Northern Lights Home Video

Background: Northern Lights Home Video was a home video distributor founded in 1983 in Dennis Greene's bedroom apartment in Oak Park, Michigan to distribute television shows and films made by independent companies on videocassette. In 1988, he leased an office building in another part of Oak Park for the headquarters. NLHV co-distributed titles by Bilsonessy Cartoons, Stoner-Ruegger Productions (except Night In The Woods and the 1995 Hogan's Heroes animated adaption, both co-distributed instead by Paramount Home Video), Steam Train Productions, and South Detroit Production Warehouse (starting in 1991) with Warner Home Video; S&S Productions with Acorn Media; a few releases from Viacom Home Video (before 1995); and the pre-1991 catalog of Klasky-Csupo. For this reason, NLHV never used any warning screens or bumpers, instead using those of their co-distributors.

1st Logo

(1983-November 1994)

Northern Lights Home Video (1987)

Nicknames: "The Diagonal Rainbow Lines", "Hey! They Stole 'Force Ten' from Rush!"

Logo: On a black background, six diagonal lines form from the bottom upward in this order: red, royal blue, olive green, purple, light blue and orange. Then the words "NORTHERN LIGHTS" in the Korinna font slowly enter the screen from the bottom, settling below the lines. Then the words "HOME VIDEO" (in the same font) also enter from the bottom, scrolling up slightly slower before settling below "NORTHERN LIGHTS".

FX/SFX: The lines forming and the text scrolling...

Cheesy Factor: ...which is overall cheap, plus, the lines and colors don't represent the actual northern lights at all, in fact, they look more like neon tubes.

Music/Sounds: Laser-light sounds as the lines form, then silence.

Music/Sounds Variant: Beginning in 1988, after the lines form, we hear a chorus (with background beating) from the beginning seconds of "Force Ten" by Canadian rock group Rush for the remainder of the logo. Apparently, Rush approved the use of their music. A few post-1988 tapes still had just the laser-like sounds, though.

Availability: Rare. Seen on NLHV releases between 1988 and fall 1994 such as Smith & Smith tapes and the Warner Home Video releases of all five volumes of the Tiny Toon Adventures: The Looney Spotlight VHS compilations.

Scare Factor: Minimal.

2nd Logo

(November 1994-2000)

Northern Lights Home Video (1994)

Nicknames: "The Window to the Northern Lights", "CGI Window"

Logo: Against a dark blue-black night sky with numerous trees at the bottom, the northern lights, colored purple, pink and aquamarine, start shining from the top. A CGI window frame then appears and starts growing bigger as the rest of the logo begins getting smaller. As the two meet each other, the window disappears. The text "NORTHERN LIGHTS Home Video" fades in.

FX/SFX: Neat combination of 2D and CGI animation.

Variant: A still version was used on certain early releases.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy tune that utilizes trumpets at some points.

Music/Sounds Variant: There's also a silent version.

Availability: More prolific than the previous logo, but still rare. It can be seen on several mid-late 1990's Warner Home Video Animaniacs tapes (look at a mom-and-pop video shop, a thrift/second-hand store or Ebay for those), which are mostly your best bet as several were released during the show's original airing. Also seen on every VHS release of The Red Green Show.

Scare Factor: Low.