Marathon Media

Credits

Descriptions by
francoispat, Stephen Cezar and Doctorine Dark and Henrynguye5

Editions by
Prodigy012‎, Doctorine Dark and Henrynguye5

Video captures courtesy of
ifrequire, Pepsi9072, JH Movie Collection and Vincent Chalvon-Demersey

Background

Marathon Media was a French studio which created animated cartoons. Before 1999, it was known as Marathon Productions. The studio was acquired by Zodiak in 2007 and folded (with a couple of other studios) into Zodiak Kids Studios in April 2015. After the merger of Zodiak and Banijay, the studio was not renamed, the only one to retain the Zodiak brand name.

1st Logo (September 23, 1995-2001)

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Logo: On a white background, we saw blue lines which look like a rectangle with no left and right borders placed with grey text that says "MARATHON PRODUCTIONS".

Variants:

• There is a still version with a black background.
• On The Secret World of Santa Claus, the logo rotates from the left on a black background, and it is placed in a box above the CinéGroupe logo.

FX/SFX: The letters zooming out.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Was seen on various cartoon series, such as Mythic Warriors and The Secret World of Santa Claus. The still version appeared on the 1995 series Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (March 18, 2000-March 8, 2007)

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Nickname: "The Rectangle"

Logo: On a black background, we see various white shadows merging together to form the Marathon logo (a rectangle with "MARATHON" inside, in the same font as the Cartoon Network logo). A red light comes through. The background turns white, and the logo turns red.

FX/SFX: The lights, the letters merging, and the color change.

Music/Sounds: An airy synth theme.

Availability: Common. Seen at the start (and sometimes before and/or after the end credits) of some episodes of Totally Spies! on Universal Kids and previously on Cartoon Network, Marsupilami and Martin Mystery, which was last seen on Nicktoons in the United States.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (August 31, 2007-October 30, 2015)

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Nickname: "The Rectangle II"

Logo: A red oblong rectangle is flipping from the screen on an off-white background. The letters, which are in the same font as the previous logo, flip towards the rectangle. The letters shine, the oblong rectangle develops a white border, and the logo fades to white.

FX/SFX: The flipping and shining.

Music/Sounds: Same as before, but with more whooshes.

Availability: Seen on Marathon-produced shows and several games based on them, including Monster Buster Club, Gormiti, and The Amazing Spiez.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (July 22, 2009)

Nickname: "The Rectangle III"

Logo: On a black background, we see a couple of grey people running to the right side of the screen. As they reach the center, a white line draws the same rectangle from the previous logo. When the line finally forms the rectangle, the company name and "MEDIA" fades in, and the Zodiak byline following a few seconds later. After a few more seconds, we see silhouettes of the same people going to the left instead, and much larger. When the final person comes in, the logo completely disappears.

FX/SFX: The people running, the line forming the rectangle, the fading in of the wordmark and Zodiak byline, the kid blocking the logo from existence.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct. This logo was short-lived.

Editor's Note: None.