One of the changes coming for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery – premiering Thursday – is a new title sequence. And you don’t have to wait to see it.
Season two title sequence
Today CBS revealed the new sequence on social media.
Beaming up a new #StarTrekDiscovery title sequence. Can you spot all of the differences?
Stream the premiere Thursday on @CBSAllAccess to find out what they mean: https://t.co/XOHPLRuAYR pic.twitter.com/QXE4GPRdSC
— Star Trek: Discovery (@startrekcbs) January 15, 2019
What’s new?
While the general style of the sequence remains, the Klingon motif from season one has been dropped, however Jeff Russo’s title score appears unchanged. There are a few new visual elements that have been added for the second season. We have highlighted some of the key changes.
TOS style captain’s chair
Red Angel, one of the central mysteries of the second season
Vulcan IDIC symbol added to Vulcan salute (which was part of season one title sequence)
Section 31 black badge
USS Enterprise style badges
Bonus
In the transporter montage a clever person in the art department put a reference to the fourth season Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Daedalus” where we find out the inventor of the transporter is Emory Erickson.
“Invented by Emory Erickson”
Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 premieres Thursday January 17 in the USA on CBS All Access at 5:30PM PT/8:30PM ET. It will air in Canada on Space at 5:00PM PT/8:00 PM ET the same day. For all other regions, the premiere will be available on Netflix within 24-hours (January 18).
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.
Is it just me, or is the Enterprise hiding in the “wings” of the angel?
Yeah, I see what you’re saying. Pretty cool.
Great pick up.
Yes. Saw the very same thing.
That’s a great spot!
ditto. :) Maybe the Franklin!
There also seems to be some kind of Klingon bird of prey or Romulan warbird beneath the Enterprise.
Very cool! Good eye! And I may be pushing it, but the inner portion of the wings look like they are obscuring the Starfleet Delta symbol.
No idea what you guys are seeing…
Pretty sure I see the Galactica and a Tie Fighter in there too. 😉 Just kidding, but it’s an interesting variant on the Rorschach test.
.. and the orville was in the red stream behind d’covery right at the end there, yeppers
After one year I’m still shocked that they signed off on that music.
Look up, “Star Trek Discovery Persistence” on YouTube. They took a part of the soundtrack and made a mash-up with it and the theme. Honestly, it made me like it better.
Then you need to get your ears checked. This song is excellent.
It’s the most bland, boring, generic music possible. It sounds like a typical car commercial, NOT an action/adventure TV show. Boring, bland, bad.
Agreed. I still find it bland as well. I like the end title sequence a bit more though.
Nothing is as bland as the music cues Dennis McCarthy cooked up after season 3 of TNG and used in DS9 and Voyager afterward. And although, DS9 is the 2nd best Star Trek series after TOS, the theme song is boring. Discovery’s theme is nice, especially the beginning.
I liked all their theme songs though especially Voyagers! I didn’t love the original DS9 theme song but I love the second version in season 4. It brought it out in a way that made it so stirring and strong! That drum crescendo in the end in the end is amazing. Now I can listen to it all the time.
Hopefully someone will redo Discovery’s theme. It’s just so bland to me. I can’t get into it at all but this is why they are only called opinions and not facts. :)
DS9’s revamped theme is okay, but to me it sounds like it’s constantly building toward an actual theme/motif…but never gets there. (Any–minute–now–the–theme–will–start…nope, there’s the wormhole and commercial break.)
I love Voyager’s theme! It’s probably my favorite piece of music from that era of Trek. (Nothing tops the TMP/TWOK/TSFS scores in my book.)
Horner’s WoK score didn’t work for me… At first. But it quickly grew on me.
DS9, while the best show of the spinoffs, easily had the worst opening theme. The slightly pumped up version helped. But it was still pretty bland. Even Russo’s STD opening is better. And as much as I’m not a fan of S1, the opening was just fine.
I agree about McCarthy’s musical pablum and the weakness of DS9’s theme (though I grew to like that theme). I love VOY’s theme, though the visuals might have helped that. I just cannot find anything in Discovery’s theme to enjoy.
One other thing the orville got right.
@Bob — the ORVILLE theme is the only thing they got right. Bruce Broughton is one of the best.
I don’t like ORVILLE’s theme either, too much like graduation music. But at least there’s a tune, whereas DSC’s is just a mess, and not even far-enough-out to be interestingly unique.
Eh, it’s okay…
The Orville’s theme is great. It deserves a better show. ;)
Car commercial, great analogy.
Thanks. I’m an a-hole, but I have my moments. ;)
true
I have perfect pitch and was raised by a musician. I would have to agree with Schultz.
