Special Edition Title / Western Animation

Special Edition Titles in Western Animation

• Adventure Time has quite a few variations on its opening sequence:
  • The Gender Flip AU episodes starring Fionna and Cake have every character who in the opening sequence replaced by their gender-swapped counterparts. This extends to the singer of the theme song, which has creator Pen Ward replaced by character designer Natasha Allegri.
  • The guest animator episodes "A Glitch Is a Glitch", "Food Chain" and "Bad Jubies" also have the opening redone by the guest animator.
  • The miniseries Stakes, Islands, and Elements each have special versions of the opening that feature that story arc's most relevant characters and a variant of the theme tune sung by the central character of the plotline (Marceline, Finn, and Princess Bubblegum, respectively).
  • The Bonus Episode "Diamonds And Lemons" has an 8-bit version of the opening sequence.
  • The Grand Finale "Come Along with Me" has a special opening featuring Shermy and Beth having fun 1,000 years in the future.
  • Adventure Time: Distant Lands plays with this: most episodes feature opening credits that diverge from the normal format, but "Together Again" diverges from the rest of Distant Lands by using the exact same intro sequence as its predecessor, down to the painted title card and "weathered paper" credits.
• American Dad!:
  • "Office Spaceman" ends the opening sequence early to have Stan see a picture of Roger on the front page of the paper, followed by Stan going inside and scolding him. A similar thing happens in the episode "Blagsnarst: A Love Story" with the new title sequence; Roger appears in Stan's car without an outfit, causing Stan to turn the car back around and question him about it.
  • "Bullocks to Stan", "Stan of Arabia", "Haylias", "Tearjerker", "100 A.D.", "Hot Water", "Hurricane!", "For Black Eyes Only" and "Blood Crieth Unto Heaven" don't have the standard opening.
  • "Flirting With Disaster" has the opening replaced by a parody of the opening to The Office.
  • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" has a Christmas themed version of the new title sequence.
  • "A Pinata Named Desire" and "Lost in Space" have the opening shortened.
  • In "The Legend of Old Ulysses" the usual theme is replaced with the song "The Ballad of Old Ulysses" which is a song about the episode's titular monster.
  • In "Persona Assistant" Roger fails to pop up in Stan's car during the intro due to him goofing off in his disguises, then later on in the episode when Stan is about to sing the theme again, he abruptly gets cut off when he hears noises of the entire city in chaos.
  • In "Exquisite Corpses" after Stan leaves the house during the intro, it cuts back to Francine, Hayley and Steve, with the latter starting to sing his "go to school song" while leaving to go to school, then later on in the episode, Stan is about to sing the theme song again, but Francine interrupts him telling him to sing the quiet version since she has a headache.
  • In "A Little Extra Scratch", after Stan's broker tells him he is about to lose the house, Stan is way too distraught to sing the theme song that he stays in bed wide-eyed and grey-haired. Klaus, Hayley, Steve and Francine are still in their positions for the opening waiting for him to leap down the stairs. When Hayley gets paged, she tells Steve to put the peace sign on Stan's back for her. Roger is still waiting in Stan's car dressed as Evel Knievel saying he's got "shit to do".
• Amphibia:
  • Certain episodes such as "Reunion" and "True Colors" have no introduction, showing only the show's title card with a short variation of Anne's Theme.
  • The finales for Seasons 1 & 2 replace the normal credits sequence with a series of drawings depicting key moments from the respective seasons, while a wistful, orchestral version of Anne's Theme plays. The series finale similarly has an even longer version play over shots of key scenes from throughout the series ten years in the future.
  • In "Little Frogtown / Hopping Mall", to reflect the latter's Tear Jerker ending, has the credits taking place over a shot of the night sky above Newtopia, with a sad piano version of the end theme playing.
  • "The Shut-In!" has the opening being shown with an scratched-up film filter tinted purple, among other edits, with a "spooky" remix of the theme song. The credits sequence is based on the Season 1 closing, with Anne and Sprig replaced with skeletons.
  • In "Spider-Sprig / Olivia & Yunan", to reflect Marcy's transformation into Darcy, has the credits taking place on a black background with glowing text, accompanied by hushed atmospheric moans.
  • In "The Root of Evil / The Core & The King", the credits run silently over footage of King Andreas' portrait of his former friends, Leif and Barrel, burning in his fireplace, symbolizing his desire to put his past behind him.
  • The final two episodes, "All In" and "The Hardest Thing", have an altered version of the logo, as well as the episode title and opening credits, superimposed on the first few seconds of the episode.
• The "international" episode of Animaniacs has the theme song and opening entirely in French. Most of the rest of the episode is in English (albeit with internationally-themed segments), except for the short "Les Boutons et le Ballon" (which is presented in French with English subtitles, which are unfortunately missing from the DVD release).
