Descriptions by Jason Jones, Jess Williams, Matt Anscher, Nicholas Aczel, John Coffey, D.L. Chandell, Gilblitz112 and indycar
Captures by V of Doom, snelfu, Mr. Logo, Eric S. and others
Editions by Mr. Logo Lord, Shadeed A. Kelly, V of Doom, DreamMechanic, Muzzarino, Gilblitz112, indycar and Tjdrum2000
Video captures courtesy of JohnnyL80, VHSDude, ClosingLogosHD, Eric S., Muzzarino, youngleader610 (Mr.Logo), Jordan Rios, PluMGMK, and TheEriccorpinc
Background
Buena Vista Television was the production/distribution arm of Walt Disney Television, established in 1985. Originally, it distributed Walt Disney Television and Touchstone Television shows and the Buena Vista film library (such as Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood, Miramax and Dimension titles) on TV. Later, it also took on the libraries of ABC (in 1996) and Saban (in 2002). It also distributed other Disney-owned libraries. When Disney retired the "Buena Vista" brand in 2007, BVTV was re-branded as "Disney-ABC Domestic Television", with the logo making its debut in September.
Rare variant used on the German adaptation of The Disney Club
Visuals: On a shady indigo blue background, there is the familiar segmented castle (as seen in the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo), but shaded (from top to bottom) red, orange, and yellow. The white arch is already there and it sparkles from left to right (the opposite way it is from the movie logo). Below it, the text reading "Buena Vista Television".
Trivia:
This logo was shown until 2007 at the end of local Disney-produced shows; for example, in 2003, Club Disney was produced in association with Telecinco.
One Winnie the Pooh tape had full animation (most likely the 2001 release of Frankenpooh) instead of the still version, which may have been a mistake in production.
Variants:
On shows distributed by Buena Vista, the text reads as "Distributed By Buena Vista Television". The spark goes from right to left in this variant.
On Disney-produced shows, the distribution text fades in from the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo.
International releases and most DVD prints of shows would say "Distributed by Buena Vista International, Inc." instead of "Distributed By Buena Vista Television".
There is also a chyroned in copyright date that appears underneath the logo.
A variant of the standard logo has the text set horizontally rather than vertically. This can be seen on The Challengers.
One variant had a dark purple background instead of the indigo-blue background. This variant can be found on the VHS of Winnie the Pooh: Detective Tigger.
An rare variant with "Television" in the same spot as the rare Buena Vista International Television logo was used on the German adaptation of The Disney Club from 1995-1996. It crossfades the same way as that logo.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A series of ascending pings.
Audio Variant: Sometimes, it's the closing theme of the show, or none.
Availability:
This was shown before every Disney movie shown on TV outside the U.S.
Its first appearance was on Today's Business, a business news program that was cancelled months after its debut due to a lack of advertising.
This distribution version was found on most season 1 episodes of DuckTales on its DVD release (this was plastered by the 4th logo on 1998 syndicated reruns and by the 1986 Walt Disney Television "Blue Castle" logo on Disney Channel, Toon Disney (now Disney XD) and VOD airings), as well as on The Golden Girls: The Complete Sixth Season DVD set.
The standard version was seen on early episodes of The Challengers, Win, Lose or Draw when last seen in reruns on GSN (both syndicated and NBC versions), Teen Win, Lose or Draw when that show was last seen on Disney Channel in the early 1990s, and pre-September 1995 episodes of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.
It also appeared on the Goof Troop episode "Rally Round the Goof" on the Goof Troop: Volume 2 DVD set.
This was also seen on Seven Network airings of Brand New Life (after the 1986 NBC Productions logo), early 1990s airings of Totally Minnie on the Disney Channel, VHS releases of Disney's Wuzzles (plastering the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures Television "Blue Castle" logo), and a VHS release and Disney+ prints of Mr. Boogedy (Disney Channel airings in the late 1980s retain the "Blue Castle" logo).
It was also seen on Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears when shown on the Family Channel in Canada and in the mid 90's on The Disney Channel (before they were updated with the 2nd Walt Disney Television logo) and on one episode of TaleSpin on Toon Disney.
It also appeared on the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers episodes "The Last Leprechaun", "Shell Shocked", and "Love is a Many Splintered Thing", respectively, on the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: Volume 2 DVD set.
On Disney+ France prints of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (due to that country using their own prints with a French theme song), this is retained at the end of every episode.
The Disney+ print of Fuzzbucket also retains this.
