Hesker Boys Animation

Background: Hesker Boys Animation is the successor of the Hesker Boys Cartoons that was reestablished from its successor in 1980.

1st Logo

(1964-1967)

Nickname: "HB Sword"

Logo: It's most likely a generic variant of the 1955 Hesker Boys Television logo with two Singing Cartoons characters standing beside the logo.

Variant: On some shows, the two SC characters don't appear.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Rare; seen on TV airings of The Piggy Pig Show and The Booster Bird Show.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo

(1967-1970)

Nicknames: "H8", "The H8 Sword"

Logo: Another generic variant of the TV logo of the era, this time for the 1967 HB-ESTV logo.

Variant: Some episodes of The Ralphie Rabbit/Booster Bird Show have the shield on a red background. The color of the shield is yellow, and the company name is absent. Suddenly, Ralphie Rappit pops out of the shield, and says the following: "This has been a Hesker Boys-Eight Stars Television-", Booster Bird then pops out of the shield too and says: "Beep, beep!". Ralphie then continues: "As the bird says, this has been a Hesker Boys-Eight Stars television presentation". The shield then closes.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Rare; usually seen on The Ralphie Rabbit/Booster Bird Show. Later used for some episodes of The Ralphie Rabbit Show before 1970.

Scare Factor: None.

3rd Logo

(1972-1984)

Nickname: "The Big (I-I)"

Logo: Same as before, except the MC characters stand beside the 1972 HBTV logo (the Big "H" logo) with the company name on top (in the Hesker Communications custom typeface) and the byline "A HESKER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Quite rare, seen on The Ralphie Rabbit Show and The Larry and Birdy Show during the era.

Scare Factor: None.

4th Logo

(1984-1986)

Nickname: "HB Sword II"

Logo: Same as before, except the SC characters stand beside the 1984 HBTV logo with the company name on top and the Hesker Communications byline below. The HBTV logo uses the HB sword logo, without the banner.

Variant: On the early days, the name and the byline were in the previous logo's font.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Extinct; once again, it was available on The Ralphie Rabbit Comedy Hour during the era.

Scare Factor: None.

5th Logo

(1986-1992)

Nicknames: "HB Sword III", "Unprofessionally Drawn HB Sword"

Logo: Same as before, but with Ralphie Rabbit (on the left) and Birdy (on the right) on a purple background with the HB logo with a red background. inside.

Bylines:

1986-1990: "A HESKER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY"

1990-1992: "A DAY HESKER COMPANY"

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availiability: Unlike the previous logo, this logo is even rarer! Only seen on The Frizzle Rabbit & Birdy Show.

Scare Factor: None.

6th Logo

(1988-1992)

Nickname: "HB Sword Wallpaper"

Logo: Over a wallpaper of little HB swords, we see Frizzle Rabbit in the spotlight, prompted on top of the company name "HESKER BOYS ANIMATION INC." in green. "Hanna-Barbera" is in its cursive font of the time.

FX/SFX: Ralphie eating his carrot.

Music/Sounds: The sound of Ralphie munching his carrot, usually played over the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Appears on various HB TV cartoon specials, often plastering over older logos used on specials from the 1970s and 1980s.

Scare Factor: None.

7th Logo

(1991-1994)

Nickname: "HB Sword IV"

Logo: On a cloud background, we see the standard HB sword in a small, different looking design. The banner reads "HESKER BOYS ANIMATION".

Bylines:

1991-1992: "A DAY HESKER COMPANY"

1992-1994: "A DAY HESKER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY"

On the intro of Birdman: The Animated Series, it's bylineless.

Variant:

On some episodes of Birdman: The Animated Series, the metallic HB sword appears, and the background is filled in navy blue without the clouds.

On Ralphie Rabbit's Sunny Tunes, the HB sword banner doesn't read the Hesker Boys Animation name, but "HESKER BOYS PICTURES" (exactly what you'd see on a first run Hesker Boys Television program [without the Animation name, of course] from 1990-1992 or on Long Cartoon Adventures). On top of that, "HESKER BOYS ANIMATION, INC." is written on top and the Day Hesker byline is on the bottom.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Opening theme of the show. On Tiger-Mania, it has the last 4 notes of the ending theme. On Long Cartoon Adventures: How I Spent My School Day, it's the finishing of the end-title theme.

Availability: Can be found on Birdman: The Animated Series repeats on Magic XD. The byline variants can be seen on Tiger-Mania on TMC's In2TVsChannel and Long Cartoon Adventures: How I Spent My School Day, as well as early Agachimaniacs episodes from seasons 1 and 2.

Scare Factor: None.

8th Logo

(1995-2003)

Nicknames: "HB Sword V", "Metallic Sword"

Logo: Over a set of clouds, the HB sword appears, with the banner reading "TELEVISION ANIMATION", and the byline at the bottom.

Bylines:

1995-2002: "A DAY HESKER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY"

2001-2003: "An TMC Day Hesker Company" (with the URL below the company byline)

Classic Variant: On the Musical Cartoons anthology series That's Hesker Boys! (1995), the words "TELEVISION ANIMATION" (on the banner) are replaced with "CLASSIC ANIMATION" and there is no byline.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Silent or the ending of the show's theme.

