Hamlet Road Home Video (UK)

Background: Hamlet Road Home Video was created in 1987 as a major British home video distributor, distributing releases from Squirrel/Mole Studios, DiC Entertainment, Cinar, Ultimate Enterprise Studios and more. In 1998 Turner Entertainment purchased it and soon Hamlet Road Home Video became defunct.

1st Logo

(1987-1992?)

Nicknames: "This is Hamlet Road Home Video", "British Outline", "British Light Trails"

Logo: On a space background, a blue outline of the United Kingdom (complete with Northern Ireland and the Shetland Islands) zooms out from the bottom of the screen to the center with a "light trail" effect. "Hamlet Road" in a childish font zooms in, followed by "HOME VIDEO" in a font very similar to the old Subway logo zooms in below "Hamlet Road".

Variants: There are a lot of variants for this logo.

After the logo, "TAKE A PEAK INTO OUR CATALOGUE", in yellow, appears and zooms out into the UK as an announcer with a British accent says "This is Hamlet Road Home Video. Before the presentation, we would like to show you previews of some of our releases.".

Same as the above variant, but no announcer. "Home Video" and "Take a Peak into Our Catalogue" are also in red instead of yellow.

There would be just "Hamlet Road" and no "Home Video", announcer or "Take a Peak".

There would be no announcer or "Take a Peak".

On very early tapes, such as a The Littles tape, basically, a combo of variant 2 and variant 5 plays. "Home Video" is in red (like variant 2), then variant 5's animation plays ("Hamlet Road" reverses onto Britain, "Britain's Company" appears) and "Home Video" zooms out. After an introductory scroll, the opening animation is repeated, but it freeze-frames when the UK hits the usual position. "Take a Peak into Our Catalogue" in red zooms out just as the freeze frame begins, and later, it zooms out.

FX/SFX: TBA

Cheesy Factor: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Seen on Hamlet Road videos from the UK around the time period, including tapes of Daniel Duck, Secret Squirrel, Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, The Real Ghostbusters and others.

Scare Factor: Low; the font and announcer may scare some people, but that's NOTHING compared to the next logo...

2nd Logo

(1991?-1998)

Nickname: "A Combination of the NET and H-B Box Logos"

Logo: On a black background we see many "HAMLET ROAD HOME VIDEO" texts, so much they take up the entire screen. Then some of the text fade to black until the remaning texts spell out a large "HR", then the "HR" becomes green. "HAMLET ROAD HOME VIDEO" fades in below.

FX/SFX: TBA

Cheesy Factor: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: See logo 1.

Scare Factor: Medium to high; the music and "in your face" effects may scare a lot of people.

Final Note: Hamlet Road Home Video became defunct in 1998 after being bought by Turner Entertainment.