Gullane Entertainment

Background

Gullane Entertainment was formed in September 2000 after Britt Allcroft left her self-named company. Before the formation, Allcroft used the Gullane name for Gullane Pictures, a subsidiary of her company which only produced Thomas and the Magic Railroad; the movie failed critically and commercially after its release, leading to Allcroft leaving the company. The newly-formed Gullane continued production of Series 6 and 7 of Thomas and Friends as well as other franchises, such as Sooty, Fireman Sam, and Art Attack. The company was acquired by HIT Entertainment on 5 July 2002 and closed the following year. The name is still used today for its in-credit and byline variants for most Thomas & Friends media despite the company's closure.

Contents

1st Logo (December 1, 2000-2003)	2nd Logo (September 16-October 21, 2002)

1st Logo (December 1, 2000-2003)

Visuals: The camera zooms in towards the horizon over a body of blue water, with the horizon having fluffy clouds and the sun in the distance. A white gull flies over the ocean as the camera turns towards the spot, and when it touches the water with the tip of its wing, it creates a ripple and flies off. The screen rotates upwards to reveal that the ripple is a wide white "G", and with it clearing up, it gets placed in a teal box as well as "GULLANE" in a similar font to the "G" below, albeit at a normal width. The gull then flies over the logo and flashes, turning silver as the background flourishes to a white-aquamarine gradient. An underline and "ENTERTAINMENT" in a different font also appear below.

Variants:

On Eckhart, the completed logo shines with a reversed cymbal crash.
On the voiceover variant, once the logo finishes animating, it fades to black and the white URL "www.planetgullane.com" fades in.
On Thomas & Friends™ - Thomas' Trackside Tunes, the text "Please Visit Our Web Site at" and the URL at the time below fades in. It then fades out to the copyright disclaimer that reads "© Gullane (Thomas) Limited 1998". This is only seen on the original VHS release; later DVD releases have it plastered with the 2007 HIT Entertainment logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A shortened version of the sounds from the Gullane Pictures logo.

Audio Variants:

On the Sooty's Magic UK VHS releases, there is a male voiceover announcing: "Gullane Entertainment - Entertaining Families Worldwide!"
At the end of Thomas & Friends™ - Thomas' Trackside Tunes, the end theme of the show is heard over it.

Availability:

Its first known appearance was on the Japanese-exclusive Thomas & Friends VHS release A Wonderful American Journey with Thomas and Connie.
It is preserved on all Thomas & Friends VHS and DVD releases from the time, immediately following either the Anchor Bay Entertainment logo on U.S. VHS releases, the Grace & Wild Interactive Development logo on U.S. DVD releases, or the 1995 VCI logo on UK releases.
- U.S. releases that feature this logo include: Thomas' Trackside Tunes (VHS), Best of Percy (VHS/DVD), Make Someone Happy and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD), Best of Thomas (VHS/DVD), Cranky Bugs and Other Thomas Stories (DVD), Races, Rescues and Runaways and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD), Spills and Chills and Other Thomas Thrills (DVD), Best of James (VHS/DVD) and Thomas' Christmas Wonderland and Other Thomas Adventures (DVD).
- UK releases that feature this logo are Truck Loads of Fun, My Little Thomas and Bertie Adventures, The Complete Fourth Series, Seasonal Scrapes, My Little Thomas and Toby Adventures, The Very Best of Thomas & Friends, The Complete Fifth Series, a promotional Chad Valley tape, another promotional tape called 5 Episode Video and My Little Thomas and the Royal Visitor.
  - It is also preserved on the 2001-2002 re-releases of Thomas Goes Fishing and Other Stories (Marks & Spencer version), Escape and Other Stories, Christmas Fun Tape, Happy Holidays and Rescues on the Railways. For the second tape, it only appears on the spine and back due to it being an direct reprint of the original The Video Collection's 1992 UK release.
  - It is also preserved on the DVD versions of Truck Loads of Fun and Seasonal Scrapes as well.
- It was also tacked onto the beginning of very early prints of the show's sixth season, which can be found on the UK DVD release of The Fogman and Other Stories, the U.S. DVD release of Salty's Secret & Other Thomas Adventures. and the Australian DVD release of Thomas and the Jet Engine, respectively.
Outside Thomas and Friends related content, this logo was also tacked onto several other UK VHS releases of their content - appearing on Art Attack: Monsters and Other Scary Stuff, and the Sooty's Magic direct-to-video series, consisting of Sooty's Magic Show, Sooty's Magic Club and Sooty's Magic Birthday Party.
The short version was seen on at least UK airings of Eckhart.
Even though Gullane was involved with those two shows, this logo does not appear on either Sooty Heights or Sooty (2001) for unknown reasons, which instead use the Sooty Limited and Granada logos.

2nd Logo (September 16-October 21, 2002)

Visuals: On an aquamarine background, "A BRITT ALLCROFT COMPANY PRODUCTION" in Copperplate Gothic zooms out until it reaches a comfortable distance, then the Britt Allcroft logo in gold quickly writes itself. Underneath, "for" in a generic sans serif font quickly fades in, before the Gullane Entertainment print logo in white zooms in, which bounces for a few seconds. Then, a copyright disclaimer "© Gullane (Thomas) Limited 2002" in a serif font fades in.

Variants:

On early prints of Thomas & Friends season 6, the Gullane Entertainment logo just fades in.
A widescreen 16:9 version exists, which can be seen on at the end of each episode on the 2002 UK DVD release of Thomas & Friends: The Fogman and Other Stories. However, it does not not appear on the VHS release though.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: Usually the ending theme of the show.

Audio Variant: On Thomas & Friends: Building the New Line for PC, the sounds of an engine puffing, three distorted dings, and various steam whistles are heard.

Availability: The early variant was seen on early television prints of Season 6 of Thomas & Friends and can also be found at the end of each episode on the 2002 UK VHS and DVD releases of Thomas & Friends: The Fogman and Other Stories.

The normal variant can be found on the Thomas PC game Building the New Line and the Salty's Secret and Other Thomas Adventures DVD in the USA.
- However, more recent TV and DVD prints of Thomas & Friends Season 6 plaster this over with the 2000 HIT Entertainment logo.
The most recent DVD release to feature this logo is The Best of Thomas & Friends - Volume 1, which was released in Australia in 2009.

◄	The Britt Allcroft Company

Gullane Entertainment

HIT Entertainment

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