This is the norm with Arabic dubs produced for Al-Majd owned networks like Basma, which are made to comply with Islamic beliefs. One of these changes is replacing the theme songs with nasheeds (traditional Islamic music). Here is the nasheed to Pablo the Little Red Fox as an example.
Several of the dubs used nasheeds that are similar to the original themes, such as Fimblesfor example.
Specific examples:
The All New Popeye Show has a totally different theme song on the German dub
The Indian version of the show has a different opening song, which, unlike the international opening theme, has lyrics.
Inverted with the American broadcasts, which usually omit the opening theme altogether with the exception of the title card and the notes which play over it. The full opening theme has been broadcast on rare occaisions however.
The Japanese version of Babar uses "Graduation" by Arisa Mizuki as its theme song. However, the episodes uploaded on Nelvana's Japanese Treehouse Direct channel feature the original theme instead.
Ben 10 has a different ending theme for the Japanese version, called "Ladybird Girl", a love song, which is not very fitting for a show about transforming into multiple aliens.
Curious George has a strange example of this in the Japanese version. While it uses the same song as the original, it's pitched up a few octaves and is based on the instrumental that plays over the original version's end credits.
DuckTales (1987) got this cute Korean opening. This video has skippy audio, but shows the re-edited animation sequence that accompanies the song.
The French theme song for Ewoks was previously used for the made-for-TV films has nothing to do with the original themes, but it was released as a single, charted and got an award. link
The Japanese dub of the Exchange Student Zero animated series (retitled Card Battle Zero) has "Change My World", which is much more peppy than the original but still fits the show due to its Animesque nature.
The Japanese version of Father of the Pride is "Ofuro Paradise" by Biyuchifuruzu.
This was used as the opening to season one of Fireman Sam in Croatia. On top of that, instead of reusing the final verse of the intro, the credits had completely new lyrics!
The Japanese version of Franny's Feet has two ending themes: "Lovin' You" and "My Favorite Shoes" by Daisuke Mori.
The American version of the Lady Lovely Locks opening was not a song, but rather a speech telling the viewer about the story of the show. The Korean version, however made their own theme song, with episode clips, clips from the original opening and a clip from the Kideo TV opening which features Rainbow Brite and the Popples, of all things!
Like the 2007 George of the Jungle show example mentioned above, it also got a Sinhala theme song that also lasted for 2 minutes.
The French dub of The Little Rascals, titled Les Petites Canailles, has a vocal theme, sung by a chorus of children over a montage of clips from both the theatrical shorts and Hanna-Barbera's animated shorts.
The Japanese version of The Magic School Bus has two ending themes. One of the ending themes is called "Dream On" by Junko Iwao. The other is called "Gohan ni Shiyou" by Dreaming.
Italy had "Vola mio mini pony" (broadcast on Italia 1, part of Berlusconi's empire of Mediaset) sung by Cristina D'Avena, which was used again as the Italian theme for My Little Pony Tales, also titled Vola mio mini pony. Also had extended version and instrumental version.
Like its predecessor, the Italian version of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, broadcast on Italia 1, has a different opening song, this time not sung by Cristina D'Avena. Compared to the very happy and upbeat English theme song, this one is slower and actually a bit melancholy. The short version can be found here and the full version here. It was used only for Season 1, and later seasons (and DVD releases of Season 1) replaced it with a translation of the English one.
The Japanese dub has "Future Start", sung by Pinkie Pie's Japanese voice actress Suzuko Mimori, as its opening theme, and "Deep-Fried Unrequited Love (Sweet Princess)" by HKT48 as its ending theme, both of which are even bubblier and happier than the English songs! The second half of the first season switches out its opening theme with the even more hyper "Magical Dai Dai Dai-Bouken!" by Nanamori-chu☆Gorakubu. The second ending theme "step by step" by Suzu, takes on a more melancholy tone. The third opening theme, "Yumemiru! Shinjiru! Mirai Kanaete may be the most upbeat and hyper theme of them all.
While the ending theme of the original PAW Patrol was instrumental, the Japanese dub uses the opening theme with vocals, accompanied by a live action person dancing to it.
Peppa Pig had two of these in Japan. The first, "Colorful Fanfare", was used for the Cartoon Network dub, while the second, "Miracle Everyday", was the theme song to the show that its' second dub aired on, Kinder TV, and in this case served as an Additional Foreign Opening since the original intro was used during the Peppa Pig segments.
The Greek dub of Princess Sissi rearranged the opening song, the Greek title of which was "Ποτέ καμιά" ("Nobodynote feminine form ever"). The song, as well as the Greek version of the closing song and other songs made for the series, were later released in a CD.
The ending theme song for Ruby Gloom in the Japanese version is called "Siren" by Nana Kitade, who used the alias "Ruby Gloom" for this single.
The Japanese dub of Lego Ninjago uses a song by Scorpio named "Mr. Buddy!" as the ending theme.
