Universal Animation Studios

Credits

Descriptions by
Logoboy95, WizardDuck, Eric S., CuriousGeorge60, and ChowderRulez

Captures by
Logoboy95, WizardDuck, Eric S., SubparMario63, and CuriousGeorge60

Editions by
CuriousGeorge50, Michael Kenchington, mr3urious, and TheRealMarcel2000

Video captures courtesy of
Sagan Blob, Filburtlogos60, EnormousRat, and others

Background

Universal Cartoon Studios is the animation production arm of Universal Studios established in 1990 as a division of Universal Family Entertainment. In 2005, it was renamed to Universal Animation Studios.

Universal Cartoon Studios

1st Logo (September 14, 1991-March 21, 2006)

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Visuals: The 1990-1997 Universal Pictures logo proceeds as normal, but without "UNIVERSAL" coming from behind and circling the globe. While the globe zooms out and moves into its center position, a cartoon version of the biplane from the 1920s Universal logo (which is a yellow-orange biplane with a red face and light blue wheels; nicknamed Jetty), appears from behind the globe and flies around it and turning through with his tongue sticking out. He leaves a trail of smoke, which turns into "UNIVERSAL", in its similar corporate font from the 1990-1997 Universal Pictures logo with its gradient texture on it and is stretched up vertically (with the "R" backwards, reading "UNIVEЯSAL"). Then, Jetty enters the bottom of the globe and flies through it, but doesn't turn this time, leaving another trail of smoke, which also turns into "CARTOON STUDIOS" in rainbow colors and in a Mickey Mouse-like font (named Ashley Crawford). As the globe and the words are in position, Jetty comes into the middle of the globe and shockingly stops. Then, he takes a few steps back and realizes the "R" in "UNIVERSAL" is backwards, and giggles for a bit, and flips it around, causing it to spin briefly and making it in the correct way. Then, he floats and looks at the audience and happily looks at the "R" before he floats down, then he looks at the viewer(s) again.

Trivia: The print artwork logo (seen on Opus 'n Bill in A Wish for Wings That Work and on covers of VHS and DVD releases) was designed and illustrated by Eric Semones and the animation of Jetty and the company's name (used over the footage of the globe from the 1990 Universal Pictures logo) were done by Spaff Animation Incorporated. The part where Jetty flies through the globe making the trail of smoke, which turns into the words, is a throwback to the 1923 and 1927 Universal Pictures logos.

Variants:

• A variant where the animation of Jetty and the text are slightly shifted up a bit and has the white emboss sharp-like effect on it exists, which is seen on direct-to-video movies including The Land Before Time sequels (with the exception of The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, which uses the 2nd logo instead (although the print version of this logo is used on the cover) and The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water which uses the standard version of the logo and cuts to black).
• The logo fades out early when Jetty looks at the "R" before he floats down. This variant was typically used with the first variant, and was also used on a few shows like Wing Commander Academy, The New Woody Woodpecker Show (some episodes use the standard version), and season 2 of Savage Dragon.
• On Back to the Future - The Animated Series and Fievel's American Tails, there is a prototype variant of the first variant where the globe and the starfield are a bit darker.
  • Sometimes on the latter show, the words "CARTOON STUDIOS" are stretched a little horizontally.
  • On Back to the Future - The Animated Series, the prototype variant of the logo is shown in the top left corner along with the 1991 Amblin Television logo on the top right, the Zaloom/Mayfield Productions logo on the bottom left, and the BIG Pictures logo on the bottom right, and it begins with the part where Jetty flies around the globe on the bottom and ends at the part where he giggles.
  • On Fievel's American Tails, the prototype variant of the logo is shown in the bottom middle corner along with the 1991 Amblin Television logo on the top left and the 1985 long version of the Nelvana logo on the top right, and it starts and ends at the same points as the BTTF variant.
    • On later episodes starting with "The Legend of Mouse Hollow", the logo animation stops when Jetty takes a few steps back as he's about to look at the "R", leaving the animations for the Amblin Television and Nelvana logos to finish.
• A videotaped version of the first variant also exists, where the logo has a better quality look and is a bit darker, which was seen on HBO prints and currently seen on iTunes and Netflix prints of The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island. It's also currently seen on Netflix prints of The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure and The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving as well.
• A short version of the logo exists, which begins with Jetty realizing the "R" in "UNIVERSAL" is backwards. Sometimes, it begins with Jetty coming in the center and stops, or begins when Jetty is giggling. An extremely short version also exists, which only shows Jetty flipping the "R".
• On VHS releases, the first "S" in "STUDIOS" turns purple while Jetty giggles about the "R", which is due to the VHS chroma effect.
• On The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, The Land Before Time XI: The Invasion of the Tinysauruses, and The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, the first variant of the logo looks a bit darker. Also, it's a bit enhanced.
• On Shelly Duvall's Bedtime Stories and the first four episodes of Monster Force, the standard logo is still.
• On the Monster Force episode "Prisoner of Kaliaga", the logo freezes one second after Jetty flips the "R".
• On the sixth episode of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, the standard version of the logo is seen on the right while the Harvey Entertainment logo is on the left. This variant was plastered by the Harveytoons logo with the said company's disclaimer underneath on the DVD release.
• A still artwork version of the logo also exists, which appears on the right along with the print Amblin Television logo on Opus 'n Bill in A Wish for Wings That Work. The word "UNIVERSAL" is stretched a bit farther and "CARTOON STUDIOS" is straight, and all have a yellow gradient color and there's a bit of smoke behind Jetty. It was also a print logo that was used on covers of VHS and DVD releases.
• On Universal Kids prints of The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, the logo plays in warp speed with the ending theme of the respective films. This is a result of time compression.