2nd Logo (September 13, 1988-October 27, 1995)
Visuals: On a black background, the text "Buena Vista Television" flies up from the bottom of the screen with a red chyron trail (like the Telepictures "Rollercoaster" logo), then zooms out from inside the castle and centers itself under the same castle from the previous logo. A spark draws the arc, but this time from left to right. As the arc draws, the flags appear one by one on top of the castle. After the logo finishes, a single spark appears from left to right on the arc.
Variants:
A short version of the logo exists. It starts where the castle zooms out, or just the animation with the line drawing on the castle.
Sometimes, the text reads as "Distributed by Buena Vista Television", with "Distributed By" shown in small print above the BVTV text.
On Disney-produced shows, the Walt Disney Television text is shown below the short version, then it fades to the Distribution text.
There can also be a copyright date under the BVTV text. This could usually be seen on Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as early '90s syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone Television logo.
Sometimes, this logo is completely still.
On Judge for Yourself, only the "Distribution" text appears on a black-blue gradient background.
On the unsold 1989 pilot for 20 Questions, the standard logo is on a black-blue gradient background.
Technique: CGI by Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation).
Audio: Ping music, but in most cases, it's silent or the finishing of the end title theme from any show plays over the logo. But on reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy from this era that were rerun after the 4th logo debuted, the music from that logo was used.
Availability:
This was seen on Bill Nye the Science Guy (the last episode to have this was "Animal Locomotion", broadcast on October 27, 1995, but DVDs plaster it on that episode with the 4th logo using the Touchstone copyright stamp), and may be spotted on some VHS tapes of said show (mainly from Disney Educational Productions).
This was last seen on Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime with the BVTV logo.
The 1990 quiz series The Challengers utilized the long version starting mid-way into the series; it was seen as part of a joke-filled wrap video made by the crew of the show. Many of the stations that carried the show tended to cut the BVTV logo off.
The long version was last seen on early 1990s episodes of Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, as well as syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls.
This was first seen on Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toon Town on CBS in 1988 and also appeared on the 1991 TV special Rocketeer: Excitement in the Air.
It was also spotted on some episodes of Bonkers! (including the Christmas episode, "Miracle at the 34th Precinct"), the original version of the TaleSpin pilot, "Plunder and Lightning", and appears on the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" on the Goof Troop: Volume 2 DVD set.
It was also on syndication prints of Tron and White Fang.
It was originally seen on the 1992-1993 season of The Disney Afternoon and A Goof Troop Christmas: Have Yourself a Goofy Little Christmas.
It was also seen on The Disney Day Off on WGN.
4th Logo (September 9, 1995-May 23, 2006)
Early 1995 variation
Similar variant for the leftover long version
Copyright notice V1
Copyright notice V2
Copyright notice V3
Copyright notice V4
Copyright notice V5
Copyright notice V6
1997 version
A similar version
Copyright notice V7
Stretched version
Copyright notice V8
Copright notice V9
Copyright notice V10
Copyright notice V11
Visuals: There is an overhead view of a blue earth globe on a black space background. Three comets cross each other's paths one by one as they circle the globe and then appear from underneath, streaking past the globe diagonally in unison from the bottom left to the upper right. As the earth zooms away, the background then fades to dark blue space background filled with stars boxed in on a black background. As the screen zooms out from the point, the earth gradually rotates with a comet moving upward while the background orbits. Then three comets can be seen streaking past the globe in an diagonal direction from the bottom left corner toward the upper right corner, and gradually zoom away into the black background. The comets fly past the globe, either burning blade-cut imprints in the process throughout the entire box or (starting on May 17, 1997, which has a darker space background at the end) trailing off as they fly past, leaving a frozen motion mark just barely behind the border of the globe. The text BUENA VISTA TELEVISION is wiped in from left to right by way of a fancy gradual dissolve. As the comets fly past the globe, the space background fades to a yellow/purple gradient, with a yellow dot that appears to be the sun appearing on the surface of the globe. The gradient color also appears within the text.
Trivia:
The early version of this logo appeared most commonly from 1995 to 1997, when the later version (below) debuted. However, Live with Regis & Kathie Lee/Kelly continued to use the original version until 2001.
The comet blade imprint in the early variant is light-colored from inside the globe portion and dark-colored from outside the globe. The globe also turns black at the end.
Variants:
A shortened version of the logo exists, where the logo starts with the Earth zooming out. Although the short version of the 1995 version of the logo did make to air, the medium-length and long versions of the original 1995 logo went unused.
There's also a medium-length version that starts with the globe zooming out, but the comets don't appear until the box shows up.
On the long version of the 1997 variant, the comets have a yellow highlight and the gradient has more yellow tinting.
On the VHS release Winnie the Pooh: Three Cheers for Eeyore and Rabbit, the long version of the logo fades out at the end. Any other videos that show this cuts to black at the end.
