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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 20 2009, 4:22 PM EDT | mr3urious | 128 words added, 90 words deleted, 5 photos added |
| Jul 20 2009, 3:15 PM EDT | OptimusPrime2000 | 8 words added, 4 words deleted, 5 widgets added, 5 widgets deleted |
Changes
Key: Additions Deletions
Logo descriptions by James Fabiano, Kris Starring, and Zach HardenAdditional descriptions, byand Kylejaker1988
Editions by Jeff B.
1st Open A
(1975-1982)
Nickname: "The HBO Feature Marquee"
Logo: We start out with a space background with a light grid sheet at the bottom running. Then, we see searchlights on the left and right sides, and criss-cross together. At the same time, blue lights appear and yellow rays rain throughout out of the blue light, changing into blue rays, then yellow circles, then yellow zigzags, then colorful criss-cross lines, then blue and yellow straight lines, and finally wavy lines with curvy lines. Then we pan up to the searchlights up close, and the searchlights reveal a box of popcorn, which completely disappears. Then we see yellow animated drawn popcorn moving then falling down with a "shadow" effect. Then, the same popcorn reveals a marquee with the lines and designs (looking like the Orpheum or Pantages theater), and the marquee zooms up. Then, we move to a plain black screen, and the words "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" one above each other zooms and pans down in a "shadow" effect. Then, lines appear behind each word, and the words turn red. The bars shine repeatedly.
FXFX/SFX: Mostly backlit computer animation is used here (same effects used in the movie Tron), and it looks really well done for the time.
Music/Sounds: An orchestral theme that sounds like it's from Sesame Street.
Availability: Extinct on TV outside of tape trading.
Scare Factor: Low; the music may not sit well with some.
2nd Open B
(1975-1982)
Nickname:Nickname: "The Hollywood Walk", "Big Band"
Logo:Logo: The camera travels down an infinite lapse of the Hollywood Walk Ofof Fame, where we see some movie items on the left and right sides of the screen (i.e. a slipper, a box of popcorn, a soda bottle, etc.) We then zoom into a picture with stange objects moving around, we then cut back to the Walk Ofof Fame where we see a box office from a far distance. As the sky turns to night, we zoom into the box office and the screens cuts to black where the "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" texts animates as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: Rather cheap animation, but kind of fun to see.
Music:Music/Sounds: A jazzy version of the fanfare. Fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; last seen on HBO around 1982.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low,Low; the music might be loud to some.
2nd3rd Open C
(1975-1982)
Nickname:Nickname: "The Flashing Theater"
Logo:Logo: On a space background, we see a vortex positioned like a floor, sitting in the middle of the screen. At the same time bright lines begin drawing out a stylized movie theater complete with box office. We then zoom into a yellow star and then cut to more bright lines drawing out the interior of the theater. Red and blue curtains appear on the stage and as we slowly zoom in the curtains unveil and we go to a black background where we see the "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" text animates as usual.
FX/CheesyFX/SFX/Cheesy Factor:Factor: The drawing lines, the flashing effects. All typical '70s animation.
Music:Music/Sounds: An alternate version of the fanfare used in the first logo, only more slower and louder.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; last seen on HBO in the early '80s. Check old videotapes for it.
Scare Factor:Factor: Medium to high,high; the flashing effects and loud music willmight not sit well with most people.
3rd4th Open
(1979-1982)
Nickname:Nickname: "Shapes In Space"
Logo:Logo: On a space background, we pass through several odd shapes, including a bubble snake. After a while, a stylized yellow box moves in from the right and we zoom into it, where we go to the black background again with the text animated out as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: The shapes, the box moving in, text animating out.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: Kind of simple animation, but kind of cool.
Music:Music/Sounds: A bouncy techno version of the fanfare, kind of fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Again, extinct. Check old videotapes for this logo.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low,Low; the animation might scare a few, but it's a lot more tamer.
4th5th Open
(1980-1982)
Nicknames:Nicknames: "Funky Marquee"
Logo:Logo: We see a futursitic-likefuturistic-like city at twlight,twilight, and we pan to the left where we see a movie theater with searchlights criss-crossing. Then we zoom into an opening where we see a bird's-eye view of the theater lit brown/orange. We slowly zoom into the projection screen and we fade into a black background with the text animating as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo.Cheesylogo, which Factor:is Muchmuch better animation.than before.
Music:Music/Sounds: A rather moody, funky, smooth version of the fanfare. Again, it fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Extinct.Extinct; Checkcheck some old videotapes for this logo.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low to moderate.medium.
