The opening credits of the first three seasons of The Sopranos are notable for one significant difference from the rest of the seasons' sequences: there is a shot in which the World Trade Centre is visible in Tony Soprano's rearview mirror which was, for obvious reasons, removed after 9/11. This may seem like a small fact, but it's significant. The Sopranos has one of the most iconic title sequences of all time, so this change is notable anyway. But it's also telling that such a vast world event impacted on The Sopranos' fictional world, with frequent references to the WTC's collapse becoming a part of the narrative. The entire landscape of New York changed with the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, including the landscape of The Sopranos. This is another subtle nod to the importance that the show placed on realism - even a minor detail like a shot in the opening credits was edited to maintain the illusion that The Sopranos was a real family of Italian-American New York mobsters. Interestingly, the WTC also became yet another topic for some of the hilarious electric dialogue that marked The Sopranos out as perhaps the greatest TV series of all time. Bobby: World really went downhill after the World Trade Center. You know, Quasimodo predicted all of this. Tony: Who did what? Bobby: All these problems, the middle east. The end of the world. Tony: Nostradamus. Quasimodo's the hunchback of Notre Dame. Bobby: Oh, right. Notredamus. Tony: Nostradamus and Notre Dame, that's two different things completely. Bobby: It's interesting though they'd be so similar, isn't it? And I always thought, "OK, Hunchback of Notre Dame. You also got your quarterback and your halfback of Notre Dame". Tony: One's a f*cking cathedral! Do you know any other compelling Sopranos facts? Share your favourites below in the comments thread below.
