Chorion

Background

Chorion was an international media and rights company operating in London, created in April 1995 as Trocadero PLC mainly to manage the London Trocadero complex. In 1996, Trocadero purchased Darrell Waters Limited, the owners of the Enid Blyton estate from her heirs. In 1998, Trocadero renamed to Chorion and later that year, they purchased the Agatha Christie estate. In 2002, the company spun-off their nightclub and venue division and became a sole media rights company, expanding to the US and (formerly) Australia. In 2005, Chorion purchased Silver Lining Productions and the Mr. Men & Little Miss franchise (alongside their companies, Mr. Films and The Hargreaves Organisation (THOIP)) respectively. In 2006, a consortium backed by the 3i Group bought out the company and became private. In 2007, Chorion purchased the Copyrights Group. From 2011 to 2012, the company went into debts and sold its property to various owners due to the failure of the company's lenders to reach an agreement to restructure Chorion's debt burdens. Meanwhile, Waheed Alli and Elizabeth Dampier created, reorganized and relaunched as "Silvergate Media", as part of a management buy-out, when Alli purchased the rights to The Octonauts and The World of Beatrix Potter from Chorion, a company he was previously chair of. Nicholas Durbride and Linda Pooley re-acquired the Copyrights Group from Chorion that same year but would be acquired by StudioCanal in 2016 alongside the rest of the Paddington Bear franchise. The other Chorion properties, such as the Noddy and Olivia franchises were sold to Classic Media (who were in turn acquired by DreamWorks Animation), the Mr. Men & Little Miss franchise being sold to Sanrio, the Agatha Christie estate being sold to Acorn Media, the Max & Ruby franchise being sold to Nelvana, the Gaspard and Lisa franchise being sold to Sony Creative Products and all the other Enid Blyton franchises being sold to Hachette.

1st Logo (December 1, 2000-June 15, 2007)

Make Way for Noddy (US version)
Make Way for Noddy (UK version)
Noddy: A day in Toyland (GBA)

Visuals: On a white background, there is a blue sphere. Roughly one quarter of the sphere is cut out, revealing a yellow sphere inside. Next to it is the word "CHORION" in a Friz Quadrata typeface.

Variants:

On most prints of the US dub of Make Way for Noddy, the background is a purple gradient and "INTELLECUTAL PROPERTIES" appears below.
On the UK dub of Make Way for Noddy, the background is dark blue, and above it is "A" and below it is "PRODUCTION FOR CHANNEL 5" and a copyright notice.
- On Channel 5 airings of said dub, an in-credit variant exists where the logo appears to the right of the Channel 5 endboard from the time.
Sometimes, the logo would zoom in. This was seen on specials like Noddy and the Magical Moondust, Noddy Saves Christmas and the half-hour version of Make Way for Noddy, and was also used as a de-facto home video logo.
On Noddy: A day in Toyland, the name appears below the sphere.

Technique: A digital graphic or a zooming effect.

Audio: None or the closing theme of the show.

Audio Variant: On Noddy Saves Christmas, a sparkling sound is heard.

Availability:

Can be seen on Make Way for Noddy DVD releases from Universal and Funimation.
It first appeared on Noddy's Magic Adventure for PlayStation.

2nd Logo (February 4, 2008-February 11, 2013)

Max and Ruby
The Mr. Men Show
The Mr. Men Show (in-credit variant)
Max and Ruby

Visuals: Over a white background, the logo starts with the text "chorion" with the first "o" in pink. Copyright information is shown below, or sometimes not.

Variants:

An in-credit version exists, sometimes with white text.
A variant where the text and background switch colors exists.
A variant with blue text and a yellow background also exists.

Technique: A digital graphic.

Audio: None or the end theme of the show.

Audio Variant: On the U.S. version of The Mr. Men Show, Mr. Tickle (voiced by Jeff Stewart) says, "I think somebody needs a tickle!".

Audio Variant Trivia: Mr. Tickle's line is sampled from The Mr. Men Show season 1 episodes, "Science" and "Bugs".

Availability:

Seen on seasons 4-5 of Max and Ruby and The Mr. Men Show.
The in-credit version can be seen on Olivia, Noddy in Toyland and with white text on the first series of The Octonauts (however, it is removed on Netflix prints) and Gaspard and Lisa, while the inverted color variant can be found on Channel 5 prints of The Mr. Men Show and Noddy in Toyland, as well as on some Noddy DVD releases.

Chorion

Silvergate Media

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