Compiled by James Fabiano, Sean Beard, and Kris Starring


Background: Their videos originally went through CBS-FOX for US distribution; the license was taken over by Warner Home Video in 2000.


1st Logo
(1982-1989)
Nicknames: "BBC Star", "Cheesy Starlight"

Logo:

• Opening: Many colored parallelograms come from the top and bottom of the screen towards the middle, where a white four-pointed star is being "drawn". The colored shapes stop coming from the bottom as an orange line with a V-shaped bend in the middle arrives, accompanied by a "shadow" effect. It stops below the star, and the parallelograms return from the bottom as the letters "BBC" and "IDEO" are drawn in white at either side of the "V". The line with the "V" is traced over with white. All the parallelograms finally stop as the logo completes and the star in it shines. It looks like a 1970's neon sign.
• Closing: The rainbow parallelograms are flying towards the BBC VIDEO logo,which disappears as if it was being played backwards; that is, it's sort of being "drawn away." The parallelograms stop and the four-pointed star remains. As a copyright notice appears, the star "shines" and is drawn away too, leaving a small light which flashes a few times and then fades.

FX:

• Opening: The "drawing" and flying shapes.
• Closing: The logo being "drawn away".

Cheesy Factor:

• Opening: Much of the logo is produced with early effects and Scanimate animation.
• Closing: Looks like the opening being played backwards.

Music/Sounds:

• Opening: A "creeping" synthesized theme that ends with drawn-out synthesized notes and a three-note synthesized horn fanfare.
• Closing: Same as the opening logo, except a little extra in the beginning and end.

Availability: Probably any early releases of BBC programs. It appears on the original Fawlty Towers tapes.

Scare Factor:

• Opening: Low; it's pretty much harmless.
• Closing: Low to medium.

2nd Logo
(1989-1992)
Nicknames: "COW Globe", "BBC Globe"

Logo: On a black screen, some copyright text in a yellow times font zooms in from the center of the screen. It fades out, and another load of text zooms in. The second set of text fades to a map of the world, gold (land) on blue (sea), the land waves up and down. The land and sea draw together to form a globe rotating. The reverse of the globe can be seen through the "sea" of the globe. From the front and bottom of the screen "BBC VIDEO" flys in. When it stops below the globe two of the letters sparkle before the program starts. For the end the sequence reverses, with the "BBC VIDEO" flying out and the globe turning into a map. The copyright text was the BBC Enterprises copyright disclaimer; occasionally cut from US releases by CBS-FOX.

FX: It's all CGI.

Cheesy Factor: The forming of the globe and the text zooming looks outdated, but the actual finished globe looks fine.

Music/Sounds: Calm synth music.

Availability: Appears on some older CBS-FOX releases of BBC material. Blackadder Goes Forth is one video that has this logo.

Scare Factor: Low, unless you have a fear of globes.



3rd Logo
(1992-1997)

Nicknames: "BBC Worldwide America", "Flying Boxes"

Logo: Identical to the BBC Worldwide America logo, except the word "VIDEO" (in black) appears under the BBC box logo.

FX: The flying letter boxes; very modern animation.

Music/Sounds: A somber 9-note piano piece.

Availability: Appears on home video releases of BBC programs. Absolutely Fabulous, for example. This logo was used in tandem with the other one.

Scare Factor: Minimal, though it would get more ominous the next time around...



4th Logo
(1992-1997)
Nicknames: "Streaks of Doom", "Ominous BBC", "Dark BBC"

Logo: On a black background,a blue streak comes in from the left of the screen and a green streak comes in from the right of the screen.The two streaks merge to form a red line in the middle of the screen and they leave behind green and blue lines afterwards.The BBC boxes fade in above. At the end of tapes,a copyright notice would fade in below.

FX: The coloured streaks,the merging and the boxes and notice fading in.

Music: Same as the above logo.

Availability: On some BBC programs tapes from the era.

Scare Factor: Low to medium, because of the logo's ominous nature, combined with the piano piece.



5th Logo
(1997- )

Nicknames: "Square Boxes", "Rainbow Smoke"

Logo: On a black background there are several ribbons going from top right and top middle of the screen and the bottom middle of the screen hilighted in red, green, and blue. The BBC squares logo (white) fades in.

FX: The ribbons move a bit.

Cheesy Factor: The red, green, and blue highlights make it look like the background was designed for the last diagonal BBC logo.

Music/Sounds: A version of the 1997 BBC jingle (used on a few BBC self promotion trailers).

Availability: Current; seen on VHS's and DVD's released by the company.

Scare Factor: Low; it's only boring. However, some may be startled by its appearance on Red Dwarf after the long, silent Grant Naylor logo fades out.