Polydor Video

Background

Polydor is a British record label that operates in the Universal Music Group. Although it has been around since the 1920s, it only used its name and logo on-screen for certain Japanese laserdiscs and VHS tapes in the late 1980s, as a short-lived sublabel of PolyGram Video.

1st Logo (1982-1988)

Nickname: "Comets"

Logo: On a space background, one pink-trailed comet, and one blue-trailed comet each from left and right go to opposite directions, and later explode. Then, "POLYDOR VIDEO" in chrome is formed and glows. We see the comets again, as they crash into each other and explode in the middle of the text, causing it to shine. Afterwards, the whole logo fades to black.

Variant: On later releases, a version where the comet explosion leaves colorful rays was used.

FX/SFX: The comets, and the forming of the text.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Was seen on older video releases of concerts and anime distributed by the company.

2nd Logo (1988-1989)

Logo: On a space background, we see many copies of red Polydor logos zoom out and merge into one as a white rectangle flips in as a rectangle turns red, the semicircle turns black, and the text turns white, as "POLYDOR VIDEO" in a serif font and a blue shadow on the top-right, appears via a page turn effect from the top-left as the logo glows. also, black sheens move behind "POLYDOR VIDEO"

FX/SFX: Cheap 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Unknown.

3rd Logo (1989-1992)

Nickname: "Cheesy Polydor"

Logo: On a dark blue background, we see many CDs flying at us. One of them hits the screen and spins around while 4 red rectangles flip and turn, head behind the CD, and eventually hit the CD. When the rectangles hit the CD, one half of the red background with the CD flips over, forming the half-CD part of the Polydor logo. Then the entire rectangle flips over while the word "polydor" in white flips and hits the space left in the rectangle. The flying CDs disappear, and the logo shines.

FX/SFX: Mostly 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A somewhat dramatic synth-choir theme.

Availability: Rare. Seen on mostly Japanese laserdiscs and VHS tapes of anime and music, most notably the Gall Force series.