Dolby Stereo

1st Trailer (1979?-198?)

Nickname: "Our Feature Presentation in Dolby Stereo", "Dolby Rollercoaster"

Trailer: On a zooming starfield background, "OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION" zooms in from the bottom and shines. After that, we see a blank Dolby Stereo logo zoom from the top with a trail effect until it gets to the center. About before the trail is done, we see the whole logo, and "PRESENTED IN" zooms to the top of it afterwards. The logo "shines" from left to right then flashes brightly.

FX/SFX: Rather limited animation. This was done by Filmack Studios (who got the license to use the Dolby logo).

Music/Sounds: "Zap!" by Derek Scott.

Availability: Probably extinct, but was common in the past; it was the most common Dolby trailer in cinemas before the introduction of Dolby Digital.

Editor's Note: Pretty cool concept, but the execution is standard for its time.

2nd Trailer (1980s)

Nickname: "For Your Listening Pleasure"

Trailer: We have a space background. Suddenly, a Dolby logo zooms in fast. Then, it zooms out from the left. When it's done, it flashes and forms the box with "DOLBY STEREO". When that is done, the slogan "FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE" fades in below.

Variant: A Dolby Stereo SR variant also exists. In this variant, the Dolby logo zooms our with two boxes reading “SR”. “SPECTRAL RECORDING” is formed on top of the box reading “DOLBY STEREO”.

FX/SFX: The animation. It's kind of choppy, despite being stunning for the time.

Music/Sounds: Whooshing sounds, then a “bang” when the logo comes together. If one listens with headphones, a “whoosh” can be heard panning from left to right after the logo forms.

Availability: TBA

Editor's Note: Compared to the Filmack trailer, this manages to hold up much better to today's standards.

3rd Trailer (198?-199?)

Nickname: "Berta the Bumblebee"

Trailer: On a light blue gradient background, an animated bumblebee flies in from the middle of the screen. She flies to the right, and scratches herself. She waves to the viewer, humming, as she flies to the left. After scratching her head again, she goes to the right off-screen. She flies by the screen from the left and right, yelling in enjoyment. She heads to the middle of the screen, before facing the viewer. She yells "Yipee!" before flying at the screen, hitting it and flying back to the middle, dazed. After shaking herself off, her wings stop moving, making her fall of the screen from the bottom. After a few moments, the Spectral Recording Dolby Stereo logo (as described in the previous logo) appears in the middle.

FX/SFX: Simple hand-drawn animation.

Music/Sounds: The buzzing of Berta, her hooting and hollering, and a crashing sound when she hits the screen.

Sound Variant: The German version has an announcer saying this is a presentation in Dolby Stereo when the Dolby SR logo appears.

Availability: Extinct outside of any 35mm prints found nowadays. Likely appeared in cinemas that had Dolby SR technology at the time. It is unknown if this was used co-current with the 2nd and 4th trailers like the future Dolby Digital trailers were.

Editor's Note: A cute, charming trailer with nice hand-drawn animation.

4th Trailer (Fall 1990-2001?)

Nicknames: "Surround Fantastique", "The Dolby Fanfare"

Trailer: We fly through various terrain and mountains. We then see one mountain and then we fly over it, where we can see a man throwing clothes off it, before we go into the sky to see the Dolby Stereo logo or regular Dolby logo float down. "Making Films Sound Better" appears below, along with information for Spectral Recording on the Dolby Stereo variant.

FX/SFX: Mostly live-action.

Music/Sounds: A majestic orchestrated fanfare composed by Henry Mancini. It would be later re-orchestrated later on for the Dolby Digital version.

Availability: It is unknown; Possibly extinct. It probably showed on cinemas at the time.

Editor's Note: A rather impressive and breathtaking logo; however, the ending animation of the Dolby logo floating down and the byline appearing is pretty low-effort and primitive, sadly.