Like with the previous two logos, reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as Lifetime's airings of The Golden Girls and Nurses, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone Television logo with copyright stamp.
Usually the logo is designed for 4:3 display, but surprisingly, the logo appeared at the end of Stephen King's Desperation, and it was stretched to 16:9.
Technique: CGI by Pittard Sullivan.
Audio: A 5-note horn theme accompanied by chimes, followed by a 7-note horn fanfare. This was composed by Sam Winans.
Audio Variants:
There are different mixes for the short, medium and long versions. The short and medium versions have a cymbal crash, but it's omited in the long version. The instrumentation on the long version is also stripped down to just two or three horns.
The short version just has the last 7 notes of the theme.
A medium version was sometimes used, where it is mixed with the first note and the rest of the theme starting with the fourth note of the long version. It is redone as the chimes have a short delay before each chimes (unlike the flourish at the end of the long version), the fourth and fifth notes are shortened, and the flourish does not play until the last two notes are heard.
For the first two years with the early version, the music was played at slight warp-speed.
The closing theme of the show was sometimes used.
Sometimes, the theme is accompanied by whooshes and sparkling sounds.
Original airings of Disney's Scott Hamilton Upside Down had the generic CBS theme accompanying the early version.
On the season 4 Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Volcanoes", Bill screams into the logo while an explosion is heard with the logo's standard music.
Some episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy play the theme for the long version on the standard logo and the other half in the BVTV international logo.
On the 101 Dalmatians: The Series episode "You Slipped a Disk"/"Chow About That?", the logo is silent.
The last note is sometimes incomplete.
On the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Comets and Meteors", the flame breath is played during the jingle of the entire logo while footage of the previous logo and the BVTV International logo are in use.
On Bill Nye the Science Guy, one half of the short music plays through the standard logo, the other half plays over the 1995 BVTV International logo. On a couple of episodes, this occurred with the long version of the music.
On Winnie the Pooh: Three Cheers for Eeyore and Rabbit, the dinging noise that is heard at the beginning of the long version is absent.
On a 2006 AMC airing of When a Man Loves a Woman, a low-toned version was used.
During Lifetime airings of The Golden Girls, the logo's music would sometimes be slightly off-sync.
Some original airings of Michelle Kwan Skates to Disney's Greatest Hits, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire (starting in 2000), and Disney's Lilo & Stitch: Aloha From Hollywood used a generic ABC theme over the 1995 or 1997 version of the logo.
On the Gene Siskel tribute episode of Siskel & Ebert, the logo is silent out of respect for the late Mr. Siskel. This can be also seen on an Indonesian VCD release of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (while the US DVD have the theme), The PJs episodes "He's Gotta Have It" and "Boyz 'n the Woods" on the season one DVD, the September 18, 2001 episode of Live with Regis and Kelly (the special edition of the show to remembering September 11 attacks), and also on TBS/TNT airings of Father of the Bride, Part II.
Availability:
The 1995 version was found on a DVD print of Bill Nye the Science Guy, and was seen on PBS airings. This logo can be found on VHS tapes from Disney Educational Productions of said show.
The long version of the 1995 logo was last seen on the archived Sam Winans television section until late 2012 being replaced with the updated version, albeit in low resolution. Television, and home video releases never had this, nor the medium length version of the original 1995 logo.
On broadcast TV, it was last seen in all its glory mostly until 2008 on Univision reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy, preceding the previous 1995 Buena Vista International "Rainbow Castle" logo.
It was also on Live with Regis (and Kathie Lee/Kelly) episodes of this era.
A version of the 1995 version using the closing music appears on international prints of most S3 episodes of Timon & Pumbaa, cross-fading to the 1995 Buena Vista International logo; a similar variant appeared on Quack Pack (though both shows plastered this logo with the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo on Toon Disney (now Disney XD)).
One of the earliest appearances of the logo was on Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, which had the logo by September 1995.
The 1995 version appeared on season 8 of Unsolved Mysteries, which premiered on October 20, 1995, one week before the 2nd logo ended.
The 1995 version was also seen on the first season of the game show Debt when it was last seen on Lifetime in the late '90s.
The 1995 version was also seen on reruns and on Disney+ prints of The Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, where it was followed by the 1995 International version of 1st logo (both were plastered with the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo on Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings), the 1995-Summer 1997 seasons of The Disney Afternoon, Dinosaurs, where it plastered the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo, and Home Improvement, where it appeared after the Touchstone Television logo but later airings plaster it with the 1997 logo.
