Film Roman

Background
Film Roman was founded in 1984 by former Bill Melendez Productions animator Phil Roman to produce new Garfield television specials as well as Garfield and Friends. Currently best known for animating 1992-2016 episodes of The Simpsons and other series, it was later sold to IDT Entertainment (now Starz Distribution) in 2003. In 2015, Waterman Entertainment (Steve Waterman's self-named media company) acquired the studio from Starz. Waterman Entertainment was however shut down the same year, leaving Film Roman to become independent.

1st Logo (October 26, 1984-November 22, 1989, July 11-September 12, 2003)
Nicknames: "'80s FR Logo", "The Pen", "The Garfield Logo"

Logo: Against a blue background, we see the text "ROMAN" in white with yellow outlines with "film" in a red cursive font in the "O". The yellow letter "A" is seen above and the word "PRODUCTION" in yellow is seen below the logo. The bottom of the "f" extends downward past the inside of the "O", looking kind of like a pen.

Variants:


 * Most episodes and TV movies of Garfield and Friends from season 2 onward simply used the text "A FILM ROMAN PRODUCTION", sometimes with "in association with" below, on a certain colored background.
 * October 26, 1984: Orange background used on Garfield in the Rough.
 * October 30, 1985: Fuchsia background used on Garfield's Halloween Special.
 * May 27, 1986: Navy blue background used on Garfield in Paradise.
 * May 8, 1987: A blue background featuring an image of Garfield sleeping below the text used on Garfield Goes Hollywood.
 * May 23, 1989: A brick wall background featuring a silhouette of Garfield in a detective trench coat all in black & white used on Garfield's Babes and Bullets.
 * November 22, 1989: A brown background was used on Garfield's Thanksgiving.
 * December 22, 1987: Blue background used on A Garfield Christmas Special.
 * July 11-September 12, 2003: A black background with the text reading as "IN ASSOCIATION WITH DPS FILM ROMAN" on the short-lived show Free For All.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Rare. Appears on the DVD releases of the first season of Garfield & Friends (the remastered HD prints on the Boomerang streaming service plaster it with the 6th logo) and its preceding television specials and the ultra short-lived show Free For All.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 16, 1989-February 23, 1998)
Nicknames: "Fireworks", "The Game Boy Logo", "The Garfield Logo II"

Logo: We see a blue background, which rapidly shrinks into a blue box on a white background. As the box stops shrinking, five sparks (two on the left, three on the right) form orange-ish curved lines in the box, kinda like fireworks. The text "A FILM ROMAN PRODUCTION" ("FILM" and "ROMAN" are in blue filmstrip-like boxes) appears above and below the logo, in such fashion:

A

F I L M

(box design)

ROMAN

PRODUCTION

Two yellow dots appear to the left and right of the logo.

Variants:


 * Sometimes, the dots are omitted. So far, this version has only been seen on The Mask: The Animated Series.
 * TV movies and specials would have the title and copyright stamp below the logo.
 * Another variant features "in association with" below.
 * On season 4 episodes of Eek! Stravaganza (non-weekday episodes with Klutter), this logo is shown in split screen on the right alongside with the 1985-2002 Nelvana Limited logo on the left.
 * An in-credit version of the logo (without "A" and "PRODUCTION") can be seen on Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
 * In Garfield Gets a Life, instead of the logo fading out like it normally does, it cuts to black. There's also a copyright superimposed in black.
 * In Garfield's Feline Fantasies, the logo is shifted upwards and shrunken to make way for the copyright in blue. The blue background is also just a large square, which shrinks after the lines form.

FX/SFX: The shrinking, the drawing of the lines, and the fading out of the logo.

Music/Sounds: An ascending dreamy synth tune when the lines are drawn, followed by 2 pinging sounds (sounding similar to the Game Boy boot sound, hence the nickname above) when the dots appear.

Music/Sounds Variants:


 * Sometimes, only the pinging sounds are left in; occasionally, you can hear the very end of the synth tune before the first ping.
 * The final season of Garfield & Friends used a variant of the full logo with the synth tune, but just the first ping.
 * For the TV movie variants and a few shows, the end theme also finishes over it, but sometimes the pinging is still intact.
 * There is also a high and low tone version.

Availability: Was common in the past, but now it's uncommon, bordering on rare. It was last seen on Garfield & Friends reruns on Boomerang, specifically, from the second season onward, though is intact on the show's DVD release (the remastered HD prints of the second season seen on Boomerang's streaming service plaster it with the 6th logo); it's kept on other shows such as Bobby's World (which can be viewed on Kabillion On Demand), Mighty Max, The Mask: The Animated Series, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, and C Bear and Jamal, among others. Don't expect this or later Film Roman logos on The Simpsons, as Film Roman only produced the animation for the latter show, and nothing else (Gracie Films and TCFTV logos typically appear at the end of the show); likewise with The Critic, Family Guy (season 1 only), and King of the Hill. The version with the tune and the pings can be seen on the 1996 Richie Rich minisodes on Sony-owned Crackle accompanied by the Claster and Sony Pictures TV logos; it was also seen on the short-lived 1990 Fox Kids series Zazoo U, and was kept when rerun internationally, as well as on the short-lived 1998 Fox Kids series The Mr. Potato Head Show. The version with the single ping noise was only seen on original CBS broadcasts of the final season of Garfield & Friends (it had a new, rather infamous rap-based theme; international prints never used this theme and therefore the DVD releases lack it).

Editor's Note: This logo is fairly popular, particularly among 1990s kids, and is a favorite of many since it brings back memories.

