Animaker Pictures

Background: Animaker Pictures was founded by MichaelCityMaker in 1977.

1st Logo (1977-1990)
Nickname: "The Sapphire Box"

Logo: On a black background, we see a Sapphire box in a red circle. It rumbles and out of the front of the box (in order) are the following characters: Todd, Copper, Bambi, Thumper, Friend Owl, Flower, Marie, Toulouse, Berlioz, Duchess, Thomas O'Malley, Roquefort, Scat Cat and his gang, Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, Cindy, Snooper and Blabber, Bagheera, Kaa, Baloo, King Louie, all 99 Dalmatians in the TV series form, Pongo, Perdita, Spot, Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Hubie, Charlie B. Barkin, Itchy Itchiford, Genie, Abu, Carpet, Oliver, Dodger, Francis, Tito, Einstein, Rita, Georgette, Danny, Sawyer, Tillie, Pudge, Wooly, Frances Albacore, Cranston Goat, T.W., Darla Dimple, Milo, Otis, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Woodstock, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Violet, Patty Franklin, Frieda, Rerun, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Iago, Napoleon, Layafette, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, Lady Kluck, Lady, Tramp, Peg, Trusty, Jock, Scamp, Si, Am, Sebastian, Flounder and Luxo Junior. After all those characters come out of the box, Spike comes out the top of the box and shuts the front lid, revealing the Initials "A M". Spike spreads the cartoony text "AniMaker Pictures" and walks off, while Owloysius brings the text, "A CityMaker Company" under the box.

Variants:

On Christmas films, the background is red and the entire box is dark green.

Some films have the character order in reverse.

On horror films, blood comes out of the box and drips onto the text when it is closed.

On some TV shows by the company (and all TV specials), the logo starts from where Spike runs off and Owloysius drops the text "A Presentation of" along with the byline.

At the beginning of all TV specials by the company, Owloyisius also drops "presents" below the byline.

FX/SFX: Everything in the logo.

Cheesy Factor: The box is very 70s CGI.

Music/Sounds: The "Powerhouse" theme from Warner Bros cartoons accompanied by several cartoon sound effects.

Availability: Very rare. Seen on releases from the era, including Gumball's Ego Trip, All Pets Go To Heaven, Early prints of Invasion of The Cutie Snatchers, Twilight's Tree and Perdita and The Dodger. Some video releases like the 2005 VHS and DVD of Danny Pan and post-2004 TV airings have this logo plastered by the 2nd or 3rd logos, so it's a tough find. The Christmas variant can be seen on the TV specials Lucky's Christmas Carol and An Oliver Cat Christmas on CBS (switched to NBC in 2002). The horror variant is seen on Invasion of The Cutie Snatchers, A demo VHS of Luxo Jr. Vs. The Creepers (the regular VHS has the normal logo), The Rocky Horror Animaker Show, and Hotel "Animaker" Transylvania.

Scare Factor: None.

2nd Logo (1991-2004)

Nicknames: "The Flying Clips" "Marquee Closeup" "The Zooming Text"

Logo: On a space background, we see clips from several pre-1991 films from Animaker forming a big square Marquee with twinkling lights. Then we see

Animaker Pictures

in a gold font zoom in and hit the picture with the byline below.

FX/SFX: The clips flying in, CGI effects for the marquee and the text.

Bylines:

A CityMaker Company (1991-1996)

A TimeWarner/Train Pig Company (1997-2003)

An AOL TimeWarner/Train Pig Company (2004)

Variants:

Sometimes, the logo is on a different background.

A short version is used at the end of some movies and on some TV shows.

During the split screen credits of an April 2, 2005 airing of the 101 Datamations: The Series episode "De Vil-Age Elder" on Animaker TV, this logo was plastered by the "V of Doom" Viacom logo. This was a plastering error on Animaker TV's part.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral tune with by a few whooshes and twinkling sounds. On the short version, it's the last few notes of the tune.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On some TV shows, the short version uses the end theme

On some occasions, it's silent.

Availability: Rare. Seen on all releases from the era including Race For Your Life Gumball Watterson, Sawyer Beauty, All Pets Go To Heaven 2, Tod and Copper's Excellent Adventure and Spike and Company. Sometimes this logo is plastered, but has showed up on a recent airing of Spike, Come Home in November 2011 on Animaker Movie Network, and on the 101 Dalmatians The Series episode "You Slipped A Disk" on a 2012 New Year's Marathon on Amimaker TV. It also makes a surprise appearance at the end of the 2008 Deluxe Edition DVD and Blu-Ray of Pet Story 2.

Scare Factor: Low

3rd Logo (2005-present)

Nicknames: "The Flying Clips 2" "Marquee Closeup Redone" "The Zooming Text 2.0"

Logo: Same as the 2nd logo, only different clips, enhanced CGI and the AOL TimeWarner/Train Pig byline.

FX/SFX: Same as before, but the CGI is enhanced.

Music/Sounds: Same as before.

Availability: Very Common. Seen on current releases and TV airings of shows from 2005 onward. This logo plasters the 1st and 2nd logos most of the time.

Scare Factor: Same as before.