Shelldon has an odd example. The show is a U.S.-Thailand co-production. In the U.S., it uses its own Title Theme Tune by an unknown vocalist, but still credits Lea Salonga for the song "Brand New Day" ("It's a Brand New Day") in the credits. This was used as the theme song in most other international markets and also released as a music video, yet in Thailand, a version other than the one by Salonga was used.
The Smurfs (1981) cartoon show uses two different theme songs for foreign markets, instead of the basic "La-la song" used for the American version, one of them was called "The Smurfy Way", and can he herd here. These two theme songs are always accompanied with the Season 1 intro sequence, which was also used throughout most of the show (except for season 9), instead of being replaced with the subsequent intro sequences (usually seasons 2-8, though some countries retain the intros for seasons 7 and 8). Another theme called "Smurfingland" was made around the late 90s and is currently used for subsequent airings and DVD releases of the Dutch, Spanish, and French dubs.
For the Italian dub, several different theme songs performed by Cristina D'Avena were used for each season.
For international markets, the episodes featuring Johan and Peewit from the second and third seasons were aired separately from The Smurfs cartoon show. The episodes use the Season 2 intro sequence accompanied with usually one of two different theme songs (and a modified title at the end).
An extended version of the "La-la song" was recorded in French, Italian, and Hebrew.
In China, it's also a very much beloved show, which subsequently introduced many people to Belgian comics. There's also an original Chinese Mandarin theme song, which was used for the 1980s Chinese Mandarin dub of the series alongside the Chinese Mandarin dub of the season 1 intro. It's a completely original (though still very brilliant) piece of music, lyrics and all. It was very beloved by many Chinese people and still holds the place of being one of the most famous Chinese nursery rhymes to this day.
Different theme music is used for the intro sequence of The Snorks, compared to the American version.
An extended version of the specific theme song above was recorded in French and Dutch.
For the Italian dub, Cristina D'Avena translated the extended theme above for the first intro and then performed another theme, which can be seen here.
The European Spanish dub uses this theme song, known as "Un Mundo Submarino".
The Latin American Spanish dub of Spider-Man (1967) uses this opening performed by the Chilean singer Capitan Memo.
Rip Slyme wrote a new ending theme song for the Japanese version of SpongeBob SquarePants. You can find it here.
Starting with season 10, the Japanese version uses a new ending theme, titled "ONE WAY” by the band BOYS AND MEN.
The Persian dub also used a new opening theme song.
The Italian dub uses an instrumental-only version of the theme, making it a Real Song Theme Tune as it's the tune of "Blow The Man Down". It also uses different visuals, replacing all lettering. Instead of hopping on the letters of his name, SpongeBob hops on pieces of coral.
When the British cartoon Stressed Eric was imported to America, its theme music was thrown out and replaced with a new one (albeit one which sounded similar to the British theme), as well as a different title sequence.
The original German dubs of both shows also originally re-used the Plumber Rap from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (the re-dubs for KidsCo used the original themes).
The Greek version of Thomas & Friends gave the iconic theme lyrics. In addition, the theme was in a lower key and the theme survived after HIT Entertainment took over.
The German dub uses the chorus from "Vielen Dank für die Blumen" by Udo Jürgens, which contains the line "Manchmal spielt das Leben mit dir gern Katz und Maus / Immer wird's das geben, einer der trickst dich aus".note "Sometimes life likes to play cat and mouse with you / There will always be one who tricks you"
When the French series Touni and Litelle was broadcast in Israel, the opening song was replaced with a rather different original composition.
Most Western Transformers shows imported to Japan have different themes.
Prime is a notable case — for episodes 1-13, rather than having a new song written for it, as is usually the case for Transformers series in Japan, it used the existing song "Feeling" by K-Pop group Big Bang. It...doesn't fit very well with the show's generally dark and edgy tone. It also has a different ending called "I Believe in All".
Transformers: Animated is notable for having one of the highest quality theme songs of any series, featuring JAM Project and actually having something to do with the overreaching theme of the series. Aptly named Transformers Evo.
Just like what Italia 1 had with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Transformers: Prime also has Italy's own theme song, sung by Silvio Pozzoli and Marco Gallo.
Early in the '90s, Beast Wars (with the title Biocombat) get a different song.
This is the European French theme song for Voltron in its entirety, sung by Norbert Arias (who did the original French theme for Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea). A shortened version of the theme can be found here.
4Kids' dub wrote "We are the Winx," which sounded nothing like the original Italian theme.
The German opening for the first two seasons is also completely different from the original.
Nickelodeon's release of Seasons 3 and 4 note Seasons 1 and 2 were skipped over and instead were released as four one-hour specials used an entirely new opening, "Winx You're Magic Now", which unlike the 4Kids version, is a parody of the Season 4 theme.
The original Arabic dub used this song, which was more of a Morality Ballad than a theme song for a kids TV show, asking the viewers to "grow their knowledge" and to not rely on machines for learning.
), Alvin and the Chipmunks (there