Gullane Entertainment

Background

Gullane Entertainment is the name of Britt Allcroft's production company formed to produce Seasons 6 and 7 of Thomas and Friends and the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. Gullane also owned other franchises, such as Sooty, Fireman Sam, and Art Attack. The company was acquired by HiT Entertainment PLC in 2002, but Gullane Entertainment was not defunct/closed until 2003. The name Gullane is still used for its in-credit and byline variants for most Thomas & Friends media, despite the company being shutdown in that year after being acquired by HiT Entertainment in 2002/2003.

1st Logo (July 14, 2000)

Nickname: "The Seagull"

Logo: Fading in over waves passing by the camera, a reflection of a seagull is seen flying about. The camera moves upwards to reveal a sunset, and the gull is seen in full. It starts to veer to the right, then starts to flap its wings while being doused among a white light. Then the gull turns into a metallic teal silhouette and a yellow arc draws in to finish the logo. While that happens, several lights appear and morph into the silver letters "GULLANE PICTURES" and then shines before cutting to black.

FX/SFX: The animation of a seagull and an arc, the shine.

Music/Sounds: Just sounds of the waves, the seagull squawking and flapping, and metallic screeching. Chimes can also be heard at the end.

Availability: Only appears on Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (2000-2003)

Nickname: "The Seagull II"

Logo: We start off zooming in towards the horizon over a body of blue water, with the horizon having fluffy clouds and the sun in the distance. A white gull flies over the ocean as the camera turns towards the spot, and when it touches the water with the tip of its wing, it creates a ripple and flies off. The screen rotates upwards to reveal that the ripple was a wide white "G", with it clearing up, and now a teal box as well as "GULLANE" in a similar font to the "G", albeit at a normal width. The gull then flies over the logo and flashes, turning silver and making the background a white/blue mix. An underline and "ENTERTAINMENT" in a different font also appear below.

Variants:

• On Eckhart, the completed logo shines with a reversed cymbal crash.

• On the voiceover variant, once the logo finishes animating, it fades to black and the white URL www.planetgullane.com fades in on a black background.
• On Thomas & Friends™ - Thomas' Trackside Tunes, some text that read "Please Visit Our Web Site at" and the URL at the time below fades in. It then fades out to the copyright disclaimer that reads "© Gullane (Thomas) Limited 1998". However, it's only seen on the original VHS release, later DVD releases have it plastered with the 2007 HiT Entertainment logo.

FX/SFX: Mostly the gull, the ocean and the box.

Music/Sounds: A shortened version of the 1st logo's sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants: On at least three Sooty's Magic VHS tapes, there is a male voiceover announcing: "Gullane Entertainment - Entertaining Familes Worldwide!"

Availability: Rare. Appears on all Thomas and Friends VHS tapes and DVDs over the timeframe, immediately following the Anchor Bay or VCI logo. It also appeared on an extremely rare Japanese Thomas VHS called A Wonderful American Journey with Thomas and Connie. Outside Thomas the Tank Engine, this logo appeared on the Art Attack VHS tape Monsters and Other Scary Stuff, UK airings of Eckhart, and three Sooty direct-to-video programmes, titled Sooty's Magic Show, Sooty's Magic Club and the extremely rare Sooty's Magic Birthday Party. Even though Gullane was involved with those two shows, this logo does not appear on either Sooty Heights or Sooty 2001, which instead use the Sooty Limited and Granada logos.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (2002)

Nickname: "The Seagull III"

Logo: On a sky blue background, "A BRITT ALLCROFT COMPANY PRODUCTION" in Copperplate Gothic zooms out until it reaches a comfortable distance, then the Britt Allcroft logo in gold quickly writes itself. Underneath, "for" in a generic sans serif font quickly fades in, before the Gullane Entertainment print logo in white zooms in, which bounces for a few seconds. Then, a copyright disclaimer "© Gullane (Thomas) Limited 2002" in a serif font fades in.

Variant: On early prints of Thomas & Friends season 6, the Gullane Entertainment logo just fades in.

FX/SFX: The zooming, and the script writing.

Music/Sounds: Usually the ending theme of the show, but on Thomas & Friends: Building the New Line for the PC, the sounds of an engine puffing, three distorted dings, and various steam whistles are heard.

Availability: Very rare. The regular variant appears on early prints of Season 6 of Thomas & Friends, early Thomas DVDs like The Fogman and Other Stories; the variant appears on the Thomas PC game, Building the New Line. More recent DVD prints of Thomas & Friends Season 6 plaster this over with the 2001 HIT Entertainment logo.

Editor's Note: None.