5th6th Open
(1981-1982)
Nickname:Nickname: "Liquid/Neon Marquee"
Logo:Logo: On a black background, purple streaks rain down the screen at an angle. We then fade to see a gray square with a neon pink outline flipping and zooming away, with an ocean at the bottom of the screen. When it disappears, a flash brings forth a series of gold bars that fly on the left and right sides of the screen. They eventually form a theater hallway with the ocean turning into the floor. A brown screen turns the background to black and the usual text animates out.
FX/CheesyFX/SFX/Cheesy Factor:Factor: Pretty cool animation for 1981.
Music:Music/Sounds: A relaxing synth version of the fanfare mixed with drums.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; this was the last intro HBO used until the "HBO In Space" logo was created. Again, check some old tapes for it.
Scare Factor:Factor: Minimal.
6th7th Open
(September 1982-1999)
Nicknames: "HBO in Space", "HBO Starship"
Logo: We start with a couple watching TV (tuned to HBO, of course!) in their apartment as they settle down on the couch. The camera pans backwards outside the window to show a somewhat busy city intersection (horns honking, etc.) at twilight. The music starts, and the camera "flies" forward down the street, eventually panning up to reveal the source of the light -- a star (positioned near the top center of the screen) that gets brighter and brighter, and eventually explodes, leaving behind a shiny chrome model monolith. The monolith moves down and across the screen and rotates clockwise, revealing itself as the HBO logo, then turns around one more time as the camera zooms in on the side of the O. The side of the O disappears in a flash of light, revealing a stream of colored rays streaking counter-clockwise around a silver axis, and "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" (Note: different titles would appear depending on the program) appears, one word atop the other, in a heavy, 3D steely-gray font against an array of purple lines. some more rays sweep across the words and shine, then the BG would fade to black with more flashes from the surrounding rays.
Variants:
Music/Sound Variants:
Scare Factor: Low, due to the somewhat fast movement of the city scene and the flashing at the end. But that notwithstanding, this is a very popular logo.
7th8th Open
(1987-1998)
Nicknames: "Non-Primetime HBO", "Neon '80s Geometric HBO"
Logo: We see a purple HBO logo across a vertical filmstrip with light rays being shot through it. The camera pans around and zooms back from several CGI squares glowing various neon colors. Then, the lights shoot out the last square and light up a group of small circles glowing rainbow colors, then zoom out to reveal a light-purple HBO logo with "Movie" written in script in a raspberry-like color with the rainbow circles on a black background behind it.
Variant: In Hungary, "Mozi" (Hungarian for "movie") appears below, with the colors appearing brighter. I assume most other countries have "movie" written in their own native language as well.
FXFX/SFX: The pan-down from the CGI squares, the lasers lighting the circle, the zoom out to the HBO Movie logo.
Cheesy Factor: None at all; this is very professional late '80s animation in addition to those neon rainbow colors.
Music/Sounds: A loud electric guitar fanfare, which culminates into what sounds like the beginning of a Depeche Mode song.
Availability: Extinct on TV; last seen on HBO in the mid '90s. Check those old tapes for the logo!
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing is not as bad as the "HBO Feature Presentation"'s flashing, but that loud synth-guitar music may get to some.
8th9th Open
(1988-1994)
Logo:Logo: On a blue/white CGI background, we see many colored shapes zooming through the screen,screen. aA black rectangle zooms in slowly, along with other ones forming a mantel-like shape, where a hot pink HBO logo rises upup, and as the camera stopsstops, the gold words SPECIAL"SPECIAL PRESENTATIONPRESENTATION" zoom out with a shadow effect and plasters itself on the front of the mantel.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation used in this logo.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: None at all. Good animation.
Music:Music/Sounds: A syntheizedsynthesized rock fanfare.
Availability:Availability: Mainly appeared on HBO specials in the late '80s-early '90s. It appeared on 'TheThe Roseanne Barr Special"Special and "GeorgeGeorge Carlins's Jammin' In New York".York.
Scare Factor:Factor: None.
