I'm watching this in my room with no lights at night and it really brings the feelings back of watching a late night movie with these classic movie special intros
I've been looking for this theme for YEARS, bless your heart for posting it. Of all the TV show themes and movie of the week themes growing up this one is my absolute favorite, I never get tired of it.
Between the beginning and roughly the 5 second mark, the key changes upward ever so slightly. This isn't just a stretched cassette tape but I recall that's precisely the way it played back when it was current. My question is: Why? And do others notice this? Or is this entirely my imagination? (And my thanks for posting this, and for the explanation as to why it ends just like ST:TAS.)
OK, just noticed that. No it is not your imagination. It's like the speed goes up just a fraction of a tone. I can't imagine that was on purpose, and yet I can't imagine they'd let it go if it was a mistake. Mission accomplished though, because all these decades later, we're paying it attention!
Lovely. Any chance of posting the theme that debuted in September 1976 (with a broadcast of "Airport 1975")? I love how that version incorporated the NBC chime logo into the theme.
This music actually made the movies seem like an actual event. Damn but they don't compose stuff like this anymore. Think of the cool theme music: Mannix, Harry 0, Medical Center, etc. etc. but this was the best of all.
I didn't realize that this was the same composter that did the NBC Nightly News close around the same time: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LU2b3yEjJM4.html
Ray also composed not one, but two different theme songs for NBC's "Today" show. The first, which debuted around 1971, was dropped in '78 due to a lawsuit that said Ray's "This is Today" sounded too close to the song "Day by Day", from the stage musical "Godspell". That led to Ray composing the second theme, which ran until 1985, and was kind of based off the NBC chimes.