Technique: Live-action model work mixed with traditional animation.

Audio: A classic orchestrated-type, whimsical fanfare which sounds almost similar to the main title theme from E.T. that later takes a comical tone when Jetty appears. This was first used in December 1994 with the release of The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure.

Audio Trivia: The logo music was composed in F major by Michael Tavera, who also composed the music for direct-to-video sequels to The Land Before Time. An arranged excerpt version of the logo music was also used in the Kids' WB! series ¡Mucha Lucha! episode "All Creatures Masked and Small", where Rikochet (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) explains the truth about fleas. Coincidentally, the first two seasons of ¡Mucha Lucha! featured music made by Michael Tavera; Tavera had also created music for shows like Time Squad and The Secret Saturdays on Cartoon Network, as well as various Disney cartoons, such as House of Mouse, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, The Emperor's New School, and Yin Yang Yo!.

Audio Variants:

• Starting in 1995, an alternative version of the fanfare is heard. The music was reorchestrated and sound effects were also added (buzzing when Jetty flies around the globe, tires squealing when he stops, a chipmunk laugh when he giggles, and a wobbly sound when the "R" spins). This was first used on The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving and would go into full use starting in 2001.
• On the DVD version of The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists, there is a remixed version of the alternative fanfare with the sound effects intact.
• On Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein and The Land Before Time: More Sing-Along-Songs, the alternative music is a bit out-of-sync.
• Sometimes, the ending theme of the show plays over the logo.
• On the sixth episode of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, the music from The Harvey Entertainment Company logo is used.

Availability: Seen on sequels of The Land Before Time franchise starting with The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure and ending with The Land Before Time XI: The Invasion of the Tinysauruses.

• After the 1997-2012 Universal logo was introduced, the logo was then seen at the end of the movies starting with The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island. The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock has the 2nd logo instead (see below).
• It is also seen at the end of the Balto sequels (Wolf Quest and Wings of Change), Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, among others.
• From 1998-1999 and 2003-2004, it was used in tandem with the 2nd logo.
• The short version is preserved at the end of animated shows like Problem Child, Exosquad, The New Woody Woodpecker Show (where it appeared before the credits to fit in with Fox Kids' credit squeezing), Wing Commander Academy, Earthworm Jim (the TV series), Beethoven: The Animated Series, Monster Force, Savage Dragon, and the first six episodes of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, respectively.
  • However, while removed from later episodes, it is still intact on the first episode on the VHS and DVD releases of said show.
• The still version was also seen on Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories on Showtime and the first four episodes of Monster Force, respectively.
  • However, it is intact on the VHS and DVD releases of the former and the Volume 1 DVD release of the latter.
  • DVD releases and Hulu viewings of some said shows like Exosquad also have the logo intact.
• The extremely short version was seen on Vor-Tech: Undercover Conversion Squad.
• The last movie to use the logo was The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (although it has the print version of the 2006 Universal Animation Studios logo on the cover instead).
• This logo also does not appear at all on Van Helsing: The London Assignment (2004), despite the fact that they produced the film and that the copyright notice at the end mentions them. This could be due to the fact that the movie is adult-oriented, compared to UCS' usual kid-friendly fare.

