I was posting last night with my TV on in another room, and all I could hear were these repeated warbling pings, and I thought to myself, “That has got to be Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.” Yup.
So what else can be ID’d so easily? Theme music doesn’t count.
Star Trek especially from the bridge noises.
Star Wars especially the light sabre duels.
Forbidden Planet with all the theremin sounds.
Godzilla movies, with the distinctive Godzilla roar.
1953’s War of the Worlds, with the heat rays and Green Bolts of Doom.
The Law & Order sound.
24 (from the phones, the cut to commercials)
Tron, from the sound effects. A single rebound of a disc in the movie is all it takes.
Clash of the Titans, the sound of the robotic owl. (Though, that comes close to claiming I can identify Star Wars movies by R2-D2’s chirping, which is pretty unremarkable.)
I can’t remember the TV show, but think it was ST:TNG-- there was a constant white-noise sound on the bridge that was, once noticed, practically deafening.
For a radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, from the “sound effects.” That show makes me cringe.
A pox on you!
Doctor Who - Tardis sound (either “a wheezing-groaning noise” or “vrooop-vrooop-vrooop” depending who you ask)
Steve Austin (“jnnng-ng-ng-ng-ng-ng-ng”)
I knew a guy once who could do an absolutely perfect Twiki voice saying, “Bidi-bidi-bidi… Fuck you, Buck!” Left us all in stitches.
Another vote for classic Star Trek, esp. the Bridge noises, the transporter, tricorders, and tribbles. Also on ST:TNG, the computer noises.
This reminds me of a short that was produced for Adult Swim based on Evan Dorkin’s Eltingville comics featuring some nerds in a giant trivia battle, the winner of which recieved a rare Boba Fett action figure. One of the characters kept imitating Twiki, much to one of the other character’s annoyance. Just as in the classic game-show episode of The Honeymooners (or the Animaniacs episode which paid tribute to it), the final question turns out to be “Which character says bidi-bidi-bidi?..” and the character answers his friend does.
Officially it’s “Vwoorp” according to Doctor Who Magazine comic strips.
Ah, yes, that’s the spelling. Thanks.
The car-horn dub-dubs of any Coyote v. Roadrunner cartoon.
The Outer Limits, from its unique, cheesy, unconvincing Monster Roar that seemed to show up at least once per episode.
Der Trihs, I was gonna mention Forbidden Planet, but you beat me to it:
To be nitpicky, I don’t believe Louis and Bebe Barron used a theremin. They invented their own instruments for “electronic tonalities”, and their stuff sounds nothing like the Theremin music you hear in The day the Earth Stood Still or the Beach Boys’ "Godd Vibrations, or anything in theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. In fact, it’s the very uniqueness of their compsitions that makes me list them – their stuff is easily distinguishable from theremin scores.
Sergio Leone westerns: gunshots make that “chirping” sound.
The Magnificent Seven: its gunshots sound like “boge-hat!”
NCIS has a fu-wop noise before and after leaving commercials.
Law & Order’s “ding.”
Predator’s…noise.
**Transformers
**
chuchuchuchuchee