Be Excellent To Each Other

Can anybody name for me a bunch of TV series or films (any genre) that have an opening narration? (or have an establishing scene with narration that serves the purpose of a narration?)

As an example: Star Trek: TOS and The Next Generation have an opening narration, but Star Trek: Voyager doesn't, but Janeway gives a briefing at the end of the first episode that could act as one.

My very basic list to begin:
Sliders
Farscape
Quantum Leap
Star Trek: TOS
Star Trek: TNG
Star Trek: Voyager (not at start)

The A-Team
Knight Rider

Everybody Loves Raymond
Do Jackass and Dirty Sanchez count?

Law & Order!

And the inestimable "Street Hawk" too, IIRC.

I FUCKING HATE SPLITTING TOPICS

That's why I was the ONE PSYCHOPATH who voted for 'leave things as they are' with regard to the Bits and Bobs thread.

Er... We always split it up if something interesting cropped up.

Life on Mars
Ashes to Ashes
Arrested Development

Dragnet (The TV series - although the film spoofed it).

The Incredible Hulk.

I think the Smurfs may have done so, also.

The Invaders, and pretty much all Quinn Martin Production shows?



Malc

Sapphire and Steel.

Sorry, I was thinking QM and Irwin Allen were the same person. So his stuff too.

Malc

He-Man and the masters of the universe... And She-Ra too i guess!

In which case you can include all the Gordon Murrey puppet series like Trumpton as well.

24

Loads of cartoons - The Racoons, Wacky Races, Penelope Pitstop...

"Who is Number One?"
"You are, Number Six."

Indeed.

BBC News

Did Police Squad have any? I can't recall now.

News at Ten! BONG!

NYPD Blue. It just says "Previously, on NYPD Blue".

Also Twin Peaks.

Also: Chicago Hope and ER.

Why does Mr D require this information? If it's for a competition, we should demand a cut of the prize.

Unless you count "Previously on ER" as a voiceover it didn't.

I move to discount "previously on..." from this.

Babylon 5 had a different one each series:

1: ... "It's a port of call - home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night."
2: ... "It was the dawn of the Third Age of Mankind...the year the Great War came upon us all. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2259. The name of the place is Babylon 5."
3: ... "The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace. It failed."
4: ... "It was the year everything changed."
5: ... "We apologise for the shitness of this season and the subsequent cock-awful TV movies that will result in you trading in your DVD's at CEX and swearing never again to watch a space-based sci-fi series until Battlestar Galactica with Edward James Olmos."

It would be ace to include them all in some sort of jaguar-skills-esque mix.

The Twilight Zone. and the racoons.

Edit:Damn it took me so long to post this reply, stupid people wanting me to do work.

/submits to the weekly "should read more than just the last post" contest

I did!

Did Buck Rogers have some, explaining the reason why he was in the 25th Century.

Also Battlestar Galactica.

Edit: Bananaman!

Bananaman Galactica? Sounds good.

Indeed it did.

First season:

"The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America's deep space probes. In a freak mishap, Ranger 3, and its pilot Captain William "Buck" Rogers, are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life support system and returns Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later."

In the second season:

"In the year 1987, NASA launched the last of America's deep space probes. Aboard this compact starship, a lone astronaut, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, was to experience cosmic forces beyond all comprehension. In a freak mishap, his life support systems were frozen by temperatures beyond imagination. Ranger 3 was blown out of its planned trajectory into an orbit a thousand times more vast, an orbit which was to return Buck Rogers to Earth 500 years later."

What about Bravestar, where the narration, was the themetune?

Also The Tick. Ba Dwee ba ba ba dwee BOW! Ba Dwee ba ba ba dwee DOW! Be ba doo dow! Be ba doo dow!

Yes - "Police Squad: in colour", followed by the introduction of the guest stars and the episode title.

I skimmed this thread this morning and didnt think anyone had posted this , came back this afternoon to add it and found you'd already done it :-(

I have a memory of them changing the titles for at least one when instead of Sapphire and Steel it was "Sapphire, Silver and Steel have been assigned"

Thunderbirds, maybe?

[edit]Pop quiz! What do Thunderbirds and the new BS:G have in common?

Battle of the Planets
Trapdoor

I don't know what 'jaguar-skills-esque' means, but I am going to combine them.

Nobody's said Red Dwarf yet.

Red Dwarf!

Jaguar Skills is some sort of a DJ. He makes really clever mixes in a hip-hop stylee. There's a particularly amusing one incorporating loads of 80s TV theme tunes, which he did for the Chris Moyles show (I think that's on youtube if you are interested).

That's because the titles are over by the time Holly arrives.

"Jaaaaaam"

Porridge
Props to whoever said Arrested Development. I love that programme.

"You don't want double-talk, you want Bob Loblaw. For more information visit the Bob Loblaw Law Blog." Cracks me up everytime.