2nd Logo (January 6, 1998-August 6, 2004)

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Visuals: Same as the 1997 Universal Television logo, but the name reads as "UNIVERSAL CARTOON STUDIOS" as it fades in under the logo.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the logo doesn't feature the text underneath the globe. Plus, the logo also fades in and out.
• Like in the movie and TV logos, a small copyright appears at the bottom-right until 1999.

Technique: CGI by Picturemill.

Audio: Same as the 1997 Universal Television logo, based on the Universal Pictures fanfare by Jerry Goldsmith.

Audio Variant: On the Fractured Fairy Tales short "The Phox, The Box, and the Lox", the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, An American Tail - Treasure of Manhattan Island, and Hercules and Xena - The Battle For Mount Olympus (although the print version of the previous logo was on the cover art, except for the DVD release of An American Tail - Treasure of Manhattan Island).

• The version without the text is seen on An American Tail - Mystery of the Night Monster.

Universal Animation Studios

Logo (February 10, 2006-March 17, 2022)

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Visuals: The first element shown is a more animated version of the "UNIVERSAL" text revolving around the earth as it appears from the blackness to view from the left side (unlike the right side in the movie counterpart's logo), causing the globe to shine and the glow to appear behind it. The text shines once while it revolves. However, it continues to revolve after the fanfare is over, and the globe and the text gets squeezed so tight that the glow behind the globe disappears and the "UNIVERSAL" text spins around the earth at a fast pace. When it stops spinning, the globe is colored even more vividly and the "UNIVERSAL" text is now white with an orange border. Then, "ANIMATION STUDIOS", in orange, appears traveling from behind the globe letter-by-letter, making a stop under the logo. Then, a comet comes from the top-right side and travels around the earth, causing the glow to appear again behind the globe. The globe shines.

Variants:

• On Curious George (the 2006 film), the logo is brighter. Also, the text (and the outlines on it) is in lime green. It's likely an early variant.
• On The Land Before Time TV series (including DVD releases), the shorter variant starts with the logo already formed, and the comet going around the earth is intact.
• On Curious George (the TV series), a still artwork version of the logo is seen.

Technique: CGI produced by Riverstreet Productions and animated by Blur Studio.

Audio: At the start, it has the last part of the 1997 Universal Pictures logo theme by Jerry Goldsmith, then some squeezing sounds and whooshes as the globe spins around. When the globe becomes animated, there is a muted trumpet note, four synth notes (each with a "wah" effect), and a majestic bell tune with a big whoosh noise as the comet flies by that ends with a choir. It was composed by Gregory Smith and Made Music Studio.

Audio Variants:

• On Curious George (the 2006 film), there is an additional sound for the "ANIMATION STUDIOS" text running in (a woodblock being struck multiple times) and George (voice provided by Frank Welker) is heard chattering at the end after the music finishes.
• In other cases, it uses the closing theme of any show.
  • On DVD prints of Curious George, the very end of the show's theme song (with George's chattering and the sound of him turning the page) is heard.
• On The Land Before Time: The Great Day of the Flyers, the sound effects are different. Also, it has the instrumental version of "Flip, Flap and Fly" ending over it.

Availability: It first appeared at the end of Curious George (the 2006 film) and also appears on its direct-to-video/streaming sequels - Follow that Monkey!, Back to the Jungle, Royal Monkey, Go West, Go Wild and Cape Ahoy.

• It also appears at the end of these The Land Before Time sequels - The Great Day of the Flyers, The Wisdom of Friends, and Journey of the Brave.
• The short version appeared on the short-lived The Land Before Time TV series on Cartoon Network, and is also still intact on DVD releases of the show as well as reruns on Universal Kids.
• The still artwork version appears on the 2006 Curious George TV series on PBS and last seen on the show's final episode, entitled "Sloth / Saved by the Bells".
  • It is also intact on DVD releases of said show.
• Despite the fact that Universal debuted their current logo in 2012, the existing animated version continued to be used throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, with its most recent appearance being on the aforementioned Curious George: Cape Ahoy. It is currently unknown when it will appear again as it has probably been replaced by the Universal 1440 Entertainment logo.
• Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You, Bobbleheads: The Movie, Woody Woodpecker and its sequel Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp, Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island and Ready Jet Go: Space Camp do not use this logo, even though this company was mentioned in the copyright info in the ending credits for the former two; Universal Animation Studios had no involvement with the latter three films.