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When I started watching Once Upon A Time, several years ago, there was a minute and half theme song and intro that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Now that I am revisiting the show (rewatching the whole series), the theme song has been removed from Netflix. Now there's just a 5-second title card in its place.

What happened? Was the song removed because too many people hit the "skip intro" button or was the copyright license up?

For reference, here is an example of the theme song:

EDIT: For those saying that the song I linked is the song for the end title credits: The ending credit song IS the theme song. They are the same. Except the theme song was much longer than 30 seconds and the camera would pan through the enchanted forest to show each character with their character name and actor name. However, I couldn't find the visuals on YouTube (I'm assuming there is copyright involved thus the visuals can't be uploaded to YouTube). So I linked to the just music instead. If you read what I said above, it says: "Here's an EXAMPLE of what I'm talking about. Hope that helps clear things up.

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    Pretty sure all of my DVD/Blu-Ray versions have just the short title card.
    – HorusKol
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 3:10
  • @HorusKol When was your DVD set released? Perhaps the very first DVD set ever released had the theme song and then your Blu-Ray set which was released at a later date just had the title card. Does it say when it was released on the DVD casing?
    – RexxiA
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 4:00
  • The song exists. Google it and you will find it.
    – Lt. Commander. Data
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 14:26
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    @RexxiA I know, I've heard it before too. It's just that people are denying the existence of such a song, so I was clarifying that it's certainly there. As for your question, I suspect it might simply be that the producers decided to remove the song for the DVD editions because it attracted a negative response. Netflix uses the DVD cuts, there are very few things on Netflix from the original television airings.
    – Lt. Commander. Data
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 17:23
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    Many countries add their own credits/song for TV shows they import from the USA. Prison Break was a notorious example in France, as it was supposed to have a simple title card and ended having a song instead.
    – kikirex
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 16:22

2 Answers 2

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My DVD and Blu-Ray collection only have the teaser title card (where there's a clue to the shows story hidden in a shadowy enchanted forest). The DVDs for Season 1 were produced in 2012.

I also can't find any reference to a change in title sequence on IMDB or Wikipedia, which do document other TV shows having changed titles over their run, or variations between TV/DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix.

Are you sure you're remembering correctly?

The music you've linked to on YouTube is played over the end credits.

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    I'm sure I'm remembering correctly, other wise this theme song would not exist on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=k16jb6JZsws Unless my memories and this song are a part of some strange Mandela Effect.
    – RexxiA
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 16:41
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    That's the music over the end credits
    – HorusKol
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 21:33
  • The video you linked to is definitely not the visuals for either opening or closing, since it's static. No TV show would broadcast a 90 second still frame at any point.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 17:26
  • @DJClayworth Well of course. I just linked to the music, not the visuals. I couldn't find the visuals on YouTube (I'm assuming there is copyright involved thus the visuals can't be uploaded). So I linked to the music instead. If you read my post it says: "Here's an EXAMPLE of what I'm talking about."
    – RexxiA
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 18:27
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This is a rendition of the end credits theme song

Each episode ended with a 30-second end song that matches roughly the first 30-seconds of the video you linked to.

I've never seen an episode where the end theme was longer than 30 seconds, and the instruments in your version have a slightly different sound to it. I suspect that the version you have is an extended fan rendition of this end theme.

I watched the show live from late Season 1 through the end of the show and never saw anything but a titlecard

I joined the show at the end of Season 1 and watched most of the episodes on live TV through the following 6 seasons. This was in the United States on the ABC channel. In all that time, there wasn't a single episode that had anything other than a 5-second titlecard. This matches episodes I've seen on Netflix and other streaming services.

Since I didn't watch from Episode 1, I can't say that the live airings originally began with a longer intro. But since late Season 1 when I started, I can confirm that there weren't any.

Now there were a few "catch-up" specials that summarized the events thus far so that new viewers could jump in. I haven't watched them all, but on the off-chance that this song was played at the start of an episode, my guess is that it was from one of these.

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  • the ending credit song IS the theme song. They are the same. Except the theme song was much longer than 30 seconds and the camera would pan through the enchanted forest to show each character with their character name and actor name. I never watched it air live. I've only ever seen it on Netflix and several years ago I remember a theme song with visuals on Netflix. Maybe this another Mandela Effect, but I swear I remember it.
    – RexxiA
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 2:24
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    Yes, I remember it too. There was definitely an opening theme song.
    – Lt. Commander. Data
    Commented Apr 24, 2019 at 2:46

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