Investigation Discovery

Background
Investigation Discovery (often abbreviated as "ID" since 2020) is an American multinational television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, more than 86 million American households receive Investigation Discovery. The channel launched in October 7, 1996 under the name Discovery Civilization. It was one of four digital cable companion networks rolled out by Discovery Communications simultaneously in October 1996. Plans for the channel had surfaced in November 1994.

1st Logo (1998-November 2002)


Logo: We see the stretched text "CIVILIZATION" in black on a gold background. In the background, we see a skinny African-American looking towards the right, a clock showing the numbers in Roman Numerals, and a white rectangle with the white text "Discovery" below, where the text is appearing one-by-one. Once the text disappears, everything fades to a gold/grey background showing the text again and the same kid looking the same direction, plus another kid that's similar looking the left. The text gets smaller and once it does that, everything fades to a pair of arms below a gold globe on a gold background with a double ramp shape seen on the left. The text disappears after that, and it cuts to just the globe spinning and flickering a couple of times. Political globes start appearing and the gold globe turns to another clock in Roman Numerals and modern numbers. The clock disappears, where it shows an African-American women and one copy is seen on each side. Below it is the text "CIVILIZATION" in black unstretch itself and seen above a black rectangle with the same text in white stretching. The women disappears as another double ramp shape moves to the left seen on the right, which it, the text, and the rectangle disappears shortly, revealing 2 stretched text saying "CIVILIZATION" and a program playing on the same background. A face of a male is seen starring on the background, as well as 2 rectangles, a political globe, and yet another double ramp shape. It then cuts to a picture of 4 men holding clocks and 4 pictures of a hispanic man's head rotating in the same directions in different times on the same gold background. The picture fades out, revealing a clock seen in the background, a globe appearing and getting to nearly the center of the screen, 7 pictures of a British man seen on the bottom, and 4 pictures of a person. As the political globe gets to said position, the text "CIVILIZATION" is seen in black with 2 bars in orange seen on the top and bottom of the text. The yellow text "Discovery" appears on top of the top orange bar and the white text "CHANNEL" is seen inside of the bottom bar.

FX/SFX: A combination of 3D animation and live-action.

Music/Sounds: It starts off as a choir. Then an instrumental fanfare is heard through the logo.

Availability: Extinct on television. Shown as an ID at the time.

Editor's Note: A complex logo to say the least, especially for the time, as some only got primitive animation. Still a good logo.

2nd Logo (November 2002-March 24, 2003)


Logo: We see multiple silver spheres showing programs made by Discovery Civilization from 1999-2002 appearing on a black background with a spotlight. We then see the president of the company, Henry Schleiff, walking while talking. It then cuts to an angle of Henry still talking as more silver spheres appear. We then cut to another angle of him talking while more silver spheres are shown.The camera then zooms out to see all of the silver spheres organizing. The camera gets wider, revealing the spheres to turn into Henry talking and back, getting seperated. We then cut to him walking with the spheres. One of the spheres turn into a political globe as the camera turns sided. Two double ramp shapes appear in both sides and the Discovery Civilization Channel logo appears and gets to the center of the screen.

FX/SFX: See 1st Logo.

Music/Sounds: A peaceful instrumental song is heard, as well as Henry saying "As we glide to our future, we look back to observe the driving forces behind the evolution of our society. The conquest of vision, the shape of our civilization, changes are happening quickly. Are you watching?"

Availability: See 1st Logo.

Editor's Note: A rather interesting ID for the company.

1st Logo (March 25, 2003-2006)


Logo: We see the text "Discovery" in blue on a white rectangle, the text "Times" in white on a blue rectangle, a political globe between the text and rectangles, and the blue text "CHANNEL" below the text "Times" and right beside a thin blue rectangle on a white background with a video of a globe spinning.

Variant: For special presentations, the white text "SPECIAL PRESENTATION" is seen below the logo.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A horn can be heard, and often times an announcer.

Availability: Extinct on television. It was seen once on a September 18th, 2008 Investigation Discovery airing to Thomas L. Friedman Reporting.

