‘House Of The Dragon’s Intro Is Lazy As Hell
This week’s episode of House of the Dragon had everything; talking, talking, more talking, a villainous crab-man, and some talking after that. Also several scenes in which King Viserys ponders marrying a literal 12-year-old girl, before thankfully rejecting the creepy idea, and instead, opting to follow his heart and marry … a 14-year-old girl. But that unpleasantness aside, what everyone was buzzing about after the episode aired was the opening credit sequence, which featured familiar animation in the style of Game of Thrones, and a brand new theme song an MP3 from 2011.
Okay, for starters, the animation is obviously a callback to the original show, but as others have pointed out, the Game of Thrones intro was important because it was functional, giving viewers a primer on the geography of Westeros. Here, the show is, more confusingly, “telling the story of the Targaryen dynasty” by filling a model of Old Valyria with a sea of blood, complete with kinetic shots that make it feel like you’re going for a ride in Satan’s waterpark
Most bafflingly, instead of coming up with new music, the show (in what has proven to be somewhat divisive) just used the same old Game of Thrones theme. Like, it’s not even a new arrangement, or a variation on what we’ve heard before, it’s seemingly just the same exact track that was used in the original show.
Don't Miss
Fans may have been extra-surprised at this because House of the Dragon’s composer, Ramin Djawadi (who also scored Game of Thrones) was recently asked about the new theme and claimed that, while he didn’t want to “spoil” anything, it “kept the original DNA alive.” Which is true, but isn’t that kind of a weird way to put it? Like, the reason why the DNA is alive is because it’s the same exact track. You didn’t even have to patch it up with whatever the musical equivalent of Frog DNA is …
After all, it’s not like other TV spin-offs haven’t come up with new music for their shows. Hell, even Law & Order changed things up a tiny bit for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
And each Star Trek show came up with a new piece of theme music. Sure, Star Trek: The Next Generation cribbed the theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but at least that was a movie people had watched maybe once or twice, not a show we’ve all seen in excess of seventy goddamn times.
We’ll have to wait and see if they continue using the same music for the next spin-off, which I believe is about Jon Snow moving to Seattle to become a talk radio host.
You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter!
Thumbnail: HBO