People still mock the Berman era for its “wallpaper music” (past TNG season 2, rightly so) yet Russo seems both guilty of that and (unlike many TNG composers) incapable of doing better. Guess what, Berman loosened up for Enterprise and as a result that show had some very fine soundtracks (minus the theme, although that was just about taste, not for the lack of trying). It seems we regressed in that respect, too. Fortunately I think we can be certain that each new Kurtzman show will get its own composer, but if like with Berman trek the orders for bad music come from the very top, that won’t help much (Pitch: Hire Ron Jones for Picard!)
I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t do much for me. I’d file it under the same place as the DS9 theme, which is a complete bore.
I do not hate it, but I am still underwhelmed – we are all used to more “lyrical” pieces that do not repeat after 4 beats, but actually have a sense of storytelling in them and “even” several verses or chapters if you will (sorry, i am not a native speaker and music theory is also not my strong suit).
That said, I am quite confused by the output of Russo overall, cause his work on “Legion” and “Fargo” is really really great. Hoped they
d / hed add something to the theme for season 2…PS: I adore the DS9 theme, it`s more majestic than adventurous.
“(sorry, i am not a native speaker and music theory is also not my strong suit)”
No, this can not be true. ALL Germans are composers and learn everything about music (Wagner,Mozart,Hans Zimmer, Erich Zahn, Franz Liebkind etc). Just like all Klingons are warriors and have to look always the same and no Vulcan ever smiles.
Of course the Voyager theme is outstanding; it’s Jerry Goldsmith.
That Captain’s chair is right out of TOS. I’m not sure how I feel about that. As much as it’s an iconic part of TOS, it’s kinda dated looking. It will be interesting to see what they do with it to update it. It also suggests we’re definitely going to see the bridge of the Enterprise.
I sure hope so, because my inner fifteen year-old geek — still alive and kicking after all these decades — will be sorely disappointed if we don’t.
Maybe but not necessarily. Season 1 showed TOS phaser and communicator.
Still shows the phaser.
@I’m Dead Jim — right, but they did update the phaser, with kind of a retro look. That’s kind of what I’m alluding too. But the bigger question I have is why? Why do they have the TOS captains chair, in DISC main titles? Are they going to replace the captain’s chair on DISC with the Enterprise chair because Pike like’s it better?
The Enterprise is 12 years older than the Discovery, it should look “dated”. And so what? It’s iconic, it should still look relatively the same, and updated in smaller ways to “enhance” it’s iconic status.
Exactly Enterprise is a old ship before a refurbishment before going on her 5 year mission
@Mike — I don’t have a problem with the iconic look of it, but it doesn’t look like they’ve changed it much, and even though it was cool in the 1960s, I was blown away by the captain’s chair in TMP, and would never want to see a return to that earlier style. So even though the Enterprise is an older ship here, I expect them to design a chair that looks like it was designed in our future, not the 1960s when they needed a lot of space to run the wiring up the arm rests and so forth.
I must say though I like it as a TOS fan, this opening doesn’t exactly scream ‘Discovery is standing on it’s own’ in the franchise to me.
That’s my biggest complaint about it too.
@Mark Calcagno — I don’t know why this has to be a bad thing. The STAR WARS prequels didn’t exactly stand on their own either. TOS was only 3 seasons. I wouldn’t hate a prequel that expands the lead-in to that series, or even becomes it.
Totally get your point. My opinion is that prequels are usually cash grabs and have less stakes than the show they are predating, since you know who is going to survive and what the political climate looks like. Disco side-steps that a bit in season 1 by having almost all new characters in a time period we recognize.
My problem with the theme stems from the old phaser, chair and communicator that are in the theme that are not present in the new show. It’s showing the audience that it’s connected to what they know, which comes off, to me at least, is lazy. I like the music and many of the visuals, but I don’t like the TOS prop connections.
Agreed Mark! It’s just more pandering to TOS fans. It makes no sense to have that chair in there if its not in the show.
And I wouldn’t say prequels are necessarily cash grabs but they do rely more on nostalgia instead of coming up with ways to reinvent the brand. Now before people start yelling at me I actually DO think Discovery isn’t being lazy in that sense and going its own way. But its pretty clear someone decided this show has to feel like a TOS tie-in in its second season and now pulling out all the stops with the TOS appearances and references. Its not being allowed to go its own way which it at least somewhat did in season 1 even if it relied on old story concepts to do it.
And comparing the SW prequels is not the same thing. Those were made to literally connect to the OT and is basically Vader’s back story connecting the two trilogies together. Discovery WAS suppose to be its own thing with its own separate characters, just in the TOS era. Now its staring to feel like the SW prequels unfortunately.
