The Jim Henson Company

Background
The Jim Henson Company was formed on November 20, 1958 as Muppets, Inc. by Jim Henson and his wife Jane, three years after Henson's first show, Sam and Friends, premiered. Until the premiere of Sesame Street in 1969, the company mainly did work for commercials. In 1976, Muppets, Inc. was renamed Henson Associates, and it became Jim Henson Productions in 1987.

In 1989, the company planned to merge with The Walt Disney Company, but during negotiations, Henson died on May 16, 1990. Therefore, the deal collapsed and the company remained independent and now under control of Henson's children, Brian, Lisa, Cheryl, Heather and John, who gave it its current name in 1997.

In 2000, the company was sold to German company EM.TV and Merchandising AG, but by the end of that year EM.TV's stock collapsed, and the company was sold back to the Henson family in 2003. As of 2023, Brian is the company's chairman, Lisa is CEO, and Cheryl and Heather are Board of Directors members. John Henson was also a BOD member until his death in 2014.

1st Logo (August 18, 2000-March 10, 2003)


Logo: On a black background, a series of flying computer-like lasers and streaks write the green words: THE JIM HENSON COMPANY with the word "THE" in superscript format.

Trivia: It's possible this logo was made to differentiate Farscape from the Henson company's more family-friendly works.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A phaser sound effect with a whooshing sound, or the end theme of the show or movie.

Availability: Seen on Farscape, starting with the 15th episode of season 2, as well as Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story and The Fearing Mind.

2nd Logo (October 17-18, 2004)


Logo: On a black background, the white Jim Henson Company logo fades in.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening/ending theme of the show.

Availability: Only seen on Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars.

3rd Logo (April 27, 2005)


Logo: Same as the last logo, except the logo is stretched out a bit, the logo cuts in, and the Jim Henson text and line are red.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the movie.

Availability: Seen only on The Muppets' Wizard of Oz.

4th Logo (September 30, 2005; November 21, 2015; August 30, 2019-)
Logo: On a black background, a Jim Henson logo in corporate font appears in a box. Below the bar are the words "THE JIM HENSON COMPANY". The whole logo is in gold. While slowly zooming in, the logo flashes with rainbow sparks and then turns blurry before fading out.

Variants:


 * A shorter version exists, in which the logo is sped up a bit.
 * On some productions, like Earth to Ned and The Portable Door, the logo appears without the box, and in a slightly darker gold color.
 * On Jim Henson‘s Turkey Hollow, a still version of the logo appears, stretched out like the 3rd logo.
 * At the end of The Portable Door, the logo is still and in silver.

Technique: Simple CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The opening or closing theme of the movie/show.

Availability: Seen on MirrorMask, Jim Henson‘s Turkey Hollow, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Earth to Ned, the 2022 CGU Insurance short film Tall Poppy, and The Portable Door.

5th Logo (November 20, 2006-201?)


Logo: On a black background, the Jim Henson Company logo in the same style as before blurs in, except "Jim Henson" is red with a white outline, and everything else is white.

Technique: Blurring effects.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on the ''Puppet Up! Uncensored'' special on TBS and videos on the official Jim Henson Company YouTube channel.

6th Logo (June 20, 2008-)
Logo: Against a white grainy background, we see a dragonfly buzzing from the right side of the screen to the left, leaving a star trail and before a giant spider-like creature with eyes on stalks appears, the dragonfly wipes the Jim Henson Company logo from left to right, consisting of a blue "Jim Henson" in its corporate font, with a gold line and "THE JIM HENSON COMPANY" underneath. The dragonfly flies around while the giant spider creature chases after the dragonfly by scampering off the screen. The creatures wiggle kind of like Jell-O.

Trivia: The creatures in this logo are based on the drawings of Jim Henson.

Variants:
 * A short version exists, which cuts off most of the logo.
 * On Fraggle Rock: Rock On!, the logo is still with no dragonfly or spider creature.
 * On Harriet the Spy and Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island, the dragonfly and the spider creature wiggle more.

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A twittering flute sound, followed by an ascending xylophone scale, then the same twittering flute sound, followed by a descending xylophone scale. The sounds of the dragonfly and the spider creature are heard faintly.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On Harriet the Spy, recent prints of Fraggle Rock and some episodes of Sid the Science Kid, the end theme plays over the logo.
 * On Dinosaur Train, the last second of the ending theme plays over the logo.
 * Sometimes, the logo only has the sounds of the dragonfly and the spider creature.
 * On later episodes of the French dub of Dinosaur Train, the logo (alongside the theme song) is double pitched.

Availability: Common.
 * It was first seen on Frances (though some prints of the show such as Cartoonito airings in the UK use the still variant of the next logo) and was also seen at the end of Sid the Science Kid after the KCET logo.
 * It also appears on Dinosaur Train on PBS, as well as Pajanimals.
 * This was also seen on repeats of Fraggle Rock on The Hub (now Discovery Family) and current Apple TV+ prints, as well as the Harriet the Spy TV series.
 * This logo can also be found on Freeform airings of the Fraggle Rock episode "The Bells of Fraggle Rock" on rare occasions.
 * The long version appears on DVDs from the company such as the 2013 re-releases of Fraggle Rock: Complete Series Collection and Fraggle Rock: Meet the Fraggles, as well as at the end of Jim Henson's Family Hub uploads of Construction Site.
 * It also appears on Dinosaur Train: Adventure Island and at the end of various clips from their productions posted to their YouTube channel.
 * Strangely, this was never seen on The Star, despite the company being involved.

7th Logo (January 20, 2022-)
Logo: On a white background, we see the red text "Jim Henson" in its traditional font and with a trademark sign beside it slowly zoom out. A gray line and the text "THE JIM HENSON COMPANY" appears underneath. The logo shines.

Technique: Basic computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A four-note acoustic theme with ukulele and chimes.

Availability:
 * Seen at the end of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock on Apple TV+, though a similar (albeit still) logo appeared on Frances (some prints use the previous logo).
 * It is also currently unknown whether it will appear on any other productions.