  • The Christmas episode of the series has the regular credits, with snow laid over the top.
  • The reboot, Animaniacs (2020), features a special intro for its Halloween special; as seen through a haunted TV (a nice nod to Poltergeist), the footage is darkly tinted except for the Warners themselves, and the Couch Gag at the end involves the Warners as zombies.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes:
  • The intro to the episode "New Avengers" starts out like that used during the rest of the second season, until the time comes for all the Avengers to pose together. Instead, we see Captain America's shield fly across the screen, cutting to the New Avengers posing together.
  • "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill" does not include any Avengers, except for Thor. When the time comes in this episode's title sequence for the team to gather, lightning strikes, revealing a scene of Thor by himself.
• The Backyardigans had these for all three two-parters. For the first one, "International Super Spy" (parodying the James Bond movies), there was an opening in the style of the episode. For the second, "Tale of the Mighty Knights", the theme song is done in the style of '70s hard rock. For the third, "Robot Rampage", the theme song is done the style of roller disco music.
• Batman: The Animated Series has title cards for all of its episodes except for four—"The Laughing Fish", "Heart of Ice" and "The Demon's Quest" two-parter open with still-shots (or a pan) of the episode title and writer/director credits in the episode itself.
• The Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Joker: The Vile and The Villainous" has The Joker as the main character, and told about his team-up with another supervillain to fight Batman. Hence, the opening animation was changed to depict the Joker doing things that Batman usually does in the opening, with "HA HA HA" graffiti liberally applied to the usual text walls, seen here.
• Big Mouth:
  • "Steve the Virgin" has Coach Steve walking through and commenting on the title sequence, since the episode is A Day in the Limelight for him.
  • "Florida" has Marty Glouberman complain throughout the title sequence, including calling the show disgusting.
  • "Duke" has the title sequence in sepia tone, with the song remixed to sound like an old jazz recording.
• The Big Nate episode, "'Til Death Do We Rock", has the titular character sing really horribly, with his fellow bandmates suffering from his wretched voice.
• Big City Greens:
  • "Blood Moon" gives the theme song a more spooky vibe, adding a therimin to the score, a Red Filter of Doom, and scary and haunting assets.
  • "Chipwrecked" does not play the jovial ending theme "Do It All Again" along with scenes of the Greens' house and city areas; instead it plays a more ominious theme over a shot of the now-closed Big Coffee at night.
  • "Chipocalypse Now" changes the melody to a depressing minor key and has Chip hog some of the Greens' shots, and altered scenes of the Greens in horror at his Community-Threatening Construction going on without a hitch.
• Blinky Bill: So as not to immediately spoil the story arc of season 3, the first two episodes of the season use an alternate intro, featuring clips from throughout the season ^note mostly ones from the few episodes set in Australia, although there are a few exceptions, such as Blinky running across the African plains, and set to a modified version of season 2's theme song.
• Bluey: "Bingo" changes the standard opening sequence, so that Bluey takes Bingo's place in ending up out of the dancing game, and as such, Bingo ends up winning, much to Bandit and Chilli's surprise. The theme song is modified to suit this, and when Bluey gets out, the background changes from blue to orange.
• Bojack Horseman:
  • In "Escape from LA", when Bojack's old flame Charlotte tells him casually that she's married with a family, an 80's sitcom theme about it plays instead of the show's normal opening.
  • In "Int. Sub", a therapist who changes her clients' names when she talks about them refers to Bojack as "Bobo the Angry Zebra". The opening plays as normal, but Bojack is now redesigned as a zebra and the show's title is changed accordingly as well.
  • "The Showstopper" replaced the show's theme song with that of Bojack's new Show Within a Show Philbert, complete with "A Netflix Original Series" replaced with "A What Time Is It Right Now Original Series".
  • "A Horse Walks Into Rehab" has the title sequence start as normal, but then "burns out" as the episode begins.
• The CatDog TV movie The Great Parent Mystery has special lyrics for the theme song as well as lyrics for the credits.
  One fine day with a question on their mind,
  CatDog left old Nearburg behind.
  Tired of wondering, tired of feelin' bad,
  Set off searchin' for their mom and dad.
  CatDog (CatDog), CatDog (CatDog),
  Out on the road went the little CatDog.
• The Clarence episode "Goldfish Follies" has the theme song appear sepia-toned with an old-timey film effect, and has the theme song sung to a ragtime beat.
  • For the six-part "Clarence's Stormy Sleepover" special, the opening sequence is cut short by the title card, a shot of Jeff's kite caught in power lines during a rainstorm.
• Clone High got FOUR special intros during its second season Revival on Max.