9th10th Open
(1999- )
Nicknames: "The Road", "HBO 2000"
Logo: We see a busy street corner with a theater whose marquee reads "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION". We zoom into the theater, pass the box office and into a bright light. We end up zooming down a road in a residential neighborhood with cars driving about. The camera goes through a bridge superstructure shaped like an H. We end up zooming down a rural highway, passing farms and such. After we hit some fog, we are on a mountain road, and we head down a B shaped tunnel. We end up on a desert road at the other end, and we zoom into a truck with an O shaped, cylindrical tank, taking us through another transition. We end up zooming through a CGI rendering of the city from the 1983 opening, and into a skyscraper-filled downtown. Passing through the buildings, we see some spotlights coming from the city's harbor. The camera pans and takes us into an aerial view above the clouds, and we see the harbor spotlights are outlining the HBO logo. The 3D letters "FEATURE" go into place over the HBO logo, and a flash below that brings forth the word "PRESENTATION" on a black rectangle.
Variant: A shorter, much more common version of this logo is avalible, which starts off with the lights lighting up. The full version as described above is rare today.
FXFX/SFX: Breathtaking CGI! A nice computer generated opener inspired by HBO's original stop-motion effort.
Music/Sounds: A reorchestrated version of the 1983 fanfare.
Availability: Currently in use; can be seen before any movie on HBO. The long version usually appears before Saturday night movies.
Scare Factor: None whatsoever. This is a great opening filled with spectacular computer graphics. A suitable successor to the original HBO opener.
Editions by Jeff B.
1st Open A
(1975-1982)
Nickname: "The HBO Feature Marquee"
Logo: We start out with a space background with a light grid sheet at the bottom running. Then, we see searchlights on the left and right sides, and criss-cross together. At the same time, blue lights appear and yellow rays rain throughout out of the blue light, changing into blue rays, then yellow circles, then yellow zigzags, then colorful criss-cross lines, then blue and yellow straight lines, and finally wavy lines with curvy lines. Then we pan up to the searchlights up close, and the searchlights reveal a box of popcorn, which completely disappears. Then we see yellow animated drawn popcorn moving then falling down with a "shadow" effect. Then, the same popcorn reveals a marquee with the lines and designs (looking like the Orpheum or Pantages theater), and the marquee zooms up. Then, we move to a plain black screen, and the words "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" one above each other zooms and pans down in a "shadow" effect. Then, lines appear behind each word, and the words turn red. The bars shine repeatedly.
FXFX/SFX: Mostly backlit computer animation is used here (same effects used in the movie Tron), and it looks really well done for the time.
Music/Sounds: An orchestral theme that sounds like it's from Sesame Street.
Availability: Extinct on TV outside of tape trading.
Scare Factor: Low; the music may not sit well with some.
2nd Open B
(1975-1982)
Nickname:
Logo:Logo: The camera travels down an infinite lapse of the Hollywood Walk Ofof Fame, where we see some movie items on the left and right sides of the screen (i.e. a slipper, a box of popcorn, a soda bottle, etc.) We then zoom into a picture with stange objects moving around, we then cut back to the Walk Ofof Fame where we see a box office from a far distance. As the sky turns to night, we zoom into the box office and the screens cuts to black where the "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" texts animates as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: Rather cheap animation, but kind of fun to see.
Music:Music/Sounds: A jazzy version of the fanfare. Fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; last seen on HBO around 1982.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low,Low; the music might be loud to some.
2nd3rd Open C
(1975-1982)
Nickname:
Logo:Logo: On a space background, we see a vortex positioned like a floor, sitting in the middle of the screen. At the same time bright lines begin drawing out a stylized movie theater complete with box office. We then zoom into a yellow star and then cut to more bright lines drawing out the interior of the theater. Red and blue curtains appear on the stage and as we slowly zoom in the curtains unveil and we go to a black background where we see the "HBO FEATURE MOVIE" text animates as usual.
FX/CheesyFX/SFX/Cheesy Factor:Factor: The drawing lines, the flashing effects. All typical '70s animation.
Music:Music/Sounds: An alternate version of the fanfare used in the first logo, only more slower and louder.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; last seen on HBO in the early '80s. Check old videotapes for it.
Scare Factor:Factor: Medium to high,high; the flashing effects and loud music willmight not sit well with most people.
3rd4th Open
(1979-1982)
Nickname:
Logo:Logo: On a space background, we pass through several odd shapes, including a bubble snake. After a while, a stylized yellow box moves in from the right and we zoom into it, where we go to the black background again with the text animated out as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: The shapes, the box moving in, text animating out.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: Kind of simple animation, but kind of cool.
Music:Music/Sounds: A bouncy techno version of the fanfare, kind of fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Again, extinct. Check old videotapes for this logo.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low,Low; the animation might scare a few, but it's a lot more tamer.
