Nickelodeon Originals

Background
Nickelodeon, or simply Nick, is an American cable and satellite network, aimed at children and adolescents aged 9-16. Launched on December 1st, 1977, the network was originally founded as Pinwheel, named after a children's television show of the same name. The network was later renamed to Nickelodeon on April 1, 1979, after an early 20th century exhibition dedicated to showing projected motion pictures.

1st Logo: Nick ID Snippets (1988-1989)
Nickname: "Nick ID Snippets"

Logo: There are multiple variants used:
 * Fireworks: We see shadow figures of three children looking into the night sky. A firecracker (which looks like a comet streak) passes by them and we pan up into space, Then the firecracker bounces off of an astronaut, then a satellite, and finally, the moon, who has a very angry look, before it shoots up into the sky, and then explodes into several fireworks. "NICKELODEON" in its familiar font forms. A more common version starts at the firecracker shooting into the sky.
 * Nick TV: On a blue green background, we see a boy in glasses standing next to a large, winged turtle with a TV screen on it. The boy jumps onto the turtle as it flies around in circles. It then stops in the middle of the screen to reveal the "NICKELODEON" text on the TV screen. This was done by Colossal Pictures.
 * Nick Box: On a cream-colored background with objects, we see many objects falling down, and landing in a black rectangle. Then, we see the black rectangle, but on top unfolds an orange rectangle, with "NICKELODEON" in the colors of the objects, and in its familiar font. It makes a box shape, then the "NICKELODEON" text flashes white, and a butterfly flies out of the box.
 * Fish: On a stage surrounded by blue fish, we see three green fish dancing and another one playing the piano. A curtain, with the "NICKELODEON" text in its familiar font, drops. This was done by David Lubell.
 * Golf: We see the toe of a golf club, with an orange golf ball with "NICKELODEON" on it. It hits it, and goes through a loop with an orange arrow with "NICKELODEON" on it. It comes through a windmill with flat orange hands with "NICKELODEON" on it, and finally gets through a curvy pathway with Nickelodeon arrows pointing up.
 * Submarine: We see a dinosaur standing in the middle of a field, looking around. Suddenly, the ground turns into water, and an orange submarine with "NICKELODEON" on it floats up to the surface, right under the dinosaur's feet. This was done by Charlex.
 * Teacup: On a black background, we see a very weird looking tea-dispenser with green grass-like hair, big eyes, a tongue holding a teacup, and a tube coming out of its nose into the teacup. The tea-dispenser slowly spins so that the camera is facing the back of it, and starts to become transparent. When it becomes fully transparent, we see three fish with "NICKELODEON" on them swimming in circles inside.
 * Bikes: On a black background, we see two hand-drawn people (one orange and one purple) riding bikes. This then changes to a blue person wearing green clothing falling over on a bike carrying packages, then to another purple person riding a bike, and finally multiple red people passing by on their bikes. During the last shot, an orange person also passes by, with one of his bike's gears reading "NICKELODEON". When this gear shows up on screen, every part of the orange person's bike except the gear disappears, leaving only the gear on screen.
 * Clay: On a white background, we see a clay orange bomb reading "NICKELODEON" with a lit fuse. When the bomb detonates, it explodes into an orange drop, which transforms into an orange fish reading "NICKELODEON", and then into an orange triangle, also reading "NICKELODEON".
 * Pattycake: We see two silhouettes with orange outlines playing Pattycake on the moon in outer space (we also see Earth in the background). The silhouettes clap hands two times, and four orange hands appear on screen. When they clap hands again, they disappear, and "NICKELODEON" appears on the four orange hands.

Trivia: These logos were all based on the iconic idents for which Nickelodeon was known throughout most of the 1980s.

Variant: There was a superimposed variant of the short fireworks logo that was seen on Double Defi, the French-Canadian version of Double Dare.

FX/SFX: It depends on the variant.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variant:


 * On several episodes of Finders Keepers, we hear silence over the fireworks logo.


 * On the video Double Dare: The Inside Scoop, we hear the fireworks logo's music.

Availability: Most of the variants can be seen on the Orlando-taped episodes of Super Sloppy Double Dare. The long fireworks version (with music) can be seen on the video Double Dare: The Inside Scoop and at the end of Double Dare: The Messiest Moments on VHS. The short fireworks version, however, appeared on the syndicated versions of Double Dare and Finders Keepers, as well as the Fox version of Family Double Dare (and even appeared on the Australian version of Double Dare after the "This program is based off of.." bumper). A short Nick Box is seen on the syndicated version of Double Dare and 1989 episodes of Super Sloppy Double Dare (both the Philadelphia and Orlando-taped episodes). The full Nick Box, however, can be seen on the video How to Throw a Double Dare Party. The golf logo can be found on some Orlando-taped SSDD episodes as well. None of these variants appear on the British and Dutch versions of Double Dare, though.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (September 4, 2000-September 2006)
Nickname: "The Weird Object"

Logo: Against a teal background, various hard-to-describe versions of the Nick logo bounce around the screen (usually "Cloud 2"), eventually settling in the center. Copyright info (which varies in font depending on the show it follows) appears below. Sometimes the copyright info can be on as early as the logo is animating.

