The Movie Channel Feature Presentation

1st Logo (1980-1981)
Note: The logo starts at 4:53.

Visuals: Under a moonlit sky, a series of stars carrying a television frame encased in an orange border flies toward the center and away from the screen. We zoom in towards the moon, which turns on its side revealing a face. The moon flies away and we see another orange-bordered screen appear, which flies upward as we zoom in on the earth. Two more screens slide in on either side of the earth, and then fly out as clouds appear. Yet another screen flies downward as Earth disappears, replaced by a blue starscape. One screen replaces another and the starscape changes to an orange cityscape outline. We pan across the outline toward a mountain range as fireworks begin appearing above. When we reach the end, a single star appears and flies above the mountains and glows as it centers itself. White lights fly in across all sides of the star-forming a blue background-before encompassing the star and turning it white. The lights then become blue filmstrips surrounding the star as the text "The Movie Channel" in underneath. The film sprockets shine as white lights as the completed logo holds before fading out.

Technique: A mix of slit-scan and model-based animation.

Audio: An equal parts cinematic and space themed fanfare. An announcer reads "All Movies. 24 Hours A Day. The Movie Channel. Feature Presentation."

2nd Logo (1981-1985)
Visuals: Against a starry sky, there is a movie theater themed spacecar bearing a Movie Channel license plate zoom in toward the center of the screen. We pan upward to view a couple seated at the front of the car and embrace as we pan forwards to see a floating TV screen. The screen fills the screen than transitions to a pair of orange rings. The rings move to align themselves, then flash a white light with a purple glow around the outer edge. The lights then form a red, blue and violet colored theatre marquee with the circles in the center. From the circles emerge the solid silver text "Feature Presentation" which zoom in until stopping at the center of the circles (at the bottom half of the screen). A pink light appears and everything dissolves except a single circle which is once again orange. The circle flies toward the center of the screen before flipping out a transitioning to the Movie Channel logo (bold silver text with the star from the previous logo at the top right) which zooms out and shines fading out as a star slides in at the top of the screen and draws in the film's rating.

Variant: For stereo films, the orange ring flips to show a series of three interlocking gray rings which start to break apart before dissolving to reveal a pair of headphones with the words "in" (left) and "stereo" (right) on either side. The headphones and text zoom out to fill the center of the screen, then a star shines on the headphones before fading out to reveal the film's rating.

Technique: A combination of models and early computer animation.

Audio: A space-synth tune which transitions into a traditional Hollywood fanfare and back again. An announcer reads "This is the Movie Channel's feature presentation" and gives the film rating in tandem with the appropriate text.

Audio Variant: For stereo films, the theme is extended, and the announcer reads "In Stereo" in addition to the usual spiel.

3rd Logo (1985-1988)
Visuals: We pan across a series of movie paraphernalia (A movie billboard, the Hollywood sign, a film projector, spotlights, a film set with camera and clapperboard, a walk of fame star, etc.) Notable is a Movie Channel logo billboard and 20th Century-style staircase with the star on top. Eventually the words "The Movie Channel" wipe across the screen, obscuring the sequence. Finally, we stop when the camera reaches a backview of the Hollywood hills looking out across the city below. A shooting star flies across the sunset, then two spotlights from a heart at the center of the screen. The Movie Channel logo (in orange) fades in followed by the text "Feature Presentation" in a stretched-out thin font. The film's rating and other information appear below.

Technique: Slit-scan animation.

Audio: A cinematic rock theme with heartbeat-like percussion beats at the beginning and end. An announcer reads "This is the Movie Channel's Feature Presentation" along with ratings and other information (such as stereo and closed captioning).

4th Logo (1988-1997)
Visuals: A series of MTV-style animations and clips involving the new Movie Channel logo (a pair of live-action eyes inside a rectangle with two black bars place diagonally above and below the eyes reading "The Movie" and "Channel" respectively) placed within various environments. Among these are:


 * A Countdown Clock
 * A Curtain Rising
 * A Marble Wall
 * An homage to "Let's All Go To The Lobby"
 * An old-timey arcade
 * A montage of various film genres
 * A family living room

Each of these ends invariably with the appearance of the logo and the words "Feature Presentation" either beside the logo or following it. (The font of "Feature Presentation" varies with each film).

Technique: Various filming and animation techniques for the various sequences.

Audio: Various themes, differing from version to version.

5th Logo (1997-2001)
Visuals: A series of clips featuring either a mime troupe or a dog playing with the new logo-consisting of the letters "tmc" in lowercase on balls of various colors-against a white background. At the end is the logo alongside the words "Feature Presentation" in various fonts.

Technique: Live Action.

Audio: Various tunes for each version, the mimes usually feature a choir singing to the action.

6th Logo (2001-2006)
Visuals: Various live-action clips of movie scenes in progress play on the top half of the screen while a white box is seen on the bottom half. A bar (of various colors) drops down in between them to reveal the TMC ball logo (now inside a square) sliding into view with the channel name written to its right. The "themoviechannel" text then wipes away to read "Feature Presentation". The logo ends by wiping to a screen showing the film's rating.

Variant: Occasionally the ident will include a 4th bar containing the network's phone number, presumably for the benefit of those viewing the channel during a preview period.

Technique: A mix of live action and 2D computer animation.

Audio: Various fanfares depending on the version.

Final Note: As with its parent network Showtime the previous year, The Movie Channel abandoned feature presentation idents in 2006.