets the eye!"
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!