Film Roman

Background

Film Roman was founded in 1984 by former Bill Melendez Productions animator Phil Roman to produce new Garfield television specials as well as Garfield and Friends. Best known for animating 1992-2016 episodes of The Simpsons and other series, it was later sold to IDT Entertainment (now Starz Distribution) in 2003. In 2015, Waterman Entertainment (Steve Waterman's self-named media company) acquired the studio from Starz. The company never used a logo until 1988.

Contents

1st Logo (September 17-December 10, 1988)	2nd Logo (September 16, 1989-February 16, 1999)	3rd Logo (July 24, 1999)	4th Logo (November 4, 2000-)	5th Logo (August 13, 2007-January 23, 2009)	6th Logo (September 14, 2009-January 7, 2017)

1st Logo (September 17-December 10, 1988)

Visuals: Against a blue background is the text "ROMAN" in white with yellow outlines with "film" in a red cursive font in the "O". The yellow letter "A" is seen above and the word "PRODUCTION" in yellow is seen below the logo. The bottom of the "f" extends downward past the inside of the "O", looking like a pen.

Technique: A hand-drawn graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Only appears on the first season of Garfield & Friends (the remastered HD prints on the Boomerang streaming service and Tubi plaster it with the 6th logo) and Garfield: His Nine Lives.

2nd Logo (September 16, 1989-February 16, 1999)

Visuals: There is a blue background, which rapidly shrinks into a blue box on a white background. As the box stops shrinking, five sparks (two on the left, three on the right) form orange-ish curved lines in the box, kind of like fireworks. Two filmstrips appear above and below the logo, with each filmstrip having the text "FILM" and "ROMAN" on it, and the blue text "A" and "PRODUCTION" appears appears above and below the logo. Two orange dots appear to the left and right of the logo, which aren't symmetrical.

Variants:

TV movies and specials would have the title and copyright stamp below the logo.
Another variant features "in association with" below.
A short version exists where the logo is cut to the dots appearing.
On season 4 episodes of Eek! Stravaganza (non-weekday episodes with Klutter), this logo is shown in split screen on the right alongside with the 1985 Nelvana logo on the left.
An in-credit version of the logo (without "A" and "PRODUCTION") can be seen on Tom and Jerry: The Movie. The text is also thinner.
In Garfield Gets a Life, instead of the logo fading out like it normally does, it cuts to black. There's also a copyright superimposed in black.
In Garfield's Feline Fantasies, the logo is shifted upwards and shrunken to make way for the copyright in blue. The blue background is also just a large square, which shrinks after the lines form.
On Animated Classic Showcase, an special CGI animated variant appears. In a brown room with a tile floor in the same color, several stacks of glossy cylinders are seen with the Film Roman logo on top of one, though the colors are more saturated and the text is thinner. The camera pans over the canister until the logo faces the screen, before it opens up to reveal film strips that slightly unroll before the logo freezes.

Technique: Traditional animation.

Audio: An ascending dreamy synth tune when the lines are drawn, followed by two pinging sounds (sounding similar to the Game Boy boot sound) when the dots appear. This was composed by Roman himself.

Audio Variants:

Most of the time, only the pinging sounds are left in; occasionally, the very end of the synth tune can be heard before the first ping.
The final season of Garfield & Friends used a variant of the full logo with the synth tune, but just the first ping.
For the TV movie variants and a few shows, the end theme also finishes over it, but sometimes the pinging is still intact.
High tone and low tone versions both also exist.
Sometimes, the pings play at the start of the logo.

Availability:

It was last seen on Garfield & Friends reruns on Boomerang, specifically, from the second season onward, though is intact on the show's DVD releases (however, the remastered HD prints of the second season seen on Boomerang's streaming service, Tubi TV and on Pluto TV plaster it with the 6th logo instead); it's kept on other shows such as Bobby's World (which can also be viewed on Kabillion On Demand and on YouTube; the DVD releases from Anchor Bay, however, also plastered this with the DPS variant of the 4th logo instead), Mighty Max, The Mask: Animated Series, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, C Bear and Jamal, and Bruno the Kid, among others.
The version with the tune and the pings can be seen on the first season of Bobby's World, the first season on The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (Peacock streaming prints also retain this), and the 1996 Richie Rich series (minisodes on Crackle of the show preserved it, accompanied by the Claster and Sony Pictures TV logos); it was also seen on the 1990 Fox Kids series Zazoo U, and was kept when rerun internationally, as well as the 1998 Fox Kids series The Mr. Potato Head Show.
The version with the single ping noise was only seen on the final season of Garfield & Friends (both original CBS broadcasts and the DVD/international prints).
It also appears on original CBS airings of Garfield's Thanksgiving.

3rd Logo (July 24, 1999)

Visuals: On a black background, the Film Roman logo is seen in 3D, but without the dots and fireworks and the text in silver. The fireworks, which are now golden, then draw upwards while the logo slightly rotates to an angle, facing the left to the screen. The dots, also now golden, then rotate into place, with the left one going up and the right one going down.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The end title theme of Johnny Tsunami.

Availability: Seen only on the Disney Channel Original Movie Johnny Tsunami.

