Opening and Closing Title Sequences

The Magic Roundabout Opening and Closing Title Sequence has been used in every episode of the original series. It was changed over the years during production.

For the two feature films, a different opening title sequence was used respectively.

A new set of opening and closing title sequences was created for the 2007 revival series.

See also: The Magic Roundabout Theme Tune

Title Sequences

The original series

The opening starts with the title card before it fades to the scene where Florence, Paul, Basil and Rosalie are riding the roundabout as it revolves with Mr Rusty playing his barrel organ while the camera slowly zooms in to the aforementioned children.

• For the first several episodes, the animation of Florence and the children riding the roundabout was slightly different. It cuts to a close-up shot of the roundabout as it slowly zooms in.
• For the very first two episodes "Mr Rusty Meets Zebedee" and "Zebedee Starts the Roundabout", the second shot of the intro is of Mr Rusty playing his barrel organ while the camera slowly zooms out.

The font for the title card is Craw Modern. When the title card was modified for the English version, a bolder version of font is used.

During the original series' run, there have been some updates and changes made to the title sequence, mainly for the title card:

• Series 1:
  • In the later half of Series 1, a different title card was shown. It has the roundabout in the fair distance at the left side of the screen as it is surrounded by flowers, leaves and trees. The title set in a white Times New Roman font is shown at the right side of the screen where the trees are. Also, the lettering in "Enchante" was made to be wavy. This was first shown in B&W. The animation of Florence and the children riding the roundabout were redone as the camera zooms in.
  • A third title card was made exclusively for the English version. It has the stylized drawing of the roundabout where it shows three horses. Underneath is the title in Helvetica and in white.
  • A fourth title card for the English version reuses the second title card from the original French version, except it uses the English title.

• Series 2:
  • It reuses the second title card from the original French version, except it is now colourised.
  • For the English version, it uses the same title card, except the lettering in "Roundabout" is straight instead of wavy.
  • The animation of the children riding the roundabout was redone as it was now shown in colour.

• Series 3:
  • An entirely new title card was made for the French version. It takes place on a blue background where the title is in red and set in the font Cooper Black. Underneath is Serge Danot's signature and four flowers from the show are next to it.
  • The English version has its different title card. It takes place over the background of the Magic Garden where the title set in red and in Pretoria Gross. Underneath is "Created by Serge Danot".
  • The animation of the children riding the roundabout was redone. Also, the camera stops for the different close-up before it rapidly zooms in to transition to the start of the episode.

• Series 4:
  • An revamped version of the French title card used for Series 3 has the title bigger, and the flowers reduced in size with one removed. The logo of Danot Productions replaces Serge Danot's signature and next to the flowers on the right side is the AB Productions logo. This was reused for the AB Productions' redubs of the remastered episodes from Series 2 and 3.
  • For the Nigel Planer re-narrations and new episodes, the title card is omitted and it instead goes straight to the animation of Florence and the children riding the roundabout.

Original French Version

First title card of Series 1

The second title card used in the later episodes of Series 1

The title card used for Series 2

The title card used for Series 3

The title card used for Series 4 and AB Productions' redubs of the remastered episodes in Series 2 and 3

English Version

The original title card used for the first two episodes of Series 1

The third title card used for Series 1

The fourth title card used for Series 1

The title card used for Series 2

The title card used for Series 3

Dougal and the Blue Cat

The opening sequence starts off with a silhouette of the clock pendulum before we see the silhouettes of the trees. The on-screen credits, set in a white Serif font, begin when the shot focuses on the silhouette of Dougal's cuckoo clock.

• The English version has the sequence shortened while the English on-screen credits are displayed. The DANOT logo, with the exception of the wordmark, is mirrored. Due to the opening sequence being shortened, it resulted in the film's audio of Dougal's cuckoo trying to wake him up being out of sync.
• Following the 2010 restoration, the opening credits are cheaply redone as the footage was more brighter in comparison to the print used for the original VHS release. The DANOT logo is displayed more identically in that version.

The 2005 film

The first part of the opening credits was set in a white Times New Roman font. After Zebedee wakes up from his nightmare and the film's title shows up, the title disappears into gold sparkles and moving to different places of the screen to form the cast names one-by-one until the camera pans over to Florence's house. The opening sequence continues with the camera panning around the photographs on Florence's wall inside her house as the on-screen credits fade in and out. The font used for the opening credits in the sequence was MVB Bovine and they were set in gold.

In the US dub, there are no opening credits after Zebedee's nightmare as the credits have been moved to the end credits instead. The US dub's title, in a gold Times New Roman font, fades in above Dougal and Florence as it transitions to a photograph of them.

