We’re two episodes into the new season of Star Trek: Discovery and so far the jump into the future has created an intriguing new status quo for the crew to explore, and both episodes have been good!

The opening credits sequence –already one of the more visually beautiful title sequences on TV– has seen some updates to reflect that new status quo, so let’s take a look at those now.

First, here’s the new title sequence in case you haven’t seen it yet.

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These are actually the same frames as they always have been with one important difference: the dilithium crystals are red this year. The future that the crew has left into is decades after an event referred to as “the burn”, in which most of the dilithium in the galaxy exploded. We don’t yet know the cause of that event, but I’d be willing to bet that becomes one of the big mysteries of the season.

At first glance, this frame doesn’t look that different, but if you look closer the face here is now clearly Sonequa Martin-Green, whereas before it was just a female face.

This frame isn’t actually new, I just think it’s gorgeous.

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Robots! So many robots! Am I the only one that hopes that Discovery gets at least one of these robots? and that is has personality? I know that an AI as the big bad in season 2, but we’re in the future now, and the bad guy was defeated!

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The old school phaser updated in real-time into the new, sleek, future phaser design. I’m actually partial to the TOS era phaser design, but this new one is slick. I also love the detail of the discovery flying out of the gun barrel like this was a James Bond picture.

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Our first good look at the Nautilus, the ship owned by Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), the new character who Michael crashes into as she exits the time vortex. This ship has all kinds of cool things going on, including an asymmetrical design, programmable matter, and slipstream drives rather than warp. I look forward to the show diving headfirst into all of this and how (and if) some of this tech will be integrated into the Discovery.

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Updated Starfleet chevrons/comm badges! I really like this iteration of the design. The oval shape adds a contrasting background that I like, and while I thought the pips being on the badge was a good idea in seasons 1 and 2, it also wasn’t very visually clear. Now it’s super clear.

This also isn’t a new frame, it’s just a great shot of the Discovery.

I’ve always loved the title sequence from Discovery, and I think these updates help ease us into the new status quo of the show. I hope they iterate the title sequence like this every year, which will give us some variety and also some Easter eggs to fuss over.

Also, we’re two episodes into season 3, and I really like it so far. The setup feels like another Roddenberry show, Andromeda, in which a ship carrying idealists is brought forward into a future that has lost the guiding light of the interstellar organization that maintained peace and hope. Honestly, I don’t see that as a problem. Andromeda was good in that “this is cheesy and cheap” kind of way, and this show has a production budget and design that has a lot more going for it. Not to mention writing and acting.

The first episode was a solo adventure with Michael that saw her struggling to orient herself in this strange future, and the second episode is a space western complete with a showdown in a saloon. I really hope they keep having fun with the premise like this.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with for the rest of the season.