Line #54 Main/ThemeMusicAbandonment


1	{{Theme tune}}s are a very important component to films, TV shows and video games. Many iconic works are easily identifiable with their themes. Sometimes to change stuff up, a work's familiar theme music is missing from its latest franchise entry. This is often polarizing.
2	Why it's done can usually be blamed on either creative or legal reasons. The appearance of this trope can make many people decry the work as DarthWiki/RuinedForever.
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4	Compare with ThemeMusicWithholding. See also SpecialEditionTitle, which often comes without the standard theme tune.
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6	!!Examples
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8	[[foldercontrol]]
9
10	[[folder:Anime]]
11	It's somewhat common for the final episode of an anime to not include the opening theme:
12	* ''Anime/CowboyBebop''
13	* ''Anime/MyHime'' and ''Anime/MyOtome''
14	* ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin''
15	* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''
16	* ''Anime/SoundOfTheSky''
17	* The English dubs of ''[[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Revenge of Diaboromon]]'' and the ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' movies abandon their theme song in favour of the ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'' theme due to rights issues.
18	* ''Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon'' does not use the usual opening theme from the Buu Saga era, "We Gotta Power," like the previous three films do.
19	* Koichi Korenaga and Masaki Iwamoto's themes from the ''Manga/LoveHina'' TV series, as well as the Winter and Spring specials, weren't integrated into Shinkichi Mitsumune's score for ''Love Hina Again''.
20	* Takeo Watanabe's themes from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' are not used in Shigeaki Saegusa's scores for ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ''.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Film]]
24	* ''Film/OurMissBrooks'', the [[TheMovie cinematic]] [[GrandFinale series finale]] to the long-running radio and television series of the same name, dispenses with the usual series theme, opening with a fanfare and a cheery new tune.
25	* ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreetPart2FreddysRevenge'' is the only ''Elm Street'' film not to feature Charles Bernstein's theme.
26	* ''Film/BatmanForever'' and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' replaced Music/DannyElfman with Elliot Goldenthal, who provided a lighter and more traditionally heroic theme as part of the shift to a LighterAndSofter tone.
27	* ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain'', as a third-party remake of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', was forced by licencing issues to not include the ''Film/JamesBond'' theme.
28	* Music/BasilPoledouris' ''Franchise/RoboCop'' theme is absent in ''Film/RoboCop2'', but returns in ''Film/RoboCop3''.
29	* ''Django Strikes Again'', the only "official" sequel to the original ''Film/{{Django}}'', never features Luis Bacalov and Franco Migliacci's theme at any point, it would turn up as a cover in the Japanese remake/homage ''Film/SukiyakiWesternDjango'', and the 2012 Creator/QuentinTarantino film ''Film/DjangoUnchained''.
30	* ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'': Was an attempt at a different storyline and is the only entry in the series not to use the theme, though parts of the new soundtrack do echo the original, iconic piano motif.
31	* Neither of the Creator/PeterCushing ''Doctor Who'' films used the [[Series/DoctorWho original series']] iconic theme tune.
32	* Very common in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, of which no films have ever shared a composer. The [[Film/{{Alien}} original film]]’s iconic Music/JerryGoldsmith theme did not reappear in the series until a brief recurrence in ''Film/AlienResurrection'' (which otherwise uses its own themes); it also makes a short, distorted appearance in ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' before making a full return as one of the main themes in ''Film/AlienCovenant'', alongside some other music cues from the first film. Meanwhile, despite “Bishop’s Countdown” becoming common StockTrailerMusic, none of the themes from Music/JamesHorner’s ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' soundtrack returned in the following films, nor did Elliot Goldenthal’s ''Film/Alien3'' themes or any others since - until ''Prometheus'', which also got some short musical [[CallBack callbacks]] in ''Covenant''.