The 2007 revival series

It starts off in a French city which is Marseille (as the Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde-basilica is seen in the background) and the main title of the show fades in as the camera zooms out over the roof of the roundabout. The title fades out as the camera pans down to see Florence riding on the roundabout. Florence waves to Basil and Coral who wave back at her. Zebedee appears on the spire of the roundabout roof and uses his magic around the roundabout. Florence notices the magic around her and the roundabout until she finds herself magically teleported to the Magic Garden as she was still riding the roundabout. As she looks around at her new surroundings, the inhabitants who are Mr Rusty, Brian, Dylan, Ermintrude, The Train and Dougal, as well as Zebedee, gather around the roundabout to warmly welcome her. Dougal eagerly comes up to Florence as he's excited to meet her, and she kneels down and gives Dougal a nice hug. Throughout the sequence, a set of opening credits fade in and out at the bottom of the screen.

Afterwards, we fade to an aerial view of the village where the episode's title is displayed along with the credits. The opening credits in the title sequence are set in MVB Bovine and in gold.

• The logo and the opening titles, as well as the title song, were translated in different languages depending on which country, i.e. France.
• Starting in Season 2, the opening sequence was updated where ZDF is credited in the opening titles.
• A textless version of the opening credits without the main title was made which was meant for the purpose to add in the translated credits.

The title card used for the English dub

Closing Credits

The original series

When the episode ends, the closing shot zooms in and blurs as it transitions to the same scene with Florence and her friends riding the roundabout as the camera slowly zooms out.

• In the English version made for the BBC, the end credit appears "Written and Told by Eric Thompson" along with the BBC TV logo used at the time. During Series 1, the font was Helvetica, and later during Series 2 and 3, it was set in Zapf Elliptical 711.
• For the first UK VHS volume, the closing sequence is completely still and it has the closing credit in Helvetica and in yellow with a black outline.
• For the Nigel Planer re-narrations that are broadcasted, a set of closing credits appear as scrolling credits across the screen as the camera zooms out from the roundabout.
• For the Nigel Planer re-narrations that are released on VHS, while the closing animation retains, the closing credits was moved to a black background as scrolling credits.

The end card used for the English version of Series 1

The end card used only for Volume 1 on the VHS

The end card used for the English versions of Series 2 and 3

Dougal and the Blue Cat

The closing sequence focuses on the last shot on the characters riding the Magic Roundabout as the camera pans out. After the camera has panned out, the word "Fin", along with a French certificate disclaimer, appear on-screen before the shot fades out.

• The English version has the closing sequence modified. When the camera pans out, "The End" appears on-screen and zooms out over the roof of the roundabout and into the sky. After the camera panned out, the animation frame-freezes and the English version of the on-screen end credits are displayed above the roundabout. Because of how the music ends, the end credits continue in silence.
• The 2010 restoration has the closing sequence retained from the original French version. However, the English version of the end credits are displayed on a black screen after the sequence fades out. This was possibly due to the original film print of the English version suffering from heavy signs of age, with film scratches and wear and tear.

The 2005 film

The first part of the closing credits start off as on-screen credits that fade in and out before the mid-credits scene shows Zeebad in his prison. The rest of the credits continue as scrolling credits.

In the UK version, the closing credits sequence remains the same, but the scrolling credits are spilt halfway through where the first half finishes scrolling before it shows a mid-credits scene with Zebedee. Afterwards, the rest of the credits continue.

In the US dub, the closing credits are set differently. The first part of the credits start as on-screen credits that list the cast names with footage of the cast members recording their lines as "Sugar, Sugar" plays in the background. The on-screen credits continue with footage of the redubbed film and the behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and crew. The rest of the credits continue as scrolling credits. The scrolling credits are the same as the British version, but it was changed slightly and extended to accommodate TWC's involvement in the American dub. The mid-credits scene of Zebedee was moved after the main credits. The last part of the credits, with the in-credit logos, continue afterwards.

Although the copyright notice of Pathé Fund and its name are still retained, the MPAA logo, along with the certificate number, was added in the credits, as well as the print version of the TWC logo, since this version of the film is released in the United States.

The 2007 revival series

Against the white background, a set of on-screen closing credits appear in front or next to a promotional render of a character from the series (except Zebedee, who has two). The last part of the closing credits involve all the characters before it shows the production company logos accompanied with a promotional image of the characters happily running.

The font used for the opening and closing credits was MVB Bovine.

• For Season 1, it showed the promotional render of Digger in the last part of the closing credits.
• In Season 2, some of the promotional renders of the characters are switched around and Auntie Primrose replaces Digger in the last part of the closing credits.
• A textless version of the closing credits were also made which was meant for the translated credits.