2nd Logo (2006-January 26, 2008)


Logo: We see 2 squares involving a person. The camera then moves up to reveal more squares, 2 being human, & one being a newspaper. The camera then zooms out, where the background looks like a data chart, to reveal the logo from last time forming. Then the text "OPENING EYES", the text "TELEVISION BY [New York Times logo] AND [Discovery Channel logo] appears below. At the last second, the text "OPENING MINDS" appears next to the text.

FX/SFX: Like the Discovery Civilization Channel logos, a combination of 3D animation & live-action.

Music/Sounds: A majestic instrumental fanfare.

Availability: Extinct on television. It's known to appear before the telecast to Watergate: Legacy of Secrets.

1st Logo (January 27, 2008-2012)
Logo: We see something happening (see Variants), mostly focusing on crime. We then see the white text "ID" above the text "INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY" also in white and a political globe can be seen next to the text "ID"

Variants: There are 3 major IDs that have been found so far.
 * Fingerprint: We start off as a close-up of a wine cup. We then see another shot of the cup in the living room. We get closer to the cup, where we see a fingerprint on the cup. We get closer to the fingerprint. Then, the camera gets on the fingerprint. Then some light-up comets and gadgets get together to make the Investigation Discovery logo next to vertical bars.
 * Footprint: We see a shot of a crime scene in California. We get closer, where we see a footprint. Then we cut to a black background with different footprints seen flashing with studies in text flashing. The back footprint has "MATCH" right next to it. The background turns white, the footprint turns black, and it has "98% Match" right next to it. Then it cuts to the "TREAD BRAND" and studies of a weapon, where it fades to a receipt of sporting goods. It then cuts to a man getting handcuffed while it shows 3 shots. It then cuts to a man holding a picture of the footprint on a black background in front of the government. We get closer to the footprint to see a mallet and the Investigation Discovery logo on a brown background.
 * Rose: We see a close-up of a rose, where the camera moves to see glass falling. Then the camera goes upwards, where the rose splits and rose leaves start falling instead of glass. We then see the Investigation Discovery logo.

FX/SFX: Live-action.

Music/Sounds: A mysterious theme is heard.

Availability: Extinct on television.

Editor's Note: By far the best representation of the company.

2nd Logo (2012-2014)
Logo: We see a random live-action scene, all involving people. We then see a transparent cube with a blue "ID" in center get to the center of the screen. The white text "INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY" is seen below the cube. Then the text "ALWAYS REVEALING" appears below the text.

FX/SFX: Live-action, then 3D for the logo.

Music/Sounds: Whatever is going on in the live-action scene, as well as a short mysterious theme (not similar to the logo above).

Availability: Extinct on television.

3rd Logo (2014-April 12, 2020)
Logo: We see a black cube with the white text "ID" doing the same animation as before on a blue background.

Variants:
 * Sometimes, the background is grey and the text "ALWAYS REVEALING" appears.
 * A station ID exists where we see a close-up of the cube. Then the text and the cube spin as it gets to the center of the screen. Once it does that, "INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY" can be seen.
 * It can be seen On Demand where the cube and the text are the same color as the last logo. Also, the text "ON DEMAND" appears.

FX/SFX: 3D animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the last logo, plus an announcer whispering "Investigate".

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * For the station ID, none.
 * For the On Demand variant, only an announcer saying "You're watching Investigation Discovery on Demand" is heard.

Availability: Extinct on television. although it can still be seen on its programs on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video; this is less likely however, since the next logo might show up instead. Despite this, it can be seen on some shows by The Learning Channel.

Editor's Note: This was the most infamous out of the company's IDs due to its long usage and it holds up as a favorite to some fans.

4th Logo (April 12, 2020-)


Logo: We see red go by on a black background. Then the current Investigation Discovery logo forms in red.

Variant: Sometimes, we get closer to the "ID" and it gets blurred. We also see the text "AN ID ORIGINAL" in white.

FX/SFX: 3D animation.

Music/Sounds: A soft and dramatic orchestral fanfare.

Availability: Current. It is seen on television as a station ID and on some programs on Hulu and Prime Video.

Editor's Note: This was a letdown to fans of the channel (like Starz Originals), although the music is decent to say the least. Despite this, they changed the logo to be a bigger representation of their then parent company Discovery Communications. Only time will tell if it's a placeholder.