DHX Cookie Jar

Background

Cookie Jar Entertainment was the last name of the former production company originally known as "CINAR" established on March 15, 2004 by Michael Hirsh as a subsidiary of the Cookie Jar Group after he left Nelvana.

On August 20, 2012, DHX Media (now known as WildBrain) announced that it would acquire Cookie Jar for $111 million, and it was completed on October 22 of the same year, with Cookie Jar Entertainment, Inc. rebranding as DHX Cookie Jar, Inc.

The last two shows to feature the Cookie Jar name on screen were Ella the Elephant and the sixth season of Johnny Test, and since then the company has remained an in-name-only company of DHX Media/WildBrain.

Logo (October 11, 2004-December 25, 2014)

Prototype 1
Prototype 2
English
French
16x9
without URL
without URL (16x9}
Kung Fu Dino Posse version
2008 version
2008 version (16x9)
Used on commercial breaks from Cookie Jar Toons
Used at the start of Cookie Jar Toons
Gerald McBoing-Boing variant
The Busy World of Richard Scarry variant
2012 version
April 2013 version
September 2013 version

Normal:

Very rare variants:

Cookie Jar Toons:

Visuals: On a black background is the stacked text "COOKIE JAR" in a custom font, resting on a rounded yellow line and a lid on top. Suddenly, the lid flies off and four bright lights emerge out of the jar. The lid then falls back down, tilted. There is a byline underneath that reads: "Cookie Jar is a trademark of Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc."

Variants:

A prototype version has the logo simply swinging and zooming in, then the jar swings up and down, and the "COOKIE JAR" text is in a slightly different font. It was seen on an unofficial Greek dub of Caillou's Holiday Movie and certain early prints of Arthur (shortened), while Postcards from Buster uses a still without copyright info.
There are two regular versions of the logo:
- One that animates traditionally (but the flying lid and bright lights appear to be CG-animated, with the former being flat-shaded) but fast-paced. There's an extended version of this, when the jar shakes first before it explodes, introduced in 2004.
- One another has the logo CG-animated but slower, with the Comic Sans byline font, introduced in 2008.
A French variant of the byline exists, reading "Cookie Jar est une marque de commerce de Divertissement Cookie Jar inc." and can be found on French dubs of shows like Caillou.
On Gerald McBoing-Boing, the logo is superimposed over the credits.
Sometimes, the logo is still.
There may also be a "www.thecookiejarcompany.com" URL below, for the 2004 regular version.
This logo would sometimes be seen with the word "TOONS" below for their block on This TV.
- There's also a variant featuring the Cookie Jar Toons logo in a red, blue and yellow-striped background. This was used for the start of the block.
Current prints of The Busy World of Richard Scarry replace the CINAR variant with the horizontal "COOKIE JAR" text on both the English and French versions.
On the Johnny Test game for NDS, the logo is on a white circle and is still.
In 2009 on CBS' KEWLopolis, PBS prints of season 5 of Caillou, and Ella the Elephant, among others, the logo plays in warp speed.
Starting with Deadtime Stories, the byline now reads "COOKIE JAR is a trademark of DHX Cookie Jar Inc." with "A DHX Media Company" in Gill Sans MT Cyrillic Bold under it. On the last season of Johnny Test, the byline was moved up to the logo.
- One of the latest variants removes the DHX Cookie Jar byline (leaving just the "A DHX Media Company" byline) and the DHX Media logo is seen with blue cartoon-like clouds on the bottom.
On early seasons of Arthur on Amazon Prime, the "www.thecookiejarcompany.com" URL is blacked out. This becomes obvious when the lights burst from the jar.
On Kung Fu Dino Posse, the byline reads "Cookie Jar™ Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc." under it.
When this logo first plastered the CINAR logo on Caillou, a variant was seen where a still version of the prototype logo is seen superimposed over the credits.
On later prints of Ivanhoe: The King's Knight, the logo (with "closed" lid) replaces the CINAR logo on the left box, while on the bottom of the screen the bylines from the normal version was added.

Trivia: The logo was designed by Adams Morioka.

Technique:

2D computer animation mixed with CGI for the first regular variant.
CGI for the second regular variant.

Audio: The jar shaking and a "pop" sound, followed by a playful dance-pop tune with kids screaming and cheering, accompanied by a 7-note pizzicato tune. This ends with a clinging sound, a child giggling and a bass note. Composed by Olaf Pyttlik and Clinton Skibitzky at DACAPO Productions.