33	* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
34	** All of the movies have completely different themes, which is unusual for superhero films, but somewhat inevitable given that every film up until 2014's ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' has a different composer. The trope was finally averted in that film, when John Ottman returned to the franchise for the first time in over a decade, remixing his [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic much-liked title music]] from ''Film/X2XMenUnited''; he does a more classical version for ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', to spectacular effect. And then the trope was played straight once again with ''Film/DarkPhoenix'', where Music/HansZimmer stuck to his own material.
35	** Double aversion for ''Days of Future Past'', as the film also incorporated some of Henry Jackman's Magneto theme (and a few others) from ''Film/XMenFirstClass'', despite the composer change.
36	* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
37	** ''Film/ManOfSteel'', as a reboot of the Superman films, has a new theme by Music/HansZimmer, retiring the well-known Music/JohnWilliams theme that had been used on every Superman film for over thirty years.
38	** ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' does not include the Batman theme from ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', despite them sharing a composer. Zimmer expressly avoided reusing his iconic motifs in order to better distinguish the film from the Nolan-directed series and help it develop its own identity. Music/JunkieXL collaborated on it.
39	** For ''Film/{{Justice League\|2017}}'', Music/DannyElfman scrapped the Zimmer/Junkie XL template of ''Man of Steel'' and ''Batman v Superman'' and brought back his own Batman theme as well as the Music/JohnWilliams Superman theme (with a dark twist). He also rearranged the Wonder Woman theme, truncating it and making it orchestral (without electric cello).
40	** Then Elfman's compositions were discarded for ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' when Junkie XL was brought back to restore continuity with ''Man of Steel'' and ''Batman v. Superman''. He brought back the ''Man of Steel'' themes for Superman as well as Wonder Woman's entire theme, and also composed a new theme for Batman (while bringing the ''[=BvS=]'' one back for a short moment).
41	* VERY common in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
42	** Ramin Djawadi's themes for ''Film/IronMan1'' were never used in ''Film/IronMan2'' or ''[[Film/IronMan3 3]]'', nor were John Debney's themes for ''Iron Man 2'' used in ''3'' (which was scored by Brian Tyler). Some of Tyler's themes do briefly appear in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', however, as that film was co-composed by Tyler.
43	** Craig Armstrong's music for ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'' is never utilized in any of the character's future appearances.
44	** Patrick Doyle's theme for ''Film/{{Thor}}'' is replaced by a new theme for Brian Tyler's ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' score. However, both scores are briefly utilized in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' (InUniverse in the latter case), though composer Mark Mothersbaugh primarily uses his own theme for the character instead. None of these themes are used in the ''Avengers'' films.
45	** Alan Silvestri's theme from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' does briefly appear in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]'' but is never integrated into Henry Jackman's score for it or ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]''. However, the theme is reprised in ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'', as well as its sequels ''[[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Infinity War]]'' and ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame Endgame]]'', which were composed by Silvestri. Conversely, Jackman's ''Captain America'' themes aren't used in any other MCU films, though many returned in Jackman's score for ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier''.
46	** Averted by ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''; despite being composed by Brian Tyler and Creator/DannyElfman, rather than Alan Silvestri, the film heavily utilizes the [[Film/TheAvengers2012 first film's]] theme alongside its own compositions. [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar The]] [[Film/AvengersEndgame sequels]], composed by Silvestri, naturally retain the theme as well; however, they do not utilize any of the Tyler/Elfman compositions. Silvestri's ''Avengers'' theme has largely been embraced as a theme for the MCU itself, including making a brief appearance in ''Film/{{Black Widow\|2021}}'' and being featured heavily in that film's marketing.
47	** Akin to the ''Captain America'' example above, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' includes a brief snippet of Ludwig Göransson's theme from ''Film/{{Black Panther\|2018}}'', but said theme is not incorporated into Alan Silvestri's score for the film.