  • The episode "Anxious Times at Clone High" cuts the normal intro off into a retro/B-movie horror rendition to fit the central plot of the episode, complete with black and white color grading.
  • "The Crown: Joancoming: It's a Cleo, Cleo, Cleo, Cleo World" has a marching band cover of the opening, complete with festive decorations throughout like confetti and multicolored lights throughout the intro, to go with the plot being centered around the homecoming dance.
    • The cover plays again without the additional visuals for third-season episode "Don't You Get It? Sports Are Huge In This Town".
  • "Sexy Ed" plays a sensual saxophone cover over the opening, all tinted pink. The file folder at the title reveal has candles overlaid on top and there's a lipstick kiss mark where the creators are listed.
  • "For Your Consideration" has a Title-Only Opening written in the sand. There is also no "Previously on…" bit, opting for a small, non-standard Cold Open that announces how "important" the episode is instead.
• Another show with a special title for Christmas was Codename: Kids Next Door's "Operation N.A.U.G.H.T.Y.", with the normally-white background turned green, snow falling over the titles, and the title decorated by Christmas lights (see here)◊. That episode also had a teaser. Only "Operation E.N.D." and "Operation K.N.O.T." had a Cold Opening before this, and those were much shorter than the one in "N.A.U.G.H.T.Y.".
• Danger Mouse
  • The Musical Episode, "Melted" replaces the ending theme with a reprise of the final song.
  • "The Last Giraffe Warrior", a parody of The Last Starfighter with the gag that Giraffe Warrior Planet really does act like a video game, ends with pixellated images and a Chiptune version of the theme.
• Both Daria made-for-TV movies featured special titles.
  • And in the Musical Episode, the theme song was altered to sound more like it belonged in a musical production.
• DuckTales (2017):
  • "Woo-oo!", "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?!", and "Astro B.O.Y.D.!" don't have the standard opening, instead having the show's logo appear over the opening scene. In "Astro B.O.Y.D.!", the logo is even written out in katakana, as the episode is set in Japan.
  • Some episodes, mainly those that are more serious or story-driven, have the opening shortened.
  • "Last Christmas!" also has a shorter opening, along with snow falling throughout, the DuckTales logo strung with Christmas lights, and the theme song rewritten and sung 1950s style to fit the episode's holiday theme.
  • "The Duck Knight Returns!" shortens the opening to a mere five seconds, in addition to the show's logo sporting the purple/yellow color scheme of Darkwing Duck.
  • "GlomTales!" features a special Hostile Show Takeover version of the title theme sung by Flintheart Glomgold.
  • "Quack Pack!", being a Sitcom Homage Episode, had one that was stylized to feel like it came from a 90s Dom Com.
• Family Guy was originally going to have one of these for every episode, but the plans fell through. However, there were some special openings.
  • The "Road to..." episodes have the opening replaced by 1940s style title cards.
  • "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" has a parody of the opening to Law & Order.
  • "PTV" has a parody of the opening credits to The Naked Gun, with Stewie beating up Osama bin Laden and driving his tricycle through different environments, including scenes from The Wizard of Oz and The Empire Strikes Back, before running over Homer Simpson in the driveway.
  Peter: Hey, Stewie. (looks down) Who the hell is that?
  • "Whistle While Your Wife Works" had the theme song interrupted when Peter falls and crushes one of the dancers.
  • "Brian Griffin's House of Payne" opens with a Star Wars parody.
  • The three Star Wars parodies, "And Then There Were Fewer" and "Brian and Stewie" don't have any opening.
  • "Family Goy" opens with a parody of the opening to Super Friends.
  • "And Then There Were Fewer" opens with the Griffins driving to James Woods' mansion in a reference to The Shining set to an orchestral version of the main theme.
  • "Livin' on a Prayer" has a parody of the opening to Little House on the Prairie.
  • "Lottery Fever" has one of the dancers coming to Peter announcing she's pregnant, but Peter orders security to throw her out.
  • "Space Cadet" has a parody of the opening to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
  • "Bigfat" parodies the opening to King of the Hill.
  • "Total Recall" parodies the opening to Modern Family.
  • "He's Bla-ack", which commemorated Cleveland's return to the show, had the opening titles interrupted by Cleveland showing up in the middle to take Mort's place in the chorus line.
  • "A Lot Going On Upstairs" had Stewie, traumatized by a monster in his nightmare, having his dancing and singing thrown off, culminating with him singing, "Pumpkin pie!" instead of "Laugh and cry!" He ends up being benched with the show's Chuck Cunningham Syndrome characters, with Peter's Arab co-worker Fouad taunting Stewie that he won't be back in the show.
  • "Inside Family Guy", an episode portraying the characters as Animated Actors, displayed production photos of the show while an instrumental version of the theme song plays.
• The Fish Hooks episode "Pool Party Panic" features a special opening depicting the characters as humans, with the title changed to Friend Hooks.
• To commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Flintstones, a special Hanna-Barbara logo premiered on its shows in 1990 that featured Fred Flintstone dancing in a top hat and tails. It can be seen here.
• The Futurama episodes "Mars University", "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television", and "Spanish Fry" all have different versions of the Theme Tune playing.
  • "Viva Mars Vegas" has the intro entirely in live-action.
  • The show's run on Hulu has the F and T in the logo briefly switch to a H and L when the Planet Express ship passes by it—thus making it look like "Hulurama". This is also present on international streams on Disney+.
• The first part of the Grand Finale of Gravity Falls, "Weirdmageddon", starts with Bill Cipher entering physical space and unleashing a "weirdmageddon" upon the town. This is complete with a warped, demented version of the theme song where Bill is inserted into many of the familiar scenes, and the roll call scenes of Dipper, Mabel, and Stan are replaced with parodies of them with his minions 8 Ball, Teeth, Keyhole and Hectorgon take the place of Dipper, Mabel and Stan. To make matters worse, the show is credited as being "Created by Bill Cipher". The Dipper, Mabel, and Stan scenes only return in the final part, when they've been reunited.
• Harley Quinn (2019):
  • The first season's penultimate episode "Devil's Snare" plays a slower sadder version of the theme music over the closing credits, to commemorate Ivy's death.
  • The second season's penultimate episode "Lovers' Quarrel" repeats this for Kite Man finding out Ivy cuckolded him with Harley.
  • The third season episode "Joker: The Killing Vote" features a title sequence centred on the Joker.
  • The third season episode "Batman Begins Forever" has a title card in the form of Frasier, which the episode homages.
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law - The episode "The Dabba Don", wherein Fred Flintstone is accused of racketeering, has a title sequence that combines the famous The Flintstones title with a black and white montage and a theme song parody of The Sopranos opening.
• A few episodes of Hey Arnold! do not play out their regular title sequence. Namely, "Arnold's Christmas", "Arnold's Thanksgiving", "Parents Day", "Dino Checks Out" and "The Journal."
• Histeria! had a few episodes with unique opening sequences used just for that episode.
  • Histeria! probably had more opening sequences than any other show at the time.
• The Jem episode "The Day the Music Died" starts out normally at first, but then Kimber interrupts accompanied by "film breaking" scenes before appearing and telling the viewers that "there won't be a story today", going on to explain that Jerrica/Jem has disappeared, after which the episode begins.
• Kaeloo: The season 3 premiere is a special episode which starts with the season 1 theme song, but then Kaeloo decides to eschew the regular theme song in favor of an opening where she briefly explains who the main characters are and what the show's about.
• Minor example: In the Cold Opening of a Kim Possible episode called "The Ron Factor", the Global Justice network tells Kim that they want to study her sidekick, Ron. Kim expresses extreme disbelief (as she strongly believes herself, as opposed to Ron, to be the main success of their missions), then interrupts the title sequence to express it again. "No seriously, you want Ron?" At the interruption, the Theme Tune is slightly faded down, and Kim actually pushes the normal montage out of the way to lodge her complaint.
• The Lizzie episode "Beyond the Beat" eschews the usual title sequence in exchange for a mock rock documentary intro.
• The 1962 Looney Tunes short "Now Hear This" replaced the usual WB shield in concentric circles with abstract spinning lines and a jarring "modern" version of the theme song, a fittingly unnerving opening for a truly deranged cartoon. A couple of years later, when WB shut down their animation studio and started farming Looney Tunes out to other studios, this became the standard opening for what is generally acknowledged as WB's Audience-Alienating Era.
  • These titles got their own Special Edition on 1968's "Norman Normal". Instead of using the then-standard theme music and Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies branding, it was dubbed a "Cartoon Special" and had its own theme song playing over the opening and closing animation.
• The Loud House:
  • In the Christmas Episode "11 Louds a Leapin'", the title sequence ends with a cut to the show's logo in the middle of a snowy field instead of a black background, with Lily wearing her winter parka. The end credits also take place on a snowy background, with the normal end theme replaced by an instrumental of "That's' What Christmas is All About".
  • In the Halloween Episode "Tricked!", Lily is dressed as a Bedsheet Ghost when the title screen appears, and eerily wails instead of saying, "Poo-poo!" The normal end theme is replaced by a spooky version of the opening theme.
  • The "With the Casagrandes" episodes of Season 4 shorten the title sequence to 15 seconds while Ronnie Anne takes the time to introduce her extended family.
• A few of the Paul Rudish Mickey Mouse shorts have the title read "Minnie Mouse" instead of "Mickey Mouse", as "Eau de Minnie", "Clogged", and "Doggone Biscuits", among others. They have Minnie as the main character, with Mickey Demoted to Extra in some of them, and even nowhere to be seen in others. In a different example, "Down the Hatch" has the normal end credits theme replaced by singing "Miracles from Molecules" from the old Disneyland attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space.
• My Adventures with Superman: Reflecting the trio's split and Jimmy's kidnapping, the end credits in "You Will Believe a Man Can Lie" don't feature Jimmy walking and play some somber music instead of the usual cheery upbeat tone.
• For the opening of the My Life as a Teenage Robot special "Escape From Cluster Prime", the theme starts out normally before seguing into a dramatic instrumental version with a movie like poster featuring all the characters involved.
• Ninjago: In Noir Episode "Ninjago Confidential", the intro is given a monochrome style, like films in the 1930s and 1940s, along with an instrumental jazz remix of the theme song.
• The Owl House: The first and last episodes of the first season do not use the usual opening sequence. Several episodes in the second half of the second season also use a Title-Only Opening, with the final two episodes also omitting the music to set the more serious tone, and one episode uses a slightly shorter opening sequence.
  • The end credits of "Agony of a Witch" after the whole ordeal just shows Belos' castle, with no sound except that of the giant beating heart within.
  • "Clouds on the Horizon" ends with a shot of the upper half of the Boiling Isles with the full moon shown with a red tinge in the background, again with no music.
  • The end credits of "King's Tide" show a shot of the inside of the abandoned house that the portal door connects to, with only the sound of rain in the background. And then a piece of Belos' remains drips down and closes the door at the very end.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! had the Expository Theme Tune retooled for winter break, with Phineas and Ferb now accompanied by Christmas carolers.
    Carolers: As you can see, there's a whole lot of stuff to do before school starts next year,
    So stick with us 'cause Phineas and Ferb are gonna spread some Christmas cheer!
    Candace: Mom! Phineas and Ferb are making a Christmas special!
  • Yet another winter-themed title sequence was done for the Season Four episodes "For Your Ice Only" and "Happy New Year".
  • The 2011 Halloween Episodes, "That's the Spirit" and "The Curse of Candace", the title sequence is basically unchanged until the very end, as the boys dance in a spooky forest with a gravestone in the left corner of the screen as screenshots from their earlier Halloween specials race by.
  • More changes were made for the 2012 and 2013 Halloween episodes ("Drusselsteinoween", "Face Your Fear", and "Terrifying Tristate Trilogy of Terror"): Spooky backup vocals and darkened lighting throughout the song, plus a couple of visual replacements, like skeletons popping up throughout and the "something that doesn't exist" -> goblin in a party hat next to the tombstone.
  • In 2011, Disney did a cross-promotion in which Phineas and Ferb "hosted" the Little League World Series on ESPN.
  • The hour-long specials abandon the usual theme song completely in order to better match the tone. Examples include a comic-book style title reveal in Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel (with Spider-Man delivering Candace's usual line to Aunt May), the requisite Opening Crawl for Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars, and a North By Northwest-style opening credits to set the mood for "Night of the Living Pharmacists".
• The "Pinky and the Brain and Larry" episode of Pinky and the Brain opened with Rob Paulsen squeezing in "And Larry" or similar after every line of the theme song, as in "One is a genius; the other's insane (The other one's Larry!)"
  • Also the Christmas Special had snow like the Animaniacs example above, but also changed the lyrics so that they were Christmas related.
    By the dawn of Christmas day, their plot shall be unfurled
    They'll control the Earth, and bring JOY TO THE WORLD!
• Not that noticeable, but the 10th anniversary special of The Powerpuff Girls had the entire intro remade in Flash animation (which was used to make the special).
  • Also, the Musical Episode didn't have any opening but the show's title and "Documentary" began with the title of said in-universe documentary.
• The early full-CGI series ReBoot had special titles for several episodes.
• A Recess two-parter has Lawson form his own group who manage to outsmart T.J.'s good deeds in every way possible, to the extent they end up being forgotten by the playground and are driven into obscurity. The second part opens with a cut-down version for the opening titles, only for Lawson to yell "Hold it!" A modified version of the titles then plays out, with Lawson's group replacing T.J,'s (plus, Miss Finster ends up standing without Randall and the clock numbers are all jumbled up for whatever reason).
• Regular Show changes their opening in every half-hour special. Examples are:
  • "Exit 9B": a Dark Reprise of the regular opening, featuring dramatic music and the words over a reddish-violet background.
  • "The Christmas Special": an ominous choir/bells theme plays over the intro on a red/green background.
  • "The Thanksgiving Special": The title cards play regularly (no pun intended), but over a quite relaxing version of the show's theme.
  • "Skips' Story": same as The Thanksgiving Special, but with a dramatic orchestral version of the theme playing instead.
  • "The Real Thomas": The show title and "Created by JG Quintel" credit play normally, but the rest contains an ominous spy movie-esque theme over a purple/red background. Not to mention the credits switch from English to Russian.
  • "Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special": a fully decked out Animesque opening.
  • Oddly, in "The Dome Experiment", there is no special title sequence, it plays normally.
• Rick and Morty:
  • "Total Rickall" from Season 2 adds Mr. Poopybutthole to the Title Montage, including Rick and Summer's pillow fight with Mr. Beauregard (ironically, this episode featured that very scene, and Mr. Poopybutthole wasn't actually in it).
  • In Season 5's finale, rather than the usual intro, "Rickmurai Jack" features an animesque intro sequence (complete with Japanese vocals) for "Rick and Two Crows", carrying over from the previous episode.
  • "Full Meta Jackrick" has Previous Leon flying through the title sequence, with Rick and Morty themselves clinging onto him.
• The original Rugrats (1991) Christmas episode used a Christmas-based remix of the title theme.
• Samurai Jack: The fifth season uses a new intro, until the final episode, which goes back to the original series title.
• Sanjay and Craig
  • The episode "A Tail of Two Slithers" features Craig and his long-lost brother Ronny lying in the pen in the pet store rather than just Craig alone.
  • The Episode Title Card for "Huggle Day" is different than the others, because it has animated snow and has the caption "Nickelodeon Presents a Sanjay and Craig Production".
• Scooby-Doo:
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
    • "Beware the Beasts from Below", "The Night the Clown Cried" and "The House of the Nightmare Witch" don't have the standard opening title.
    • The Series Finale "Come Undone" has the normal end credits background replaced by one based on the Mystery Machine's paint job.
  • The Halloween Special of What's New, Scooby-Doo? cut the opening credits altogether and instead showed the words A Scooby Doo Halloween in large letters over the opening scene as a Title-Only Opening.
• The Simpsons replaces its title sequence for every "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode.
  • Also, they had Grampa rambling over the credits (until the Gracie Films logo at the end says "shh", to which Grampa responds with "Oh, I'm sorry!") and Homer moaning about being poor, complaining about the rich people in the credits as they went on (unfortunately, the latter is replaced with the standard credits audio in syndication).
  • The Simpsons Movie has Ralph Wiggum pop up on the 20th Century Fox logo and sing (rather badly) along with the music.
    • "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs", the first episode that aired after the release of the movie, featured the town still cleaning up after the various disasters from the movie.
  • The recent Christmas episodes had the entire opening Christmas-themed. The odd thing is, they removed Bleeding Gums Murphy in this version, but kept the equally-deceased Maude Flanders.
  • The episode "24 Minutes" had the opening parody that of 24.
  • The episode "You Kent Always Say What You Want" just ran a Simpsons short from The Tracey Ullman Show era in place of the opening.
  • The episode "To Surveil with Love" replaced the opening with a remix of part of Ke$ha's "TiK ToK".
  • "Dad Behavior" (which marked the beginning of Season 28's WABFXX production episodes, which were produced by Fox Television Animation rather than Film Roman) had Barney destroy Bart's skateboard (which leaves Bart to walk home), followed by Homer choking to death on the carbon rod that usually falls into the back of his shirt, Lisa tripping and getting killed by her saxaphone, and Maggie driving Marge's car off the road, through a farmyard, and into a lake where they drown. The entire sequence, including its Couch Gag, can be viewed here.
  • "Moho House" and "Dogtown" both put their Couch Gags before their actual Title Sequences. In the case of "Moho House", it uses a Title-Only Opening in which the episode begins with a tracking shot across Springfield as Moe narrates, with the title showing up as the camera approaches the Simpsons' house. "Dogtown", meanwhile, uses the usual opening, but after Bart leaves the school, it segues into the episode proper, with Homer getting stuck in traffic while driving home from work.
  • "Lisa Gets the Blues" opens with the first two parts of "The Aquarium" short from The Tracey Ullman Show, followed by the actual title sequence having to restart two times due to the wrong title showing up (the first time, it was The Flintstones, and the second time, it was "The Simpstones"). Instead of shaking fists with Maggie, Gerald holds up a "Happy 635th" banner (acknowledging that the series is now tied with Gunsmoke with the most number of episodes). Lisa's usual scene continues with her outside the school playing the saxophone. The Mr. Largo comes out and tells Lisa that she should quit playing her saxophone. Finally, a Lisa-less Couch Gag is shown in the middle of Lisa and Mr. Largo's subsequent conversation.