Do we know that the chair is not used on the Enterprise’s bridge?
The name of the show isn’t Enterprise, it’s Discovery. That’s the point I’m making.
I was not a huge fan of Discovery but I am forced to admit they DID try to do thier own thing in the first season. I do think that the Burnham Spock thing was created to be a safety net in the event they felt they needed to use Spock, however. But if that first season had been better received I’m pretty sure we would not be getting a Spock story in S2.
@Mark Calcagno — the phaser and communicator are in the show. The chair we’ve yet to see …
The OG phaser isn’t, nor the TOS communicator, but they’re in the theme. It’s strange seeing props that aren’t in the show we’re watching in the theme.
I just re-watched the theme linked here … I didn’t see the communicator at all. However, the phaser is strange … it starts out as the TOS phaser, then is clad in the DISCO design. So at least it’s connected. But the chair isn’t in any way connected yet …
Because it is not? It has Pike, Cmdr. Charlotte Fasterbakken (Number One), and Spock. I’d be surprised if this either isn’t a full shift to an Enterprise based Season 3, or an Enterprise spin off for next year.
You have to excuse me but where did the name Charlotte Fasterbakken come from? I have read novels that gave her the last name Robbins
Google “Charlotte Fasterbakken” – the only results literally link to this page/comment. There’s been a bunch of non-canonical names including “Robbins”, “Lefler”, “Una”, and “Leigh Hudec”.
Leigh Hudec was Majel Barrett’s middle and last name. Majel Leigh Hudec (Barrett = Stage name).
Just made it up.
Enterprise tried that, and look what happened…
Well, for TNG they just reused the theme for TMP.
I believe that was because GR really liked what JG did on TMP.
And I don’t disagree with it being a great choice, but the poster I was replying to seems to think the choice of theme music for Discovery, which is all original except for the end, shows that Discovery isn’t standing on its own.
That’s a really good point. Makes me rethink Discovery’s imagery.
Actually TNG was suppose to have an original score and they did make it but let’s just say it wasn’t very good. Saw this on Reddit, its amazing what those guys always dig up there. Have a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzpeulsbv8o
To be fair maybe after a few years people would’ve loved it but I can see why they decided to go with JG TMP theme. This theme definitely felt something out of a superhero show, not Star Trek.
They know some trek fans love nostalgia.
Yup, looks great! The title sequence for season 1 was fantastic, maybe the best Trek title sequence of all! Although I wish they would bring back the monologue.
Fantastic? To each his own. I thought it was uninspired.
Voyagers for me.
The visuals have aged well too.
Except for that one planet which is physically impossible. :P
You joker! Aahhahaha!
Pretty sure the Red Angel is the Borg….
God I hope you’re kidding.
Wouldn’t be that shocking though, would it? The Borg has that iconic status, much like the Mirror Universe, and it seems inevitable they’ll show up again. Sigh.
Save the Borg for the Picard Show.
They could pop up on the Section 31 show as well. Everything will be ‘classified’ so its not out of the realm of possibility anymore.
The Queen with wings!
Could be the Talosians again, or maybe the Iconians. Lots of possibilities here.
Angel could be a collective precognitive vision of something or someone ‘becoming’ — a la Decker in TMP — sort of like how the appearance of the CHILDHOOD’S END aliens pays off man’s mental vision of what a particular being looks like.
Maybe Burnham evolves into the higher life form and she is the realized version of the angel. If it actually took one or more races to make this space angel a reality, it would be a really nice upscale version of THE CHASE, showing the ‘more than the sum of parts’ in a really uplifting Trekkian way.
Gorgeous.
That angel image looks like two starships converging. Hmmm….
I still don’t think it’s all that great a title sequence. First of all it doesn’t have any momentum with the music. Second the visuals are just all over the place and some of them I just can’t even understand. And then of course there’s the music… #nitpick #seriouslytho
Think maybe the sequence would be a little better if they changed the background color? I know it’s a simple thing, but maybe a dark blue or a starfield would be more fitting. The beige makes me think of a story set in ye olden times.
I have a friend who still cannot get over the fact that the title sequence doesn’t have a starfield ;-)
It could be interpreted as Discovery (this show, not the ship) is being redesigned as the imagery looks like they are design sketches.
Is it possible that the red angel is the same people that the war was being fought against in the Short Trek, Calypso?
They DID say that ALL short treks have tie ins into the second season so…
Craft’s enemy was the Vdrashn, confirmed by the writer to be a corruption of the word Federation, very Cohms and Yangs, why do you think the stolen escape pod Craft was in had Betty Boop in the memory banks?
