For a cartoon, almost everything rests on the introduction. It’s got to be exciting, short, and introduce new watchers to the premise of the show. If you can pull them in with the opening, hopefully they’ll stay for the entire thing, which is why the intro often looks much, much better than the actual cartoon. These 20 cartoons did this so much better than other, through amazing theme songs, awesome visuals, or just so much badassness, that they managed to stay in our heads for years.

20. Samurai Jack

There is precisely one reason why I don’t think that will.i.am is the biggest jackass on the planet, and that’s because he sings the Samurai Jack themesong. Samurai Jack has all the hallmarks of a great intro — ominous voiceover, sweet action, interesting style. It’s a meld between a traditional opening, and a crazy modern one, which perfectly suits the time traveling cartoon. Cartoon Network has just gone on a major spree, pulling all existing copies of the intro off YouTube (what?), so you’ll have to live with a gametrailers one. Why the hell would you take that of the tubes? People only put it up because they love the show.

19. Defenders of the Earth

Defenders of the Earth decided to go lazy on the theme song front, just describing each character, but they still used awesome 80s hair metal for vocals and you have to give them credit for that. Defenders of the Earth also has one of the most badass lineups of heroes ever! Flash Gordon, the Phantom, Mandrake and Lothar (plus the obligatory diverse teens). Classic pulp heroes, kicking the ass of Ming the Merciless on Saturday mornings. That’s a show I would watch the hell out of! The intro has screaming guitars, giant monsters, magic, lasers, space ships, and evil aliens. At what point is this anything less than awesome?

18. Conan the Adventurer

Listen to that fucking theme song. How badass is that! Trying to make a family friendly Conan was a bit stupid, but at least they went all out on the intro. Crazy transitions, awesome effects, cool shading. I love the camera angle changes, how they’re really pushing to play with interesting composition, in ways that just wouldn’t be feasible for the regular show. In fact the show itself was pretty freaking underwhelming, plus they had to take out most of the fun stuff from Conan, like the brutal killing and naked wenches. But, on Saturday mornings when I was young, I’d watch this intro, get all pumped up, and attack my little brother with a poster tube.

17. Rescue Rangers

Man, the actual footage for this intro is lazy as all hell. There was no animation made specifically for it, they just culled clips from the first season, and set them to music. The only reason the cartoon is even on this list, is because of that song. You know it’s one that will get stuck in your head for the rest of the day, and you continually hum and mutter “some times, some crimes…” Plus, you know, Gadget was awesome. Disney has a lot to answer for, creating millions of furries due to characters like her.

16. Transformers

I don’t care that this show was just a 25 minute commercial for toys we could never afford. You knew it as soon as the laser noises started that you were in for something cool, with the giant floating logos distorting into space, the wireframe plane, stretching into the background looking vaguely futuristic for the early 80s, everything about the show screamed “future!” Hell, the intro had more interesting uses of the actual transforming than you saw in most episodes. Plus, it gave you plenty of warning that robots would magically shift size, without any explanation for their missing mass, which is something that even bugged me as a kid (even if I couldn’t explain why.)

15. Dragonball Z

Remember when you used to watch Dragonball Z, before you realised it was 75% filler of grimacing, laughing and training? Before that point where you stopped watching for a month, came back, and they were still on Namek? When you thought Goku was the coolest character ever, and would practice Kamehamehas when no one was looking? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, the original English Dragonball Z intro was an absolutely amazing speed guitar version. Yeah, there are only like two lines, but they’re yelled with the enthusiasm of a High School metal band, desperately trying to express their rage and excitement into the least amount of time, before busting into a badass guitar solo. Nice.

14. Biker Mice from Mars

One of the dozens of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles inspired spinoffs, featuring combat oriented anthropomorphs, fighting ugly bad guys, with a damsel in distress at their sides. Another great example of a company putting much more money into the intro than the show itself, allowing them to have something resembling decent action, with shifting backgrounds and crazy camera angles, which would just be far too expensive to have in a regular episode. Seriously, this show was just utterly boring and banal, but you have to give credit where it’s due, for making an intro that’s actually pretty cool. There were a whole bunch of cartoons in the 90s that had the same problem, awesome intros, shitty shows.

13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Another amazing intro which I can’t seem to find on YouTube, due to copyright issues. Luckily there are other sources. Years of TV and games drilled this themesong into my head to such a level that whenever I hear the names of any of the turtles, I involuntarily follow it up with their two-word description from the intro. After all Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cool but crude, Michelangelo’s a party dude. What else do you need to know? The cartoon that spawned a thousand toys, bad halloween costumes, and a godawful music tour. Man, we sure loved those turtles.

12. Darkwing Duck

I never expected Disney to make a competent pastiche of the pulp and superhero genres, but you look at Darkwing Duck, and that’s what you have. A play on Batman, the Shadow, spy films, and just about everything else. They even parodied the Dark Knight Returns. Another one of their afterschool shows that seems to have an opening theme designed solely to get lodged as deep as freaking possible inside your brain, coupled with uninspired visuals. Thanks to months of afterschool viewing, I know exactly who to call when there’s trouble, and have been known to say “lets get dangerous” on occasion.

11. Freakazoid!

How in the hell was Steven Spielberg so good at animated absurdism? Freakazoid, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons. All were solid gold. Bat shit insane, but solid gold. I think Freakazoid was the best of the bunch, though I’m sure there are some die-hard Rita and Runt fans out there who will contest that. Unlike most of the other shows, Freakazoid didn’t have a schtick that each skit had to include, so they could actually do some cool plots. Having Bruce Timm on board didn’t hurt. But man, Spielberg’s intros were always stellar. Funny, crazy, and with enough wordplay to keep the adults entertained, they were always a hoot. And how can you not love an intro that manages to include “free kazoo”? Who wouldn’t want a free kazoo? Communists, that’s who!

