US started its new season yesterday and one of the new “things” is an old “thing” – Wheel of Fortune has a new arrangement of Changing Keys, one of its old – and most remembered – themes (coincidentally written by the show’s creator Merv Griffin).
So I ask you viewers: what’s the best rearrangement of an established theme?
The Fort Boyard theme. Pick whichever one you like, as long as it’s not France 2000 (Sweden 2000 is fine, though).
Is the Sweden one the one that sounded a bit James Bond-esque?
Too easy:
YES.
**blows kiss**
I have a soft spot for the reworked Wheel of Fortune theme in the UK, when it got redonw as a library track for some reason.
Particularly as it starts to pop up in bizarre places, Series 1 of CrackerJack, and even replacing unclearable music on WWE releases (get to about 3 mins in)
https://www.wwe.com/videos/the-american-dream-dusty-rhodes-and-sapphire-vs-macho-man-randy-savage-and-sensational-sherri-wrestlemania-6-mixed-tag-team-match
I remember when they changed it being annoyed that it went up and down in the wrong places. What were they *thinking*?
My guess? Change the legally mandated number of notes to be an ‘original’ composition, seeing as the whole thing seems to have been a music publishers put up job. Same reason the ITV Jeopardy! theme does exactly the same thing in exactly the same way.
Always had a soft spot for the Celebrity Countdown theme tune.
Special mention has to go to the fabulous orchestral version of the To Tell The Truth theme they used in 1990.
If we’re doing orchestral rearrangements, I reckon the orchestral version of the Knightmare theme tune used in series 4-5 counts as a pretty straight rearrangement of the video game-y synth version used in versions 1-3, and I submit it as the definitive answer to Brig’s question, whereas the version 6-8 theme is not so much a rearrangement or a remix as a new, but similar version. It’s a bit of a grey scale between rearrangements and similar but different tunes – for instance, the Catchphrase theme tunes are all sufficiently different to the point where I would narrowly consider them to be not rearrangements.
Marc Sylvan is the master at re-imaginging classic quiz themes
Special mention goes to his updates of 15 to 1 and Catchphrase
His Family Fortunes revamp is growing on me
AND
just when I thought Paul Farrer couldn’t make his Weekest Link package any more brilliant HE WENT AND DID IT
it’s morphed into a completely brilliant Judge Rinder/Chase crossover
My pick would be the revamped Dancing On Ice theme from 2018: