Sirius Thinking Ltd.

Background
Sirius Thinking, Ltd. is the production company of Apple businessman John Sculley, Sesame Street head writer Norman Stiles, Sesame songwriter Chris Cerf, and Muppet designer Michael Frith that was founded in 1996.

(April 3, 2000-November 22, 2010)


Nicknames: "The Dog", "Rude Pup", "The Sirius Thinking Dog", "The Between the Lions Logo", "Thinking Hard", "Cheesy Pup (variant)"

Logo: On a yellow marble background, we see a crudely drawn dog with a star on his right eye. Then his tongue pops out that causes a rude look on his face and a thought bubble appears above, meaning that he's thinking really hard. The words, "Sirius Thinking Ltd." fade into the thought bubble. Then the dog returns to normal and smiles, as "For Jon, Jim, Joe, Jeff, Jeanne... and Ted" appears below the dog and thought bubble with text.

Trivia:
 * The company is likely named after the brightest star in the night sky of the same name. Said star is also inside the Canis Major (Greater Dog) constellation, hence why the dog has a star on its eye.
 * As well, the names shown below the dog (Jon, Jim, Joe, Jeff, Jeanne, Ted) might refer to Jon Stone (longtime director and writer for Sesame Street), Jim Henson, Joe Raposo (songwriter and composer for Sesame Street), and Jeff Moss (longtime writer for Sesame Street). Some think Ted could be referring to Theodor Geisel (most known as Dr. Seuss), and the meaning of Jeanne is unknown. This is all merely speculation, as no official statement has yet been released by the company regarding this.

Variant: On later episodes of Between the Lions, the dog is drawn even more crudely (with added text below saying "© SIRIUS THINKING") and the "For Jon, Jim, Joe, Jeff, Jeanne... and Ted" tagline is already in its place. After a moment, the thought bubble appears with the text "Sirius" on the inside and "Ltd." mostly on the outside. After another moment, the "(thinking)" text appears as well. And finally, the inside of the star around the dog's eye becomes yellow.

Technique: The dog changing to a thinking look then returns to normal and the title and thought bubble fading in. For the variant, just the things appearing.

Music/Sounds: A rude tongue sticking out noise, then a cackle from the dog. Sometimes combined with the end theme of the show. Later on, the tongue sticking out noise became slightly different and the cackling was removed.

Availability: Rare. Seen on Between the Lions and Lomax, the Hound of Music.