Turner Entertainment Co.

Credits

Descriptions by
Lee Cremeans, Sean Beard, James Fabiano, Jess Williams, Stephen Cezar, OZ_Paramount87 and AUnnamedDragon

Captures by
Eric S., V of Doom, RedheadXilamGuy, LogicSmash, OZ_Paramount87 and CuldeSac12

Editions by
Shadeed A. Kelly, thehugetvfan, TheMisterFree, Michael Kenchington, indycar, CuldeSac12 and TheRealMarcel2000

Video captures courtesy of
JohnnyL80, mcydodge919, Peakpasha, Evan Lechowicz, mcydodge919, logoman24, Michael Strum, MrServoRetro, Anton 2004 and Maxim Atanasov

Background

Turner Entertainment Company (commonly referred to as Turner Entertainment Co.) was established on August 2, 1986 by Ted Turner, initially as a media distribution subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System, to oversee its film and television libraries for domestic and worldwide distribution, after its acquisition of MGM/UA Communications Co. and United Artists Corporation respectively) Since Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting in 1996, it has served as an in-name only subsidiary of and copyright holder for Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The logo itself was originally used by Turner Advertising Company, the predecessor to Turner Broadcasting System, as shown in this photo.

1st Logo (1987-2001)

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Visuals: On a blue/violet gradient CGI starfield, a blue oblong marquee with gold trim with the word "Turner" in silver and fancy italic letters with the right arm of the "T" extended over the other letters, and the left arm curled moves in, close to the screen from the right. The camera turns left to follow it, and it approaches a green globe, like a planet or moon, positioned in the top left and lit from there and behind. As it approaches, it zooms out and turns its left side (the camera's right) in away from the camera, eventually settling in front of the globe as the camera movement stops.

Variants:

• There are two versions of the graphic; one with a slightly smaller globe at the top left and a smaller (in proportion) marquee that faces the camera at an angle at the end, and one with a larger globe at the top right and a longer, more expanded marquee that faces the camera head-on. The former is most commonly used as the short version.
• Both variations came in numerous color palettes:
  • Red/violet starfield, violet/white/gold marquee, blue planet facing the left, marquee sweeps at a moderate speed after about a second, facing the camera at an angle.
  • Blue starfield, blue/white/gold marquee, bluish-green planet facing the left, marquee sweeps at a moderate speed after about a second, facing the camera at an angle.
  • Blue starfield, green/white/gold marquee, bluish-green planet facing the left, marquee sweeps quickly as soon as it fades in, facing the camera head-on. A matted widescreen version of this variant also exists.
  • Blue/violet starfield, green/white marquee, bluish-green planet facing the right, marquee sweeps at a moderate speed after about a second, facing the camera head-on.
  • Blue/violet starfield, blue/white/gold marquee, bluish-green planet facing the left, marquee sweeps slowly after about 3 seconds, facing the camera at an angle.
  • Violet/red starfield, violet/gold marquee, blue planet facing the left, marquee sweeps quickly as soon as it fades in, facing the camera at an angle.
• An "enhanced"/videotaped version was introduced in 1996. It has more stars at the beginning, an expanded marquee, the interior of the "Turner" text has more reflections and appears to be shinier, the shining effects on the lettering are more refined, and the animation in general is much smoother.
• Sometimes, the logo is shown in black and white.
• On some occasions, chyroned text is shown beneath the logo; one version says "A Turner Entertainment Co. Presentation" and another says "Listed on the American Stock Exchange".
• A slowed-down variant of the short version of this logo also exists, which appears on the 1989 UK VHS release of Porky Pig and Friends, the 1990 UK VHS release of Tom and Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics: Vol. 2, and the 1995 UK VHS release of Tom and Jerry: Vol. 7: Mouse Line & Sinker, all from MGM/UA Home Video, respectively.

Technique: CGI.

Audio:

• The standard variant features a triumphant ten-note orchestral tune, with a flourish as the logo first appears. This theme was composed by Donna Wyant.
• The short version of this logo features a five-note calm synth/trumpet theme. This was also composed by Donna Wyant.

