Cheesman Chronicles

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: You’ve just started your new show on some streaming service. Doesn’t matter which, they’re all the same at this point. They play some intense action scene to get you hooked, something short so that you can get an idea of what’s going on, but hints at a thing to come. It grabs you. You want to know more.
And then the credits come up. BORING! I want to see the action! I want to see what happens next! Skip intro please!
Although, why should we do that?

The beginning credits of a show are some of the most important parts of it. It’s setting the tone for not just the episode ahead, but even the show as a whole. It’s music, it’s visuals, even it’s font choice and timing dictate what you will be watching. To skip it is almost an insult to not only the people who worked tirelessly on it, but the entertainment you are watching itself.
Of course, I know why we do it. I’m not above feeling like I want to see the next episode as soon as I can. I’ve already seen it before and will no doubt see it again, so what’s wrong with skipping it?
To be honest, nothing. If you are binging a show, going through it all in one sitting, you’re already in the headspace the show want’s you to be in. I’d skip it as well.

But consider this: maybe we should watch it more than we do. I’ve been watching the first Star Trek series (just finished the first season recently), and I’ve kept the intro playing through the entire thing. Every new fifty minute episode, I hear Captain Kirk deliver his famous lines about space and the final frontier. The cold open into this fun and exciting theme set the tone that what I’m about to watch will be a good time, where I will watch the crew of the enterprise take on a new challenge. And it’s great! I’m enjoying it a lot more because of that. His short monologue helps set the tone for what I’m about to get into and keeps me excited to watch more.
And this doesn’t even mention when the intro changes depending on the season or tone of the episode. To use another Star Trek example, Deep Space Nine‘s first three seasons have a soft and subtle song, almost symbolising that while they are stuck out in the middle of nowhere, they are going to get through these challenges. They must work together and thrive near the wormhole. The sweeping shots of the station showing all the ships go by creates a sense of certainty about what is happening.
This changes in the fourth season. Not to spoil too much (because you should watch it yourself), the tone suddenly shifts. War is on the horizon, one which creates a tension on the station. And the intro reflects this. Now it has harder instruments over it, loud horns and percussion starting us off. A few tough sounds throughout it showing that things aren’t easy now. And yet the main melody persists, reminding us that everything will be okay.

This is what’s great about the intro. It is subject to change, and yet sets a certainty throughout the beginning. Something which is kind of lost now. Some shows are even compensating for it. The Bad Batch has such a short intro that you can’t even reach for your remote to skip it in time. Though even then it sets the tone. It is a short military drum, symbolising their previous commitment to the republic, though now they’ve been cast aside and are on their own. And it works here, but it’s a worrying trend I’ve noticed in a lot of shows.
Take The Acolyte for example. While the show itself was good (fight me), the opening credits are terrible. They just… exist. There’s nothing unique about them, nor is it setting the tone very well. If it wanted to work better, it should be been some sweeping images of space, with symbolism of twins in the sky as an orchestra fights against itself. That would work much better with theme of the show. That would have set the tone for what you are about to watch.

So my challenge for you now is this: Watch the intro. Every time you go to sit down to watch a show, don’t hit that tempting ‘Skip Intro’ button. You will loose up to two minutes, but against an episode reaching an hour in length, is it really that long?
And if you don’t want to do that, just watch it all the way through on the first and last time. That works just as well.

Thumbnail Credit: publicdomainpictures.net