The 1970s TV series UFO was Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s first foray into completely live-action television. Prior to that, they’d worked only on “Supermarionation” marionette-based animated shows like Fireball XL-5, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet (whose distinctive style would be referenced in Dire Straits’ video for Calling Elvis and in the movie Team America: World Police (here’s a scene from the movie — note that there’s cuss words aplenty). The Andersons’ next show after UFO was the legendary Space: 1999.
It’s been ages since I watched UFO, so I don’t remember its title sequence, which takes the Andersons’ storytelling-by-montage approach and bears the “future as seen from the seventies” look that is the Anderson’s stock in trade. I also don’t recall its theme music, which has to be the most jazz-a-riffic theme for a science fiction show ever. Here it is, for your enjoyment:
Update
In the comments, “ajlb” reminded me that there’s another sci-fi show with a jazz-a-riffic theme: Cowboy Bebop. How’d I forget that?
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That’s pretty awesome.
The other totally jazz-a-riffic title sequence for a sci-fi show would of course be “Cowboy Bebop”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6zDfxZ4NcE
There’s also live footage of the band totally ripping it up live (I love YouTube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-TAxm00jOg
@ajlb: Ah, how could I have forgotten Cowboy Bebop?
Thanks for the reminder!