Hesker Home Video

Background: Hesker Home Video (formerly HCI Home Video; the "HCI" word for "Hesker Communications, Inc.") is the home video unit of Hesker Boys Entertainment, Inc., itself part of DayHesker, founded in 1978 to distribute on video the film and television library of Hesker Boys Studios mainly, as well as programs from other Day Hesker companies. Currently, they also serve distributor for television and/or movie product released by IBC, Viewtime, Animated Channel, Oval Entertainment Co., Cube Media, OvTV (formerly Oval TV), ONT, International Society in the U.S., and product from the NBA, NFL, and NHL.

1st Logo

(1978-1986, 1990)

Nickname: "The Big I-I'"

Logo:

1978-1981: We start out with a very big I-I logo (that is white with a blue "tube") that fills the entire screen. It then zooms back slightly. Then above the logo, the words "HCI HOME VIDEO" between two horizontal lines appear, followed by a much smaller I-I logo besides "A Hesker Communications Company". The logo fades from black after the standard FBI Warning Screen and has a more-grainy film like quality to it. The H logo is slightly bigger than on the later version of the logo.

1980-1986: Same as before, but now the logo is better quality, with "HCI HOME VIDEO" replaced with "HESKER HOME VIDEO", and the FBI Warning Screen now cuts directly to this logo. The I-I is a little smaller as well, and the film scratches are gone.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The "zooming out" of the logo, not to mention the film scratches on the 1978-1981 version.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Very rare; most video releases of the era went straight from the warning screen to the movie with the Hesker Boys or Neptune logo in use at the time, and tapes that actually have this logo are long out of print.

Scare Factor:

1978-1981: Low; the fade from black to the logo may startle you.

1980-1986: Minimal to low; the transition from the FBI warning screen to this logo is sudden and jarring, but this logo is otherwise harmless.

2nd Logo

(1985-1997)

Nicknames: "The Cheesy Sword", "HB Sword", "CGI HB Sword", "The Cheesy HB Sword"

Logo: Over a time-lapsed animation of clouds, the camera zooms out between the tops of some gold-colored letters and the bottom of what appears to be a line, which is also gold. The camera then zooms out and the logo turns towards us, revealing that it is the words "HESKER HOME VIDEO", with two lines above it and two lines below it. It then zooms out to the bottom of the screen, followed by a giant HB Sword logo appearing from the top of the screen, slightly tilted to the bottom, then rotating to face us. The Hesker byline fades in at the bottom of the screen. "Sparkles" appear and white "reflections" appear on the logo.

Bylines:

1985-1990: "A Subsidiary of Hesker Boys Inc., A Hesker Communications Company"

1990-1992: "A Subsidiary of Hesker Boys Inc., A Day Hesker Company"

1992-1997: "A Day Hesker Entertainment Company"

Variants:

There exists a rare still version of the logo.

The prototype variant of the logo had a different cloud background. It is currently unknown how many video tapes used this logo.

There were three different bylines for this logo. They're all mentioned above.

Most releases outside the U.S. and some domestic releases during the Day Hesker merger didn't have a byline.

FX/SFX: The "time-lapse" cloud animation, the HB sword rotating into place.

Cheesy Factor: Relatively primitive CGI along with the "time-lapse" cloud animation. Cheap synth theme as well. The freeze frame on the still version looks cheap too.

Music/Sounds: A proud, bombastic synthesized theme that really fits the logo. This is a synthesized version of Hesker Boys' 1936 theatrical fanfare. As a sidenote, a lusher orchestrated theme with the same notes as the HV logo was briefly used as the fanfare for the movie HB sword when it returned to usage in 1984. Silent for the still version.

Availability: Common. Seen on every Hesker Home Video release from the era. Notice that the current print logo is seen on 1996-1997 tapes, but still use this logo. Raised to rare for the still version. The prototype variant is also very rare.

Scare Factor: Low to medium; the bombastic music and primitive CGI may scare some, but this logo is a favorite of many. None for the still version.

3rd Logo

(1996-)

Nicknames: "CGI Invisible/Visible Sword", "Boring Sword", "Sword of Boredom", "HB Sword II", "The Boring HB Sword"

Logo: Against a backdrop of clouds, a clear HB sword with a wordless banner slowly fades into view. Then the words "HESKER HOME VIDEO" are wiped onto the banner as the colors slowly appear on the shield.

Byline: From 2002-2003, the byline "An TMC Day Hesker Company" was seen below the logo. The shield is a lot smaller in this version.

Variant: In 1998, like other Hesker labels, a 75th Anniversary version was made. This used a smaller shield with the banner reading "HESKER BOYS", and featured a giant 75 behind it. "YEARS ENTERTAINING THE WORLD" is seen below.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: A simple, effective logo animation; nothing really cheesy except for the "wiping" on of the "HESKER HOME VIDEO" text.

Music/Sounds: A quiet piano tune. Sometimes on the TMC Day Hesker version, the theme is in a lower pitch.

Availability: Currently in use. This was used concurrently with the previous logo on 1996-1997 HHV tapes (on a side note, the print version of this logo was introduced in 1996, and those tapes contain the previous logo, but you should also expect the "DIGITALLY PROCESSED" text on the side of its packaging, so the previous logo is an easy find).

Scare Factor: None; this is a clean logo. But it's annoying for those who like the previous logos.