Disney Channel International

Credits

Descriptions by
Exclaim Entertainment, ifyoudarethenpizzait, and Nico234

Background

In 1995, The Walt Disney Company launched the first international versions of Disney Channel in Taiwan (on March) and the United Kingdom (on October). Since then, other countries began carrying their own local version of Disney Channel and later its sister networks Disney Junior (formerly Playhouse Disney) and Disney XD (formerly Toon Disney and Jetix), alongside other Disney Branded Television networks.

Until 2003, Disney Channel international networks generally have a different on-air look compared to the original U.S. network; all international networks would eventually follow the same on-air look as the U.S. counterpart, but localized idents and / or on-air design packages were also produced in select countries.

1st ID (October 1, 1995 - 1997)

Nickname: "The Mickey Mouse Head"

Logo: Several different idents exist in this on-air design, all of which end with a Mickey Mouse head shape being formed; the text "The Disney Channel" fades in underneath.

Idents:

• Morning/Night: We see the Disney Channel US logo from 1986 against an orange or violet background; the logo glows and shines throughout. Generally used for start-up and closedown.
• Bubbles: A huge bubble zooms out, which bursts into various smaller bubbles with three forming the logo.
• Fireworks: Against a fireworks backdrop, the Mickey Mouse head shape outline is formed with red firework streaks.
• Paint Splat: Various paint splats appear on colored backgrounds; two small red splats and a large blue splat then forms the logo.
• Snowflake: Two snowflakes skate around and draw the logo on a lake of ice.
• Sparklers: Red, purple and blue sparklers move around the screen and then form the logo.
• Trumpets: Various trumpets appear, ending with the logo formed using three trumpet heads. The trumpets at the end also begin shooting sparks after the logo is formed.

Trivia: This on-air design package was designed at Lambie-Nairn.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A different, unique musical score for each ident, ending with a three-note jingle (F-G-C).

Availability: Extinct. These were used in the United Kingdom for two years since launch.

Editor's Note: A nicely animated ident set. The two on-air looks that followed would continue the concept of using Mickey Mouse's head shape; the logo from the Paint Splat ident would also eventually become the primary logo until 2003.

2nd ID (March 22, 1997 - September 1, 1999)

Nickname: "Red and Blue"

Logo: Much like the previous logo, there were several idents produced in this on-air look. The general idea is as follows: three objects — two colored red and one colored blue — roughly form the logo. At the end of each ident, the text "Disney Channel" draws in from the left at the bottom; Disney is shown in the Walt Disney corporate script, and Channel is displayed using the Globe Gothic Bold Condensed font.

Idents:

• Ice Cream Conga: Three ice cream cones are doing the conga to conga music, and when they are centered on the screen, they splat themselves against the wall where the logo is formed. An additional Pink ice cream cone congas and scrolls past.
• Bouncing Dough Balls: dough balls of red and blue colors are seen bouncing in all directions with sentinent ecstatic whoops, until a rolling pin squishes them flat, forming the logo. Two more bouncing balls bounce normally across the screen
• Shadow Balloons (the canonically first Disney Channel UK/France Ident of this era): Didgeredoo mystery music plays as 3 balloon shadows float into place, forming the logo and beginning the 3 jingle sequence(played by squeaky toys) (The disney Channel Text does not form here)
• Balloons: we pan to a woman holding a yellow balloon floating in the wind and then turn our attention to the balloons forming the logo, (the three jingle sequence used her will be reused and remixed several times during this time.)
• Bell: a blue bell can be seen on a haystack with ribbons that turn it into the logo, bells toll in the background (with 3 bells playing the 3 jingle sequence)
• Hat balls: its a windy day, and three men are trying not to get blown away, because of the wind patterns, the hat balls form the logo.
• Boules: it appears the camera man has attached a 1997 pov camera to a boules ball and bounces it to three more boules balls which formed the logo (another remix of the jingle used by balloons 1997 and umbrellas)
• Outer Space: We zoom from a big blue planet in space. Later, two smaller red planets come out of it, forming the logo.
• Choir: Two animated people sing, slowly coming together. As they sing the last note, their mouths turn red. Another person comes up from the bottom, their mouth is blue, forming the logo.
• Fox: A blue animated fox is sleeping. He is dreaming about red jumping birds. The birds and the fox form the logo.
• Apples: A blue and red apple are seen spinning in the grass. They both stop, and the red one splits in half to form the logo.
• Beach Umbrellas: We start with an extreme close-up view of the blue umbrella. We zoom out to see two red umbrellas above it. This forms the logo. (the jingle sequence used is a shorter version of the ident above)
• Fish Tank 1997: (a cat with blue fur watches as two fish swim in a fishtank, forming the logo)
• Constellations: a group of astronomers have fun looking at red and blue stars. They pan to a specific group forming the logo
• Crabs: on some rocks there is three crabs that form the logo (the jingle used here is another remix of the balloons 1997, boules and beach umbrellas logo, but instead of the usual tuned woodblocks, the theme is played on steel drums tuned to E)
• Kitchen: On a stove, a blue pot with a lid is seen. Behind it, two pans are cooking red food, forming the logo.
• Island: the camera moves through the sea until we see two red seashells and a blue one, forming the logo. (This is another remix of the beach themed idents, as instead of woodblocks the theme is played on a stringed instrument tuned to c major)
• Darts: two red darts manage to make a double bullseye, forming the logo
• musical beach chairs: a beach babe appears to be playing musical chairs by herself running counter clockwise returning to the blue chair and fading away forming the logo
• Dice/ snake eyes: a person is playing with gambling dice. He rolls a five on the blue but the red dice form the infamous snake eyes, which form the logo
• Doorknob: a person is searching to enter his home on a creepy windy night. The door knockers and lion carvings form the logo
• Easter eggs: sitting on a bale of hay are three chocolate eggs with a vanilla ice creme center stripe. They get bagged, forming the logo
• Eggyolk: an egg rolls around a plate and gets bitten open, forming the logo
• plastik eggs: plastic eggs are sitting on a bed of vibrating balls which form the logo.
• Hop scotch: in the french countryside, red and blue feeted ghosts play hopscotch, forming the logo
• Da Vinci: the logo is formed in the Same way Leonardo Da Vinci writes and paints
• Fish: the logo is instantly formed by 2 red fish and one blue fish
• Flowers: we see yellow flowers open up into 2 red flowers and one blue flower, forming the logo
• Spanish hats: two red baseball caps and one spanish hat go on a rack, forming the logo
• Ice Cream Splat: a girl eats her icecream and splats it forming the logo