  • "Forgive and Regret" replaced the entire opening with a Showdown at High Noon between Maggie and Gunsmoke's Matt Dillon in commemoration of The Simpsons breaking the show's record for most episodes.
  • "Bart's Not Dead" celebrates the show's 30 years with a clip montage of one episode per season, from the 29th to the first.
• South Park
  • "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers" has the standard opening replaced by a gloomier version starring the Goth Kids, seen here.
  • "Spookyfish" opens with an announcer saying the episode will be presented in "Spooky Vision", followed by a special Halloween version of the theme song.
  • "Starvin' Marvin in Space" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" don't have the theme song.
  • "A Song of Ass and Fire" has the theme song replaced by an epic Game of Thrones-esque theme, with the kids dressed in their medieval outfits, seen here. The following episode "Titties and Dragons" has the same opening, but with the "wiener" song from the previous episode.
  • The HD version of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" has the opening tinted to better match the paper animation.
  • Season 23 is noted for having many of these:
    • The debut episode "Mexican Joker" has the intro set in Tegridy Farms, featuring only the Marsh family sung only by Randy, seen here. This continues throughout the first few episodes of season 23.
    • After the Tegridy Farms arc ends with 6 episodes, the following episode "Board Girls" has the "PC Babies" intro from Season 22's "Buddha Box".
    • "Turd Burglars" has the intro sung by the female citizens of the town and features scenes of them throughout various seasons, showing that this is a female-focused episode, or in other words, "One for the Ladies".
    • "Basic Cable" has a custom intro which features Scott Malkinson as the main character of "The Scott Malkinson Show".
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • The Christmas Episodes had the normal theme, but sung in high, angelic voices with jingle bells, and the usual title logo replaced with a title card showing SpongeBob decorating a Christmas tree.
  • The episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" replaced "SpongeBob SquarePants" in the theme with "WhoBob WhatPants".
  • "Truth or Square" had a special stop-motion opening, with the theme song performed by Cee Lo Green. This version of the opening was also used in "The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom", but used the show's regular theme song instead.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: To emphasize what a Wham Episode it is, the season 2 finale "Starcrushed" replaces the bouncy end credits sequence with a quiet shot of the exterior of Marco's house, but with a hole where Star's addition to the guest room used to be.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The opening title is usually golden yellow, except in these cases:
  • It was changed to red for "Brothers" and "Revenge" to mark Maul's return.
  • Season 5's D-Squad arc — "Secret Weapons", "A Sunny Day in the Void", "Missing in Action" and "Point of No Return" — has the logo in light blue.
  • During the final 4 episodes of Season 7 (and the series as whole), it starts with a Lucasfilm Limited Production logo from the initial run of the original Star Wars trilogy, and the Clone Wars logo is red, there's no newsreel (except for "Old Friends not Forgotten") and moral.
    • "Old Friends Not Forgotten" has The Skywalker Saga films' opening theme plays instead of the series' own variant on it (and it's preceded by a brief rendition of Ahsoka's leitmotif). Each of the remaining episodes has its own theme playing during the intro — "Shattered" uses a variant of the Clone Troopers' theme while "Victory and Death" uses a funereal track similar to that from Qui-Gon's funeral and Padmé's death/Vader's reconstruction.
• The premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch is the only one that opens with a Clone Wars-style newsreel, as it's the only one that takes place during the final arc of The Clone Wars. The rest of the episodes have only a brief (as in, roughly five seconds) theme before jumping right into things.
• Star Wars Rebels:
  • "The Last Battle" is to a large degree a Fully Absorbed Finale for The Clone Wars, which was Cut Short. Thus, the closing title is done in the style of the former show's logo, and the music playing over the credits is replaced with the former show's opening theme.
  • "Twin Suns" ends with the "Binary Sunset" Force Theme. Appropriate, as the final scene is Obi-Wan watching over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine.
  • The closing title of "Jedi Night" and opening title of "DUME" are black on a white background with falling ashes (and in the case of the former, complete with Silent Credits), marking Kanan's Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the former episode (he died holding back an explosion so the others could escape).
• Most Steven Universe episodes use a standard title card differentiated only by text, showing the beach near the Gem Temple with one of the temple's hands in the foreground, holding a washing machine and a clothesline with some of Steven's clothing on it. The end credits usually use an alternate portrayal of the same view. There are a variety of exceptions:
  • The standard card has minor variations for weather, time of day, and other conditions around the temple. "Ocean Gem" has all the water missing because the episode is about Lapis Lazuli having stolen Earth's oceans. "Full Disclosure" and "Joy Ride" have the beach covered with debris from the spaceship that crashed there in the season one finale. "Legs From Here to Homeworld" likewise has the ground covered with debris of the two other ships that crashed on the beach one episode previous.