48	** {{Downplayed\|Trope}} with ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness''; while Creator/DannyElfman's score does make brief usage of Creator/MichaelGiacchino's {{Leitmotif}} from [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 the first film]], it's noticeably less prevalent than in the character's other appearances, made particularly obvious when compared to Strange's role in the Giacchino-scored ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome''. Elfman also does not use Music/ChristopheBeck's theme for Wanda Maximoff from ''Series/WandaVision''.
49	** Later franchises in the MCU, such as ''Film/{{Guardians of the Galaxy\|2014}}'', ''Film/AntMan1'' and ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecomingTrilogy Spider-Man]]'', have generally averted this trope by establishing composer continuity. However, this trope can still occur when the characters appear in other MCU franchises, such as Ant-Man's appearance in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' and the Guardians' appearance in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. With ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', however, composer Alan Silvestri made a more concerted effort to avert the trope by incorporating the themes for Ant-Man and Film/{{Captain Marvel\|2019}} [[spoiler:(among others)]] in the film. The score for ''[[WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021 What If…]]'' also largely averts this and brings together character themes from all corners of the franchise.
50	** Even occurs with the Creator/MarvelStudios logo. ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', the first film released fully under Marvel's own banner, retired the "pages flipping" sound for MCU works and introduced a new company theme composed by Brian Tyler, but it only lasted for [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier two]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 more]] films before disappearing. New fanfare by Creator/MichaelGiacchino accompanied the revamped logo introduced in ''Film/{{Doctor Strange\|2016}}''; this theme has lasted through the remainder of Phase 3 and into Phase 4, including the associated TV series.
51	* Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973'' and ''Film/TheFourMusketeers'', although they were produced simultaneously and are two halves of the same story, have completely different scores written by two different composers (Michel Legrand and Lalo Schifrin respectively). The sequel thus lacks the first movie's very distinctive main themes.
52	* Both ''Film/MacGyverLostTreasureOfAtlantis'' and ''Film/MacGyverTrailToDoomsday'' TV-movies are missing the classic ''Series/{{MacGyver\|1985}}'' theme.
53	* Danny Elfman composed his own thing for ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'', discarding the Marco Beltrami's compositions and [[https://youtu.be/jXlR5ok-LTg theme]] from [[Film/Hellboy2004 the first film]].
54	* Despite all films in the trilogy being scored by the same composer, Howard Shore, the two [[Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug later]] [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies installments]] of ''Film/TheHobbit'' trilogy do not reprise the [[Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney first film's]] main theme for the Dwarf company. Shore has said this was [[InvokedTrope intentionally done]] as a way to convey the sequels' darker tone by creating a sense of absence.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
58	* ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' is the only off-shoot of the franchise that doesn't has a variation of the original ''Series/LawAndOrder'' theme.
59	* Starting with season three, ''Series/HappyDays'' dispensed with Music/BillHaleyAndHisComets' "Rock around the Clock" in favor of an original song called "Happy Days" by Pratt & [=McClain=] which had previously been played over the closing credits and which had become a hit in its own right. (Haley likely had no cause to complain, as the use of his song on "Happy Days" had helped return it to the Billboard charts in 1974, 20 years after it was first recorded.)
60	* Due to copyright and licensing issues, this trope occasionally occurs with DVD releases of TV series when [[ReReleaseSoundtrack a theme song has to be removed and replaced with generic music]] (most notably the original DVD releases of ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', for which the studio were unable to obtain the rights for "Love and Marriage" past the first two seasons, and had to substitute a lame generic piece of music). Public domain releases of shows such as ''Series/TheBeverlyHillbillies'' and ''Series/PetticoatJunction'' have also run into this.
61	* John Sullivan wrote the theme music for ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' when he wrote the first series, but the BBC decided to go with a different theme composed by Ronnie Hazelhurst. Sullivan disliked the new theme, and before the second series aired he persuaded the producers to use his own compostions instead.
62	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' uses an alternate theme tune for the musical episode ''Once More, With Feeling''.