Trivia:
 * This logo was based on the on-air look Nick had from 2000 to early 2003, which was designed by Burning Settlers Cabin.
 * According to Burning Settlers Cabin, each shape has a name. From left to right starting from the top: Baroque, Electron, Evolution, Amoeba, Flower, Radishes, and Cloud 2.
 * Also, on 2010-2013 airings of Klasky-Csupo Nicktoons with Nickelodeon USA's split-screen credits, between the transition of K-C's "Splaat" logo and the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo, you can actually see a split-second of this logo (just the teal background).
 * The kids' laughing audio used from August 2001-September 2006 was used on the Wunschpunch episode, "Terrible Toddlers".

FX/SFX: The "bouncing".

Variants:
 * A still version of the logo without any copyright notice exist.
 * An animated version without any copyright notice also exists. So far, it's known to only appear on an airing of Barbie of Swan Lake. The shape used was "Cloud 2" when it was animating, and turns into "Flower" shape when the logo stops animating.
 * On Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper, the background is white and the Mattel logo is in place.
 * The second logo for Nickelodeon Animation Studios was also used along with this logo for certain Nicktoons (Jimmy Neutron, the Frederator Nicktoons [some early season 2 episodes of The Fairly OddParents actually used this while other episodes used the Nicktoons Splat], Danny Phantom, The X's, and Invader Zim) up until 2006. See the page for more details.

Music/Sounds: Depends on the era:
 * September 4?, 2000-July 2001:
 * The end theme of the show.
 * The previous logo's audio on shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Doug, Hey Arnold!, and CatDog.
 * The sounds of an engine revving and a xylophone ditty. The audio stops once the logo stops moving onscreen. Some shows, like Ren & Stimpy and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, have the end theme of the show cut-off for this. On both of these shows, it is very hard to find.
 * The audio from the preceding promo on Nickelodeon's split-screen credits can be used.
 * An odd buzzing sound which was used on some October 2000 airings of shows like Doug and Are You Afraid of the Dark?.
 * August 2001-September 2006:
 * The previous logo's audio on the mentioned shows above.
 * The sound of kids laughing.
 * The end theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * For a brief time in summer 2005, there was an announcer (possibly a female adult or an older child) that said "Next on Nick, [SHOW NAME]."
 * On airings of The Amanda Show with the split-screen credits and an episode of Pelswick, it has the buzzing sound from the 1996 Nickelodeon Productions "Lightbulb" logo.
 * On Butt Ugly Martians, the kids laughing sound cuts from the middle.

Availability: Probably extinct. This logo was mainly used to plaster the Nickelodeon Productions logo on the split-screen credits (this was done to simplify the creation of the credits). Strangely, this logo wasn't seen on a 2001 airing of Taina with the split-screen credits, as the 1996 Nick Productions "Lightbulb" logo appears, and several airings of Avatar: The Last Airbender with the split-screen credits omitted this logo in favour of the NAS “Nickelodeon splat”, it is unknown what shape the Nickelodeon logo used on the former show. It was used from 2000 until 2006. Sometimes, it would appear on shows that weren't made by Nickelodeon, but had split-screen credits, like Speed Racer X, My Dad The Rock Star and Butt Ugly Martians. This logo was also used on the Nick on CBS block when it aired Nicktoons because of the fact that the block's credits were the same ones Nickelodeon used at the time. The still logo was last seen on the 2011 airing of Cry Baby Lane, as current airings on NickSplat remove this logo. Considering that there have been no scenarios for many years that would use this logo after it was dropped, it’s safe to say this logo is extinct at this point.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (May 27, 2006-September 28, 2009, August 2011)
Nicknames: "Bubbles and Nick", "The Splat!", "CGI Splat", "Nick Splat", "CGI Nick Splat"

Logo: On a white and teal background with green CGI bubbles, one bursts, revealing a CGI Nickelodeon logo. Copyright info is shown below.

Trivia:
 * This logo was based off Nickelodeon's intermission bumpers (titled "Nick Extra") from 2005 to 2008.
 * A similar concept would later be used for the Nickelodeon Productions logo of 2007.

