Marathon Media

Background
Marathon Media was a French studio which created animated cartoons. The company was originally founded by Olivier Brémond and Pascal Breton in February 1990, and Vincent Chalvon-Demersay joined the team in 1999 to develop Marathon's animation programming, along with David Michel. Before 2001, it was known as "Marathon Productions". The studio was acquired by Zodiak Media Group in 2007 and was folded (with a couple of other studios) into Zodiak Kids Studios in April 2015. After the merger of Zodiak and Banijay Group, the studio was not renamed, the only one to retain the Zodiak brand name.

1st Logo (September 23, 1995-2001)
Logo: On a faded white background, we see a bunch of 3D stylized "A" letters float towards the wordmark " R THO " to complete it as "MARATHON". The letters form the "M", the two "A"'s and the "N" respectively. The wordmark is enclosed between two lines, and below it is the word "PRODUCTIONS" in a regular font.

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 is placed in a box above the CinéGroupe logo.

Technique: CGI animation.

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.

2nd Logo (November 3, 2001-March 8, 2007)
Logo: On a black background, we see various white shadows merging together to form the Marathon logo (a bordered rectangle with "MARATHON" inside in the Eagle Bold font). A light comes through. The background turns white, and the logo turns.

Variants:
 * At the end of their shows, the logo forms superimposed in credit, as opposed to the opening, which has the logo described above.
 * A still variant exists.

Technique: 3D computer animation.

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, and Martin Mystery, which was last seen on Nicktoons in the United States. Also seen on Italian Disney Channel prints of LazyTown.

3rd Logo (August 28, 2006-October 30, 2015)
Logo: We see a 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.

Variants:
 * Starting in 2010, the Zodiak Media Group byline is used with "MEDIA" slanted under the logo.
 * As before, the logo forms superimposed in credit at the end of their shows.
 * On video games, the logo appears to be still.

Technique: 3D computer animation.

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

Availability: Seen on Marathon-produced shows and several games based on them, including Team Galaxy, Monster Buster Club, Gormiti, and The Amazing Spiez. It also appears on current prints of pre-2007 episodes of Totally Spies!.

4th Logo (July 22, 2009)
Logo: On a black background, there are silhouettes of the main Totally Spies! characters 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 follows 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.

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy theme with twinkles and a violin.

Availability: Only seen on ''Totally Spies! The Movie''.