Noggin Originals

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

Noggin LLC (often branded as Noggin Originals) was the original production arm of the children's brand Noggin. The brand was originally launched as a cable channel by Viacom and Sesame Workshop in 1999. From 2015 to 2024, Noggin was a streaming service.

The Noggin brand originally targeted both preschoolers and pre-teens. In 2002, the network moved its older-skewing shows to a nighttime block called "The N" and devoted all of its daytime lineup to preschoolers. The original channel was closed in 2009 and replaced with the Nick Jr. Channel, but in 2015, the Noggin brand was relaunched in its current state as a streaming service. From 2020 to 2024, original series were produced for the Noggin streaming service, including Kinderwood and Noggin Knows.

On February 15, 2024, Paramount Global announced that Noggin would be shutting down in the coming months, resulting in the immediate layoff of Noggin's staff, with its video library set to be moved to Paramount+.



1st Logo (June 6, 1999-September 9, 2001)

Visuals: On a blurred stop-motion background, Phred, a green misshapen blob with a face, hops around on a pickle that is on top of a purple Noggin logo. Below the logo, white copyright text scrolls up until it disappears. The Noggin logo gets bigger after the copyright text leaves.

Variant: The background and copyright text are different for certain episodes.

Technique: A mix of stop-motion and traditional animation from MTV Animation and Possible Worlds.

Audio: Phred's feet make "doink" sounds as he hops on a pickle like a seesaw. The same singers from the Phred theme song say "Don't forget to check out the next Phred on your Head Show!" Finally, a piano riff closes out the show.

Availability: It only appeared on The Phred on Your Head Show, which last reran on March 31, 2002. The series was announced to be on Paramount+ on July 12, 2021, and has its own page on the service, but no episodes have been added at this time. For now, the best way to find this logo is on old recordings.

2nd Logo (October 25, 1999-October 1, 2002)




Visuals: Over a dark blue background is the Noggin logo with nothing on top. What appears to be a drill pops up on top of the logo and comes out, revealing itself to be part of a lightbulb (the logo's face shuts its eye and grits its teeth once this happens). To the face's surprise, the logo turns upside down and lights up (turning the background yellow), and the face smiles. The letters in the logo rearrange themselves to be right-side up, and "ORIGINAL" appears below. Copyright info fades in below.

Variants:

  • This was also used as a short bumper, but the word "ORIGINAL" (and the copyright notice) are removed.
  • Sometimes, there isn't a copyright notice.

Technique: Digital ink-and-paint animation directed and animated by Julian Grey at Head Gear Animation.

Audio: A "screwing" sound and the face grunting as the lightbulb piece appears, followed by the face exclaiming in surprise when the logo flips upside down, and a "desert"-like theme, accompanied by various sound effects, which include the word "Noggin" being spoken in a somewhat nasal voice. The sounds are accompanied by the closing theme of the show on A Walk in Your Shoes.

Audio Trivia: The "Noggin" sound clip has been used in a couple of Noggin IDs. The guy who provided the voice for the sound clip may possibly be either Rodger Bumpass (known for voicing Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants) or Eric Jacobson (known for voicing Bert on Sesame Street). Coincidentally, both companies of said shows own Noggin.

Availability: It appeared on Sponk!, the first season of Play with Me Sesame, and the first two seasons of A Walk in Your Shoes.

  • Post-2002 reruns of A Walk in Your Shoes usually replaced this logo with The N Originals, which had the same Noggin LLC copyright text.
  • It was edited out on Sprout reruns of Play With Me Sesame. DVD releases and international airings of Play with Me Sesame also lack this logo.
  • This logo is last seen when Play with Me Sesame aired on Noggin in 2007. Currently, pre-2008 Noggin recordings are the only source of finding this logo.

3rd Logo (April 7, 2003-August 10, 2007)


Visuals: Against a blue sky over a field of dirt is the Noggin logo and light rays coming from behind it. A tree quickly grows on it, with fat little birds (each with a seed for a body, a white-pencil drawn beak, feathers, and feet, and round red eyes) approaching and a banner with "ORIGINAL" on it appearing. Copyright info is shown below.