The 1997 version was seen on cable reruns of America's Funniest Home Videos, as well as 1997-2005 episodes of Siskel & Ebert/Ebert & Roeper, and 1999-2005 episodes of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, among others, as well as the last season of Debt when it was seen on Lifetime in the late '90s and Win Ben Stein's Money when it was last seen on GSN. It also can be found on Winnie the Pooh: Three Cheers for Eeyore and Rabbit.
The 1997 version of the logo was also seen on episodes of Digimon Frontier when it was on UPN, but Jetix (on ABC Family and Toon Disney) and YTV Canada airings don't use this logo at all.
The "Touchstone Pictures and Television" variant of the 1997 logo plasters the 2nd logo on a DVD of the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Animal Locomotion".
The medium version of the 1997 logo was surprisingly seen on Stephen King's Desperation (albeit being stretched), although this logo officially ended at the time, but the PAL DVD release had the next logo stretched. It was also seen on many other cases such as on Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings of Hercules: The Animated Series, late Summer 1997 airings of The Disney Afternoon, 1998 syndie airings of Disney's DuckTales (plastering the 1st logo), among others.
This makes a surprise appearance on the first nine episodes of The PJs on the first season DVD, while the rest of the season has the Touchstone Television logo. This is not intact on Crackle's print of the show, however.
It has also been seen on Game Show Network reruns of Regis-era Who Wants to Be a Millionaire episodes starting in March 2023, albeit compressed due to split-screen credits. It was later been reinstated on the Top of the Charts edition (July 22-27, 2001).
Legacy: The "comets" are a very significant change from the previous "castle" logos, which clearly identified the division with Disney.
5th Logo (June 21, 2005-September 2, 2007)
Visuals: Same concept as before, but the planet Neptune replaces the globe on a spiffier Milky Way background, and the sequence starts from a different position. On a black space background, there are three comets appear at the same time. The screen pans up to Neptune and pan to its upper right, where the comets fly to the back. Three comets streak from the left and freeze, and the screen turns white with the logo of the comets and globe in space in a box at the top, and the "BUENA VISTA TELEVISION" text, in gray, fades in and zooms out to take its place under the logo.
Trivia: Unlike the previous logo, this one was animated at 60fps. The native widescreen version is animated at 24fps.
Variants:
The logo can be seen either in 4:3 or 16:9 (either cropped, stretched (in the case for the PAL DVD release of Stephen King's Desperation) or native 16:9).
A more common short version starts with the last three comets streaking past. This first appeared in 2005, while the longer variant appeared in 2006.
There is a rare medium variation longer than the short version but shorter than the extended version, where the logo starts when the comets pass Neptune instead of circling around it.
A stretched version of the 4:3 logo exists, and was used for the PAL DVD release of Stephen King's Desperation.
Technique: CGI.
Audio: A re-orchestrated version of the last theme, but without the 2nd note. Again, long, short and medium-length versions exist. This was once again composed by Sam Winans.
Audio Variant:The Tony Danza Show uses the previous theme.
Availability: Only used for three years.
This logo first appeared on Moonlighting in 2005. It appeared on episodes of Buena Vista-produced/distributed shows such as Live with Regis and Kelly, The Tony Danza Show, Ebert & Roeper, and the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from 2005 to 2007.
It also appeared on reruns of other shows including The Golden Palace when it aired on Lifetime. The long version appeared on syndie reruns of My Wife & Kids, Scrubs and America's Funniest Home Videos, among others. Such version was also used on a Lifetime airing of Like Father, Like Santa after the short 1996 Saban logo. The medium version is also found in reruns of Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire on GSN.
Makes a surprise appearance on a Charge! airing of Cop Land and a ThisTV airing of The Crow: Salvation, and might possibly appeared on other previously Disney-owned Miramax titles on Charge!, ThisTV and Comet (most likely because of the use of 2000s Disney syndie prints).
The short version appeared on a Disney Channel airing of Finding Nemo.
It also appeared on syndie airings of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Big Green, The Santa Clause, While You Were Sleeping, Flubber, Toy Story, I'll Be Home for Christmas, A Bug's Life, Inspector Gadget (the live-action movie), Tarzan, Toy Story 2, Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, Max Keeble's Big Move, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Monsters, Inc., Piglet's Big Movie, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Herbie: Fully Loaded, among others.
The medium length in 16:9 ratio appeared on a USA Network airing of Sweet Home Alabama.
It was also seen on a Lifetime print of Mr. St. Nick (2002), a Hallmark Entertainment production and a Syfy print of National Treasure.
This also plastered the Disney Channel Originals logo when Superstation WGN (now NewsNation) reran Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire from 2006-2007.
This was also found on reruns of Regis-era episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on Game Show Network starting from the May 1, 2001 episode. This excluded the Top of the Charts Edition (July 22-27, 2001).
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