Cartoon Openers in Foreign Languages

If you are a listener of GeekNights, you know that in every episode Rym and I each select one thing on the web to be our “Thing of the Day.” This week we have decided to do a common theme where all of our things will be openers or closers of shows in foreign languages. Ever since choosing this theme, I have realized that the web, YouTube in particular, is a treasure trove of foreign language openers to television shows. Since this discovery I have been entertained for hours on end.

After watching so many openers I have become much more conscious of many of the openers to shows I enjoyed in my youth. The first thing I noticed were shows that didn’t have any vocals in the opener. Perhaps this was done on purpose to make internationalization easier? I also noticed that the only shows that seemed to have opening songs with lots of vocals were made by the big studios like Disney and Warner Brothers. They also seem to be the only studios that were able to afford to have most of their songs translated into multiple languages. Shows with heavy vocal openers that are not by Disney or Warner, like The Real Ghostbusters or Thundercats, tend to not re-sing the songs when they aired them in other countries. Also, the Disney and Warner Brothers openers that were heavy on vocals were typically light years ahead of the competition in terms of musical quality.

Another interesting thing that I’ve found out is it is almost impossible to find Hanna-Barbera openers in other languages on the net. Were these shows not aired in other countries? I wanted nothing more than to hear the Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo or Jetsons theme songs in other languages, but I couldn’t find a single one. If you know how to find them please help. It is also difficult for me to find openers in languages that use different alphabets, like Cyrillic, because I can’t search for them.

Anyway, for your entertainment here is a collection of all the great international cartoon openers that I have found on YouTube. Everything is in alphabetical order for ease. If you find any others, feel free to post a link in the comments. Also, I do not speak most of these languages. I am sorry if anything here is wrong, let me know and I will correct it. I mean no disrespect to your country or language. Also, I put a * next to the ones I think are the awesomest.

Alvin and the Chipmunks – English
Alvin and the Chipmunks – German
Animaniacs – English
Animaniacs – Finnish
Animaniacs – French
Animaniacs – German
Animaniacs – Hebrew
Animaniacs – Portuguese
Animaniacs – Spanish
Bonkers – English
Bonkers – Swedish
COPS – English
COPS – German
Darkwing Duck – Dutch
Darkwing Duck – English
Darkwing Duck – French
Darkwing Duck – German
Darkwing Duck – Russian
Darkwing Duck – Spanish (Latin)
Darkwing Duck – Spanish (Castilian)
Darkwing Duck – Swedish
Dragonball – English
Dragonball – Galician*
Dragonball – German
Dragonball – Greek
Dragonball – Spanish
Dragonball – Japanese
Duck Tales – Dutch
Duck Tales – English
Duck Tales – Finnish
Duck Tales – French
Duck Tales – German
Duck Tales – Norwegian
Duck Tales – Portuguese
Duck Tales – Russian
Duck Tales – Spanish
Duck Tales – Swedish
Dungeons and Dragons – German
Dungeons and Dragons – English
Freakazoid – English
Freakazoid – Spanish*
Garfield and Friends – English
Garfield and Friends – German
Garfield and Friends – Spanish
Gargoyles – English
Gargoyles – German*
Gobots – English
Gobots – French
Goof Troop – Dutch
Goof Troop – English
Goof Troop – Hebrew
Goof Troop – Norwegian
Goof Troop – Swedish
Gummi Bears – Dutch
Gummi Bears – English
Gummi Bears – French
Gummi Bears – German
Gummi Bears – Hungarian
Gummi Bears – Polish
Gummi Bears – Russian
Gummi Bears – Spanish (Latin)
Heathcliff – English
Heathcliff – German
Heathcliff – Hebrew
Macron 1 – English
Macron 1 – Hebrew
Mighty Max – English
Mighty Max – Hebrew
Pinky and the Brain – Arabic
Pinky and the Brain – English
Pinky and the Brain – Hebrew*
Pokemon – Cantonese
Pokemon – English
Pokemon – German
Quack Pack – English
Quack Pack – French
Quack Pack – German
Rescue Rangers – Dutch
Rescue Rangers – English
Rescue Rangers – German
Rescue Rangers – Swedish
Sailor Moon – English
Sailor Moon – German*
Sailor Moon – Japanese
Sailor Moon – Russian
Sailor Moon – Spanish
Sonic Underground – English
Sonic Underground – French
South Park – German
Super Mario Bros. Super Show – English
Super Mario Bros. Super Show – German*
Super Mario Bros. Super Show – Italian
Tale Spin – English
Tale Spin – Swedish
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – English
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – German
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Hebrew
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Italian*
Tiny Toons – English
Tiny Toons – Hebrew
Tiny Toons – Spanish
Tiny Toons – French
Transformers – English
Transformers – French*
Transformers – German
Transformers – Japanese

EDIT: BoingBoing is now discussing this subject, and many other videos are linked in their post and comments. http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/27/1980s-cartoon-intros.html