MBO Feature/Special Presentation IDs

1st Open

(1975-1982)

Nickname: "The MBO Feature Marquee"

Logo: We start out with a space background with a light grid sheet at the bottom running. Then, we see searchlights on the left and right sides, and criss-cross together. At the same time, blue lights appear and yellow rays rain throughout out of the blue light, changing into blue rays, then yellow circles, then yellow zigzags, then colorful criss-cross lines, then blue and yellow straight lines, and finally wavy lines with curvy lines. Then we pan up to the searchlights up close, and the searchlights reveal a box of popcorn, which completely disappears. Then we see yellow animated drawn popcorn moving then falling down with a "shadow" effect. Then, the same popcorn reveals a marquee with the lines and designs (looking like the Orpheum or Pantages theater), and the marquee zooms up. Then, we move to a plain black screen, and the words "MBO FEATURE MOVIE" one above each other zooms and pans down in a "shadow" effect. Then, lines appear behind each word, and the words turn red. The bars shine repeatedly.

FX/SFX: Mostly backlit computer animation is used here, and it looks really well done for the time.

Music/Sounds: An orchestral theme that sounds like it's from Sesame Street.

Availability: Extinct on TV outside of tape trading.

Scare Factor: Low; the music may not sit well with some.

2nd Open

(1975-1982)

Nickname: "The Hollywood Walk", "Big Band"

Logo: The camera travels down an infinite lapse of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where we see some movie items on the left and right sides of the screen (i.e. a glass slipper, a box of popcorn, a soda bottle, etc.) We then zoom into a picture with stange objects moving around, we then cut back to the Walk of Fame where we see a box office from a far distance. As the sky turns to night, we zoom into the box office and the screens cuts to black where the "MBO FEATURE MOVIE" texts animates as usual.

FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo.

Cheesy Factor: Rather cheap animation, but kind of fun to see.

Music/Sounds: A jazzy version of the fanfare. Fits well with this logo.

Availability: Extinct; last seen on MBO around 1982.

Scare Factor: Low; the music might be loud to some.

3rd Open

(1975-1982)

Nickname: "The Flashing Theater"

Logo: On a space background, we see a vortex positioned like a floor, sitting in the middle of the screen. At the same time bright lines begin drawing out a stylized movie theater complete with box office. We then zoom into a yellow star and then cut to more bright lines drawing out the interior of the theater. Red and blue curtains appear on the stage and as we slowly zoom in the curtains unveil and we go to a black background where we see the "MBO FEATURE MOVIE" text animates as usual.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: The drawing lines, the flashing effects. All typical '70s animation.

Music/Sounds: An alternate version of the fanfare used in the first logo, only more slower and louder.

Availability: Extinct; last seen on MBO in the early '80s. Check old videotapes for it.

Scare Factor: Medium; the flashing effects and loud music might not sit well with most people.

4th Open

(1979-1982)

Nickname: "Shapes In Space", "The Abstraction"

Logo: On a space background, we pass through several odd shapes that form piece of Abstraction, including a bubble snake. After a while, a stylized yellow box moves in from the right and we zoom into it, where we go to the black background again with the text animated out as usual.

FX/SFX: The shapes, the box moving in, text animating out.

Cheesy Factor: Kind of simple animation, but kind of cool.

Music/Sounds: A bouncy techno version of the fanfare, kind of fits well with this logo.

Availability: Again, extinct. Check old videotapes for this logo.

Scare Factor: Low; the abstract animation might scare a few.

5th Open

(1980-1982)

Nicknames: "Funky Marquee"

Logo: We see a futuristic-like city at twilight, and we pan to the left where we see a movie theater with searchlights criss-crossing. Then we zoom into an opening where we see a bird's-eye view of the theater lit brown/orange. We slowly zoom into the projection screen and we fade into a black background with the text animating as usual.

FX/SFX: All the animation in this logo, which is much better than before.

Music/Sounds: A rather moody, funky, smooth version of the fanfare. Again, it fits well with this logo.

Availability: Extinct; check some old videotapes for this logo.

