Blockbusters (Bob Holness) | 2007 Opening

[steveb147]

Veronon Kay, not even a pale imitation of the great Bob Holness

[winddragon04]

AMAZING NEWS!!! Challenge is gonna bring blockbusters back next year!!!

[oaklandfan2k9]

@winddragon04 And Yes We Can Use The Same Theme as this clip!

[BHALT0S]

nobhead, no way as good as bob

[wrestlingnewsdesk]

heres the host of everything on itv either vernon kay or philip schofields

[gshowguy]

@wrestlingnewsdesk Or Ant & Dec...

[wrestlingnewsdesk]

@gshowguy yes true ant and bloody dec lol

[Vennegoor10]

ITV audiences cheer and woop like the fucking morons they are.

[bradbeaver]

@Vennegoor10 I agree . I like the music used but not te audience

[bradbeaver]

Brilliant!

[afhjkdgf]

I do remember it, but am surprised that it isn't available online. It is possible to edit a version together, however!

They didn't always get it right, however. With Family Fortunes' appearance on GSM, they edited the Central ident on the front of the 1988 titles. The 1987 titles were a bit rubbish so weren't used.

[MQsCues]

The original huge game board was a mechanical affair, apparently created using an array of slide projectors, each responsible for beaming a different hexagon onto the grid. Computer graphics would never be able to evoke the same mood (and I imagine the original board was long gone) so I don't think they'd ever have re-created the original Blockbusters magic, even if they had tried (which they apparently didn't).

[MQsCues]

Gameshow Marathon was big, brash Saturday night stuff. The real Blockbusters was gentle, understated and geeky. It would never have worked in that Saturday night slot, so I guess they had to ruin it, to fit the tacky mood of the Gameshow Marathon strand.

[97channel]

Were Central still actually using the moon frontcap when Blockbusters first introduced these titles?

That's some poor editing. Hate how they strecthed the orignal 4:3 size between 0:15 to 0:26. Presumably because they couldn't effectively crop the bit where the game board is overlaid.

Why did they edit a big chunk out? It's not like they would haved struggle for time if they'd kept it in.

[MQsCues]

I have a feeling frontcaps had gone by then, but it's interesting that the titles were evidently made with the moon frontcap in mind - it's too good a fit otherwise!

I suspect that they couldn't get (or wouldn't pay for) the royalties for Ed Welch's version of the music - it's also been edited out of the preview bit (see separate clip) where the audience is shown hand-jiving.

[97channel]

MQsCues - There's been some suggestion over the years that the master of the ITV Blockbusters theme doesn't exist anymore, through either loss or damage.

I did read somewhere that the Earth in the Blockbusters titles was indeed deliberately scaled for a slick looking fade from the Central Moon ident. I can't recall if it went on to say that viewers NEVER saw it, or RARELY saw it.

But it has been further scaled by the Gameshow Marathon editors. Notice the sudden zoom at 0:10.

[MQsCues]

I hadn't noticed that zoom!

With that much applause drowning it out, I'm sure they could have used a substandard copy of the original theme if they'd wanted/been allowed to.

Further research on wikipedia tells me that the new titles came in in 1987, and since frontcaps were abolished at the start of 1988 there would have been most of one series when the new titles were shown with the frontcap. Odd, because I don't recall it (and there are no clips of it on here, either).

[DANWOODHOUSE]

this video just shows that there are times when you wish that an audience would shut the fuck up so you can hear the music

[Meadoway40]

@DANWOODHOUSE Vernon fucking Kay, wheres Bob?

[thepod96]

@Meadoway40 Since he had 90 mini-strokes over a decade, and then a full stroke in 2006, he is now unable to walk and so I think for his health it would have been a good idea for someone a bit healthier to cover. He did appear in an interview about his time on the show, sitting down, however.

[andymerrett]

@DANWOODHOUSE Yeah, heaven forbid that the audience should enjoy themselves and people who want to hear the real tune unadulterated go and find the countless variations on YouTube.

[DANWOODHOUSE]

@andymerrett When a musician/composer strives to come up with the perfect piece of music then I believe that he/she deserves to have thier work played without any talking/applause ruining it.

alright I agree the blockbusters music on this video isnt perfect, but i'm just using this video as an example

and the same thing goes for these radio D.Js who start yaking before the song has finished - why do they do that?, is it a radio policy?. Campbell Burnapp was the only D.J I know of who didnt

[karlo9881]

Ah, a tear rolled down my cheek watching this. So nostalgic. I loved this show as a kid. Is the full episode available?? I missed this.

[Backintime90stv]

Great clip of Blockbusters on Vernon Kay's Game show marathon 0swproductions0

there is a downside and that is they didn't use Ed welch version of the Blockbusters choosing instead to use a cheap cover version .

[bradbeaver]

Thanks for this matey