63	* ''Series/{{Community}}'' occasionally replaces or abandons its theme music for specific episodes (e.g. the Western version of the theme in ''A Fistful of Paintballs'' or the dropping of the theme entirely for ''Geothermal Escapism'').
64	[[/folder]]
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66	[[folder:Video Games]]
67	* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' drops the classic ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' theme tune due to legal pressure by the estate of the deceased Russian composer Georgy Sviridov, whose song "The Winter Road" sounds very similar to the theme.
68	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' switched out the series' iconic victory fanfare for an original piece, and also completely dropped the Prelude and the Prologue, featured in the series since the first game.
69	* ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'' uses the classic ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' music often enough, but completely abandons the ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' theme song used in the previous three games.
70	* Happens in ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'', where remixes of well known and popular themes from the animes appear in the original Japanese releases of the games, [[BadExportForYou but not the Western localizations]]. This is due to the licensing fees for using those songs in the West, which would be astronomical for a game appealing to a niche market. Fans have not been happy about this, especially since many of the removed songs are considered iconic of their respective series, such as [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Rhythm Emotion]] and [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Burning Finger]].
71	* Only a brief fragment of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'''s iconic theme was used in its most famous entry, ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]''[[note]]in the Hyrule Field BGM[[/note]]. The [[VideoGameRemake 3DS remake]] included the full theme in a new portion of the end credits.
72	* ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' is the only game in the ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' series where the classic victory dance music is never played at any point. While it also doesn't appear during gameplay in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'', both versions of the song appear in the sound test.
73	* ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2019'' doesn't use Sumire Kanzaki's previous leitmotifs from ''VideoGame/SakuraWars1996'' and ''VideoGame/SakuraWars2ThouShaltNotDie''.
74	* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'' throws out almost all recurring themes from the rest of the series, except for the "item get" fanfare and a very brief snatch of "Burning Scuttle Town" during the intro FMV.
75	* ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis3'', perhaps for the same reasons as the aforementioned ''Metal Gear Solid'' theme, abandoned the main theme of the first two games, which was a SuspiciouslySimilarSong to the ''Film/{{Speed}}'' theme.
76	* The video game adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheWorldIsNotEnough'' lacks the classic James Bond theme.
77	* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII'''s Platform/PCEngine CD port, which has a completely new soundtrack, is one of the few games in the series to omit its signature theme tune.
78	* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIIThePiratesOfPestulon'''s intro starts with the opening notes of the series' original theme tune, but transitions into a completely new main theme. The classic theme would return in full in the ending of [[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers the next installment]].
79	* ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' abandons the series' signature TitleThemeTune except for a brief cameo in the closing credits song "Unreconciled".
80	[[/folder]]
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82	[[folder:Western Animation]]
83	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' episode "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey'' (the season 5 RockOpera episode) eschews the opening theme and goes right to the title card, episode title and writers/director bylines. This is most likely due to it being considered as the show's GrandFinale.
84	* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "My Fairy Hatey" lacks the theme song, likely due to it already being a MusicalEpisode with a large focus on the StoryArc.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' drops its usual upbeat ''Star Wars'' credits music in two episodes: the season 5 finale "The Wrong Jedi" and the series finale "Sacrifice"; it is replaced with more solemn music to be more consistent with the tone of the episodes' endings, specifically [[spoiler:Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order in "The Wrong Jedi" and Yoda realizing the Jedi will likely lose the Clone Wars in "Sacrifice".]]
86	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "The Warners' 65 Anniversary Special" does not use the regular intro due to it being the season finale.
87	* While early installments featured it noticeably, later entries in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' series largely eschews the classic ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' theme as the spinoff [[GrowingTheBeard takes on its own identity]] and makes fewer references to ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Friendship is Magic]]'' and its characters. The theme does appear for a brief MythologyGag in [[WebAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsDigitalSeries the web series]] episode “Festival Filters” when the characters use a G1-inspired pony filter on themselves.
88	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThemeMusicAbandonment