Lyrick Studios

Background
Lyrick Studios was a video production and distributing company founded in 1988 by Richard C. Leach as The Lyons Group, best known for their production and distribution of children's programs like Barney & Friends and Wishbone. In 1994, Lyons rebranded to Lyrick Studios, with the Lyons name remaining an in-name-only unit.

In 2001, the company was acquired and folded into British company HIT Entertainment for $275 million; the remaining Texas office was still open for production of Barney & Friends. However Lyrick released nothing up until its folding due to arguments from PolyGram over Barney's Great Adventure (the film was released theatrically instead of straight-to-video, thus making it an exception of PolyGram's picture deal). As such, the Lyrick rights currently belong to Mattel Creations, excluding VeggieTales (currently distributed by DreamWorks Classics), Groundling Marsh (currently owned by Portfolio Entertainment and FilmRise) and Bob the Builder (currently owned by WildBrain).

1st Logo (March 11, 1997-March 31, 1998, March 28, 2000)
Logo: On a white background, six black letters fly into the screen overlapping each other. The letters then settle in place, revealing the word "Lyrick" with various colors highlighting the letters' overlapping (blue, yellow, red, green, purple, and orange). After they have flown in place, a blue dot flies out and dots the "I", and the word "STUDIOS" rotates letter-by-letter on the bottom-right of "Lyrick", with a line above "STUDIOS".

Variants:
 * On some tapes from the company, "Distributed by" wipes in above the logo as the letters fly in. A still version also exists.
 * A rare early variant exists in which, with this logo being taller and skinnier, it doesn't have the shadow effect, "Studios" is in a different font, the words "Distributed by" are yellow and there is a bigger space between "Distributed by" and "Lyrick Studios".
 * This variant is still at the end of tapes.
 * A version of this variant without "Distributed By" exists at the end of the tape. Seen on Joe Scruggs: Live From Deep In The Jungle, Joe Scruggs: Joe TV, the first 2 Francesco's Friendly World tapes, Barney's Musical Scrapbook, and some others.
 * Another early variant exists in which the logo is zoomed closer to the screen and "Distributed by" is yellow. This can only be seen on the tapes of Vatican 2: The Faithful Revolution, a non-children's release. Again, the version without "Distributed by" can be seen at the end of the tape.
 * Yet another still version exists in which the logo is very close to the finished logo. However it lacked only any shadows; the "Distributed by" is in a different, more generic font.

Technique: Computerized 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: An electronic keyboard arpeggio and low synth note plays throughout the logo, with 3 low-pitched violin notes as the "dot-the-I" sequence plays, followed by a rising xylophone and a violin stinger. Composed by Bob Singleton.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * The "Distributed By" variant features only 2 low pitched notes for the "dot-the-I" sequence. Ringing bells can be heard when the "Distributed by" and "STUDIOS" text appears and during the "dot-the-I" sequence, and finally the tune ends on a piano note and a slightly different stinger. In some exceptionally rare cases, like the screener VHS of Barney: It's Time for Counting!, it uses the standard music.
 * On the 1998 VHS release of Barney & Friends: Down on Barney's Farm, the "Distributed by" music is used on the regular version of the logo, but the ringing bells are only heard once, since the words "Distributed by" aren't there.
 * For the still version, none.

Availability: Uncommon. This logo lasted only a year.


 * Seen on tapes of Barney & Friends, VeggieTales, Wishbone, Kids for Character, Joe Scruggs and Francesco's Friendly World, most of which are long out of print and are hard to find (particularly the last two, since they're quite obscure). However, tapes of Barney & Friends and VeggieTales are the least scarce of the the bunch, so those tapes are your best bet to find this logo. The still version made a surprise appearance on the 2000 releases of Where's God When I'm S-scared?, God Wants Me To Forgive Them!?!, Are You My Neighbor?, Rack, Shack and Benny and Dave and the Giant Pickle, all taken from VeggieTales.

2nd Logo (March 27, 1998-August 14, 2001)
Logo: We fade into a view of a lake, which is surrounded by a forest at twilight. The sun is setting. On that lake, a silhouette of a duck is seen swimming from right to left on the bottom of the screen. Once it is far enough on the bottom left of the screen, the camera then begins to pan into the night sky, which is filled with stars. A child's hand, which has the index finger extended, touches the sky, causing ripples to appear. As the ripples fade away, the word "Lyrick" (in the same font as before, but with fatter letters) slowly zooms in and settles in the middle of the screen. The word shines as the word "STUDIOS" and its line, along with a Trademark symbol, fade in.

Variants:
 * On some VeggieTales tapes from 1998-1999, the text "Distributed by" in white bold Arial Black font is seen on a black background before the logo animates. This is regularly seen at the beginning and end of the tapes. This variant is also found on Groundling Marsh VHS tapes, Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends VHS tapes, and Barney Classic Collection releases from 1998-1999. This variant surprisingly appeared on the screener VHS of Bob the Builder: To the Rescue!.
 * An early version exists with less stars in the night sky, rough animation, longer panning up in the sky until the hand comes, a redder sunset, and a different forest design. The sleeve on the child's arm can't be seen as well. This appeared on the film Barney's Great Adventure.
 * An open matte version of the Barney's Great Adventure variant exists with a turquoise/dark blue gradient starry sky and the "Lyrick Studios" text being off-centered.
 * There is a still version of the 1999-2001 "Distributed by" version of the logo.
 * Another variation has the logo with the camera panning it up more and a white "Distributed by" byline above the logo after it is formed. This variant appears on most VeggieTales tapes from 1999-2001, The Wiggles, some Barney & Friends tapes from 1999-2000, Bob the Builder, and Kipper.
 * There is a rare variant with the words "Distributed by" on a black background in a white Arial font before the logo animates. This appeared on an alternate print of The Wiggles: Yummy Yummy. The proof can be seen here.

Technique: A mix of live action and computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A beautiful dramatic fanfare with the sounds of the duck heard over the fanfare. At first, it's soft when the silhouette of the duck is swimming. Then it gets louder as the camera starts panning upward, as a cymbal crash is heard when the child's hand touches the sky. In the end, the rest of the logo is fixed at the loudest volume reached. Synthesized dings are heard when the text shines. Composed by Joseph Phillips.

Music/Sound Variants:
 * For the early variant, the cymbal crash is a little late for the fanfare.
 * For the still version, silent, like the previous logo.

Availability: Common.


 * Preserved on most VeggieTales and Barney & Friends tapes from the period distributed by the company. Also seen on all Wishbone tapes made after 1997, when Lyrick Studios began distributing the videos, taking over from PolyGram Video. Also seen on most Wiggles tapes from the period, as well as a few early DVD releases like More Barney Songs.
 * The early variant exclusively appears on the 1998 family film Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie (the first piece of media to use the logo).
 * It made its final appearance in one of the last releases to use this logo: the 2001 VHS print of Wiggly Play Time.
 * Since 1999, the still version of the logo is more common than the usual logo.
 * This logo has allegedly appeared on some prints of the 2003 film The Wiggles: Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie, though other copies instead use the HIT logo.

Final Note
On February 9, 2001, British television company HIT Entertainment acquired Lyrick Studios. HIT kept the Texas office of Lyrick open for production of Barney & Friends. As a result of the HIT buyout, they released nothing up to its shutdown in 2001, due to arguments from PolyGram over Barney's Great Adventure being released theatrically instead of DtV (and thus excluding PolyGram's picture deal). As such, the Lyrick rights currently belong to HIT Entertainment (later Mattel Creations), excluding VeggieTales (currently owned by NBCUniversal on behalf of DreamWorks Animation).