Variant: On Oobi, a copyright notice fades in under the logo.

Technique: Collage animation by Andrew Riss.

Audio: A whistling theme with drums. The music in this logo and the 4th and 6th logos were originally created for Noggin's 2002 refresh.

Availability: Seen on Oobi and the American version of Miffy and Friends. It is intact on DVD releases and Netflix prints of Miffy and Friends, and Noggin streaming app and Paramount+ prints of Oobi.

  • Also seen on the American English dub of Tweenies and American airings of Connie the Cow.

4th Logo (2003-2004) (Play with Me Sesame Custom Variant)


Visuals: On a light green background with spinning circles is the Noggin logo with a swirl, a bouncing ruler with gears on top of it and a polka-dotted cone playing like a horn. An "i" that looks like a cat's nose, an "l", an "O", and the rest of the text in "OrigiNal" come out of the horn.

Technique: Collage animation.

Audio: A horn/ukulele tune with a few drums in the background.

Availability: Seen on Season 2 of Play with Me Sesame, but is edited out on Sprout airings. The show is no longer in reruns and the DVD releases (distributed by Genius Products and Warner Home Video) omit this logo, so recordings are the only source of finding this logo.

5th Logo (April 5, 2005-January 9, 2010)

Visuals: Over a white background is the Noggin logo with something on top of its head, depending on the show (see the variants below).

Variants: There were 3 variants used.

  • Pinky Dinky Doo (season 1): The logo is in purple. On top of it, there is a drawing of some yellow and pink skyscrapers, and the CBeebies logo is under it.
    • On CBeebies airings, the CBeebies logo is removed and the Noggin logo is moved to the center of the screen.
  • Pinky Dinky Doo (season 2): The logo is in blue and smaller than usual. A drawing of a blue bird is seen on top of it. The CBeebies and Discovery Kids Latin America logos are also seen above this logo.
  • The Upside Down Show: The logo is in neon red with three blue gears on top of it (a medium-size dark blue gear with a small gear floating above it on the left, and a big sky blue gear on the right). Copyright information is seen below.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on The Upside Down Show and Pinky Dinky Doo. However, HBO/Max prints of the latter edit this logo out.

6th Logo (September 12, 2005-October 13, 2007) (Jack's Big Music Show Custom variant)


Visuals: On the Jack's Big Music Show credits background (a yellow and cream-striped background) is the Noggin logo on the left with a record player crank on its right side and a record player horn on the head. As the crank turns, three birds fly out of the horn, with two of them holding a white ribbon reading "ORIGINAL". Copyright info is shown on the bottom-right.

Technique: Cut-out animation with the crank animated traditionally.

Audio: A banjo strum, then a shrill, high-pitched 5-note flute tune. This was previously used in the "Empty and Full Cactus" ID that aired on Noggin from 2003 to 2005.

Availability: Seen only on Jack's Big Music Show, which had reruns until 2014. It is retained on the Jack's Big Music Show: Let's Rock! DVD and Paramount+ prints (however, it is only available on the service in Australia).

7th Logo (January 4, 2021)

Visuals: On a bluish-purple background is the text "nog i ", made of blue blocks. Two live-action hands put blue blocks that form a "g" and "n", completing the word "noggin" (in a modified Litebulb font). "Made by" and copyright info are respectively shown above and below throughout.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A short jingle.

Availability: Seen only on the first season of Noggin Knows.

8th Logo (2021-2024)


Visuals: On a purple background, the words "made by noggin" ("noggin" in a modified Litebulb font) appear, alongside three squiggles, a heart shape, a music note, and a lightning bolt symbol. The symbols change colors throughout. Copyright info is shown below.

Technique: Digital animation.

Audio: A short jingle, which is based on the Noggin theme from 2019-2024.

Availability: First seen on several original music videos within the Noggin streaming app, such as "Like Nobody Else", and later appeared on the second seasons of Yoga Friends and School of Yum.

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