I mentioned Magnum, PI in the the previous entry and, as best I can recall, it aired on the same night as Simon & Simon (I think it was Thursday, Magnum first, then S&S… and yes, it frightens me that I remember that!), so why don’t we have a look at the opening for Tom Selleck’s best-known work?

I don’t know about you, but that got my heart pounding. I think this opening, along with the one from Miami Vice, are probably the best title sequences of the ’80s, brilliant pairings of exciting, memorable music with the perfect visuals.
Oddly, though, this was not Magnum‘s original opening. For roughly half of the first season, the show had completely different theme music, and a somewhat different montage of visuals beneath it. Have a look:

I’m really glad they changed it. This music is, let’s be honest, really lame. It sounds like some kind of cheesy lounge-lizard thing, and doesn’t remotely capture the tone of the series. Of course, the tone of the series was somewhat in flux for the first few episodes, ranging from somewhat noir-ish to almost farcical, so I guess it’s not surprising it took a while to get the music right.

If nothing else, these two clips serve as a good example of what a difference something like music can make. The visuals in the original opening are essentially the same ones that were used in the more familiar one (although they were reordered when the new theme came along), but the music gives them an entirely different — and less dynamic — feel.