Fonts in TOS credits

[JHoffman555]

Did you ever notice that the Font used in credits for TOS episodes were not uniform. Sometimes it was long and thin, sometimes stubby (Space Seed.) What's up with that? And is only Season 3 blue?

[c5maier]

Your discovery is quite correct, however not original.

It is indeed (at least for me) the easiest way to tell which season a random episode comes from:
° Yellow, Helvetica style font = First Season
° Yellow, Star Trek specific font = Second Season
° Blue, Star Trek specific font = Third Season.

[22 Stars]

c5maier wrote:

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Your discovery is quite correct, however not original.

It is indeed (at least for me) the easiest way to tell which season a random episode comes from:
° Yellow, Helvetica style font = First Season
° Yellow, Star Trek specific font = Second Season
° Blue, Star Trek specific font = Third Season.

Your response is quite correct, however not original

[JHoffman555]

c5maier wrote:

---

Your discovery is quite correct, however not original.

It is indeed (at least for me) the easiest way to tell which season a random episode comes from:
° Yellow, Helvetica style font = First Season
° Yellow, Star Trek specific font = Second Season
° Blue, Star Trek specific font = Third Season.

Ah. So there is method to the madness. Tx for clearing that up.

[Phillip Culley]

What I never understood was why some first season episodes have the long thin captions (such as The Man Trap), and others have the thicker captions (such as Mudd's Women).

I thought it might have had something to do with production order (so the earlier episodes were thin, and then they changed to thick), but even at the end of the season The City on the Edge of Forever is this, while Operation -- Annihilate! is thick! I suppose it's something as simple as the whims of whoever was in charge of doing them that week...

Yes, I think about these things too much

[Maurice]

^^^I don't see what you mean about "long thin captions". Do you mean the font height?

The first season fonts appear to be from the family of Univers Exp Black, and some variation might be related to what weight and variation on the font was used for a given episode.

Second season font looks like Horizon.

"The Cage" titles might be Annonce.

[Nebusj]

DS9Sega wrote:

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^^^I don't see what you mean about "long thin captions". Do you mean the font height?

They're different fonts. Going to the original, 1966/67 production titles compare:
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...heedge_047.jpg to http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...hilate_035.JPG
The differences aren't simply font height or weight; look at the quote marks and the R shapes.

[Temis the Vorta]

People are complaining about the originality of this thread? When someone posts "who is your favorite captain" or asks for a best episode list, THEN you can complain!

[Maurice]

Nebusj wrote:

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They're different fonts. Going to the original, 1966/67 production titles compare:
http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...heedge_047.jpg to http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albu...hilate_035.JPG
The differences aren't simply font height or weight; look at the quote marks and the R shapes.

I wasn't disagreeing. Your sentence was so awkward that I was seeking clarification as to what point your were trying to make. I still don't get how that example is "long" anything.

And the font on episodes like "Operation: Annihilate!" appears to be of the Eurostyle Bold family.

As to why there are different fonts: could be that two different titling houses were used.