Because it is free of license ?!?
^ This made me laugh lol
The people they fought against were the remnants of Federation.
But it might be that there is a time-travel plot, where Discovery has to stop the Federation from being destroyed by the Red Angel or from what he warned about. (The Red Angel will probably turn out not to be a villain, as most people stupidly assume, but a misunderstood being. Look at the Tilly-Short-Trek to see how it’s done.)
Or “Devil in the Dark”
That’d be awesome if they destroyed the Federation in S2 and time traveled in S3 to repair it, creating an alternate timeline without a Federation.
They could set the Picard show during that timeline!!!
(The first part was real, the Picard part was a joke.)
Bitch, bitch, bitch. Just watch the bloody show, fer Chrissakes! THEN give a cogent opinion. Such petty squabbles….
most definitely. Unfortunately, this is the staple.
Uh, this article is about the title sequence, which can be watched via the link above, not the show itself.
Always liked this change. https://youtu.be/k0vXniLxG0Y
LOL I see someone even credited to you. I do like it better but I don’t know if such an iconic song would’ve been a good idea. But I would’ve been fine with it.
Nah, just sounds dated (because it is). I like the Enterprise title sequence exactly the way it is. The song just speaks to me about exploration and getting going, so no, don’t change it!
The song on ENTERPRISE was about the biggest miss imaginable.
If they wanted to really get the soul of an explorer, they should have gone 70s rock with Kansas’ Borne on Wings of Steel. I was introduced to that at a laser light show about a year or two before TMP came out. I shot some Super-8 film of the TMP ent off the screen at a drive-in and combined it with some clips shot off the TV (this was pre-videotape), and made a pretty good little short against the Kansas music … have been waiting for the pros to tackle it ever since.
@Olaf — talk about dated … ENT is the least inspiring song I’ve ever heard, and sounded dated even when it was written. It cost them a fortune, but it was quickly adopted to drug store Musak tracks due to it’s inoffensive brand of stale song tropes. Braga knows nothing about music, but he likes to think he does …
Who ever sang this, he had stolen it from Shatner.
Love it.
The Red Angel is actually two-toned in color with stylized wings like the symbol for the Romulan Empire.
I would have to speculate that many people have suggested this before but I personally haven’t seen it anywhere. It seems simple yet elegant, like “of course!”
Why not just have a series with Captain Pike, Spock, Boyce, etc., add some new characters, on the Enterprise? It was all 11 years before Kirk. There are many years there to cover, and so many possibilities. I suppose some would think it’s not original enough an idea, and I get that. But personally, I feel like they’ve done a space station, a lost starship. And now a show with the spore drive and Harry Mudd and the Mirror Universe, but it is a show where they don’t explore much, and and ironically do very little discovering.
So how about a kind of new TOS inspired show, but updated for todays tech and sensibilities, (not dystopian I pray). Ideas that were not thought about much 50 years ago could be done today.
They are already doing ideas they did not think about 50 years ago, such as having the Klingons eat the starship captain…
….oooh not Dystopian you said ;-)
Klingons have always eaten their enemies. In DS9 Worf lists not having eaten the heart of an enemy as one of the reasons Jadzia would not get into Sto’vo kor. This was not a new thing for the Klingons.
I like the visuals but the music is a letdown to me. I like the YoutTube version. Youtube “Star Trek: Discovery Soundtrack – Main Theme/Persistence Extended” It builds up much better. The version CBS uses is anticlimactic. On a different note it reminds me of the Fringe opening song.
Still hate the intro, but it’s not what I watch the show for so I don’t care.
Actually an intro to a TV show should make you want to watch the show.
Here’s a fan-made rendition of the “Discovery” opening. It sent chills up my spine. INCREDIBLE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EwIgahBzKI
The visuals may be more like a traditional Trek opening but the music doesn’t really have an interesting melody, either. Plus, it just fizzles out without a finale.
I have a sneaking suspicion the red angel has something to do with Dr. Culber.
Omg the ads here are multiplying lol
Could easily be a demon too…
Can’t wait to discover the mysteries of the red angel.
Is even this video region-locked? Because I can’t play it from here, it doesn’t even bother showing a message about region locking. Seriously, this is so annoying…
Yes everything CBS puts out is region locked. You’ll need to resort to unofficial sources to see it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwSn0YVB0E8
Thanks!
Tricky to guess the real identity of the “Red Angel”, since it depends so much on whether it’s from established Trek canon or something completely new. It could be anything. A Pah-Wraith. Sisko from the wormhole. Kirk from the Nexus. Ronan Farrow investigating MU Georgiou. Who knows? ;)
Nice production sketches, where’s the intro?