Curious Pictures

Background

Curious Pictures was an American animation studio, first formed in 1978 and went through many names, those being Stowmar Enterprises, Open Studio, Broadcast Arts, and finally, Curious Pictures in 1993. The studio was disbanded in 2014 and closed in 2015.

1st Logo (January 7, 1993-December 15, 2001)

Visuals: On a white background are the words "curious?ictures" in the Adobe Garamond font, with most of the letters ("curious ictures") black, and the red question mark resembles the letter "p". The logo is still.

Variants:

At the end of the making of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. featurette, the white background is shown with the red question mark. After 2.5 seconds, the words appear. After three seconds, the whole thing disappears to black. The whole thing is silent.
On HBO Family's A Little Curious (at the end of all episodes), the screen fades from the closing credits to the white background, to have the question mark appearing. The words fade in and out (forward-and-reversed version of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. variant), followed by the whole thing fading to black. The closing theme ends throughout.
At the end of the TV Funhouse skit "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas" from the December 15, 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live, the logo is placed on an orange background. Also, the words "ANIMATION BY" in a Franklin Gothic-looking font appear above the logo and the words "New York City" in Comic Sans appear below the logo.

Trivia: This was designed by Pentagram, who would later design the 2019 Warner Bros. shield.

Technique: Fading effects.

Audio: The ending theme of the program.

Availability: Seen on the unaired Nickelodeon pilot The Louie n' Louie Show. A second pilot, shown on KaBlam!, was produced without Curious Pictures' involvement. The variations as seen on the above mentioned.

2nd Logo (February 14, 1999-April 24, 2015)

Standard logo
Still version
Runaway Dot
Runaway Dot with copyright stamp
Dot of Smoke, beginning takeoff
Dot of Smoke, taking off
The Crazy Question Mark

Visuals: Over a black background are these words (in the same font as before) written across it:

curious?ictures

"?" Variants: The dot in the "?" turns into something crazy, There were a few variations of the dot.:

"Runaway Dot": At the end of the logo, dot in the "?" morphs into a humanoid object with dots and lines representing its hands, feet, arms, and legs and falls down. It runs towards the right end of the screen.
"The Dot of Smoke": At the end of the logo, the "?" dot becomes a rocket and flies around, spin in circles, then fly quickly towards the bottom right of the screen, leaving a trail of smoke as it does so.
"The Crazy Question Mark": On all episodes of Hey Joel and Prickles the Cactus, the question mark jumps out from the text to the left to right to the center. The closing theme plays throughout.

Other Variants:

A still variant exists.
On the Little Einsteins pilot movie "Our Huge Adventure", Rocket flies to the top of the screen to form the variant stated above.
On the pilot episode of Sheep in the Big City, the "Runaway Dot" logo fades in and out.
On Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, the logo plays in reverse.
"The Crazy Question Mark": On all episodes of Hey Joel and Prickles the Cactus, the question mark jumps out from the text to the left to right to the center. The closing theme plays throughout.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio:

"Runaway Dot": there are squeaking sounds as the dot falls down and runs.
"The Dot of Smoke": there is a loud rocket "WHOOSH" sound.

Audio Variants:

On Codename: Kids Next Door, the odd spring sounder from the closing theme of the show plays over the "Dot of Smoke" logo. Then the whoosh sound plays as normal. On later episodes, a different louder whoosh sound is used.
- On the episode "Operation: S.N.O.W.I.N.G.", Lizzie (voiced by Grey DeLisle) says "Yummy!" throughout the logo.
On Nickelodeon USA, from August 8, 2011 airings of 2 Team Umizoomi episodes ("Counting Comet" and "Ice Cream Truck"), the "Runaway Dot" audio followed by the 19th Nickelodeon Productions music was aired on the 16th Nickelodeon Productions logo due to plastering errors.
On the pilot for Sheep in the Big City, the dot squeaking is different. The closing theme also plays over the logo here.
On Little Einsteins, Hey Joel and Team Umizoomi, as well as the My Scene and Polly Pocket films, the closing theme plays over the logo (or in the case of Team Umizoomi, the last few notes of the closing theme).
On the Little Einsteins episode "The Birthday Balloons", a different rocket whoosh sound is heard over the closing theme.
In other cases, it's silent.

Availability:

The "Runaway Dot" variant was first sighted on the Cartoon Network show Sheep in the Big City, which is long gone from TV. It also appeared on the first episode of Codename: Kids Next Door ("Operation: C.A.K.E.D."/"Kenny and the Chimp"/"No P in the O.O.L.") as well as the pilot Prickles the Cactus. It also showed up on two My Scene films, Jammin' in Jamaica, and Goes Hollywood. It last appeared on some episodes of Team Umizoomi on Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon, although not every episode features it.
The "Dot of Smoke" variant is seen on most Codename: Kids Next Door episodes, My Scene: Masquerade Madness, Polly Pocket: 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza, and on Little Einsteins.
The still logo can be sighted on Codename: Kids Next Door 2-part episodes, the direct-to-video movie PollyWorld, and An Off-Beats Valentine's.

Legacy: A memorable logo for those who grew up with it.

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Curious Pictures