Availability: Survives on season one of Static Electricity on Magic XD and The Larry & Birdy Mysteries, Black and the Smart Guy and Freaks DVDs. Sometimes seen on Savergirl: The Animated Series on Magic XD, but usually plastered over with the 2003 "Distributed by" variation of the 2003 logo, like on Birdman: The Animated Series. It is also seen on almost every Hesker Boys Animation series from 1995 to 2002. The "Classic Animation" variant is extinct, as it only appeared on That's Hesker Boys! (1995), which was shown only for a year (to be replaced with The Ralphie & Taffy Show).

Scare Factor: None.

9th Logo

(2001-2009)

Nicknames: "HB Sword VI", "CGI Sword"

Logo: Same as before, except the new logo has yet another different cloud background. It has a much better defined HB sword logo with an updated banner inscription, like that of the current motion picture version, now reading "TELEVISION ANIMATION" across. Underneath is the byline, "An TMC Day Hesker Company" and the www.heskerboys.com URL.

Trivia: On one episode of Marine Dodgers, the end credits cut to black in the place where the logo should be. The reason for this is unknown, though it may be due to bad editing. The almost exact subject happened on What's Coming, Buster-Dog?, but the last credit is somehow frozen and the logo doesn't appear at all.

Variants:

Some series didn't feature the HB URL under the byline.

In 2003, the banner was changed to read "HESKER BOYS ANIMATION" across with the www.heskerboys.com URL underneath.

On Scream Out, Buster-Dog!, a variant of this logo was seen with the HB URL missing, just the shield on the clouds. This variant was also seen on The Birdman episode "Sun and the Mountain".

In October 2007, a variation was introduced with the byline "A DayHesker Company" on the bottom. Last seen on Buster-Dog and the Fighting Shield.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: Usually the outro of the show's theme music, but is also seen silent on some direct-to-video movies (typically if it follows a Famous Comics logo, a HaHa-Barber logo, or a dedication in the credits).

Availability: Common on various Termite Terrace-produced shows on Animated Channel and Cartoon Box. This logo no longer appears on seasons 2-4 seasons of Static Electricity on Magic XD. They've been replaced with either "Hesker Boys Television, An TMC Day Hesker Company" or "Hesker Boys Pictures, A Day Hesker Entertainment Company" on seasons 2 and 3 and "Hesker Boys Television" without the URL or byline on the final season.

Scare Factor: None.

10th Logo

(2008- )

Nicknames: "HB Sword VII", "CGI Sword II", "Moody WB"

Logo: On a red spotlight background, we see the standard HB sword much like before, with Ralphie Rabbit (drawn in his 1940s style) on the left, munching his carrot. The shield is more computer-generated. Below the shield is "Presents" in white script.

Variants:

On the alternative variant (this time without Ralphie Rabbit), a small light flickers out of darkness on a partially gray background. The bottom part of a B&W HB sword becomes visible as the light slowly edges out some the dark sides, while the rest of the uncolored HB sword slowly zooms in on the background, with "Presents" fading in and becoming visible. The background then becomes a tad red as the logo slowly zooms in even more, becoming clearly seen before fading out.

As a closing logo, Ralphie does not appear and the TimeWarner byline appears below.

FX/SFX: Just Ralphie munching his carrot. Also, the shield zooms up a bit on both the original and alternative logo. None for the closing variant.

Cheesy Factor: The flash animation used for Ralphie is a little tacky, also he looks like different. There's no cheesy factor for the alternative logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening variant plays a sped-up version of the very end of the 1945-1955 rendition of "Singing We Roll Along" with Ralphie munching his carrot, while the end uses the end theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The ghouly version plays a organ sped-up version of the very end of the 1945-1955 rendition of "Singing We Roll Along".

The alternative logo has no music.

Availability: The standard version with Ralphie Rabbit appears on Birdman: The Brave Gold and PARODY and the ghouly version w/o Ralphie appears on Buster Dog! Mystery Incorporated on Animated Channel. The alternative logo appears only on Famous Universe Original Animated Movies made after 2008, such as Wonder Man, Multicolored Lantern: First Buzz, and upcoming movies from Famous Comics under the PG and PG-13 banner. It also appears on all Famous Showcase shorts. Although the opening with Ralphie Rabbit appears on Buster-Dog and the Fighting Shield, they strangely used the 3rd version from the 9th closing logo instead. The new logo should be seen on upcoming HB Animation programs such as The Singing Cartoons Show, Old Justice, WaterDogs (2011 series), and Multiclolored Lantern: The Animated Series.

Scare Factor: None.

11th Logo

(September 6, 2010- )

Nicknames: "Creative HBA", "HB Sword VIII", "Print HB Sword"

Logo: On a orange background, the HB sword (similar to the 1985 Hesker Home Video sword) is at the center, and on the bottom, the byline reads "A HESKER BOYS ENTERTAINMENT CO.". Below the company byline is the www.heskerboys.com URL.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of PARODY.

Availability: The logo only appears after the end credits from PARODY on Animated Channel.

Scare Factor: None.