MTV/1997

Art Museum (1997-1999)


Visuals: In a museum, a security guard stands in the entrance of the exhibition as he pulls out a remote control to turn them on, displaying all the artworks like a TV. The guard then whistles for the chair, which drags itself, grabs the guard and drags him onto the same position where the chair was. The small artwork of a barely naked woman then clings itself onto another artwork, which interrupts the signal of the artwork the woman was clinging onto. This prompts the guard to try to fix it, but to no avail, and he comes over to the small painting of the woman, where he places it back on where it was by himself. The painting starts moving and running on the walls, to which the guard chases the painting around the whole exhibition. The painting then slides onto the floor, causing the guard to slip and hit his head on the wall. Despite being in pain, the guard chases the painting after it runs again, and the chair then catches the guard, chasing the painting with him. The painting is now at a higher level, where the guard stands up and goes towards it. He jumps and hovers, attempting to grab the painting until he succeeds, and goes back to the ground before turning around and slamming the painting on the wall, which causes the other artworks on display to fall to the ground. Overwhelmed, the guard snaps as he hits himself with a skateboard, has a complete psychological meltdown, and runs out of the museum in desperation. The camera then shows the small painting itself, where the woman moves causing the signal of the painting to switch into the MTV logo.

Technique: A blend of stop-motion and 2D animation.

Audio: The sounds of the guard's footsteps and the chair dragging, as well as some sounds of whistles coming from both the guard, and the woman in the painting before she escapes.

Beach (1997-1999)


Visuals: Unknown

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: Unknown

Flying Daddy (1997-1999)


Visuals: The screen fades in to a scene of a typical bedroom, where we see a lump writing under the bedsheets. A kid comes running into the room, and tugging on the sheets, his sister and their mother walk in as well. They tear off the sheets, revealing a bug-like monster, which is gushing blood. The kids and the mother scream in terror. The bug gorily morphs itself into the MTV logo. A man with bug-like wings and antenna, possibly the father of the family reborn as someone half-insect, then bursts out of the larva, picks up a briefcase, and flies out the window by breaking the glass, likely going to work. Other bug-dad-businessmen fly off with him.

Technique: 2D animation by Keito Kurosaka.

Audio: The sounds of what goes on in the logo, with the kid saying "Papa.", as well the kids screaming.

Legacy: This ID was infamous for how gross it is.

FrankenSkippy (1997-2000)


Visuals: The screen pans out of a tombstone in a graveyard at night. FrankenSkippy, a monster with a wolf's tail, jumps out and mutters "FrankenSkippy, FrankenSkippy" in a voice not unlike Frankenstein. FrankenSkippy then pulls his heart (shaped like an M) out. Some brief close-up shots of his head and heart are shown before the logo cuts back to the original camera position. FrankenSkippy then says "FrankenSkippy's coming..for..YOOOOOU!" He slaps his tail at the screen, which then cuts to an X-ray of his heart before he pulled it out, this time with "TV" bones hanging in front of it. The heart and bones thus form the "MTV" logo. The words "MUSIC TELEVISION" can also be seen at the bottom of the X-ray. The logo then cuts to FrankenSkippy again, who this time has a chainsaw. He uses the chainsaw to cut the screen in half, which then cuts back to the X-ray again. A flower can be seen growing on the "TV" bones.

Technique: CGI produced by Conja, directed by Lars Magnus Holmgren.

Audio: Some traditional horror music and sound effects (beating hearts, squishy sounds, etc.), with FrankenSkippy's muttering throughout. The horror music stops to some sound effects of TV static and a chainsaw, which plays as FrankenSkippy cuts the screen with his chainsaw. A mellow violin tune starts just before FrankenSkippy cuts the screen.

Availability: Produced for the Australian MTV channel.

Legacy: The "horror movie monster" theme of the ID unsettled many viewers at the time. This ident has also earned the nickname FrankenSkippy for the director Lars Magnus Holmgren himself.

Food for Thought (1997-2000)


Visuals: In outer space, there is an extreme close-up of a creature with two pairs of legs (one of the pairs is upside down) with an eye. Then it cuts to a close-up of another creature with lips in the center, sucking on a white, blue, and black striped straw. The camera zooms out to reveal the previous creature and it is depicted with two eyes. Both creatures are standing on a steel platform with eyeballs and bones on the ground. Off in the distance, we can see fossils on circular platforms, straws blowing on jacks, and Earth. The leg creature proceeds to suck on its fellow creatures' skin which is torn apart to reveal the rib cage bone inside, which includes an "M"-shaped heart (similar to the one from the "FrankenSkippy" ID). It also sips up a femur bone on the floor, which cuts to a close-up of the straw blowing in the bone. After the creature finishes sipping up the remaining femur bones on the floor, the screen cuts to a close-up of the heart getting sucked into the straw. Once the eyeball creature is fully finished sucking, it drops the straw on the ground and opens its lips to reveal the heart and bones, which are arranged to form the MTV logo (similar to the "FrankenSkippy" ID). The camera zooms in on the logo contained within. The words "MUSIC TELEVISION" flickers in and white underneath. Like the "FrankenSkippy" ID, a pink flower is growing on the "TV" bones. The ID ends with a "TV-turning off" effect.

Technique: CGI produced by Conja, directed by Lars Magnus Holmgren.

Audio: A slightly spooky bass synth theme with chimes and whirring throughout along with some slurping from the straw and the TV static from the transitions. In addition, the creature belches when it reveals the logo along with beeping when "MUSIC TELEVISION" is flickering.

Availability: Produced for the Australian MTV channel.

Laughing Moon (1997-1999)


Visuals: The ident begins with a titlecard that says 'LAUGHING MOON'. A hand then pulls out and takes the titlecard away as we see a train track at the night with the moon on the background. Suddenly, there's a man running on the train tracks, before stopping, and looking at what seemed to be like a barricade made up of just brick wall. The man then knocks onto the barricade, before going onto the opposite side only to find that there is also a barricade stopping him as well, also looking up. The man then ran back onto the barricade he just encountered, as he then slammed his head on the wall. As he was on the ground, he looked up and saw a train already oncoming in front of him, but luckily dodged it, as the man is now out of the train track. The man then stared at the environment around him, and seemed to be terrified, as he gets back on the train tracks, once again, knocking on the barricade. The scene then cuts to the moon laughing at the man, before out of nowhere, the MTV logo squashed the moon.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: Unknown

Len Lye (1997-1999)


Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Footage sourced from Len Lye's short films.

Audio: Unknown

Rodeo (1997-1999)


Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Claymation by 3 Peach Animation.

Audio: Unknown