"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 Out of This World. "Would you like to swing on a star? Carry moonbeams home in a jar? And be better off than you are? Or would you rather go to Earth?" The series ran in first-run syndication debuting in September of 1987 running for four seasons and 96 episodes. Out of This World is about a teenage girl (played my Maureen Flannigan) who is half alien, which gives her unique supernatural powers. Her mother is played by Donna Pescow who might be best recognized for her role in Saturday Night Fever and her father's voice is provided by none other than Burt Reynolds.
The opening credits for the series incorporated special effects footage from the 1979–1981 series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The theme song for Out of This World is a modified version of "Swinging on a Star". The song is an American pop standard with music composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke and was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year. For the theme song, the melody and some of the lyrics remained the same, but other lyrics were adjusted including asking, "Would you rather go to Earth?" instead of "Would you rather be a mule, or a pig or a fish?"
Here is the opening for Out of This World featuring the theme song...
Many people don't realize this series lasted as long as it did. I actually remember the theme song more than I remember the show itself.
"An earthling's a creature who is plain as can be. He's not as unique as you or me. His body comes in lots of different shapes. They say his relatives were chimps and apes. But if you take my advice for what it's worth, you could be happy there on earth. Or would you like to swing on a star? Carry moonbeams home in a jar? And be better off than you are? You could be swinging on a star. You could be swinging on a star."
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!