Starry Night Productions

Background
This is the vanity logo of Night Court producer Reinhold Weege.

(January 4, 1984-May 3, 1989)


Nicknames: "The Dark Skyline", "GOOM!" ,"Explosion of Doom", "Evil Laugh (Laughing variant)"

Logo: The logo starts off with an animated skyline of Chicago, USA, over Lake Michigan, in the night. In the center, a large, white flash is slowly rising. When the flash is near the top, it explodes and gives way to increasing amounts of stars in the sky. Shortly after the explosion, the following text "serif" appears in a white serif font. "IN ASSOCIATION WITH" cuts in below in a plainer, smaller font.

FX/SFX: The skyline, the flash and explosion.

Music/Sounds: After an "explosion sound" (which sounds a lot more like a clap), an eerie electric piano chord is heard, and is held until both logos end. Starting in March 1984 with "Harry and the Rock Star", the 11th episode of Night Court 's first season, a man breaking into laughter was heard after the piano chord first started up that goes over to the Warner Bros. Television logo of the time period (either the "\\'" logo on earlier episodes or the '84 "Shield" logo; on recent prints, it's the 2003 logo).

Music/Sounds Trivia: The laugh was rumored to have been either the voice of voice actor Mel Blanc or star Harry Anderson, but, in a comment on an article about Reinhold Weege's death, show writer Tom Reeder states the laugh was Weege's father Chuck, who attended the tapings of the first several seasons of the show and his distinct laugh was often heard.

Availability: Only seen on the first six seasons of Night Court and the 1984 TV pilot Earthlings.

Legacy: This logo has cheap, undetailed animation. Not to mention that the "explosion" sound effect sounds more like somebody clapping their hands. A number of viewers found this logo to be scary, while others found it amusing.