Worldwide Studios Home Entertainment

Background: Worldwide Studios Home Entertainment was founded in 1977 as the MBC DiscZone. It didn't sell too well and MBC closed its former videodisc division in 1981. Afterwards, MBC created two video labels; MBC VideoDisc (which lasted until 1983), and MBC Videocassette (which lasted until 1984). However, the "MBC Home Video" moniker was applied to both VHS and disc releases and became simply known as "MBC Home Video", alternating with the "MBC Videocassette" name until 1984. In 1990, MBC Home Video renamed itself as "MBC/Worldwide Home Video" to capitalize the Worldwide Studios name, alternating with the "MBC Home Video" name in 1992 or 1995. Later in 1996, it renamed itself as "Worldwide Studios Home Video" and years later what is known today as "Worldwide Studios Home Entertainment", alternating with the "MBC/Worldwide Home Video" name until 1998.

MBC DiscZone

1st Logo

(1977)

Nickname: "Glowing V-LaserDisc"

Logo: We start out with glowing blue light in the center of the screen. The glowing light shrinks until it is the size of a small circle embedded in a yellow upside down triangle split vertically in the center. The words "MBC DISC-ZONE" appear on top of the triangle, and the copyright symbol appears on the bottom right area.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The shrinking of the light in the center of the screen.

Music/Sounds: A drum beat followed by a violin stinger. Before the violin stinger is an 8-note mandocello tune played twice (during the drumbeats).

Availability: Extinct; only used in a 1977 test pressing that was used as a public display by MBC.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. The somewhat creepy music and the glowing may scare some.

2nd Logo

(1978-1981)

Nickname: "Big V"

Logo: The words "DISCZONE" crawl across the entire screen in a rainbow of colors, and rows of vertical orange lines appear on the screen. The center lines open up in a rainbow of colors to reveal a white "Z", with "DISC" and "ONE" appearing on the left and right sides of the Z, respectively, appearing on a blackish background with a large bondi blue streak in the middle. The DiscZone logo sparkles for a second and then an abrupt cut to black.

Variants:

On 1979-1981 releases, a copyright stamp appeared underneath the DiscZone logo.

Black and white DiscZone movies featured this logo in black and white.

If played on a non-DiscZone player, the text crawl animation is skipped over, leaving just the colors opening up.

FX/SFX: The crawling of the "DISCZONE" letters, the appearance of the logo, the splitting of the logo, the sparkling of the logo.

Cheesy Factor: Scanimate animation. DiscZone was MBC's baby (at the time).

Music/Sounds: A flute tune accompanied by a lavishly orchestrated theme. On some releases, it's silent.

Availability: Seen on every DiscZone release from 1978 to 1981.

Scare Factor: Low. It's a good logo to be exact.

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MBC Videodisc

(1981-1983)

Nickname: "Flashing MCA Rainbow (of Doom)"

Logo: On a black screen, the words "A PRESENTATION OF" zoom-out in the 1980 MBC font in yellow before dissolving in the center. Following that are streaks of rainbow color that zoom out to the middle of the screen and flash to form...

MBC

VIDEODISC

...all in the MBC logo font. More rainbow streaks of light shoot out of the words and then settle back in.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: 80's computer effects.

Music/Sounds: A synth drone that culminates in a dreamy siren-like sound, ending with some synth bass notes to fade.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's seen on all MBC Videodisc releases from 1981 to 1983.

Scare Factor: Medium to high. The dark nature of the logo, abruptness, and slightly creepy synth music make this a scary logo. The scare factor is much lower for those who are used to seeing it.

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MBC Videocassette, Inc.

(1980-1984)

Nickname: "The Arc"

Logo: On a black background, the MBC logo appears in the center of the screen colored in blue. The words "VIDEOCASSETTE INC.", in a white segmented pattern, which seem to be spaced farther apart when they reach the bottom, surround the MBC logo, looking like the BUG/Structure logo.

Variant: Black & white movies featured this logo in black & white.

FX/SFX: The appearance of "VIDEOCASSETTE INC.".

Cheesy Factor: The logo looked cheap. MBC was heavily invested in laserdisc at the time.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on every release from 1980 to 1984.

Scare Factor: Low. The appearance of the logo may scare some.

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MBC Home Video

1st Logo

(1983-1990)

TBA

2nd Logo

(December 1983-1990)

TBA

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MBC/Worldwide Home Video

1st Logo

(1990-1998)

TBA

2nd Logo

(1994-1998)

TBA______________________________________________________________

Worldwide Studios Home Entertainment

(1997- )

Nickname: "CGI Moon"

Logo: Only the current Worldwide Pictures logo with no video indicator whatsoever. What's different about this version from the theatrical version is that this logo zooms back a little.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The same as the regular Worldwide logo from 1997.

Music/Sounds: The same as the regular Worldwide logo from 1997.

Availability: Common. Appears on direct-to-DVDs and made-for-TV family specials.

Scare Factor: The same as the regular Worldwide logo from 1997.

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Worldwide Studios HD DVD and Blu-ray

(2006- )

Logo: Here are the variants used on HD-DVD and Blu-ray:

HD-DVD: An updated edition of the 1997 logo. The logo plays normally, but at the end, the logo zooms back to reveal it is being reflected in a giant "HD-DVD" logo in the same space background. The logo shines.

Blu-ray: Same as above, except the "HD-DVD" logo is omitted.

Trivia: This logo was used on Worldwide HD-DVD releases from 2006-2008 and Worldwide Blu-ray releases since July 22, 2008.

FX/SFX: Same as the above logo, except the end on the HD-DVD version.

Music/Sounds:

HD-DVD: None.

Blu-ray: See above.

Availability: On every Worldwide HD-DVD and Worldwide Blu-ray releases.

Scare Factor: None, unless the sudden logo transition gets to you.