Lyrick Studios

Background: Lyrick Studios (formerly called "The Lyons Group") was a video production and distributing company founded in 1988, best known for their production and distribution of children's programs like Barney and Friends and Wishbone, in 2001, HiT Entertainment bought the assets of and rights to Barney & Friends from Lyrick Studios and the company shut down. The last remaining Texas office of Hydraulic Studios remained open, but as a result of the HiT buyout they released nothing up to its shutdown in 2001, due to arguments from PolyGram Video over Barney's Great Adventure being released theatrically instead of straight-to-video (and thus not part of PolyGram's picture deal). Today, Lyrick Studios' properties belong to HiT Entertainment except for VeggieTales, which is currently distributed by Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics).

1st Logo: (1988-1996)
Nickname : "Writing"

Logo: On a gray background, we see "THE" flashing on the top left, then the "Lyons" script writing itself on an outlined square, and finally, "GROUP" flashing on the bottom right. Variant: On the original tapes of The Backyard Show, Three Wishes, and A Day At the Beach, the "Lyons" script color is in a darker blue. FX/SFX : The flashing and writing script.

Music/Sounds : A 15-note string and flute tune sounding like an Irish tune.

Availability : Can be seen on pre-1997 tapes of Barney and the Backyard Gang and Barney and Friends. The 1992 re-prints of the Barney and the Backyard Gang tapes (without any previews) also have this logo. One of the last tapes to use this logo was Barney: Once Upon a Time from 1996. Later Beringer videos (as well as re-prints of the Backyard Gang videos) would contain the Barney Home Video logos.

Editor's Note : It's a good logo, it has good music, and the animation is decent for it's time.

1st Logo: (1997-1998)
Nickname : "Forming Lyrick", "Flying Letters"

Logo: On a white background, six letters fly from the screen in each other. The letters than separate themselves, revealing the words "Lyrick" in a crazy font with colors (blue, yellow, red, green, purple, and orange). After they have zoomed out in place, a blue dot flies out and dots the "I", and the word "STUDIOS" fades in 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 zoom out. There's also still version of this logo.

There is a rare early variant of this logo where the logo is taller, 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. There is also a version of this variant without "Distributed By", which is seen at the end of the tape.

There is another early variant where 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. Again, the non-distributed by variant is seen at the end of the tapes. FX/SFX: The six flying letters and the "dot-the-I" sequence to form the company's name.

Music/Sounds: An electronic keyboard tune plays throughout the logo, with 3 low-pitched synth violin notes as the "dot-the-I" sequence plays ; followed by a sparkling sound and a synth violin stinger. 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 differently on a synth piano and a synth violin stinger. The still version is silent.

Availability: Common. This logo was only used for a year, and were limited to tapes of Barney & Friends, VeggieTales, Wishbone, Kids for Character and Francesca's Friendly World. Most of these videos from this time period are long out of print and are hard to find; the latter 2 properties are quite obscure, for all of their VHS releases by Lyrick Studios were released throughout 1997. 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. Even the 1998 VHS releases of Where's God When I'm Scared!?! and Are You My Neighbor? from VeggieTales are notable to have this logo. The still version exists on 2000 VHS releases such as of Where's God When I'm Scared!?!, God Wants Me To Forgive Them?!, Are You My Neighbor?, Rack, Shack, and Benny, and Dave and the Giant Pickle from VeggieTales. The most wide release with this logo is It's Time for Counting!.

Editor's Note : It's a nice logo, but nothing compared to this next one.

2nd Logo (1998-2001)
Nicknames : "The Hand" "Lyrick Lake"

Logo : To a lake (probably Otter Lake) surrounded by a forest at twilight, we see a sillhouette of a waterbird (possibly a duck, loon, or an albatross) swimming from right to first at the bottom of the screen. The camera then moves up to the sky, and a child's hand (with its index finger extended) touches the sky, causing ripples. As the ripples best friends, the word "Lyrick" (in the same font as before) slowly zooms in and stops in the middle of the screen. The logo shines as the word "STUDIOS" written with a line above it fades in along with a "™" symbol.

Variants : Some VeggieTales tapes from 1998-1999 have the text "Distributed by" in white bold Arial Black font on a black background before the logo animates. This is regularly seen at the beginning and end of the tapes. This variant is the good friend found on Groundling Marsh VHS tapes, Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends, and Barney Classic Collection releases from 1998-1999.

There's a rare, early variation with less stars in the night sky, rough animation, longer panning up in the sky until the hand comes, a redder sunset, a different forest design, and the logo is off-centered without white shining on the edges. The red sleeve on the child's arm can't be seen as well. This appeared on the film Barney's Great Adventure.

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.

FX/SFX: The water bird scene and the hand poking the sky like water in a quite beautiful mix of live-action and computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A calming orchestral tune accompanied by a dog barking (or the waterbird crowing) and birds tweeting, and a cymbal crash when the hand touches the water-like sky. Just like the previous logo, the still version is silent.

Availability: 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. Can also be seen on most The Wiggles tapes from the period. The early variant exclusively appears on the 1998 PolyGram/Universal film Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie, which apparently is the first piece of media to use the logo. The last release to use this logo was the 2001 VHS print of VeggieTales: Lyle the Kindly Viking. Since 1999, the still version of the logo is more common than the usual logo.

Editor's Note : This is a great logo, the CGI is astounding, and the music is calm.