Legal Video

Logo descriptions by Guillermo A. Martínez Logo captures by Guillermo A. Martínez Video captures courtesy of Raro VHS and Guillermo A. Martínez Editions by Guillermo A. Martínez, naxo-olé, CooleyBoy10 MegaAveron25, SuperMuppet, Unnepad

Background: This was a children's division of Gativideo (then called Legal Video), which distributed cartoons from Hanna-Barbera from early 1986 to 1988. The description is also applicable to the "movies" variation with no frog, obviously.

1st (known) Logo(1986-1988?)
Nicknames: "Chinese Dragon in Argentina", "Ranita", "Ugly Frog"

Logo: On a black background, a very pixelated Chinese dragon inteal/green/yellow/orange scrolls downwards. As it scrolls, a metallic rectangle flips in, zooming in as well. There is the text "LEGAL VIDEO S.A." in a very "futuristic" font, along with a large cutout in the lower right corner, as well as the large letters "LV" taken out of the top right. After the dragon leaves the screen, the logo glitches out for a second, causing streaks from the bottom edges to streak across the screen. On children's releases, a lime green circle with the text "Video Niño" (or "Video Child" in English) fades in. At the top of this circle are icons representing two smiling faces.

FX/SFX: Early mixer effects, with the computerized scrolling of the dragon, the model of the logo turning in, and the Video Feedback trails. Very cheap animation, even for its time.

Music/Sounds: A futuristic synth theme with zaps and xylophone notes.

Availability: Extremely rare. This was found on a Argentine video of Secret Squirrel. The original version was found on Futureworld and the 1st edition of Predator.

Editor's Note: The logo isn't really pleasant for children with the strange animation, pixelated dragon, synth music, and even the symbol (which just looks more like a strange frog), possibly because this wasn't really designed with children in mind.

2nd (known) logo (Late 1980s)
Nicknames: "Lady in the Lamp", "Tempting Eyes", "Ilegal Video"

Logo: On a black background we see a pair of woman's eyes. After at least four seconds a yellow grid moving upwards and a light-bulb with a faint flame both fade in. As the logo progresses sparks move through the light-bulb then numerous animated flames appear to form a silhouette of a conveyor belt carrying some boxes and vanish after a yellow flash with a white solid 8-point star in the middle appears. The Legal Video text from before in white flips up zooms out and settles beneath the eyes and the grid/light-bulb fade out. The prototypical Gativideo logo in yellow fades in on top and stays on for ten seconds before finally fading to black.

FX/SFX: The flames (which were done in traditional cels), the grid, the text. Similar techniques to the 1st logo, but it looks like an improvement from before. Then again, it still looks cheap.

Music/Sounds: An excerpt of "Generando" by Pastoral, combined with a thunderclap and an explosion sound.

Availability: Seen on later releases from the company. It appeared on Spanish prints of My Science Project with the Touchstone Home Video logo of the era following suit. This also appeared on some Walt Disney Home Video releases such as Rock n' Roll Mom.

Editor's Note: It's definitely apparent that this was not created with children in mind. With the very weird and in-your-face nature, ideas that aren't suited for a logo, and incredibly cheap and strange effects (including the fact that the woman's eyes get smaller when the grid fades in, and come back at the end), it can certainly give a child nightmares.