Columbia TriStar International Television

Background

Sony Pictures Entertainment and TriStar Television president Jon Feltheimer merged its international television arm Columbia Pictures International Television with TriStar Television to become Columbia TriStar International Television in 1992 to distribute all its shows and the Columbia TriStar films around the world. On September 16, 2002, it was reincorporated as Sony Pictures Television International.

1st Logo (1995?-1998?)

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Visuals: The logo begins by cutting to a scene full of golden clouds forming, tossing about on a blue cloudy background. Then, "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in golden-yellow fades in and zooms out from above, and "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", stacked and in the same color, shrinks out from below as the clouds, which are still tossing, zoom out as part of a golden-bordered box on a blue-black gradient background. The box then splits apart to reveal the Torch Lady on the left (from the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo), and the Pegasus on the right (from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo), as the wording takes its position. The text shines for a few seconds after the logo is formed.

Trivia: This is basically a modified version of the 1993 Columbia TriStar Home Video logo. Aside from the text replacement, the golden-bordered box containing the clouds zooms out much earlier here than in that logo.

Technique: CGI by WunderFilm.

Audio: A dramatic and contemporary synth theme with beating drums and cues of a piano. The last note of the theme is held out for the rest of the logo.

Audio Variant: A sped-up version exists.

Availability: Currently only known to have appeared on various Three Stooges shorts from Stooge TV on The Family Channel (now Freeform) from 1995-1998 and at the end of a sizzle reel of Headline Chasers.

2nd Logo (1997-2002)

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Visuals: On an ethereal blue background, filmstrips are seen crisscrossing the screen, with each frame in each filmstrip featuring the C-T box logo. A filmstrip then starts to pan towards the center of the screen, showing the boxes in each frame and the endings of their respective movie animations playing out within them. The words "Columbia Tristar" and "International Television" are shown in the middle sliding in slowly from the left and right of the screen respectively as the logo animates. In the middle is a black rounded code-out box with the white word "Columbia" inside, which then changes into "Tristar". As the final frame reaches the screen, the words disappear and the background turns white with several blue areas in each corner as the boxes (with the footage of the Torch Lady from the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo on the left and the footage of the Pegasus from the 1993 TriStar Pictures logo on the right) go into position. Then the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" and "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", with the latter being stacked, fade in above and below the boxes. The animation inside the boxes begins to stop as the logo ends.

Trivia: This is basically a modified version of the 1997 Columbia TriStar Home Video logo. The company name doesn't appear over the first half in that logo.

Variants:

• A stretched 16:9 variant exists on widescreen programs.
• A Brazilian version exists on the Brazilian version of Married... With Children, titled A Guerra Dos Pintos, in which the word "BRASIL" (which is in Arial Black) appears below "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", making it read "COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION BRASIL". Also, the words "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" are not stacked to make room for "BRASIL".
• A still version exists.
• On Totally Tooned In, the logo is shortened, and the end theme plays over the logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The Madchester beat from the 6th Columbia TriStar Home Video logo.

Availability:

• Seen on Twice in a Lifetime outside the USA.
• It was also seen on Czech airings of the German show Powder Park, followed by the SPT logo.
• It was also seen on the UK version of As If.
• Also seen on episodes of the CGI-animated Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future series. The UK DVD release of the series preserves the logo on four episodes, but the other eight plaster it with the Sony Pictures Television International logo.
• It also appeared at the end of a Sony Movie Channel broadcast of The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980), but the iTunes print doesn't retain it.
• Also seen on international prints of the Canadian cartoon D'Myna Leagues.
• This is also seen on the Amazon Prime print (provided by Samuel Goldwyn Films under license from Sony) and a True Movies 1 (now GREAT! Movies Classic) airing of The Color of Love: Jacey's Story (2000).
  • Original CBS airing of said title used the Columbia TriStar Television logo with the then-CBS generic jingle ("The Address is CBS!!") playing over instead.
• This also plasters the original Columbia TriStar Television logo on the 2000 Indonesian VCD of the TV movie Final Run.
• MeTV Toons airings of Totally Tooned In keep this logo, followed by the Sony Pictures Television logo.

3rd Logo (1997?-2000?)

