History Main / UniquePilotTitleSequence

* The opening credits for the first episode of ''DowntonAbbey'' follow the news of the ''Titanic'' sinking toward the main characters; all the other episodes use a more domestic credit sequence.

* The pilot of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' originally had a very different tune than later episodes and the rest of the series. The pilot was rescored a few weeks later and resindicated. The pilot in its original form is no longer aired.

* ''TheSixMillionDollarMan'' had three pilot movies before the weekly series began. The first had no real title sequence, just the credits played out over the opening scenes. The second and third films featured a recounting of Steve's accident (which differed completely from the first pilot!) and a theme ''song'' performed by Dusty Springfield. The famous "Steve Austin...astronaut" opening wasn't introduced until the weekly series began.

* ''{{Victorious}}'' forgoes the theme song altogether, since Tori has yet to actually perform it.

* Diring the FiveEpisodePilot of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', before Adora does her HeelFaceTurn and becomes the titular herione, a male announcer reads the OpeningNarration. After Adora becomes She-Ra, she reads a new version of the narration.

* ''TheGreatestAmericanHero'' shows the murder of Bill's partner by skinheads, then leads into the credits over a number of night shots of (presumably) LA.
* ''CharliesAngels'' started as a T.V. Movie with a different opening, as well as different bumpers showing the three Angels standing side by side.
* ''TheFlyingNun'' shows Sister Bertrille walking with her welcoming party back to the convent.

* ''RemingtonSteele'' has Laura tell a slightly different story since at this point she hasn't met the man who would take over Remington Steele's persona.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" didn't have William Shatner's "Space, the final frontier" voiceover. This was 'corrected' for the HD remastered version of the episode.

** The opening of the first pilot is also completely different: the shots are solely the ''Enterprise'' on a starfield, Leonard Nimoy's name doesn't appear (although he plays a major part in the episode), the special guest's name ''does'' appear, and the credits themselves lack the typographic appearance of the later series.

* The pilot episode of ''Series/TheXFiles'' has no title or end credits and is the only X-Files episode (including the two movies) not to include the iconic theme song. The episode opens with a title card stating that the plot is based on real events and that's all.

* ''TrapperJohnMD'' opened with a title sequence in the font of ''TheGreatestAmericanHero'' style type and Pernell Roberts dreaming via clips of ''Series/{{Mash}}''

* The first episode of the 1990s ''IronMan'' animated series lacked the green wire bits in the beginning seen in the other episodes of the first season.

* The first episode of ''CaptainScarlet'' features a unique opening monologue by Captain Blue which begins with the phrase "The finger is on the trigger..." and ends by introducing Scarlet with "This will be our hero for fate will make him indestructible."

** Its sequel, ''TheLegendOfKorra'', has Tenzin relate to the audience the basics of what has happened since the end of the original series, providing the necessary backstory. All other episodes have him simply recite the basic lore of the Avatar.

* The 2004-05 series ''JackAndBobby'' had simple on-screen titles for the pilot, because it wasn't until late in the episode that it was revealed which brother would grow up to be President. [[spoiler: Bobby]].

* ''Series/{{The West Wing}}'' : The Pilot features a long single-take of Leo arriving at work in the morning, introducing most of the rest of the cast.
* The pilot episode of {{Sliders}} uses a completely different title sequence to the rest of the series, presumably to avoid explaining the premise they spend most of the episode introducing.

* The first episode of ''InspectorGadget''--"Winter Olympics"--had at least ''three'' variations, each with its own unique "edit" of the main title sequence. Also, the episode had unique closing credits!

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' starts with the title "Korea 1950 - 100 Years Ago" as Hawkeye and Trapper John play golf with "My Blue Heaven" playing in the background. Radar gets tossed a football and stops as he hears the choppers coming, which then leads into the standard opening.

* The pilot episode of ''{{The X-Files}}'' has no title or end credits and is the only X-Files episode (including the two movies) not to include the iconic theme song. The episode opens with a title card stating that the plot is based on real events and that's all.

** Its sequel, TheLegendOfKorra, has Tenzin relate to the audience the basics of what has happened since the end of the original series, providing the necessary backstory. All other episodes have him simply recite the basic lore of the Avatar.
* {{Victorious}} forgoes the theme song altogether, since Tori has yet to actually perform it.

Often a pilot episode will have a different title credit sequence than the resulting show. This can be the result of many factors - Sometimes a pilot is presented as a tv movie with movie style credits, sometimes an element that will become common knowledge during the show is kept hidden to keep the surprise; sometimes an actor will be replaced between filming of the pilot and the series.

* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': The PilotMovie only has standard text credits nd does not feature the TitleSequence with the InstrumentalThemeTune as in all other episodes.

* The pilot of ''{{Seinfeld}}'' originally had a very different tune than later episodes and the rest of the series. The pilot was rescored a few weeks later and resindicated. The pilot in its original form is no longer aired.

* The opening credits for the reimagined ''[[BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]'' pilot begin with music by Richard Gibbs. The second episode, "33", begins with the now-familiar Bear [=McCreary=] theme. It also has the quick cuts of upcoming scenes from the episode after the theme music.

* The original pilot for ''BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'' was originally released as a theatrical film. The opening credits featured not only a unique version of the theme music with lyrics, but also Fanservice images of the female leads lounging about in swimsuits! The televised version of the pilot ditches the swimsuits, but retains the vocal version of the theme for the closing credits.

* For its pilot episode "Children of the Gods", ''StargateSG1'' used a variation on the title sequence of [[Film/{{Stargate}} the movie]]: A long pan over Ra's mask, then zooming out to show the whole thing, followed by fade-out. The rest of the series uses cut-together clips.

* The intros for the first episode of AvatarTheLastAirbender has a slight variant in Katara's exposition, since she had yet to meet Aang.

* The opening credits of the first ''Series/ThirtyRock'' episode feature Liz in a ''ThatGirl''[=/=]''TheMaryTylerMooreShow''-type opening, but this ends up as a LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn gag and actually they're singing about the ShowWithinTheShow character "Pam, the Overly-Confident Morbidly Obese Woman". The second episode introduces the regular opening credits.

Often a pilot episode will have a different title credit sequence than the resulting show. This can be the result of many factors - Sometimes a pilot is presented as a tv movie with movie style credits, sometimes an element that will become common knowlege during the show is kept hidden to keep the surprise; sometimes an actor will be replaced between filming of the pilot and the series.

* ''RemingtonSteele'' has Laura tell a slightly different story to since at this point she hasn't met the man who would take over Remington Steele's persona.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" didn't have William Shatner's "Space, the final frontier" voiceover. This was 'corrected' for the HD remastered version of the episode.

* The 2 hour pilot to ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' doesn't feature the wormhole opening as it hadn't been introduced in the story yet. The syndicated two part version has no wormhole in the first half and the regular opening for the second.