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.

Broadcast Arts

1st Logo (1983-June 1984)

Nicknames: "Eerie Testcard", "Malfunctioning Laboratory", "Electronic Tone of Dread"

Logo: We fade from black to the color test card. After a few seconds, the color bars becomes the color tubes. The camera pans to the blue neon sign saying:

Broadcast
Arts

with a machine on a table with red sparks coming out of it.

Variants: A shorter version can be seen at the start of Broadcast Arts' 1983 demo reel and the end of their 1984 demo reel.

FX/SFX: The camera transitioning to the tubes, the camera panning and the sparks from the machine.

Music/Sounds: The 400 Hz tone, which trails off when the camera transitions, along with the sparks.

Availability: Was never actually used on television. It only appeared on Broadcast Arts' 1983 and 1984 demo reels.

Editor’s Note: Although the tone’s hum may be considered anywhere from frightening to annoying, this logo is very creative.

2nd Logo (1988-July 2, 1990)

Logo: On a black background with some barely visible smudges moving by, we see two copies of a letter "T" in a box (one is colored blue, the other red in a wide-angle fashion. Some red scribbles move past as the 3D word "BROADCAS" comes in from the left and unfolds (the "T" finishes off the word as "BROADCAST"). The scribble passes by as a copy of the word scrolls past from the right to the left, while the word "arts" in a script fashion writes in along with the scrolling copy (the original had faded out before.) The original copy fades in piece by piece, with the scribble going through the word "BROADCAST" while red smudges are present to the right of the "T" (the box it's in is now blue/red gradient.) "INC." is below "arts" in a spaced-out style.

Variant: A shortened version exists that has the company name already formed while the copy scrolls by.

FX/SFX: The words coming in and the fading.

Music/Sounds: A bizarre synth tune, mixed with some chimes and bass notes.

Availability: This was only seen on the unsold pilots, The Jackie Bison Show for NBC and Norman's Corner.

Editor’s Note: None.

Curious Pictures

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

Logo: On a white background, we see the words "curious?ictures", with most of the letters ("curious ictures") black, and the red question mark resembles the letter "p".

Variants:

At the end of the making of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. featurette, we see the white background 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), we fade from the closing credits to the white background, to have the question mark appearing. The words fades in and out (forward-and-reversed version of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. variant), followed by the whole thing fade to black. The closing theme ends throughout.
At the end of the TV Funhouse skit "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas" from a December 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.

FX/SFX: None. The background fading, the question mark appearing, the text appearing in the first variant and the text fading in and out in the second variant.

Music/Sounds: 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.

Editor’s Note: None.

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

Nicknames: "The Dot", "Dot of Smoke", "City Dot", "Runaway Dot," "The Dot Rocket", "The Crazy Question Mark"

Logo: On a black background, we see these words written across it:

curious?ictures

Suddenly, the 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.

Variants: There were a few variations of this logo:

"The Dot of Smoke" has the "?" dot become a rocket and fly around, spin in circles, then fly quickly towards the bottom right of the screen, leaving a trail of smoke as it does so.
- Various episodes of Little Einsteins have the spaceship from the show fly to the top of the screen to form the variant stated above.
A still variant exists.
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.
On all episodes of Hey Joel, the question mark jumps out from the text to the left to right to the center. The closing theme plays throughout.

FX/SFX: The dot morphing and running on the "Dot" logo. The rocket flying and the trail of smoke on the "Dot of Smoke" logo. None on the still logo.

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

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Codename: Kids Next Door, a weird sound plays at the end of the credits which follows on to the "Dot of Smoke" logo. Then the whoosh sound plays as normal. On later episodes a different louder whoosh sound is used.
On the pilot for Sheep in the Big City, the dot squeaking is much different then episode 2 and onwards.
- Also on the pilot for Sheep in the Big City, the closing theme plays over the logo with the squeaking sounds.
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.
On the Little Einsteins episode "The Birthday Balloons", a different rocket whoosh sound is heard over the closing theme.

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, as well as Prickles the Cactus, 2 My Scene films, My Scene: Jammin' in Jamaica, and My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie, and on some episodes of Team Umizoomi on Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon. 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 season 1 & 2 episodes of Little Einsteins on Disney Junior. The still logo can be sighted on Codename: Kids Next Door 2-part episodes, PollyWorld, and An Off-Beats Valentine's.

Editor’s Note: A memorable logo for those who grew up with it.