Frederator Studios

Background

Frederator Studios (also known as "Frederator, Inc.") is the production company of Fred Seibert, producer of various animated shows, mostly on Nickelodeon. The company was founded in 1997 after Seibert left his role as president of Hanna-Barbera.

In 2016, Rainmaker acquired Frederator, with both companies becoming part of their new holding company, known as WOW! Unlimited Media Inc. In 2020, Seibert stepped down as CEO of Frederator and opened a new independent studio named "FredFilms" in the following year. In addition, Nelvana founder Michael Hirsh took over as CEO that same year.

Contents

1st Logo (July 17, 1998-July 26, 2017)	2nd Logo (2005-2009)	3rd Logo (October 12, 2009-)	4th Logo (November 8, 2010-)	5th Logo (2020-)

Unused Logos

Contents

1st Unused Logo (April 20, 2008)	2nd Unused Logo (2019)	3rd Unused Logo (2019)

1st Logo (July 17, 1998-July 26, 2017)

Visuals: On a cornflower blue background, several nails are shot in a circle pattern clockwise. The letter "A" (in red) appears in the gap at the top of the nails, and the text "FREDERATOR INCORPORATED" in green, with nails inside the "FREDERATOR" text, slams itself word-by-word in the middle of the circle. Afterwards, "PRODUCTION" (also in red) appears below with the nails in-between the letters.

Variants:

From 1998 to 2008, a still variant was used. This could be seen on Oh Yeah! Cartoons, later episodes of The Meth Minute 39, The Electric Piper, the first season of The Fairly OddParents and the first season of ChalkZone.
- On certain Oh Yeah! Cartoons episodes, the logo can be in different color schemes.
- On the first season of The Fairly OddParents, the background is red with "A" and "PRODUCTION" in yellow.
There is a variant in which the background is red with "FREDERATOR INCORPORATED" in yellow or steel gray and "A" and "PRODUCTION" in purple or white.
There is also a variant in which the background is a red/green gradient with "FREDERATOR INCORPORATED" in steel gray and "A" and "PRODUCTION" in white.
There is also a black & white variant.
On split-screen credit airings of The Fairly OddParents from Nickelodeon's rebrand in September 2009 until around sometime in 2010, a copyright notice (recycled from the 2008 Nickelodeon "Lightbulb" logo) is seen.
When Nickelodeon USA aired The Fairly OddParents special "Wishology" (all 3 parts) in May 2009, a strange error happened on the split-screen credits in which the logo and the preceding Billionfold Inc. logo was slowed down, and the audio was played in normal speed. As a result, the jackhammer sounds were played on the Billionfold logo, while this logo had the end theme and the copyright notice for the show (which was reserved to the following Nickelodeon logo, which was only seen for one frame).
Sometimes, the logo is shown in 14:9, revealing more of the cornflower blue background with two black bars at the very top and the very bottom edges.
Beginning in 2013 with the 9th season of The Fairly OddParents, the logo was enhanced in high-definition and in widescreen.

Technique: Digital art for the 1998 version and 2D animation for the later version. Both were designed by Jon Kane.

Audio: Jackhammer sound effects when the nails appear and metallic slamming sounds when the company name hits the background. This is followed by a female voice (provided by an unidentified woman at Jon Kane's Optic Nerve production company in Brooklyn; she sounds similar to voice actresses Tara Strong, Grey DeLisle-Griffin, and Jessica DiCicco) quickly shouting "FREDERATOR!!". This audio is also used for the 3rd, 4th and 5th logos. For the 1998 variant, it's the closing theme to the show.

Audio Variants:

On The Fairly OddParents (until season 5), My Life as a Teenage Robot, Nicktoons Film Festival, and ChalkZone, the jackhammer and slamming effects as well as the voice-over blend in with the end theme of the show.
Sometimes, it's the end theme without the sound effects and the voice-over like on The Fairly OddParents special "Fairy Idol".
On 2003-2009 Nickelodeon USA airings of ChalkZone, the logo has The Fairly OddParents music instead of ChalkZone's music.
On 2008-2014 Nicktoons USA airings of Random! Cartoons, the logo has the My Life as a Teenage Robot music instead of Random! Cartoons' music.
Sometimes, it can be silent.