FX/SFX: Various methods of animation or live-action footage, depending on each ident.

Music/Sounds: A unique musical or sound effect score for each ident, most of which end with a new three-note jingle (E-G-C).

Availability: Extinct. First used by Disney Channel France since its launch on March 22, 1997, then adapted by the international networks launched between 1997 and 1999.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd ID (September 1, 1999 - March 15, 2003)

Nickname: "Circles"

Logo: A refined version of the previous on-air packages; three symmetrically round objects form the Mickey Mouse head shape. The text "Disney Channel" (using the same fonts from the previous logo, but colored accordingly to the accompanying logo form-up) then fades in below.

Idents:

The following idents are used on the mainline Disney Channel and its timeshift counterpart in select countries.

• Discoball: Seven disco lights flash on screen in time with the music, transitioning to two lights and a disco ball forming the logo.
• Raindrops: On a glass window with an outside view, three raindrops fall down on the window to form the logo; the two smaller circles reflect a pink flower.
• Computer: We see a computer with several programs running; the disc drive then opens to show three optical discs (two orange and one blue) forming the logo.
• Laboratory: A Rube Goldberg machine set in a laboratory carries two green slime blobs to a purple plasma sphere, forming the logo.
• Clouds: A blue sphere travels through a glitchy sky environment, then it zooms out to the center of a blue background as two small clouds grow above the sphere, forming the logo.
• Chrome Blob: On a silver steel surface, various metal blobs merge together to form the logo, which is made out of two silver blobs and one blue blob.
• Spotlights: We see a view of a theater stage with a red curtain; three spotlights (two orange and one white) then move around the curtain until they settle to the center and form the logo.
• Bathtub: A red straw rises above the water in a bathtub, which then blows three bubbles that form the logo.
• Basketball: Four stopwatches play basketball in an indoor court; one of the stopwatches then shoots the ball towards a hoop and onto two smaller stopwatches, forming the logo.
• Picnic: A picnic is seen being set up on a checkered blanket; an apple then falls onto the picnic, tumbling the plates and utensils. Two apples and a yellow plate then roll onto the grass and form the logo.
• Chess: We see a chess board where the pieces interact with each other; two black pawns then move towards the white king, forming the logo.
• Paint Blob: A red blob and a yellow blob shape-shift and interact. The yellow blob then jumps on the red blob, causing it to split into two. Finally, the yellow blob jumps to the two red blobs, forming the logo.
• Peacock: A peacock is seen, which then fans its tailfeathers that contain the logo.
• Moon: In a forest at night, comets fall and strike a cloud, causing it to split into two on top of the moon and form the logo.
• Soccer: In a stadium, a soccer ball is seen being thrown around; the ball then hits the frame of a goal and crashes on an electronic light board with two zeroes displayed, forming the logo.
• Ice Cream Float: A scoop of vanilla ice cream is dropped onto a pool of soda; the scoop then floats back up to the surface along with two bubbles, forming the logo.
• Dog Food: An overhead view of a house is seen, where an invisible dog follows a trail of dog snacks; the dog eventually goes into a yellow room and knocks three dog food bowls, which form the logo.
• Microscope: A cluster of pink and yellow amoeba is seen under a microscope. The lens zooms in on a pink cell and two yellow cells forming the logo.
• Purple Blob: A purple blob is seen on a green background. The blob stretches and retracts back to the center, causing two yellow blobs to pop in above, forming the logo.
• Spinning Top: A purple top spins around the floor while two green yo-yo's fall from above; the yo-yo's strings then get caught by the top and cause the yo-yo's to spin rapidly then settle next to the top, forming the logo.
• Sun Cooler: A sun is seen warming the other planets in space; an electric fan then turns on and blows air towards the sun. Two smaller fans settle around the sun and form the logo.
