Foxstar Productions

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

Foxstar Productions was the documentary television production arm of 20th Century Fox Television, Inc. that was originally formed in 1993 as a TV movie and mini-series unit under Steve Bell, the former TCFTV network president. The first series was the Alien Nation TV movie series. In 1998, Foxstar was made a unit of Fox Television Studios. Although 20th Century Fox has produced documentaries since 1987, a standard logo wasn't used until 1994.

Logo (1994-2005)


Visuals: There is a Fox structure similar to the 1994 20th Century Fox logo, but there is a giant star at the top, and the text:

FOXSTAR
P R O D U C T I O N S

in lines under it. Once the structure is in a familiar distance, the News Corporation byline fades in.

Later Variant: From 1998 onward, this logo can be seen after a split-second of the Fox Television Studios logo. Both logos zoom in slowly.

Technique: CGI animated by Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation).

Audio:

  • 1994-2000: A shortened version of the last part of the 1994 20th Century Fox fanfare, as conducted by Bruce Broughton.
  • 1998-2005: The FTS-FSP combo is the same as Fox Television Studios, accompanied by a lightning strike.

Availability: This is seen on documentaries produced by Foxstar Productions and co-produced by 20th Television and Fox Television Studios.

  • It first appeared on A Hollywood Christmas, and it appears on the VHS release of the special.
  • Other documentaries included Rogers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies when it originally aired on A&E, AMC’s Backstory, and select episodes of A&E’s Biography, as well as many documentaries from The Travel Channel.
  • The Fox Television Studios combo first appeared on the Fox Family documentary series Famous Families. It also appeared on The Great Escape: Heroes Underground, which aired on The History Channel and appears as a bonus feature on most DVD and Blu-Ray releases of The Great Escape.