Scare Factor: Low to medium.

6th Open

(1981-1982)

Nickname: "Liquid/Neon Marquee"

Logo: On a black background, purple streaks rain down the screen at an angle. We then fade to see a gray square with a neon pink outline flipping and zooming away, with an ocean at the bottom of the screen. When it disappears, a flash brings forth a series of gold bars that fly on the left and right sides of the screen. They eventually form a theater hallway with the ocean turning into the floor. A brown screen turns the background to black and the usual text animates out.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Pretty cool animation for 1981.

Music/Sounds: A relaxing synth version of the fanfare mixed with drums.

Availability: Extinct; this was the last intro MBO used until the "MBO In Space" logo was created. Again, check some old tapes for it.

Scare Factor: Minimal.

7th Open

(September 1982-1999)

Nicknames: "MBO in Space", "MBO Starship"

Logo: We start with a man tuning the cable on a TV set for a channel ( to MBO, of course!) in his apartment as he settles down on the couch with his wife with food items in front of them (i.e. a tub of popcorn, a pizza cut into slices etc.). The camera pans backwards outside the window to show a somewhat busy city intersection with figurines of vehicles and people standing on the sidewalk at twilight. The music starts, and the camera "flies" forward down the street, eventually panning up to reveal the source of the light -- a star (positioned near the top center of the screen) that gets brighter and brighter, and eventually explodes, leaving behind a shiny chrome model monolith. The monolith moves down and across the screen and rotates clockwise, revealing itself as the MBO logo, then turns around one more time as the camera zooms in on the side of the O. The side of the O disappears in a flash of light, revealing a stream of colored rays streaking counter-clockwise around a silver axis, and "MBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" (Note: different titles would appear depending on the program) appears, one word atop the other, in a heavy, 3D steely-gray font against an array of purple lines. some more rays sweep across the words and shine, then the BG would fade to black with more flashes from the surrounding rays.

Variants:

A slightly more common version starts off with the city covered in fog (which slowly clears up), then has the camera pan across the city as usual.

A short version of the logo that starts before the "big bang" was shown most often (the long version would only be used for new features).

There are seven different endings depending on what the special is. They include "MBO Feature Presentation" (the standard version), "MBO Special Presentation", "MBO Family Feature", "MBO Theatre", "MBO Music", "MBO Saturday Night Movie", "MBO Sunday Night Movie", "MBO Special", and "On Location".

Two April Fools Day variants that used a much cheaper version of the city with MBO monolith, and end card also exist: one used "MBO Feature Presentation" in the style of a rebus puzzle (M-bee-O Foot-Y-Bear Past-A-Shoo) which flipped up into the screen, while the other had the "lyrics" to the song in a "follow the bouncing ball" style over the model city. When we reach to space, the familiar MBO is now in aluminum foil held by string and is spins around by a hand. "MBO FEATURE PRESENTATION" in cheaply arranged paper letters fade in on a black BG with a pair of live-action hands making odd movements briefly over it.

Some end cards had the lines colored in a more reddish or bluish hue.

An somewhat rare version exists. After the man tunes the cable to MBO, we can see two pre-teens near the man's wife sharing popcorn while HBO started to be tuned on TV before zooming out the window. This was apparently used when this intro first debuted.

FX/SFX: The city cars, wind, and the light sounds in the end. The effects used for the MBO logo are very hi-tech (for the time), and not a single computer-generated image was used to make it. The model city is also intricately detailed.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic theme (that in the long version, starts with a whoosh and a piano/string chord and gets progressively more tense) leading into a very loud, upbeat, almost disco-style horn-driven overture, then ending with synth sweeps (representing the rays "inside" the O). Composed by Ferdinand J. Smith, who was also responsible for the DEG Star Tunnel's score (not Frank Gari, as the SuperSite claims), and co-wrote the BUG "Projector" ident's score.

Music/Sound Variants:

For the "Family Feature" variant, the music would get softer and play an uplifting theme just after the O disappears.

For the "MBO Music" variant, a rock guitar tune would play near the end.

