ABC Kid-Friendly Sound

Background: Following the success of Analog Sound and HAL, Analog Sound made a brand called "ABC Kid-Friendly Sound", which is generally Analog Sound or HAL for kids movies. In 1997, it expanded to Optical Surround, making some DVD releases of kids movies have the sound brand. The brand dissapeared in 2001 along with Analog and HAL.

1st Logo

(1990-1997, 2000)

Nicknames: "The ABC Letters", "Walt Disney comes for a visit...", "ABC In The Factory"

Logo: In what looks like a factory filled with colorful spheres rolling down ramps and slides, we see the lowercase "abc" letters jump around on a big green button. They jump off screen and latch onto a giant funnel, which swivels into place to allow many spheres to come through. We then see them on a checkered platform pushing part of a ramp/slide into place, allowing more spheres to come rolling down. They then descend on a giant magnet hanging from a chain, which releases more spheres. They then slide down a ramp past several others. All that later crossfades to a black background with a white spotlight, and we see the letters play around with the spheres until the spheres are gone. The camera then faces to the letters, which now are looking to it, and the words "KID-FRIENDLY SOUND" fades in on the surface.

Variants:

A prototype version exists on the 1990 VHS/Laserdisc release of The Wizard. In this case, the "Kid-Friendly Sound" text simply fades in and the wording "Analog Sound" appears above the logo.

On some Walt Disney Home Video releases, the Walt Disney Home Video logo appears first with "This Walt Disney feature is equipped with..." underneath, colored blue. We zoom out as it shrinks and gleams in the ABC letters. They leap offscreen and the rest of the sequence plays.

Sometimes a copyright notice is seen below.

A few releases din't had "KID FRIENDLY SOUND" below the logo. This variant is seen commonly on Telenative Home Kids releases.

Some tapes don't have the white spotlight. This is mostly seen on MGM/UA Family Entertainment releases.

On later releases, the company name "ABC Kid-Friendly Sound", the text "Support us by calling" and the phone number "1-800-425-4684" (which is no longer ABC's phone number) appear before the logo.

A version exists where the logo slides down a ramp past several others, and we pan to the right as the "factory" is superseded by a still of the finished logo. It was mostly used on Home Theater VHS/Laserdisc releases, but also appeared on a few Technicolor VHS/Laserdisc releases.

On the 1992 VHS of My Girl and the 1995 VHS of The Swan Princess, the logo's more brighter for an unknown reason.

There is a very rare variant where the factory is blue. This is only spotted on a VHS of Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation.

FX/SFX: Top notch 90's CGI created by Acustic Studios.

Music/Sounds: A portion of safari-themed music, along with the sounds that go with the logo. We also hear children laughing throughout the entire logo.

Music/Sounds Variant: On the Walt Disney variant, the 1991 WDHV theme plays before the rest.

Availability: Common on family-oriented feature releases on VHS and Laserdiscs, mostly after the Analog Sound or HAL logo. The Walt Disney variant is seen only on a few Walt Disney Home Video releases after the warning screen, and no Analog/HAL logo is seen before or after it. It surprisingly made an apperance on a 2000 VHS release of All Dogs Go To Heaven 2, and when GLOW Kids aired Toy Story on January 17, 2009. It made another surprise appearance on the 2001 DVD of the 1983 kids film The Cat Legion.

Scare Factor: None to minimal, it's sudden, but it's also funny and annoying, since it's meant for kids. Minimal to low for the Walt Disney variant, you may not expect it.

2nd Logo

(1997-2001)

Nickname: "Welcome to ABC Sound!"

Logo: On a blue background, we see a cartoony "evolution" drawing, of the "abc" letters increasing in size, all with legs, as the orange and white words, "Welcome to... ABC SOUND!" appear above. The adult "abc" letters are blown away by the wind and we pan up to see the a on top of a large radio antenna mounted to the Earth (parodying the RKO Radio Pictures logo), behind a sunset glow. It then leaps off the tower and jumps to to the right. We now see the b on an old radio's tuning dial, where he tunes in several pieces of music (bluegrass music, then "experimental" music), before goes back to bluegrass and briefly "dances", before doing a back flip offscreen. It then lands on an old, 50s style TV (the ones with the big base and thin, oval screen), where he meets the c, and as they jump on the dial, the camera moves to center, as a graphic saying "Hear, Now In... HIFI/SURROUND!" (with Hear in a tiny green box, Hifi/Surround in a big white "bow tie" shape with a blue underlining curve) appears. It "rolls up" to reveal the abc letters, in the "toodler" size, with a gold base, on a blue stage with a red curtain; they then turn "normal" and jump up, ending up in a catapult that is activated as electricity crawls up the letters, which flings them off right. They land on a little platform, connected to a gear, so it pushes a small pointing hand forward to hit a button. This causes a early-90's style TV to appear from the floor, and onscreen is a "connected" version of the abc letters. They return to normal and leap out of the screen; and as giant speakers descend and vibrate from the music they play, they leap off the screen and into a ring of light bulbs, where he bows a couple of times, before leaping up onto a black background with the words "Kid-Friendly Sound" and the copyright stamp below.

Variants:

The first VHS/Laserdisc to have this logo, Fly Away Home doesn't have the copyright.

On 1999-2001 releases, the URL "www.analogsound.org/abc" appears after the logo.

The first releases use the same phone number card from the previous logo before the logo starts. This is seen on the 1997 release of Jungle 2 Jungle.

FX/SFX: Nice CGI. Very cute.

Music/Sounds: More "cartoony" synth here, with lots of "cartoon" sounds, as well as assorted sound effects, "experimental" music, "hillbilly" music, and applause.

Availability: Seen on most VHS, DVD and Laserdisc releases of family movies.

Scare Factor: None. This logo is very cute.