Buena Vista Television

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.

1st Logo (September 14, 1985-2007)

Provided ID could not be validated.5d9t8kWPKTc}}

Nicknames: "(Classic) Disney Castle", "Abstract Castle", "Blue BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom", "Disney Castle", "Rainbow Disney Castle" , " Walt Disney Castle"

Logo: It's basically the same as the 1985 Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista International Television logos, except the text below fades to "Distributed By 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 strangely had full animation (it was probably the 2001 release of Frankenpooh), although it was supposed to use the still version. It might have been a mistake in production.

Variants:

On shows produced by Buena Vista, only the "Buena Vista Television" text is shown. The spark goes from left to right in this variant.
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 "standalone" logo has the text set horizontally rather than vertically.
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.

FX/SFX: The "spark" flying, and the text fades. In other cases, it's completely still.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Walt Disney Television logo themes both from 1985, the closing theme of the show, or none.

Availability: Rare.

This was shown before every Disney movie shown on TV outside the U.S.
This logo was found on most season 1 episodes of DuckTales on its DVD release, as well as on The Golden Girls: The Complete Sixth Season DVD set.
The non-animated version of this logo was found on Winnie the Pooh videos (excluding the last 2 videos because the long 5th logo was used).
The standalone 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 '90s, and pre-September 1995 episodes of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.
It made a surprise appearance 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) and a VHS release and Disney+ prints of Mr. Boogedy. 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" on the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers: Volume 2 DVD set.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 13, 1988-October 27, 1995)

Provided ID could not be validated.iqVY6BmZwJ0}}

Nicknames: "Abstract Castle II", "Black BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom II", "Disney Castle II", "Rainbow Disney Castle II" , " Walt Disney Castle II"

Logo: It's only the same as the 1990 Walt Disney Television logo, except the text below fades to "Distributed by Buena Vista Television".

Trivia: This logo was designed by Studio Productions in Hollywood.

Variants:

Network TV Variant: See the 1st logo.
There is a longer version of this logo. The BVTV text flies up from the bottom of the screen with a chyron trail (like the Telepictures "Rollercoaster" logo), then zooms out from inside the castle and centers itself under the castle. The normal animation then plays.
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 TV logo.
Sometimes, this logo is completely still.

FX/SFX: Same as the 1990 Walt Disney Television logo. This was done by Flip Your Lid Animation.

Music/Sounds: 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: Extremely rare.

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 5th 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. Oddly, many of the stations that carried the show tended to cut the BVTV logo off.
The long version is extinct and was last seen on early '90s 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 surprisingly appears on the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" on the Goof Troop: Volume 2 DVD set.
It was also on syndie prints of Tron and White Fang.

Editor's Note: This logo is fondly remembered by people who grew up watching shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy on PBS.

3rd Logo (September 6, 1991-December 5, 1992)

Provided ID could not be validated.yNc2M2libVk}}

Nicknames: "The Comets", "The Buena Vista Comets", "The Blades", "The Globestreaks", "The Burning Comets"

Logo: We start at a zoomed in angle of a dark blue Earth globe on a black space background filled with stars (possibly the Milky Way) which can be seen within a borderless background boxed-in against a black background. As we zoom out from the point like the medium variant of the next logo, 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, burning dark blade-cut imprints in the process throughout the entire box, as the following text:

BUENA VISTA
TELEVISION

is wiped in from left to right by way of a fancy gradual dissolve. The comet blade imprint is light-colored from inside the globe portion and dark-colored from outside the globe. As the comets fly past the globe, the space background fades from a black color to a gradient yellow-purple color that can be more visibly defined from the background, with a yellow dot that appears to be the sun appearing on the surface of the globe. The gradient color also appears within the "BUENA VISTA TELEVISION" text.

Trivia: This logo appeared most commonly from 1995 to 1997, when the more common 5th logo (below) debuted, although Live with Regis & Kathie Lee/Kelly continued to use the original version in subsequent seasons until 2001.

Variants:

Like the last logo, it would sometimes have copyright info underneath.
Like with the previous logo, reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as Lifetime's airings of Nurses, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone TV logo.
On the demo reel of Pittard Sullivan's creations, a brief clip of this logo starts at the point where the three comets fly around the rotating globe when gradually zooming away like the medium version of the 1997 logo. Although the extended music exists, this was going to have the long version (like the 1997 and 2005 logos) which were used, but instead it was scrapped and never used.

FX/SFX: Zooming from the earth, the comets "streaking," the light effects, the trailing colors of the comet blade-cut are light on the side of the dark globe and dark outside of the remaining portion outside of the globe. This was done by Pittard Sullivan.

Music/Sounds: A 7-note horn fanfare, which sounds almost like a "space-age" remix of fanfares that were used to close out old Mickey Mouse cartoons.

Music/Sounds Variants:

Usually, the music was played at 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.
Quack Pack VHS releases have the 1990 Buena Vista Home Video theme play over this logo.
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.

Availability: Extremely rare.

This 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.
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 BVTV International "Rainbow Castle" logo.
It was also on Live with Regis (and Kathie Lee/Kelly) episodes of this era.
A 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.
It appeared on season 8 of Unsolved Mysteries, which premiered on October 20, 1995, one week before the 2nd logo ended.
It was also seen on the first season of the game show Debt when it was last seen on Lifetime in the late '90s.
It 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 1995-97 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 next logo.

Editor's Note: The "comets" are a very significant change from the previous "castle" logos, which clearly identified the division with Disney. Viewers more acquainted with the later BVTV logos might be a little put off at first because of the slightly faster version of the fanfare commonly found on this logo.

5th Logo (September 13, 1997-June 20, 2005, May 23, 2006)

Provided ID could not be validated.YHMIWJtIgW8|id3=_QGxVH8XT-E}}

Nicknames: "The Comets III", "The Buena Vista Comets III", "2000s Comets"

Logo: The same concept as before, except that the planet "Neptune" is in place of the Earth globe on a spiffier Milky Way, and we start from a different position. On a black space background, we see three comets appear at the same time. We pan 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 last two logos, this one was animated at 60fps.

Variants:

A more common short version starts with the last three comets streaking past first appeared in 2005, while the longer variant appeared in 2006.
There is a rare variation that is longer than the short version, yet 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. That was used for the PAL DVD release of Stephen King's Desperation.

FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A re-orchestrated version of the last logo theme. Again, there were long, short and medium-length versions.

Music/Sounds Variant: On The Tony Danza Show, it used the last logo theme.

Availability: Uncommon, as it was only used for 3 years.

This logo first appeared on Moonlighting in 2005 when Nick@Nite celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2005.
This 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.
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).

Editor's Note: The lighter background will seem odd to those viewers familiar with the previous "comet" logos, but it's nothing too out of the ordinary. This is a nice logo.