Variants:
 * On Wayside, there was no copyright information byline and at the top, there was orange text that read "This has been a presentation of".
 * On Back at the Barnyard, and The Fairly OddParents episode "77 Secrets of The Fairly OddParents Revealed", the logo lacks copyright info.
 * On all Three Delivery shorts, the logo is completely still.
 * On Making Fiends, the logo is in black and white.
 * On a 2007 season 1 airing of Just Jordan, if you look closely near to the end, the 2006 copyright stamp appears due to a plastering error.

FX/SFX: The bubble bursting. Nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: Usually the end theme of the show that aired, but sometimes it's the kids laughing from the last logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * When the logo was first being used during the summer of 2006, this logo had the "POP!" sound and gurgling sounds from the 2007 Nickelodeon Productions logo. It was also used on the season one iCarly episode "iWanna Stay With Spencer".
 * On the end of Three Delivery shorts, there is no music playing.
 * On split-screen credit airings of Jimmy Neutron episodes, the logo has the "Gotta blast!" audio variant of the Nicktoons logo from the mentioned show.
 * On split-screen credit airings of Mr. Meaty, the logo plastered the 1996 Nickelodeon Productions "Lightbulb" logo, and because of it, this logo has the end theme of the show accompanied with the sounds of the mentioned logo. This is probably because the Lightbulb's audio is mixed in with the end theme of the show and Nick must have forgotten to remove the audio.
 * Split-screen credit airings of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera features the kids laughing audio in a very noticeable higher pitch and cuts the show's end theme off. This only happened on the main Nickelodeon USA channel, as Nicktoons Network airings kept the end theme playing over this logo.
 * On August 9, 2011, on a Nickelodeon USA airing of Bubble Guppies after the split-screen credits, the logo strangely was revived and because of it, the Wild Brain and the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logos were plastered. The audio from the aforementioned logos was played over this one.
 * Also in August 2011, on an airing of Team Umizoomi, a similar thing happened above where the Curious Pictures and Nick logos were plastered and it had the audio from those two logos.
 * Again, in August of the same year, on one airing of Dora the Explorer, there was another error where this logo plastered the extended 2009 Nick logo, and it had the music from that logo.
 * On Back at the Barnyard, a short country tune is played.

Availability: Unncommon. The first confirmed sighting of this logo was during an airing of Chalk Zone on May 27, 2006 and sporadically used during Summer 2006. However, it didn't fully come into effect on all split screen credits airings until September 2006. Nick used this logo on split screen credits airings until March 2008 (shows on the TEENick block continued to use this logo even after most shows switched to the next logo below in January 2008). However, it was also used outside of the split-screen credits as a proper logo, thus allowing it to escape extinction. The first use of this logo outside of split-screen credits on The Naked Brothers Band in January 2007. It appeared on Tak and the Power of Juju and season 1 episodes of Back at the Barnyard. This logo, for some reason, was retained on the split-screen credits of some shows on Nicktoons Network (now "Nicktoons") until the 2009 rebrand. Also, when Nickelodeon ran The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash marathon in July 2009, this logo was revived after the split-screen credits of all of the SpongeBob episodes. It's also been spotted on some pre-2014 airings of The Fairly OddParents episode "Fairly OddBaby", which surprisingly kept the original ending credits and logos intact despite the credits being displayed on the bottom-left of the screen and had the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo play on the bottom right of the screen. This is also seen across the globe, unlike the fifth logo, but there it's not as common as the fourth logo below. It was also shown on early season 6 episodes of The Fairly OddParents as well as late-season 5 to early-season 6 episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants. It was also seen on US airings of early El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera episodes. It was also seen on Three Delivery shorts on Nicktoons Network (now simply "Nicktoons"), which haven't been on in a while. It also appeared on the first three episodes of The Mighty B!. Its extended version was used on someDVDs of Nick shows from around late 2008 up until sometime in 2009. One example was the 2009 DVD, SpongeBob SquarePants: To SquarePants or Not to SquarePants.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (January 30, 2008-September 28, 2009, October 12-December 5, 2009, January 25-April 12, 2010, July 21, 2010, October 23, 2010, September 21-23, 2011)
Nicknames: "Nick Lightbulb", "CGI Nick Lightbulb", "The Lightbulb Returns", "From Splat to Lightbulb"

Logo: On a black background, we see the infamous Nickelodeon orange splat logo in 2D. Then the background glows dark orange, and the splat transforms into an orange 3D CGI lightbulb, an obvious homage to the Nickelodeon Productions logo of 1996, which turns toward us. And as always, copyright info is shown below, or sometimes not at all.

Variants:
 * There is an extended variant on the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards, as well as some other shows, in which the lightbulb changes back to the splat logo at the end.
 * The logo is shown without the copyright stamp on some Nick Jr. shows, Back at the Barnyard and the first 5 episodes of The Troop. However, some international reruns and more recent ones in the U.S. still had the copyright stamp.
 * On shows and movies produced in HD, a version exists where the logo is slightly different. The background glows red-orange and the Nickelodeon logo is also in red-orange, and the text on the lightbulb has a 3D effect to it.

