Turner Program Services

Background

Turner Program Services was established in 1982 as the syndication arm of Turner Broadcasting System. It was best known for Captain Planet and some of its game shows, as well as distributing The Wonder Years, Hanna-Barbera's programming when Turner purchased the animation studio in 1991, and all material by Turner Entertainment Co. Upon Time Warner's purchase of the Turner properties on October 10, 1996, the unit was dismantled and some of the assets were folded into Telepictures Distribution, which eventually folded into Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution in 2003.

1st Logo (1982-1983)

Logo: On a black-purple gradient background, we see a trapezoid zooming in with a cloud time-lapse footage inside it. "TPS" in a serif font and in gray flips in from behind the trapezoid to the front, with a spark pasted over the "S". "TURNER PROGRAM SERVICES" with "PRESENTS" underneath wipes in below.

Technique: Quantel Paintbox animation as produced by then-creative services director of TBS, John Christopher Burns.

Music/Sounds: A synth tune.

Availability: Seen on a 1983 airing of Treasures of the Snow on HBO.

2nd Logo (1983-1992)

Logo: On a black background, two rainbow-colored trails of the letters "TPS" come in from the left and right of the screen and move towards each other. When they join, a blue burst of light shines, revealing a rainbow-colored "TPS" when it dies down. Below that, the words "Turner Program Services" in yellow flash in one by one.

Variants:

The opening variant is the same, except the word "presents" flashes in below and a spark appears on "Program" when it flashes. Sometimes, this would be superimposed over the start of the program (and/or is cut down to where the name appears).
Another closing variant has the text "Distributed by TURNER PROGRAM SERVICES, INC.".
On occasion, the logo is still. A copyright date may also be present below the logo.
One version has the opening variant, however there is a freeze frame before "presents" appears. This also used the long version of the music.
A short version exists that starts with "TPS" already formed and the blue burst of light shining.

Technique: Typical Scanimate effects.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy, synthesized tune with "shining" sound effects and 3 notes that go "down-up-down" at the end in sync with the words appearing.

Music/Sounds Variants:

A variation exists which has the standard music, with a "fourth note" added. This is seen on the syndicated version of the colorized print of Gunga Din and is also used on the opening variant.
On some programs, the closing theme of the show would play over it or it would just be silent.

Availability: Rare.

This appeared on all three seasons of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. This logo is also retained on Boomerang airings of this show.
The long version can be found on Hans Christian Andersen's The Wild Swans.
The still version appeared on season 2 of Starcade in syndication, and can also be seen on some of the episodes on the Starcade.tv website starting with #109.
It was also seen on the short-lived 1989 Merrill Heatter game show The Last Word (with copyright date).
The short silent variant was spotted in the short-lived series The Beach Boys: Endless Summer, as well as syndicated broadcasts of colorized B&W films owned by Turner under the banner of Color Classic Theater.
The superimposed variant and the "Distributed by" end variant were also sighted on the TPS/Cinar dub of Ultra Seven when it last aired on TNT in the mid '90s.

3rd Logo (1992-1994)

Logo: On a shaded gray background, the word "TURNER" (in silver) swings downward into place. The words "PROGRAM SERVICES" and two lines above and below them fade in, forming the logo like this:

TURNER

PROGRAM SERVICES

The word "TURNER" shines when the logo is formed.

Variant: The short version has the logo fully formed, shining. It's slowed down on some episodes of The Wonder Years.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: A three-note mellow orchestra tune ending with a "ping" sound. This is an excerpt of a track entitled "Straight from the Heart", composed by Al Capps for production music company Killer Tracks.

Music/Sounds Variants:

There is a variant that has the music slowed down, making the logo last a bit longer.
Sometimes, it may also have the end theme playing over it.

Availability: Uncommon.

It was seen on syndicated prints of The Wonder Years (late 1990s Nick @ Nite airings plastered this logo with the 1994 Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Cable & Network Features logo) and Boomerang repeats of season 3 of The Adventures of Captain Planet, three episodes of SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, and 2 Stupid Dogs, respectively.
Local re-runs of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the early 1990s, such as reruns of The Jetsons and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines also had this logo as well.
The version with the slowed-down music was also seen on some episodes of The Wonder Years, as well as early 1990s syndication prints of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987).

4th Logo (September 3, 1994-1996)

Logo: On a white background, we see a black "Turner" logo (as seen in the globe logo). Underneath, a gold line is drawn in and afterwards, the words "PROGRAM SERVICES" (also in black) quickly unfold below it letter by letter.

Variant: For the logo's very first appearance, a variant was shown on a gray gradient background, very similar to the previous logo, and had "PROGRAM SERVICES" in white and the Turner logo fading in first, with the Turner logo's text shimmering afterward.

Technique: Computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A synth tune, beginning with a pound, then 11 notes and another pound on the 11th note with a drum hit.

Music/Sounds Variants:

There is a longer version where the logo's theme is preceded by a jet-like sound mixed with pitch-bending windchimes (which sounds similar to the Windows NT startup sound; perhaps the same synth preset), and ending with three drumbeats and shimmering noises at the end.
Sometimes, the end theme may also play over it.

Availability: Uncommon.

It was last seen on 1995 TBS airings of Scooby Doo, Where Are You! and was also spotted on the last two seasons of The New Adventures of Captain Planet and the final two episodes of SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron as well.
The gray variant can be found on TV broadcasts of Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights (1994), usually with the warp-speed variant of the 1987 Turner "CGI Globe" logo following it.

Turner Program Services

Telepictures Distribution

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