Availability:

1998-2008 version:
- The version with the cornflower blue background is seen on the pilot episode of Oh Yeah! Cartoons, some split-screen credits airings of The Fairly OddParents, and later episodes of the web series The Meth Minute 39 (earlier episodes have the 2002 variant).
- The version with the red background is seen on Oh Yeah! Cartoons, The Electric Piper, the first season of The Fairly OddParents and the first season of ChalkZone.
- The metal text variant appears on the first episode of the second season of Oh Yeah! Cartoons.
2002-2017 version:
- Seen on all episodes of The Fairly OddParents beginning with season 2, as well as The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour trilogy (which was a crossover between said show and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius). Also appears on seasons 2-4 episodes of ChalkZone, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Nicktoons Film Festival, and Random! Cartoons.
- The variants with alternate colors can be found on the "fredseibert" Vimeo channel.
- It also appears on Pendleton Ward's animated short Barrista, as seen on the Channel Frederator podcast from 2007.

2nd Logo (2005-2009)

Visuals: On a white background is a red-orang} silhouette of Fredbot with a yellow "F" on it. The words "A FREDERATOR PRODUCTION" are seen below.

Technique: Digital art by Fred Seibert.

Audio: None.

Availability: It's seen on early episodes of the webshow Channel Frederator, as well as on the Meth Minute 39 spin-off Nite Fite. It can also be seen on the Ape Escape series of short cartoons.

3rd Logo (October 12, 2009-)

Visuals: Over a night city skyline view on a green mountain is Fredbot (this time with his sunglasses and a green "F" on him) holding a jackhammer. He chips the company name in green (written in all caps, with the first "e" in "FReDERATOR" in lowercase). When Fredbot is done, he throws the jackhammer away. The carved words then pop out, along with him in a straight position and at the same time, spinning red triangles appear in the background.

Trivia:

Fredbot's appearance is patterned after Fred Seibert.
If one looks closely on the jackhammer, it says "FREDERATOR".

Variants:

A slightly shorter version exists.
A 4:3 center cut version is known to exist on late 2000s/early 2010s prints of the Channel Frederator webshow; it appears after the 2001 variant of the 1st logo. It was also seen on Nickelodeon USA's airings of Fanboy & Chum Chum using the split-screen credits from 2009 until 2012 (and again from mid-2013 to early 2015). It's in use on current Nicktoons/NickRewind reruns of The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and whenever the live-action movies of The Fairly OddParents.
A 16:9 stretched version of the center cut variant can be seen on the 2017 Castlevania series on Netflix.
On the Channel Frederator YouTube channel and on certain prints of Cartoon Hangover shows, the animation starts out normal, but slows down after the text is formed.

Technique: Stop-motion designed, animated, and directed by Kristen Lepore, a Frederator employee at the time.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Audio Variant: On A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! and A Fairly Odd Summer, the ending theme of the movie plays over it.

Availability:

It was first seen on Fanboy & Chum Chum, and has appeared on current episodes of Channel Frederator, and the first season of Adventure Time, also seen on the first four episodes of its second season.
It was also seen on the live-action Fairly OddParents movie, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! and its sequels, A Fairly Odd Christmas and A Fairly Odd Summer.
Also seen on episodes of Bravest Warriors and Bee and PuppyCat on Cartoon Hangover, Castlevania on Netflix and Costume Quest on Amazon Prime.
Even though this logo was never used on any The Fairly OddParents episodes, this is in use plastering the 2nd logo on Nicktoons USA reruns of said show starting in 2017.
This doesn't appear on The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder; despite Fred Seibert being involved, he had left Frederator by the time the series was produced.
This was seen on 2021 NickRewind Airings of ChalkZone and My Life as a Teenage Robot.

