Episode Title Card: Difference between revisions

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After the [[Title Sequence]], but before the first act, many shows will put in an intertitle displaying the episode's title. For some shows, the title will be animated and a character from the series will read the title to the audience (mostly prevalent in anime, while western cartoons that use this are usually aimed at preschoolers). On the other hand, some shows might have the title be on-screen text displayed with the opening credits over the beginning of the first act. It is also common for the title to [[Title Please|never be shown]] and the name of the episodes only found from episode guides.

These days, one tends to see episode titles only on non-primetime animated programming, although even then there are many exceptions to this. (For example, [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids]]' Saturday morning block doesn't use episode titles on screen at all, regardless of whether the original versions of the shows had them.) Most other kinds of programming eschew from explicitly titling the episode on screen, with most exceptions being [[Dramatic Hour Long|hourlong]] sci-fi (''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Doctor Who]]'') or (for some reason) the [[Aaron Sorkin]] dramas ''[[The West Wing]]'' and ''[[Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip]]''.

These days, one tends to see episode titles only on non-primetime animated programming, although even then there are many exceptions to this. (For example, [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids]]' Saturday morning block doesn't use episode titles on screen at all, regardless of whether the original versions of the shows had them.) Most other kinds of programming eschew from explicitly titling the episode on screen, with most exceptions being [[Dramatic Hour Long|hourlong]] sci-fi (''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Doctor Who]]'') or (for some reason) the [[Aaron Sorkin]] dramas ''[[The West Wing]]'' and ''[[Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip]]''.

* ''[[Police Camera Action]]'', a co-production of [[ITV]] and [[Optomen]], had no title cards for the first two episodes ''Danger Drivers Ahead!'' (mid-1994) and the generically titled ''Police Camera Action'' (late 1994/early 1995), then a background of thermal-imaging camera footage with the episode title in BLOCK CAPITALS between 1995 and 1996. No episode title cards were used for the 1996 special ''The Man Who Shot O.J'' about the OJ Simpson trial. From 1997, the title cards were a blue background and white text, with text Like This (capitalised beginning of sentence).

* ''[[Police, Camera, Action!]]'', a co-production of [[ITV]] and [[Optomen]], had no title cards for the first two episodes ''Danger Drivers Ahead!'' (mid-1994) and the generically titled ''Police Camera Action'' (late 1994/early 1995), then a background of thermal-imaging camera footage with the episode title in BLOCK CAPITALS between 1995 and 1996. No episode title cards were used for the 1996 special ''The Man Who Shot O.J'' about the OJ Simpson trial. From 1997, the title cards were a blue background and white text, with text Like This (capitalised beginning of sentence).

** From 1999 onwards, a stylized background with BLOCK CAPITALS was used. The title cards were not used for the 2000 special episodes ''Crash Test Racers'' or ''Highway of Tomorrow''. The background was changed in 2002 to police footage, and then again in 2007 for the new series presented by Alastair Stewart and Adrian Simpson. The 2008 special episode, listed as "Drink Driving Special" had no title card, but the new 2009-2010 season is likely to have them again.

* A subversion of the character reading it is usually done in ''[[Tokusatsu]]'' with the narrator reading it usually in a menacing voice. Toru Ohira is especially fond of this, being the voice of Darth Vader in the Japanese dub of ''[[Star Wars]]'', he sometimes likes to read titles in a villain-like manner.

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* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' begs to differ. White screen, black kanji and hiragana, music. That is all.

* The first two ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' series have her reading the episode title while it's shown on a red sphere (ostensibly her Raising Heart pearl), with the same music bed used in both seasons. ''Strikers'' has a more dramatic music bed and no title read, presumably to reflect its more serious nature, with the title put over an i-ching pattern.

* All [[Nicktoons]] use this: ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'', ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', ''[[The Fairly ~~Odd Parents~~]]'', ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'', ''[[CatDog]]'', etc.

* All [[Nicktoons]] use this: ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'', ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'', ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', ''[[The Angry Beavers]]'', ''[[CatDog]]'', etc.

** In fact, ''[[~~Ka Blam~~!~~|Ka Blam~~]]!'' has its title cards shown at the END of an episode (minus episode 8 and 29)

** In fact, ''[[KaBlam!]]!'' has its title cards shown at the END of an episode (minus episode 8 and 29)

*** Likewise for ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'', ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', and ''[[Tuff Puppy]]''.

* Parodied in ''[[Police Squad!]]'', where the Episode Title Card never agrees with the spoken episode title.

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[[Category:Show Parts]]

[[Category:~~Episode Title Card~~]]

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