4th Logo (November 4, 2000-)

Visuals: On a blue background with white spirals and the letters "F" and "R", the familiar logo is seen in white, but with some differences. The fireworks are now in front of a blue square, with "FILM" on top and "ROMAN" on the bottom. The text are no longer inside the filmstrip-like boxes, but rather inside of a square surrounding the fireworks.

Bylines:

2000-2003, 2017: Bylineless
2003: "an IDT Media company"
2003-2006: "an IDT ENTERTAINMENT company"
2006-2008: "a STARZ company"
2008-2016: "a starz company"

Variants:

A print version exists on a white or black background with an all-blue logo, which became the standard logo starting in 2006.
Beginning in 2003, the "FILM ROMAN" text is now connected to each other and the fireworks are now pushed upwards. This makes the fireworks even more condensed and squished.
When the company was DPS Film Roman between 2003 and 2005, the fireworks are darker and have the text "DPS" over them. The trademark (TM) symbol is shown on the lower right-hand corner of the logo, and it appears to be darker.
On original Kids WB! airings of X-Men: Evolution, the DPS/IDT byline variant appears inside the box along with the 3rd Marvel Studios logo due to the block's own split-screen credits.
On Dante's Inferno: Animated Epic, the logo appears in black on red fabric, like other logos.
On the Max Steel DTV movies, the logo is in white, and next to it was the Film Roman Baja Productions logo.

Technique: A digital graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Audio Variants:

Other times, it's silent.
On the later seasons of Garfield and Friends (the HD remasters), the 2nd logo's "pinging" can be heard; the final season uses the synth theme/single "ping" variant.

Availability:

Currently seen on X-Men Evolution on Disney XD and the complete first season on DVD, as well as on Disney+.
It was also seen on the Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed.
The white background variant is seen on The Santa Claus Brothers.
The DPS variant is seen on the final season of X-Men: Evolution on Disney XD and Disney+, and reruns of other Film Roman shows (and sometimes removes old Film Roman logos and replaces it with this one, like with the Anchor Bay DVD releases of Bobby's World), the black background DPS version can be seen on the DVD release of Weebles.
The original bylineless black background version appears on Free for All.
The original Starz version was seen on later episodes of Me Eloise! on DVD and both Hellboy: Animated movies.
The black background Starz version appears at the start of DVD releases from the era under Anchor Bay/Starz Home Entertainment such as Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!.
It can also be seen on the remastered/reanimated episodes of Garfield and Friends on the Boomerang app, Pluto TV, and Tubi TV.

5th Logo (August 13, 2007-January 23, 2009)

Visuals: On a black space background, a blue haze forms. Before it fully appears, the Film Roman logo pops in, being like the DPS variant except without the "DPS" text and having the 4th logo's color scheme, along with 8 sparkles in a compass direction style. A mass of clouds appear behind it as stars emerge from behind it and the sparkles dissolve. Below the text "a starz company" fades in, with "starz" being in the logo's typeface at the time.

Variants:

On the 2008 Christmas special Cranberry Christmas, the logo is surrounded by light green Christmas lights.
Dead Space and the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Wubbzy and the Fire Engine DVD lacks the byline.
A short version of the logo exists.
Later on, the Starz logo on the byline is updated.

Technique: Computer animation.

Audio: The ending theme or none.

Availability:

It was last seen on Slacker Cats on ABC Family.
This logo can be also seen at the end of the 2008 Christmas special Cranberry Christmas on ABC Family, but until recently, hasn't surfaced since its debut.
It can be also found on the Blu-ray release of Dead Space: Downfall and surprisingly the DVD release of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Wubbzy and the Fire Engine instead of the 4th logo for whatever reason.

6th Logo (September 14, 2009-January 7, 2017)

Visuals: On a white background, the text "FILM ROMAN" is written out in a rough pencil look. It gets layered over with a clean out line of it, then it filled with a square outline around the area. The logo zooms out as a mouse cursor appears and expands out a rectangle outline. It then changes to the paintcan tool, where it fills the box with teal and moves over the rectangle area. The box then reveals the text in white and the paintcan drops several teal splashes of paint, forming the fireworks design. The background then fills with black around the logo. A flare appears below the logo, which reveals "a starz company" with the Starz logo in it.

Variants:

A still version of the logo exists on Dead Space: Aftermath.
A short version of the logo also exists.
A bylineless version of the logo also exists.

Technique: 2D and 3D computer animation.

Audio: The end-title theme from any show or none.

Audio Variants:

On the long version, it only has sounds from a pen, papers, computer arrow, "paint splattering" sounds, and finally, the stock descending bell tree sound effect ("BELL TREE - DESCENDING, MUSIC, PERCUSSION" from Sound Ideas' The General Series 6000 Sound Effects Library) at the end.
On Dan Vs. the "paint splatter" and bell tree sounds play over the end-theme.

Availability:

The short version can be seen on Ultimate Spider-Man on Disney XD, as well as The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! and The Super Hero Squad Show on Disney+ and Disney XD; it was also seen on Dan Vs. when last seen on Hub Network (before the rebrand to Discovery Family) and on Tubi.
The long version can be seen on Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic.