Pickwick Video

Background
Pickwick International Inc. was originally established as a music/record company in 1961 that released products at low prices. The company opened a UK office in 1982 and purchased in a management buyout in 1983.

A year prior in 1982, the company established a home video division known as Pickwick Video Ltd. that released VHS tapes under various labels. These included Pickwick Video, Screen Legends, Ladybird Video, Longman Video, Fairtrade Video, Children's Choice, Mr Pickwick, Hallmark and the Rank Classic Collection.

In 1986, the company was purchased in an investment buyout, and was renamed as Pickwick Group PLC in 1987. The company continued to release content at that time.

1st Logo (1989-Early 1992)
Logo: A series of and white vertical lines are formed on the screen. Then they flip around a few times to show brief clips of some films from Pickwick's library (including a yacht race, boxing match, Worzel Gummidge, and even Thomas the Tank Engine). After that, the text "PICKWICK" appears sliding in letter-by-letter from the right and the word "Video" appears written underneath, underlined in. The text then shines.

Trivia: The clip of Thomas the Tank Engine is taken from the episode "Thomas Comes to Breakfast".

Variants:
 * Originally, Australian releases only featured the ending animation starting from when the text appears on-screen and freezing for 30 seconds with the full music underneath it.
 * On later Australian releases, the music starts five seconds into the warning screen, and the logo is a short version with the opening similar to the second logo.

Technique: 2D animation over mostly live-action, sometimes animated clips.

Music/Sounds: A synthesised rock tune entitled "Superman 3" done by Anthony & Gaynor Sadler (who would later do the music for many of BBC Two's 1991-2001 idents), which was also heard on Earthvue on the then-Prevue Guide (now Pop) around that time. Extra drumbeats not present in the original version are also heard near the end.

Availability: Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK and Australia around the time period.
 * Such releases include the 1989 UK VHS reissues of the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends season 2 VHS releases Thomas, Percy and the Coal and Other Stories, Percy and Harold and Other Stories, and The Deputation and Other Stories respectively, plastering the 1986 Screen Legends logo, and the 1991 UK VHS release of The Best of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, among others.
 * In Australia, the logo appears on several Abbey Home Entertainment releases.
 * It also appears on a 1989 UK VHS release of Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves as well.

2nd Logo (Early-Late 1992)
Logo: A series of the same and white vertical lines are formed on the same screen. Then they flip only once and the word "PICKWICK" from the first logo appears in the same font, but now letter-by-letter from the left. Then the text "Video" in the same script font, now underlined in, ripples down and places itself underneath "PICKWICK".

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A synth hum (which sounds similar to the one used on the Roadshow Home Video logo in Australia), followed by five drumbeats and a different synth warbling sound.

Availability: Rare.

3rd Logo (Late 1992-1995)
Logo: The camera travels through a curvy maze and drops down a keyhole, revealing several  and purple copies of the maze. It then pans through the bottom-most area of the maze and reaches a yellow light coming out from another hole, then it begins to travel upwards through the hole and spins around a bit, which eventually reveals the word "PICKWICK" in the same font as before against a black background. The logo then shines.

Variant: A rare prototype short version exists. It starts with two copies of the word "PICKWICK", one on top of the other being viewed from the left side before the camera goes through the first letter "C" and travels quickly between the two copies until coming out again through the second letter "C". The ending is largely the same as the main logo, except it shines differently.

Technique: Great CGI animation for its time.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic tune sounded like something off an action film.

Music/Sounds Variant: The short version has a heavenly chorus.

Availability:
 * Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK and Australia around the time period.
 * This logo also appears on the 2007 UK DVD release of Bananas in Pyjamas: Birthday Special as well, due to it being taken from the 1994 VHS master.

Legacy: One of the more memorable United Kingdom of the VHS era. Some aspects of it are quite ahead of its time.