The Simpsons vs Star Trek

The title kind of says it all, doesn't it? A very nice mash-up of two iconic TV themes.

Look and listen for the very cool theremin, pictured to your left.

Invented by Russian inventor Lev Sergeivich Termen (later Westernized to Léon Theremin) in 1919, the theremin was one of the first electronic musical instruments. Designed to be played without being touched, the theremin consists of two radio frequency oscillators and two metal antennae.

The player moves his or her hands around the two antennae, which control the instrument's frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume).

Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was so taken with the theremin that he took lessons, commissioned the construction of 600 of the instruments for use throughout the Soviet Union, and sent Theremin the inventor on a worldwide tour to demonstrate this latest Soviet ingenuity.

You've heard the theremin in a variety of science fiction and horror and thriller movies, including Spellbound, The Lost Weekend, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, and the TV hoorror soap, Dark Shadows. Ironically, the theremin wasn't used in the movie it's most popularly associated with, Forbidden Planet. A ring modulator was used instead.

Furher theremin reading: Wikipedia; Theremin World