3rd Logo (July 24, 1999)
Nicknames: "Fireworks II", "3-D Fireworks"

Logo: On a black background, the Film Roman logo is seen in 3D, but without the dots and fireworks and the text in silver. The fireworks, which are now golden, then draw upwards while the logo slightly rotates to a angle, facing the left to the screen. The dots, also now golden, then rotate into place, with the left one going up and the right one going down.

FX/SFX: The logo turning.

Music/Sounds: The end title theme of Johnny Tsunami.

Availability: Very rare. Seen only on the Disney Channel Original Movie Johnny Tsunami.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (November 4, 2000-2007)
Nicknames: "Fireworks III", "F-R"

Logo: On a blue background with white spirals and the letters F and R, the familiar logo is seen in white, but with some differences. The fireworks are now in front of a blue square, with "FILM" on top and "ROMAN" on the bottom. The text are no longer inside the filmstrip-like boxes, but rather inside of a square surrounding the fireworks.

Variant: From 2003-2007, the "FILM ROMAN" text is now connected to each other and the fireworks are now pushed upwards. This makes the fireworks even more condensed and squished. They're also darker and have the text "DPS" over them. The byline "an IDT ENTERTAINMENT company" or "an IDT Media company" is shown below, in white, and with "IDT ENTERTAINMENT" or "IDT Media" in bold lettering. The trademark (TM) symbol is shown on the lower right-hand corner of the logo, and it appears to be darker. A black background version of this one exists.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show. Other times, it's silent.

Availability: The original version is pretty common and it's currently seen on X-Men Evolution on Disney XD and the complete first season on DVD. It was also seen on the Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed. The DPS variant is seen on the final season of X-Men: Evolution on Disney XD and reruns of other Film Roman shows (and sometimes removes old Film Roman logos and replaces it with this one), the black background DPS version can be seen on the DVD release of Weebles.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (July 11-September 12, 2003)
Nicknames: "Fireworks IV"

Logo: On a black background, we have the 4th logo of Film Roman, but this time the box is blue, the letters & inside of the box are white, and the fireworks are blue.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The last few notes of Free for All 's theme song.

Availability: Extremely rare. It was seen on Free for All on Showtime. Should still be left intact whenever reran.

Editor's Note: It looks very bland, lazy and boring. It appears like they've just taken the logo off their website and put it on a black background!

6th Logo (2006-2007)
Nicknames: "Fireworks V", "Bland Fireworks", "Bland Starz"

Logo: On a white background, we see the Film Roman logo from the 5th logo. Under it is the byline "a STARZ company" in black.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Rare. It can only be seen on later episodes of Me Eloise! on DVD and both Hellboy: Animated movies. Do not expect this to be seen on Wow, Wow, Wubbzy!, as only the Starz Media logo is seen there. It can also be seen on the remastered/reanimated episodes of Garfield and Friends on the Boomerang app.

Editor's Note: Same as above.

7th Logo (2007-2009, February 9, 2010)
Nicknames: "Fireworks VI", "Fireworks in Space", "Starz Fireworks"

Logo: On a black space background, a blue haze forms. Before it fully appears, the Film Roman logo pops in, being like the DPS variant except without the "DPS" text and having the 5th logo's color scheme, along with 8 sparkles in a compass direction style. A mass of clouds appear behind it as stars emerge from behind it and the sparkles dissolve. Below the text "astarzcompany" fades in, with "starz" being in the logo's typeface at the time.

Variants:


 * On the 2008 Christmas special Cranberry Christmas, the logo is surrounded by light green Christmas lights.
 * On Dead Space, there is no byline.
 * On Dante's Inferno: Animated Epic, the logo appears in black on red fabric, like other logos.

FX/SFX: The light haze.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Uncommon. It was last seen on Slacker Cats on ABC Family. This logo can be also seen at the end of the 2008 Christmas special Cranberry Christmas on ABC Family, but until recently, hasn't surfaced since its debut. It can be also found on the Blu-ray release of Dead Space.

Editor's Note: At least they managed to make an animated logo for the company for the first time in a while.

8th Logo (2009-)
Nicknames: "Fireworks VII", "The Paintcan", "CG Fireworks", "Computer Starz"

Logo: On a white background, the text "FILM ROMAN" is written out in a rough pencil look. It gets layered over with a clean out line of it, then it filled with a square outline around the area. The logo zooms out as a mouse cursor appears and expands out a rectangle outline. It then changes to the paintcan tool, where it fills the box with teal and moves over the rectangle area. The box then reveals the text in white and the paintcan drops several teal splashes of paint, forming the fireworks design. The background then fills with black around the logo. A flare appears below the logo, which reveals "a starz company" with the Starz logo in it.

Later Variant: From 2015, the logo is bylineless, and the flare is removed due to this.

FX/SFX: The writing, and clicking.

Music/Sounds: The end-title theme from any show. On the long version, it only has sounds from a pen, computer arrow, "paint splattering" sounds, and finally, the stock descending bell tree sound effect ("BELL TREE - DESCENDING, MUSIC, PERCUSSION" from Sound Ideas' The General Series 6000 Sound Effects Library) at the end. On Dan Vs. the "paint splatter" and bell tree sounds play over the end-theme.

Availability: Common. The short version can be seen on Ultimate Spider-Man on Disney XD, as well as The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! and The Super Hero Squad Show when those shows were last on Netflix; it was also seen on Dan Vs. when last seen on Hub Network (before the rebrand to Discovery Family). The long version can be seen on Dante's Inferno: The Animated DTV Movie.

Editor's Note: None.