4th5th Open
(1980-1982)
Nicknames:
Logo:Logo: We see a futursitic-likefuturistic-like city at twlight,twilight, and we pan to the left where we see a movie theater with searchlights criss-crossing. Then we zoom into an opening where we see a bird's-eye view of the theater lit brown/orange. We slowly zoom into the projection screen and we fade into a black background with the text animating as usual.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo.Cheesylogo, which Factor:is Muchmuch better animation.than before.
Music:Music/Sounds: A rather moody, funky, smooth version of the fanfare. Again, it fits well with this logo.
Availability:Availability: Extinct.Extinct; Checkcheck some old videotapes for this logo.
Scare Factor:Factor: Low to moderate.medium.
5th6th Open
(1981-1982)
Nickname:
Logo:Logo: On a black background, purple streaks rain down the screen at an angle. We then fade to see a gray square with a neon pink outline flipping and zooming away, with an ocean at the bottom of the screen. When it disappears, a flash brings forth a series of gold bars that fly on the left and right sides of the screen. They eventually form a theater hallway with the ocean turning into the floor. A brown screen turns the background to black and the usual text animates out.
FX/CheesyFX/SFX/Cheesy Factor:Factor: Pretty cool animation for 1981.
Music:Music/Sounds: A relaxing synth version of the fanfare mixed with drums.
Availability:Availability: Extinct,Extinct; this was the last intro HBO used until the "HBO In Space" logo was created. Again, check some old tapes for it.
Scare Factor:Factor: Minimal.
6th7th Open
(September 1982-1999)
Nicknames: "HBO in Space", "HBO Starship"
Logo: We start with a couple watching TV (tuned to HBO, of course!) in their apartment as they settle down on the couch. The camera pans backwards outside the window to show a somewhat busy city intersection (horns honking, etc.) at twilight. The music starts, and the camera "flies" forward down the street, eventually panning up to reveal the source of the light -- a star (positioned near the top center of the screen) that gets brighter and brighter, and eventually explodes, leaving behind a shiny chrome model monolith. The monolith moves down and across the screen and rotates clockwise, revealing itself as the HBO logo, then turns around one more time as the camera zooms in on the side of the O. The side of the O disappears in a flash of light, revealing a stream of colored rays streaking counter-clockwise around a silver axis, and "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" (Note: different titles would appear depending on the program) appears, one word atop the other, in a heavy, 3D steely-gray font against an array of purple lines. some more rays sweep across the words and shine, then the BG would fade to black with more flashes from the surrounding rays.
Variants:
- A slightly more common version starts off with the city covered in fog (which slowly clears up), then has the camera pan across the city as usual.
- A short version of the logo that starts before the "big bang" was shown most often (the long version would only be used for new features).
- There are seven different endings depending on what the special is. They include "HBO Feature Presentation" (the standard version), "HBO Special Presentation", "HBO Family Feature", "HBO Theatre", "HBO Music", "HBO Saturday Night Movie", "HBO Sunday Night Movie", "HBO Special", and "On Location".
- Two April Fools Day variants that used a much cheaper version of the city, HBO monolith, and end card also exist: one used "HBO Feature Presentation" in the style of a rebus puzzle (H-bee-O Feet-Y-oar Present-A-shun) which flipped up into the screen, while the other had the "lyrics" to the song in a "follow the bouncing ball" style over the model city and "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" in cheaply arranged paper letters on a black BG with a pair of live-action hands making odd movements over it.
- Some end cards had the lines colored in a more reddish or bluish hue.
- An somewhat rare version exists with the couple and and two children getting ready to watch HBO before zooming out the window. This was apparently used when this intro first debuted.
Trivia: This logo was parodied in the music video for "DVNO" by Justice.
FXFX/SFX: The city cars, wind, and the light sounds in the end. The effects used for the HBO logo are very hi-tech (for the time), and not a single computer-generated image was used to make it. The model city is also intricately detailed.
Music/Sounds: A dramatic theme (that in the long version, starts with a whoosh and a piano/string chord and gets progressively more tense) leading into a very loud, upbeat, almost disco-style horn-driven overture, then ending with synth sweeps (representing the rays "inside" the O). Composed by Ferdinand J. Smith, who was also responsible for the ABC Star Tunnel's score (not Frank Gari, as the SuperSite claims), and co-wrote the CBS "Projector" ident's score.
FXFX/SFX: The city cars, wind, and the light sounds in the end. The effects used for the HBO logo are very hi-tech (for the time), and not a single computer-generated image was used to make it. The model city is also intricately detailed.
