What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World" is a song by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in early fall 1967. Intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate in the U.S. (and written specifically for Armstrong, who had broad crossover appeal), the song details the singer's delight in the simple enjoyment of everyday life. The song also has a hopeful, optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to which to look forward. The song was not initially a hit in the States, where it sold less than 1,000 copies, but was a major success in the UK, reaching number one on the UK singles chart. It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK.
The first part of the song says:
I see trees of green, red roses tooI see them bloom for me and youAnd I think to myself, what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of whiteThe bright blessed day, the dark sacred nightAnd I think to myself, what a wonderful world...
The song gradually became something of a standard and reached a new level of popularity

Playings

What a Wonderful World" was used ironically in 1978 radio broadcast of the last episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (first series). The song replaced the usual end credits as the two main characters, stranded on pre-history Earth, lament its destruction witnessed in the first episode. The song was later used for the closing titles of the corresponding television episode, and in the first teaser for the Hitchhiker's film, lasting only one stanza before the Earth explodes.
In 1985 a part of the song was used in The Runner (Davandeh), a famous Iranian movie. It was included in the soundtrack for the film Good Morning, Vietnam in 1987. In the film, the song plays over a montage of bombings and other violence (similar to the use of the song "We'll Meet Again" in the film Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb). This use of the song in an ironic way has since become something of a cliché in film and television.
The song was featured as the theme for the first season of the popular 1990s sitcom Family Matters. It was also used in the film Meet Joe Black and twice in Twelve Monkeys, once emitting from a radio, and then over the ending credits (again ironically). It was sung by Willie Nelson for the 1996 movie Michael. A Willie Nelson version also was used for the "Don't Mess With Texas" anti-littering public service announcement campaign.
The Louis Armstrong version was also used during a sequence in Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine, where it accompanies scenes of violence in a montage about United States intervention in international affairs, as well as having the Joey Ramone cover playing over the ending credits. In the 2005 film, Madagascar it appears as a background song. On the program Pirate Radio (airing in Nashville, Tennessee, 1999-2001), an acoustic guitar version was used weekly as a music bed. It has also been used ironically as the theme music to the BBC series A Life of Grime, and as the closing theme to one series of Grumpy Old Men, in a version performed by the cast of the programme. The Louis Armstrong version was used also in the 2004 Japanese film Swing Girls during a scene where the main characters are chased by a wild boar. It also featured in the sixth episode of the BBC/Kudos 1973-set crime drama, Life on Mars. The Joey Ramone cover was also played over the ending credits of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Chris Addison's Civilisation.
Clear Channel included "What a Wonderful World" on a list of songs that might be inappropriate for airplay in the period just after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In recent years, the song has come to be associated with the Christmas season (although it has no holiday or seasonal content in its lyrics). In 2006, XM Satellite Radio added "What a Wonderful World" to its Holiday/Christmas rotation, as did many terrestrial radio stations in the U.S. Numerous recording artists have covered the song for inclusion on their Christmas-themed albums, including Newsong and LeAnn Rimes. Also in 2006, a rock version appeared in the Suzuki New Grand Vitara television commercial performed by David Mills and Ian Wilson.
A version can be found on the dance simulation game Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA. This version is by "Beatbox vs DJ Miko
Terry Fator performed this with his turtle, Winston, with partly a kermit version, with partly a Louis Armstrong version, on


Wonder World! medallion

In September 1994, a special 32mm bronze medallion was struck by Sydney medallists Amor Sanders to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the start of Simon Townsend's Wonder World Funds for the production of this medallion were provided by both the TEN Network (which screened the original TV show) and the Nine Network (which screeded its successor) as a special tribute to Simon Townsend for creating one of television's most iconic TV magazine shows. The medallion was designed by Harvey Shore. The Simon Townsend's Wonder World! medallion contains on its obverse an image of Simon Townsend and Woodrow with the show's logo, surrounded by the legend, "On 3 September 1979 a TV legend began - to prove the world really is wonderful!" On its reverse, the medallion contains a quote from producer Harvey Shore: "To live in the hearts and minds of others is to never die." This 32mm bronze medallion is the first and only medallion struck to commemorate a television show in Australian history[citation needed]. Only 500 copies of the Simon Townsend's Wonder World! medallion were minted, and most were distributed to those original members of the iconic TV show's cast and crew who travelled from around the world to attend a special 15th Anniversary Reunion event staged by Simon Townsend in the clubhouse of the Moore Park Golf Course in Sydney on 7 September 1994.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Townsend%27s_Wonder_World%21_medallion"

Multi-genre

Worlds of Wonder is considered the first commercial multi-genre system, predating Steve Jackson's GURPS by 4 years. The idea, as stated in the pamphlet, was that characters could be created in any of the three settings, or even Basic Role-Playing, then physically travel to any of the three adventuring settings. The pamphlet proposed a neutral area that had magic connections to each of the worlds. Money from each setting would be valuable in the crossroads, at various conversion rates, and characters would be able to physically travel from one world to another.
Each setting booklet, however, was effectively a game in itself, with different (though mostly compatible) character generation and rules.

Magic World

The Magic World booklet is an attempt to bring the Basic Role-Playing basis of RuneQuest closer to the popular Dungeons & Dragons rules. [citation needed] Character abilities are based on individual skills and percentages, and initial characters can start as one of 4 professions or character classes. Warriors start with more fighting skills, Rogues with adventuring skills, like stealth, Sages with non-combat knowledge skills, and only Sorcerers are permitted magic spell casting. Only Characters could also be members of the standard Tolkienesque fantasy races, such as dwarfs, trolls, goblins, and elves.
Casting spells in Magic World is a skill, and Sorcerers must succeed with their skill roll in order to cast it. This system was later incorporated into RuneQuest.
Magic World is also the basis of the first version of the Swedish role-playing game, Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons). [citation needed]Steve Perrin and Gordon Monson are credited as authors of this booklet.


Superworld

Superworld is a generic superhero game in a modern setting, in many ways similar to Champions. Superpowers are bought with Hero Points at character creation time. These points can also be spent to raise characteristics like strength or dexterity. Additional Hero Points can be gained by taking disabilities like blindness or vulnerability to certain attacks.
Unlike Champions, starting points are not fixed for each character, but instead are based on the total of each character's characteristics.
Steve Perrin and Steve Henderson are credited as authors of this booklet.
Superworld is the only one of the three genre settings to see later life as a standalone roleplaying game.

Future World

In the same way that the other two booklets took inspiration from other popular existing genre systems, Future World (or Future*World, as it is sometimes written in the game pages) was partly inspired by the then most popular science fiction role-playing game, Traveller. Like the Traveller background, Future World hypothesized a huge interstellar empire, and like its character generation rules, Future World characters started as members of one of six professions (Army, Civilian, Criminal, ICE, Scouts, or Science), and learned skills during terms of character generation.
Unlike Traveller, though, non-human characters were encouraged, and robots, and several alien races (ursinoids, insectoids, and saurians), were presented as character possibilities. Also unlike Traveller, travel between planets was by means of interstellar teleporter gates, maintained by ICE, the Imperial Corps of Engineers, not starships, changing play dynamics considerably. Rather than wandering the galaxy in their own spaceship, player characters would presumably be government or corporation associated explorers.