10. MIB

Most of the intros on this list can be broken down into just two categories. Speed metal, with just a few words or describing the characters and premise. MIB tried to do something at least a little different and modern, with an a hip-hop influenced, but still alien sounding, theme. It managed to remain catchy, but without resorting to the usual methods. The visual side of the intro is just as tight, and for once it’s good to see a show that really attempts to time the images with the music, with characters walking and interacting to the beat. It gives just enough that you can get an idea of what the premise is, without having to be babied about it.

9. Thundercats

If the animation for the rest of Thundercats could have been as awesome or dynamic as the intro, it would have been a much, much cooler show. Look at those awesome pans and swoops! And that cool crazy laser blast thing that was so popular in the 80s! I’m not quite sure why “Thundercats are loose” was considered a good lyric, but we’ll let that slide for all the sweet-ass action and animation in this opening. Plus, you know, Cheetara. Who was nude in the first episode. Just so you know. For research purposes or whatever.

8. WildCATS

WildCATS had arguably the worst intro ever, which is why I love it completely. The lyrics are just so utterly, utterly stupid that it boggles my mind they were chosen. That wonderful combination of bad rock and a rap verse, which says:
We’re Heroes Not Zeros
We got what they Fearo
Here’s The Facts So We Got Power To The Max
You Know We’re Tough As Nails
When All Else Fails
Yup, that’s exactly as stupid as it sounds. Plus the show had to go through some major content changes to make it as a cartoon, so Voodoo wasn’t a nearly nude stripper any more, and Zealot and Grifter had to wear helmets on their bikes. Hilarious! That intro, though. Amazingly bad. The worst lyrics imaginable, nothing can compare to its badness. “Wildcats We’re Good Against Evil/Wildcats We Got Invincible Powers”

7. Mega Man

Super fighting robot. Mega Man. Repeat until bored. Right, theme is written, who fancies a pint? There’s a rumor that the creators of the show literally blew almost the entire first season’s budget on creating the introduction, which, to be fair, is pretty effing sweet. But it meant the first episodes were really shoddy. Like, crazy shoddy, with jerky animation, half-assed fights, off model characters, and the general quality levels of animators imprisoned in a Siberian re-education camp. I get that intros are what pull in viewers for your show, but when you end up spending way too much, you just end up with angry and embittered 10 year olds, who carry a grudge for years.

6. Batman Beyond

Perhaps musically uninspired, but certainly visually awesome. The Batman Beyond intro really pushed hard to demonstrate the gritty future of the show. And it was surprisingly dark, with a penchant for killing off villains in remarkable sadistic ways. The video is cut amazingly, alternating surreal visuals, dark technology, words, and action. I’m particularly fond of the written word segments, starting with negative traits, and then finishing with positive ones, which manages to summarize a hero’s role in a city like Gotham so perfectly. It’s also reminiscent of Pearl Jam’s Do The Evolution, with its rapid cuts, and eerie dancing.

5. Iron Man

The intro for the 90s Iron Man cartoon is the king of metal cartoon openings. Just four words, repeated over and over, on top of wailing guitars, while a be-mulleted Tony Stark uses a hammer and anvil to construct the most advanced piece of technology on the planet. So fucking manly, kids watching this show would spontaneously sprout beards and start wrestling Grizzlies. Meat would be devoured raw, and trees were felled with bare hands. That’s how freaking manly this opening is.

4. X-Men

The bastards at Warner have gone through and killed the audio on all YouTube copies of the intro to the old X-Men cartoon. Sons of bitches. Anyway, this intro provides the perfect summary of the X-Men. Without saying a single word, it introduces the characters, shows their powers, and the enemies they face. That’s pretty freaking good for a one-minute guitar riff. And how cool was it when the first X-Men movie sneakily added a bit of the cartoon theme? The only issue with this intro, was that it caused a generation of kids to think that Wolverine could shoot lightning from his claws.
The Japanese intro for the show was pretty sweet too, even if they included a ton of villains who weren’t even in the show.

3. Gargoyles

By internet decree, I’m limited to using the word “epic” to describe things to a half-dozen times per year. I think this warrants it. This is an epic introduction: dialogue, music and animation all scream it. Amazing.

2. Duck Tales

There is no other theme on the planet that can make you nostalgia harder than Duck Tales. That song punches directly into the part of your brain that stores the memories of staring fixedly at the TV for hours as soon as you get home, avoiding chores, homework and parents just to make sure you see all the episodes of Disney’s cartoons. Duck Tales, TailSpin, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, Gummi Bears. Disney produced hit after hit of these, but none represent the platonic ideal of how good these shows were than Duck Tales. That theme instantly takes me back.

1. Batman: The Animated Series

I’m sorry, but nothing will ever, ever be able to compare to the B:TAS intro. It’s absolutely perfect. Score by Danny Elfman. It doesn’t even need to say Batman at any point. And the animation! Holy crap, almost entirely done in darkness, with hard edges everywhere, and only the slightest spots of light. Batman remains in shadows until the very, very end, a terrifying creature of darkness. The intro is also steeped in the Art Deco look which came to dominate the show, giving it a unique look, unlike anything else on television. You know what else was badass? The bad guys are street thugs. Not supervillains, no rayguns or powers. Guys, in suits, with realistic guns. Absolutely fucking amazing.