Music/Sounds: A dramatic theme (that in the long version, starts with a whoosh and a piano/string chord and gets progressively more tense) leading into a very loud, upbeat, almost disco-style horn-driven overture, then ending with synth sweeps (representing the rays "inside" the O). Composed by Ferdinand J. Smith, who was also responsible for the ABC Star Tunnel's score (not Frank Gari, as the SuperSite claims), and co-wrote the CBS "Projector" ident's score.
Music/Sound Variants:
- For the "Family Feature" variant, the music would get softer and play an uplifting theme just after the O disappears.
- For the "HBO Music" variant, a rock guitar tune would play near the end.
- For the "HBO Special" variant, a faster-paced horn tune would play, which sounds kind of like a game show theme.
- One April Fools variant had the theme being played on kazoos.
Scare Factor: Low, due to the somewhat fast movement of the city scene and the flashing at the end. But that notwithstanding, this is a very popular logo.
7th8th Open
(1987-1998)
Nicknames: "Non-Primetime HBO", "Neon '80s Geometric HBO"
Logo: We see a purple HBO logo across a vertical filmstrip with light rays being shot through it. The camera pans around and zooms back from several CGI squares glowing various neon colors. Then, the lights shoot out the last square and light up a group of small circles glowing rainbow colors, then zoom out to reveal a light-purple HBO logo with "Movie" written in script in a raspberry-like color with the rainbow circles on a black background behind it.
Variant: In Hungary, "Mozi" (Hungarian for "movie") appears below, with the colors appearing brighter. I assume most other countries have "movie" written in their own native language as well.
FXFX/SFX: The pan-down from the CGI squares, the lasers lighting the circle, the zoom out to the HBO Movie logo.
Cheesy Factor: None at all; this is very professional late '80s animation in addition to those neon rainbow colors.
Music/Sounds: A loud electric guitar fanfare, which culminates into what sounds like the beginning of a Depeche Mode song.
Availability: Extinct on TV; last seen on HBO in the mid '90s. Check those old tapes for the logo!
Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing is not as bad as the "HBO Feature Presentation"'s flashing, but that loud synth-guitar music may get to some.
8th9th Open
(1988-1994)
Logo:Logo: On a blue/white CGI background, we see many colored shapes zooming through the screen,screen. aA black rectangle zooms in slowly, along with other ones forming a mantel-like shape, where a hot pink HBO logo rises upup, and as the camera stopsstops, the gold words SPECIAL"SPECIAL PRESENTATIONPRESENTATION" zoom out with a shadow effect and plasters itself on the front of the mantel.
FX:FX/SFX: All the animation used in this logo.
Cheesy Factor:Factor: None at all. Good animation.
Music:Music/Sounds: A syntheizedsynthesized rock fanfare.
Availability:Availability: Mainly appeared on HBO specials in the late '80s-early '90s. It appeared on 'TheThe Roseanne Barr Special"Special and "GeorgeGeorge Carlins's Jammin' In New York".York.
Scare Factor:Factor: None.
9th10th Open
(1999- )
Nicknames: "The Road", "HBO 2000"
Logo: We see a busy street corner with a theater whose marquee reads "HBO FEATURE PRESENTATION". We zoom into the theater, pass the box office and into a bright light. We end up zooming down a road in a residential neighborhood with cars driving about. The camera goes through a bridge superstructure shaped like an H. We end up zooming down a rural highway, passing farms and such. After we hit some fog, we are on a mountain road, and we head down a B shaped tunnel. We end up on a desert road at the other end, and we zoom into a truck with an O shaped, cylindrical tank, taking us through another transition. We end up zooming through a CGI rendering of the city from the 1983 opening, and into a skyscraper-filled downtown. Passing through the buildings, we see some spotlights coming from the city's harbor. The camera pans and takes us into an aerial view above the clouds, and we see the harbor spotlights are outlining the HBO logo. The 3D letters "FEATURE" go into place over the HBO logo, and a flash below that brings forth the word "PRESENTATION" on a black rectangle.
Variant: A shorter, much more common version of this logo is avalible, which starts off with the lights lighting up. The full version as described above is rare today.
FXFX/SFX: Breathtaking CGI! A nice computer generated opener inspired by HBO's original stop-motion effort.
Music/Sounds: A reorchestrated version of the 1983 fanfare.
Availability: Currently in use; can be seen before any movie on HBO. The long version usually appears before Saturday night movies.
Scare Factor: None whatsoever. This is a great opening filled with spectacular computer graphics. A suitable successor to the original HBO opener.