4th Logo (November 8, 2010-)

Visuals: Against a white background, there is a pile of red Lego bricks on the floor. They then build up to form a bust of Fredbot. Then, the word "FReDERATOR" in the same font as before zooms in front of Fredbot and bounces once.

Variants:

On the Adventure Time: The Complete Fifth Season 2015 Blu-ray print of "A Glitch Is A Glitch", the "FReDERATOR" text is smaller than usual at the end.
Starting with Season 6 of Adventure Time, the logo is slightly sped up.

Technique: Stop-motion, although the "FReDERATOR" text is 2D animated. The design was created by Lego artist Nathan Sawaya.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Audio Variant: Starting with Season 6 of Adventure Time, the sound effects are slightly sped up.

Availability: Seen on all episodes of Adventure Time beginning with the Season 2 episode "Storytelling". Also appears on the two Adventure Time spin-offs, Distant Lands and Fionna and Cake, both on Max.

5th Logo (2020-)

Visuals: Against a cloudy purplish background (tilted a bit to the left), several silhouetted rocketships and what appear to be nukes fly up from a set of parting clouds, along with Fredbot in the middle of them all. The cloudy sky turns into a bright green background with a white sun-like pattern as Fredbot and the two ships that surround him are illuminated. The screen zooms into Fredbot as it tilts to the right, as he holds his hands up and creates a jolt of electricity that forms into "FReDERATOR" with several star-like shapes and the small word "STUDIOS" below. Fredbot makes a pose, lowering his arms a bit and tilting his head to the left. There are also two strange alien creatures peeking out of the two ships. The one on the left resembles a realistic young child with green skin and three red eyes, while the one on the right resembles a brown sphere with a large yellow eye and three smaller white eyes on stems.

Trivia: The logo was completed in February 2018.

Technique: Cut-out 2D animation by Colin Raff, although Fredbot appears to be a 3D model.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Availability: Seen on newer prints of the first season of Bee and PuppyCat, and its second season sub-titled Lazy in Space. It is unknown if it would appear on future projects.

Unused Logos

1st Unused Logo (April 20, 2008)

Visuals: On a space background, the words "FREDERATOR STUDIOS" (set in Futura Extra Bold) pop in letter-by-letter. A yellow trail follows Fredbot as he flies in and stops on the right (standing over the letters "ATO" from "FREDERATOR").

Variants:

Early in the logo's development, the "INCORPORATED" text from the first logo is used instead. Fredbot is also still in the first two variations and stops in the center.
- A version of the "INCORPORATED" variant exists where the animation is near-complete, but the space background is missing and the trail has been drastically simplified.

Technique: CGI by Floyd Bishop at Bishop Animation.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Availability: Can be found on Floyd Bishop's video, entitled "CG Frederator Tag: Evolution of the Frederator tag".

2nd Unused Logo (2019)

Visuals: On the grayscale theatre, there is a strange-looking man holding his lightbulb invention that is next to the deformed Fredbot's head. Fredbot's head shakes randomly, along with the changing pictures at the stage, before the black square with the company name drops to the man while the glasses puts on Fredbot's head and forms into his better position.

Trivia:

The logo was completed in February 2018.
This concept would be adapted for the intro of Frederator's adult animation division Cartoon Hangover, in which the "FREDERATOR!!" soundbite is replaced by a male voiceover shouting "HANGOVER!!".

Technique: Cut-out 2D animation by Colin Raff, although Fredbot appears to be a 3D model.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Availability: Seen on the fredseibert Vimeo channel.

3rd Unused Logo (2019)

Visuals: On a blue background with a white sun-like pattern, parts of Fredbot come together, while a rocketship behind him flies up and explodes. The text from before slides in from the right as Fredbot waves.

Trivia: Like the previous unused logo, the logo was completed in February 2018.

Technique: Cut-out 2D animation by Colin Raff, although Fredbot appears to be a 3D model.

Audio: The audio from the 2002 variant of the first logo.

Availability: Seen on the fredseibert Vimeo channel.