FX/SFX: The splat transforming into a light bulb, the glow in the BG. More nice CGI.

Music/Sounds: The "laughing kids" sound effect from the 2000 logo, the end theme of the show, the end theme and the "laughing kids" sound effect mixed together, the audio from the logo that came before it (see the music/sounds section of the 2nd logo), or silence.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On split-screen airings of the Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan episode "The Ant Playground", the 2005 Nick Jr. Productions jingle may play over the logo without the copyright stamp. This is the only Ni Hao, Kai-Lan episode to use this logo with Nick Jr. Productions music; other episodes used this logo with the standard laugh.
 * On the Bubble Guppies episode "Can You Dig It?", this logo has the music of the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo.
 * Some episodes of Back at the Barnyard would use the short country tune from the previous logo's variant.

Availability: Was very common in its time of use, but now, it's uncommon. Again, like the previous logo, it was primary used on the split-screen credits until the 2009 rebrand. However, it was more widely used outside of the split-screen credits compared to the previous logo. It also strangely appears on 2 SpongeBob SquarePants episodes that premiered after the 2009 rebrand: "SpongeBob's Last Stand" and "The Clash of Triton" on DVD and Nicktoons. It was also seen on SpongeBob SquarePants episodes from season 6 to early-season 7 (when it switched to the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo), The Fairly OddParents since season 6 until 2009, The Mighty B!, Back at the Barnyard, The Penguins of Madagascar, late episodes of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, the first 10 episodes of Team Umizoomi and early episodes of Fanboy and Chum Chum. The bylineless version can also be seen on some Nick Jr. shows and plasters over the Nick Jr. Productions logo along with the first five episodes of The Troop on Nicktoons. Also seen more commonly across the globe. Ironically, Nickelodeon Latin America still used this logo in newer episodes of shows until one point. It was also seen at the end of VOD releases of a few SpongeBob SquarePants episodes, which were on Nick On Demand in 2010. Also, some DVD releases released by Nickelodeon in 2009 have the extended version of this logo. It also appears on Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants. Strangely, the TV movie The Boy Who Cried Wolf used this logo, despite it premiering a year after the 2009 rebrand. Another strange sighting was on the Bubble Guppies episodes "Can You Dig It?" and "Happy Clam Day!" which first aired in September 2011. The HD variant only appeared on season 1 episodes of True Jackson V.P., early episodes of Fanboy and Chum Chum, earlier episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar and other HD shows.

Editor's Note: None.

5th Logo (September 28, 2009-March 11, 2017)
Logo: Essentially the same as the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo, but excluding the word "PRODUCTIONS" and sometimes the copyright stamp.

Variant: On Open Heart and the 14th season of Degrassi, the same logo of Nickelodeon Productions was used but "ORIGINALS" replaces "PRODUCTIONS".

FX/SFX: Same as the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo.

Availability: Common. Although split-screen airings now use the 2009 Nickelodeon Productions logo, it's still seen at the start of most Nickelodeon DVDs, and sometimes at the end of Nickelodeon shows like Rabbids: Invasion. The "Originals" variant appears on Degrassi starting with the 14th season and Open Heart (Canadian airings of these two shows don't have it).

Editor's Note: None.

6th Logo (2013?- )
Logo: Just the current Nickelodeon logo on a white background.

Variants:
 * On Pinky Malinky, the titular character is seen running and jumping around the logo.
 * On Glitch Techs, the logo is seen in an arcade machine along with a score counter above it and the blinking text "PRESS START" below it. The logo also glitches a little.
 * There is a version where the logo is smaller and the color scheme is reversed (the logo is white, while the background is orange).
 * On many shows, the logo is in-credit.

FX/SFX: Usually none, except for the animation in the two custom Netflix variants:
 * Pinky Malinky variant: Pinky running and jumping around the logo.
 * Glitch Techs variant: The logo glitching and the "PRESS START" text blinking.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On Pinky Malinky, we hear the opening theme of the show along with Pinky laughing, then saying "I can't" and screaming the word "whoa".
 * On Glitch Techs, some video game sound effects are heard.

Availability: Common. Appears on Ollie's Pack. The reversed color scheme version can be found on Becca's Bunch. The custom animated variants are seen on the Netflix original shows Pinky Malinky and Glitch Techs. The in-credit variant is very common and can be found on shows such as Make It Pop, Star Falls, Ride, Max & Shred, Dorg van Dango, Massive Monster Mayhem and the 2019 version of The Adventures of Paddington.

Editor's Note: None.