For the "MBO Special" variant, a faster-paced horn tune would play, which sounds kind of like a game show theme.

One April Fools variant had the theme being played on kazoos, while a "BOING!" sound is heard while the aluminum MBO comes in on the background.

Availability: Extinct; was shown before movies shown on MBO. Check those old tapes!

Scare Factor: Low, due to the somewhat fast movement of the city scene and the flashing at the end. But that notwithstanding, this is a very popular logo.

8th Open

(1987-1998)

Nicknames: "Non-Primetime HBO", "Neon '80s Geometric HBO"

Logo: We see a purple MBO logo across a vertical filmstrip with light rays being shot through it. The camera pans around and zooms back from several CGI squares glowing various neon colors. Then, the lights shoot out the last square and light up a group of small circles glowing rainbow colors, then zoom out to reveal a light-purple MBO logo with "Movie" written in script in a raspberry-like color with the rainbow circles on a black background behind it.

Variant: In Hungary, "Mozi" (Hungarian for "movie") appears below, with the colors appearing brighter. I assume most other countries have "movie" written in their own native language as well.

FX/SFX: The pan-down from the CGI squares, the lasers lighting the circle, the zoom out to the MBO Movie logo.

Cheesy Factor: None at all; this is very professional late '80s animation in addition to those neon rainbow colors.

Music/Sounds: A loud electric guitar fanfare, which culminates into what sounds like the beginning of a Depeche Mode song.

Availability: Extinct; last seen on MBO in the mid '90s. Check those old tapes for the logo!

Scare Factor: Low to medium; the glowing is not as bad as the "MBO Feature Presentation"'s flashing, but that loud synth-guitar music may get to some.

9th Open

(1988-1994)

Logo: On a blue/white CGI background, we see many colored shapes zooming through the screen. A black rectangle zooms in slowly, along with other ones forming a mantel-like shape, where a hot pink MBO logo rises up, and as the camera stops, the gold words "SPECIAL PRESENTATION" zoom out with a shadow effect and plasters itself on the front of the mantel with the MBO letters turned on a slight angle (a la Great Structure).

FX/SFX: All the animation used in this logo.

Cheesy Factor: None at all. Good animation.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized rock fanfare.

Availability: Mainly appeared on MBO specials in the late '80s-early '90s.

Scare Factor: None at all; it's a cool logo of some sort, otherwise its camera pans might startle a few there.

10th Open

(1999- )

Nicknames: "The Road", "HBO 2000", "1982 version is renewed!"

Logo: We see a busy street corner with a theater whose marquee reads "MBO FEATURE PRESENTATION". We zoom into the theater, pass the box office and into a bright light. We end up zooming down a road in a residential neighborhood with cars driving about. The camera goes through a bridge superstructure shaped like an M. We end up zooming down a rural highway, passing farms and such. After we hit some fog, we are on a mountain road, flying over a pit, and we head down a B shaped tunnel. We end up on a desert road surrounded with gorges and cliffs at the other end, and we zoom into a truck with an O shaped, cylindrical tank, taking us through another transition. We end up zooming through a CGI rendering of the city from the 1982 opening, and into a skyscraper-filled downtown. Passing through the buildings, we see some spotlights coming from the city's harbor. The camera pans and takes us into an aerial view above the clouds, and we see the harbor spotlights are outlining the MBO logo. The 3D letters "FEATURE" go into place over the MBO logo, and a flash below that brings forth the word "PRESENTATION" on a black rectangle.

Variant: A shorter, much more common version of this logo is avalible, which starts off with the lights lighting up. The full version as described above is rare today.

FX/SFX: Breathtaking CGI! A nice computer generated opener inspired by MBO's original stop-motion effort since 1982.

Music/Sounds: A reorchestrated version of the 1982 fanfare.

Availability: Currently in use; can be seen before any movie on MBO. The long version usually appears before Saturday night movies.

Scare Factor: None whatsoever. This is a great opening filled with spectacular computer graphics. A suitable successor to the original MBO opener.