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Visuals: A flash occurs. Then, on a "swirly" black-blue background, a few light blue outlined boxes slowly slide in different directions, revealing a white rectangle with dark cyan print boxes of the Columbia and TriStar logos, respectively. Above the white rectangle, the words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" in a white Bank Gothic MD BT font appear via a flash-like effect. Under the rectangle, "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" appears in the same fashion.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Possibly none. The promos that use this logo usually have the ending theme of the trailer alongside an announcer saying a tagline along the lines of "Available from Columbia TriStar International Television."

Availability: The only known evidence of this logo is from a set of promos at Nxtbook.com, among other logos. One of the trailers which had this logo was Ihaka: Blunt Instrument.

4th Logo (1998?-2000)

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Visuals: On the background of the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo is a still shot of the Torch Lady on the left with the logo's clouds behind her and the TriStar Pegasus on the right, without clouds. The TriStar Pegasus unfolds its wings, just like the 1993 theatrical logo. Above them, panning back, is the text "COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION". Below the waist of the Torch Lady is the underlined text "LIGHTING UP SCREENS", with "AROUND THE" under the word "SCREENS", and "WORLD" in a huge font with the planet Earth rotating and panning back into several rings to represent the letter "O" under it. All the text excluding the company name is in gold and in the Trajan Pro font, and appears somewhat like this:

COLUMBIA TRISTAR INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION
LIGHTING UP SCREENS
::::AROUND THE
WORLD

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The short version of the Columbia TriStar Television Distribution theme.

Availability: This logo was produced in 1996, but so far it has only been spotted on some late '90s and early 2000s episodes of the show AXN (last seen on the American Spanish-language channel TeleXitos).

5th Logo (1998?-2001)

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Visuals: The screen flashes quickly, revealing the same background as the 4th logo, with some connected circles spinning, and a CBS Broadcast International-esque Earth globe spinning, both slowly zooming in. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" and "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION", in a different Bank Gothic typeface, appear at the upper and lower sides of the screen, respectively. Two white lines of light cross each other to form a TV tube-esque shape with the Columbia logo (which is still) at the left side and the TriStar logo (which is also still) at the right side. The lines of light fade out later.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Possibly none. The promos that use this logo usually have the ending theme of the trailer alongside an announcer saying a tagline along the lines of "Available from Columbia TriStar International Television."

Availability: The only known evidence of this logo is from a set of promos at Nxtbook.com, among other logos. ^[Examples?]

6th Logo (1999?-2001)

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Visuals: Against an orange or plum purple background, the print Columbia and TriStar boxes filled with vermillion or pink zooms out, along with the following text:

columbia tristar
international
television

Two vermillion or pink parentheses facing both sides cross each other to fill the boxes with orange or plum purple.

Variant: There is one variant where the parentheses are blinking.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Same as the 4th and 5th logos.

Availability: Same as the 4th and 5th logos. The orange blinking variant was spotted on a promo for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and a promo for The Jeffersons.

7th Logo (2000-2002)

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Visuals: The logo starts out against a forming cloud background. Then a square with the footage of the 1993 Columbia Torch Lady in it fades in, and slides to the left (with a zooming out effect as the box splits), revealing a box with the footage of the 1993 TriStar Pegasus, which slides to the right (the animation is slightly slowed down). The boxes have a thin white border. The words "COLUMBIA TRISTAR" appear above the boxes and the staked words "INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION" on the bottom with "a SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT company" below everything else.

Trivia: This is basically a modified version of the 1999 version of the 1995 Columbia TriStar Television logo.

Technique: Computer animation by WunderFilm.

Audio: The 1994 Columbia Tristar Television logo theme but played at a noticeable higher pitch (possibly because it aired on TV in a PAL or SECAM-format country, though the same pitch might also be seen in NTSC-format countries).

Audio Variant: In other cases, it used only the closing theme of the show or none, as in the case of season 1 episodes of Sue Thomas' F.B. Eye.

Availability:

• It was seen on an Irish RTÉ Jr. broadcast of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, before the credits; the 2003 Sony Pictures Television International logo appeared after the credits.
• It was also seen on the 2000 version of Tequilla & Bonetti and international prints of Mysterious Ways.
• Also seen on season 1 episodes of Sue Thomas' F.B. Eye on Start TV, as well as on Hallmark Movies Now, Amazon Video, Peacock, and Tubi, among other streaming services.

Columbia TriStar International Television

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