Written and Compiled by DreamMechanic

1st Logo
(1985-1990)



Nickname: "Rooster in Space"

Logo: Against a space background, a comet shoots out from the left side of the screen to the center, and then another comet shoots out from the bottom left corner of the screen, but suddenly, it turns to the right, and reveals "ASTRAL VIDEO", first in pink text, but then changes to orange, and finally, blue, as if it was "cooling down" a bit. Finally, another comet shoots below the text to reveal the rooster in the circle. Then, the logo cuts to black.

FX: The comets shooting to reveal the logo.

Cheesy Factor: Typical '80s computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A triumphant Moog synthesizer fanfare.

Variants: On French-dubbed videotapes, the text is translated into French. I (DreamMechanic) first saw this on a french "Babar The Movie" videotape a few years back.

Availability: On Canadian NTSC tapes of Astral stuff from the '80s (Although I think these tapes may be sold in the northern part of the U.S. as well.). One notable release was the non-MST3K version of Pod People (Released by Astral on VHS under the name Extra-Terrsistial Visitors)

Scare Factor: Medium due to the darkness of the logo, as well as the music.

2nd Logo
(1990-1994)

Nickname: "Astral Sunset"

Logo: On a sky background, the word "Astral", now in Peignot font, just like in the MTM and 1971 Viacom logos, zooms out, and a sun peeks behind the clouds.

Variant: There is a still version of this logo.

FX/Cheesy Factor: Just "Astral" zooming out.

Music/Sounds: The animated version doesn't have music, but the still version uses a synth choir sounder.

Availability: On '90s Astral releases on VHS.

Scare Factor: Low.