  • If one episode ends with a Cliffhanger outside of Beach City, the next one will have a title card that reflects the location where the next episode begins. "Beta"/"Earthlings" and "Back to the Moon"/"Bubbled" extend this to the ending credits of each first part using the same image as the title card for the second.
  • The season one finale is two episodes that premiered simultaneously ("The Return" and "Jail Break") with no credits in-between. Instead, the credits at the end of the second part are double-length, which allowed for a longer version of the ending theme With Lyrics.
  • During a series of episodes where the Crystal Gems are working out of and staying in a barn, the title card and credits both change to match the barn. The opening card also has variants for day and night. The ending music is also replaced with ambient sounds.
  • "Bismuth", the 100th episode, goes straight from the opening sequence into the episode itself; the title screen doesn't appear until Bismuth herself does, with the episode title and storyboard/writing credits fading in onscreen instead of being on a separate card.
  • "Last One Out of Beach City" replaces the usual variable ending themes with "Fifteen Minutes", a licensed song by the episode's Special Guest, Mike Krol.
  • "Reunited", another double-length episode, has the title card over a black screen that precedes the opening musical number.
• Tangled: The Series:
  • The Season 1 special "Queen For a Day" does not feature the Ending Theme "More of Me"; instead it features an ominous orchestral piece, befitting Varian's Start of Darkness in the last scene.
  • The Season 1 finale "Secret of the Sundrop" does the same, by having an instrumental version of Rapunzel's "Gaining Confidence" Song "Set Yourself Free".
  • Ditto for "Destinies Collide", which feature a much more ominous orchestra to reflect Cassandra's betrayal. "Cassandra's Revenge" and "Once a Handmaiden..." do the same with even more ominous themes than the previous, to reflect the release of Zhan Tiri in the former, and Cass's takeover of Corona in the latter.
• Teen Titans uses a Japanese version of its theme songs as cue for its especially bizarre filler episodes. In Episode 24, "Fractured", the opening sequence is sung in Japanese by Larry, the tiny version of Robin from another dimension, and features Larry in the sequence. Later, in A Day in the Limelight episode for the Hive 5, Jinx interrupts the song to tag the screen with a honeycomb and say, "We're the Hive 5, and this is our show now!"
• The Christmas episode of Tiny Toon Adventures had bells in the background and some of the opening lyrics changed to fit the Christmas theme. They also had lyrics fitting the themes for the openings of their Halloween and Spring Break Episodes, and the same was for Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, including one at the end about summer vacation being over and school back in session.
• The Transformers Season 3 Episodes "Five Faces of Darkness" parts 3 and 5^*Originally applied to all five parts, though only the masters for 3 and 5 survivedhave completely different opening animations than all the rest of Season 3, including the other parts of Five Faces of Darkness, though all versions use the same theme music. Instead of starting off with a green laser grid forming Unicron's disembodied head, it starts with a visual on the Skuxxoid's rockaroid ship that Springer and Arcee commandeer in Part 1, includes the con and bot symbols chasing each other around remeniscent of the Season 2 opener, has Decepticons dogpiling on a single energon cube, the Autobots firing on them and Rodimus Prime standing up in time for the Transformers graphic, Galvatron crawling out of the Lava Pit on Thrull and then transforming and blasting a small planetoid, Daniel Witwicky running away from Trypticon as Metroplex transforms to engage, Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike being dropped into the Sharkticon pit on Quintessa, some more flying insignia and then a shot of the planet Goo, Springer transforming and dragging the other Autobots away from the garbage scow on Goo while Rodimus gets sucked in, then Rodimus escaping from it with the sound of Optimus Prime's laser rifle, then the end Transformers title graphic.
• The Transformers: Rescue Bots Musical Episode "I Have Heard the Robots Singing" has Follow the Bouncing Ball lyrics below with Blades' head in place of the ball.
• The VeggieTales episode "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!" had different opening dialogue with Larry telling Bob he's not doing the theme song. He then tells Bob because "It's time to wake up! And smell the future!".
• The Venture Brothers:
  • The first season finale ends with the two title characters seemingly killed. The next season premier goes with this by showing a new opening where they've been replaced by Rusty and Jonas Jr. (who could also be called "Venture Bros"), only for Hank and Dean to be revived via cloning.
  • The first episode of the third season was all about the villains, and thus the credits featured their silhouettes in place of the expected titular brothers.
• The Musical Episode of Wander over Yonder excluded the theme song altogether and instead begins with the show's logo on a curtain which opens and cuts immediately to the actual show.
  • The show doesn't really have title cards as much as the title appearing a few minutes into the episode with a short musical piece. However, sometimes the title's font and/or music is different.