Descriptions by bigrene2, mimitchi33 and Henrynguye5
Captures by SuperMuppet, TrickyMario7654, CrazySpruiker2001 and Henrynguye5
Editions by mr3urious, Jonathan Hendricks, mimitchi33, SuperMuppet, TrickyMario7654, DaVinci101, Henrynguye5, Blue2000, Michael Kenchington and TheRealMarcel2000
Video captures courtesy of SantaBob, Digital media resources and retro VHS trailers
Background
Gullane Entertainment was formed in September 2000 after Britt Allcroft left her self-named company. Before the formation, Allcroft used the Gullane name for Gullane Pictures, a subsidiary of her company which only produced Thomas and the Magic Railroad; the movie failed critically and commercially after its release, leading to Allcroft leaving the company. The newly-formed Gullane continued production of Series 6 and 7 of Thomas and Friends as well as other franchises, such as Sooty, Fireman Sam, and Art Attack. The company was acquired by HIT Entertainment on 5 July 2002 and closed the following year. The name is still used today for its in-credit and byline variants for most Thomas & Friends media despite the company's closure.
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 is a wide white "G", and with it clearing up, it gets placed in a teal box as well as "GULLANE" in a similar font to the "G" below, albeit at a normal width. The gull then flies over the logo and flashes, turning silver as the background flourishes to a white-aquamarine gradient. 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.
It appears on the US releases Thomas' Trackside Tunes (VHS), Best of Percy (VHS/DVD), Make Someone Happy and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD), Best of Thomas (VHS/DVD), Cranky Bugs and Other Thomas Stories (DVD), Races, Rescues and Runaways and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD), Spills and Chills and Other Thomas Thrills (DVD), Best of James (VHS/DVD) and Thomas' Christmas Wonderland and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD), the UK releases Truck Loads of Fun (VHS/DVD), My Little Thomas and Bertie Adventures (VHS), Seasonal Scrapes (VHS/DVD), My Little Thomas and Toby Adventures (VHS), The Very Best of Thomas & Friends (VHS), a promotional Chad Valley tape (VHS) and My Little Thomas and the Royal Visitor (VHS), in addition to several re-releases such as the 2002 Marks and Spencer version of Thomas & Friends: Thomas Goes Fishing and Other Stories.
It was also tacked onto the beginning of very early prints of the show's sixth series, as seen on the UK DVD The Fogman and Other Stories, the US DVD Salty's Secret & Other Thomas Adventures. and the Australian DVD Thomas and the Jet Engine.
Outside Thomas and Friends related content, this logo was also tacked onto several other UK VHS releases of their content - appearing on Art Attack: Monsters and Other Scary Stuff, and the Sooty's Magic direct-to-video series, consisting of Sooty's Magic Show, Sooty's Magic Club and Sooty's Magic Birthday Party.
The short version appeared on at least UK airings of Eckhart.
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.
Variant: On early prints of Thomas & Friends series 6, the Gullane Entertainment logo just fades in.
Technique: 2D animation.
Music/Sounds: Usually the ending theme of the show, but on Thomas & Friends: Building the New Line for PC, the sounds of an engine puffing, three distorted dings, and various steam whistles are heard.
Availability:
The early variant appears on early prints of Series 6 of Thomas & Friends and early Thomas DVDs like The Fogman and Other Stories; the normal variant appears on the Thomas PC game Building the New Line.
More recent DVD prints of Thomas & Friends Series 6 plaster this over with the 2000 HIT Entertainment logo.