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 to produce the feature film Thomas and the Magic Railroad, which failed critically and commercially after its release, leading to her leaving the company. The newly-formed Gullane Entertainment continued production of Seasons 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 July 5, 2002, but Gullane didn't close until 2003. 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 (July 14, 2000)	2nd Logo (2000-2003)	3rd Logo (September 16-October 21, 2002)

1st Logo (July 14, 2000)

Logo: Fading in over waves passing by the camera, a reflection of a seagull is seen flying about. The camera moves upwards to reveal a sunset, with the gull shown in full. It starts to veer to the right, then starts to flap its wings while being doused among a white light. Then the gull turns into a metallic teal silhouette and a yellow arc draws in to finish the logo. While that happens, several lights appear and morph into the silver letters "GULLANE PICTURES" and then shines before cutting to black.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Just sounds of the waves, the seagull squawking and flapping, and metallic screeching. Chimes can also be heard at the end.

Availability: Only appears on Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

2nd Logo (2000-2003)

Logo: We start off zooming 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 2006 HIT Entertainment logo.

Technique: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: A shortened version of the 1st logo's sounds.

Music/Sounds Variant: On at least three Sooty's Magic VHS tapes, there is a male voiceover announcing: "Gullane Entertainment - Entertaining Families Worldwide!"

Availability: Rare.

It appears on all Thomas and Friends VHS and DVD releases from the time, immediately following the Anchor Bay Entertainment logo on US VHS releases, the Grace & Wild Interactive Development logo on US DVD releases, or the 1995 VCI logo on UK releases.
It also appeared on an extremely rare Japanese Thomas VHS release of A Wonderful American Journey with Thomas and Connie.
Outside Thomas the Tank Engine, this logo also appeared on the Art Attack VHS release Monsters and Other Scary Stuff, UK airings of Eckhart, and three Sooty direct-to-video programmes, titled Sooty's Magic Show, Sooty's Magic Club and the extremely rare Sooty's Magic Birthday Party.
Even though Gullane was involved with those two shows, this logo does not appear on either Sooty Heights or Sooty 2001, which instead use the Sooty Limited and Granada logos.
This logo also appears on a 2002 Marks and Spencer UK VHS re-release of Thomas & Friends: Thomas Goes Fishing and Other Stories from VCI as well.

3rd Logo (September 16-October 21, 2002)

Logo: 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.

Variant: On early prints of Thomas & Friends season 6, the Gullane Entertainment logo just fades in.

Technique: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: Usually the ending theme of the show, but 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: Very rare.

The regular variant appears on early prints of Season 6 of Thomas & Friends and early Thomas DVDs like The Fogman and Other Stories; the variant appears on the Thomas PC game Building the New Line.
More recent DVD prints of Thomas & Friends Season 6 plaster this over with the 2000 HIT Entertainment logo.

◄	The Britt Allcroft Company

Gullane Entertainment

HIT Entertainment

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