I grew up on a house that loved TV. American and British shows alike were consumed in mass quantities. Mexican TV not so much.

We lived in Tula, Hidalgo, so no chance of a decent cinema to catch up on flicks. That was reserved for special occasions, like the saturdays we spent traveling to Mexico City to do grocery shopping, walking, music practising, and sometimes visiting relatives.

What I enjoyed the most was the intro to many shows. A lot of these shows never lived up to the hype of their intros, which were basically supercuts of the best parts of certain episodes.

A good theme song can get you excited and pumped, like Magnum P.I.’s stellar rocker. Others can give you a sense of wonder and adventure, like Quantum Leap. Others would give odd watchers a summary of the story, like Hardcastle & McCormick’s AOR rocker. MacGyver, Night Court, ALF (seasons 1 and 2 only), Cheers, Matt Houston, Guns of Paradise, Diff’rent Strokes, you name it. It was a golden era of TV themes.

And then there’s Stu Phillips Galactica theme. Obviously mandated to ape on John Williams’ masterful work for Star Wars, Phillips manages to convey that sense of duty on the overture, but still has enough of his own ideas to yield an ominous and eerie soundtrack. That fanfare lives rent free in my head, along Lorne Green’s narration, and it’s a shame they stopped using that part and went straight for the marching part on the regular show. As for the series, yes, it took a lot from Star Wars but it was good enough for me, and I always wanted a cylon UFO ship. Perhaps one day.

-Sam J. Valdés López