Audio Variants:

The end theme of the show is used sometimes; otherwise, the logo is silent.
An extended version of the jingle exists.
Starting in 2008, the music is accompanied by a reverse reverb effect just before the jar opens, kids saying "Cookie Jar!" as the lights appear, and the same kids laughing when the lid drops down.
On the commercial break bumpers of This TV's Cookie Jar Toons block, the announcer (either it's male or female) says "Don't go away, Cookie Jar Toons will be right back.", "We'll be right back with more Cookie Jar Toons.", "Welcome back to Cookie Jar Toons." or "And now, back to Cookie Jar Toons.".
On Polish airings of Sonic Underground, it uses the 1999 DIC logo's music, including the kid saying “Deek!” from the 1999 one and from the last logo of DIC. This is probably because the TV station forgot to update the audio track. Other airings have the correct audio described above.
On a 2010 episode of Johnny Test on the show's official YouTube channel, due to some audio channels being removed, only one of the kids' voices says the "Cookie Jar" phrase.
At the end of the aforementioned Greek dub of Caillou's Holiday Movie and on Sprout's TV print of said movie, the 2003-2004 CINAR variant audio from said movie is used. On current prints of said movie, the regular jingle is used, with Caillou's laughter at the end.
On a Serbian-dubbed print of the original Inspector Gadget series, this logo had the music from the show’s custom variant of the 2nd DIC logo. This is possibly due to a bad plaster job.
On Madeline: The Complete Collection, some episodes of The New Adventures of Madeline to be specific, the 1999 DIC logo's music briefly plays.
On the Russian-dubbed print of one episode of Inspector Gadget, it plays over the credits theme, plastering the DIC logo, but afterwards, the 1996 Saban logo music is heard on the black BG without animation. This was likely due to "dubbers" having forgotten to edit the audio. This can be seen also on other prints, like a (for example, episode 104) DHX Kids Russia print.
On the Greek-dubbed YouTube print of two of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show episodes ("Mario of the Apes" and "Crocodile Mario"), the 2008 Cookie Jar and the 1990 warp-speed DIC themes are both playing at the same time. This is due to a rush double plaster error: both the themes played at the same time and the editors forgot to remove the DIC audio. Other prints of those episodes use only the 2008 Cookie Jar theme.
On Greek prints of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episodes "Lovesick Sonic" and "Blank Headed Eagle", the 1990 DIC theme plays over this logo.
Original prints of Noonbory and the Super 7 had the end theme play over the logo.
- However, WildBrain reprints instead use the logo's jingle, likely due to WildBrain chopping up the footage and cutting out certain scenes, including part of the credits music.

Availability: It appears on every show by CINAR after its rebrand, such as seasons 9-15 of Arthur (also on current prints of the first eight seasons), Caillou (2004-13), The Doodlebops and its obscure spin-off series Doodlebops Rockin' Road Show, Johnny Test beginning with its third season, the 2005 version of Gerald McBoing-Boing, and others.

It also plasters over any DIC and CINAR logo used on shows produced from said companies, especially on modern DVD prints from companies like Mill Creek Entertainment.
- The 2008 version also even plasters the original 2004 version at times, as seen on Cookie Jar TV prints of The Doodlebops and PBS Kids Video prints of seasons 9-10 of Arthur (to hide the Cookie Jar URL).
Some shows would go as far to replace their opening credit logos as well, as with The Busy World of Richard Scarry, that retains the Paramount logo except replacing the "A CINAR Presentation" on the in-credit logo with "A COOKIE JAR Presentation".
- Mona the Vampire also did the same, although sometimes there is no text at all.
NCircle's DVD releases of Cookie Jar's archive programming have the jingle version followed by the NCircle logo, while This TV broadcasts of their archive programs (many of these had not been seen in the U.S. beforehand) under the title This is For Kids or (for E/I shows) Cookie Jar Toons had this logo plastered over any DIC/CINAR logos, with the exception of some episodes of Inspector Gadget (which uses the 2001-2002 Fox Family/Fox Kids international prints with the 2nd "Kid in Bed" logo, the 1996 Saban International logo and the 1997 Fox Kids Worldwide logo), at least until 2013, when the block was dropped.
The clouds variant was seen only on the second half of the final season of Johnny Test, Ella the Elephant and at the beginning of the Entertainment One DVD release of Caillou's Water Fun.
Current prints of Caillou on Cartoonito also plaster this and the second CINAR logo with the WildBrain logo.
Prints of Inspector Gadget currently streamed on The Roku Channel also use the 2008 variant of the logo, plastering the DIC logo.

Legacy: This logo has earned despise for plastering older logos from the companies this company absorbed. However, those who grew up with Cookie Jar media consider this logo nostalgic.

Final Note

WildBrain (then known as DHX Media) acquired the company in 2012 and folded them as an in-name only operation. Despite this, the DHX Cookie Jar name still existed as a copyright notice on seasons 1-3 of the 2015 Inspector Gadget revival until 2017.

◄	CINAR DIC Entertainment

DHX Cookie Jar

DHX Media

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