• Video Game: In a racing video game setting, two futuristic space pods travel around the landscape and towards a finish line; upon finishing, the two pods receive a gold medal, which forms the logo.
• Turnips: Two turnips grow underneath a patch of soil; the turnips and the resulting tangle of roots form the logo.
• UFO: A space station drops two UFO's, which glide around space until they hit a green planet below, forming the logo.
• Pumpkins: Two pumpkins ride a Halloween-themed roller coaster; the coaster then reaches a dead end, hurling the pumpkins towards a jack-o'-lantern, which forms the logo. Primarily used during Halloween season.
• Wreath: A cottage is seen in a winter forest. The door closes and causes a wreath to fall down and roll into a snowball around the forest; the snowball then hits a Christmas tree, causing the wreath and two red baubles to fall onto the snow and form the logo. Primarily used during Christmas season.
• Popcorn: A popcorn maker is seen, where the popped kernels make their way through a movie projector; the logo is then formed with two film reels and a bucket of popcorn. Primarily used before movies.

The following idents are used during pre-school programming on the mainline Disney Channel and /or on the Playhouse Disney block / dedicated channel, depending on the country / region.

• Amoeba: A yellow blob interacts with two green blobs then form the logo.
• Marching Band: A group of circles perform a short band routine; a blue circle (representing a bass drum) and two yellow circles (representing cymbals) form the logo.
• Balloon: Two orange circles bungee-jump around a blue circle then form the logo.
• Bumper Cars: Two multi-colored circles collide with each other and around the screen; a larger multi-colored circle travels towards the other two and form the logo.
• Dance: One red circle and two blue circles perform a stop dance game, eventually forming the logo.
• Frogs: Three green circles (representing frogs) attempt to catch flies with their tongues; the frog in the center catches a big fly, causing it to grow bigger and turn purple, forming the logo.
• Figure Skating: Three spotlights skate around the ice; the resulting skate trails then form the logo.
• Car: A purple circle and two yellow circles are drawn, representing a car. The car them zooms around the screen until it flips over to the center, forming the logo.
• Paint: A red paint circle is drawn in the center of the screen, a yellow circle and a blue circle play around the red circle then merge to create two green circles, forming the logo.
• Jumping: Two purple scribbled rounds jump on the screen; a blue scribbled round then joins the two and form the logo.
• Birds: An orange circle (representing a mother bird) interact with two yellow circles (representing baby chicks) and form the logo.
• Snow Slope: Two red circles push a blue circle (representing a snowball) atop a snowy slope; the circles then slide down the slope and form the logo.
• Squeeze: A purple circle falls and lands onto a blue circle; another blue circle attempts push the purple circle out of the way, eventually causing the circles to bounce and form the logo.
• Space: Two blue circles, one of which has a cold, fly towards the sun and form the logo.
• Strings: A ensemble is seen, with two yellow circles representing a flute and a bass and an orange circle representing a harp. The harp then breaks, and the other two circles fix it and form the logo.

Trivia: This ident set and the accompanying on-air design package was primarily created by French design agency Gédéon. Several other animation studios also contributed idents to this set.

FX/SFX: The mainline channel idents use either CGI, live-action, or hand-drawn animation, depending on the ident. The pre-school idents all use simple 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: Various musical scores relating to each ident's theme; all idents end with the same three-note jingle from the previous ident set.

Availability: Extinct. It was seen in all Disney Channel international networks between 1999 and 2003.

Editor's Note: A very creative ident set, simply put. This would mark as the final unique on-air look for the international versions of Disney Channel before adapting the same logo and on-air design from the U.S. network.