Audio Variants:

• A high tone variant of the long version can be found before the short film The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Story on TCM.
  • A high tone variant of the short version can be found on reruns of The Scooby-Doo Show on Teletoon, due to them using PAL prints for the show.
    • The same can also be said for The Flintstones episode "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes" on recent Boomerang Central and Eastern Europe airings from 2013-2018.
• A low tone variant of the short version can be found on the Top Cat episode "The 1,000,000 Derby" on Boomerang.
  • A low tone version of the long version can be found on the 2002 DVD print of Logan's Run and at the end of the 1999 VHS release of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). It is possible that this is how the NTSC Turner prints of them two were left from the start after the editing.
• On some Turner shows aired on Teletoon, the logo plays its extended version, but the closing theme plays for half of its length. The other half plays the short logo's music. This was probably done to cover up HB logos, but it's still present on the original 1995 print remaster of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975 version), as seen on Russian, Arabic and Mexican airings of the series.
• A silent version is seen on early 2000's TV Land airings of Gilligan's Island and the U.S. VHS release of the colorized version of The Philadelphia Story.
  • The same thing also happened at the end of a French airing of The Dirty Dozen: The Next Mission, though it is not known if the issue came because of the editing done by the dubbing studio or if the European Turner master itself is like that.
• 2011 reruns of The Smurfs on POP! in the UK have the final seconds of the end credits theme over the short variant, while the logo along with the blacked out 1983-era variant of the 1979 H-B "Swirling Star" and the entire end credits sequence have been digitally sped up to match the ending theme song without the sound of the logos, likely due to time-compressing.

Availability:

• This was once found on many movies and shows from the Turner library, mainly on older home video releases by MGM Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.
  • However, ever since the merger between Turner and Time Warner in 1996, many of the shows have since passed on to Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (now under WarnerMedia) and thus newer prints of these shows and movies will use WB logos.
  • However, the logo has still managed to end up here and there on some post-1996 releases.
• The long version was seen before several short films on TCM (usually preceded by a TCM Extras bumper), but is usually replaced with the current TCM logo on feature films.
• The print logo itself continued to be used until 2015, when they introduced a new print logo.
• The logo is also still kept on much of the Hanna-Barbera library.
  • The short version can also still be seen on Tooncast broadcasts in Latin America of The Flintstones, The Jetsons (both remastered and 1980s pre-Turner masters also retain it), Top Cat and all three shows on the Boomerang U.S. channel whenever they decide to rerun them again.
  • It was also kept on Boomerang reruns of The Atom Ant Show, two Jonny Quest episodes ("Arctic Splashdown" and "Curse of Anubis"), two episodes of SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Captain Planet and the Planeteers (even modern home video releases kept it), and some Hanna-Barbera specials like The Town That Santa Forgot, A Flintstones Family Christmas, A Flintstones Christmas and Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights, respectively.
  • The short version is also intact at the end of the DVD print of the Captain Planet and the Planeteers episode "Mind Pollution" included on the 2017 Australian DVD boxset release of Captain Planet and the Planeteers Complete Collection, following the 1983 Turner Program Services logo.
  • Canada's Teletoon Retro also kept the short logo on their prints of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, The Scooby-Doo Show, and The New Yogi Bear Show (1988 series), respectively.
  • European broadcasts, however, always erase out both versions of the logo on Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TCM or TNT; if it appears, it's usually unintentional.
• The short version of this logo is also preserved on the 1996 UK VHS release Wacky Races: Bumper Edition, and the 1997 UK VHS release of The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: Bumper Edition (the former following the 1968 H-B "Zooming H-B" logo and the latter following the silent variant of the 1969 H-B "Multiplying Rectangles" logo, respectively), the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1980-81 series) episode "Alaskan King Coward" on both the Scooby-Doo! Holiday Collection and Scooby-Doo! Winter Wonderdog DVD releases (following the 1994 H-B "Comedy All-Stars" logo), and at the end of the 2002 UK VHS release of The Banana Splits from Warner Home Video.
• The long version can also be still seen whenever Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) airs on Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Tooncast, and is also intact at the start of the 2002 UK VHS release thereof from Warner Home Video, as well as at the end of the 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas! special on Cartoon Network.
• The slowed-down variant of the short version can be found on the 1989 UK VHS release of Porky Pig and Friends, the 1990 UK VHS release of Tom and Jerry's 50th Birthday Classics: Vol. 2, and the 1995 UK VHS release of Tom and Jerry: Vol. 7: Mouse Line & Sinker, all from MGM/UA Home Video, respectively.
• The enhanced version was also found on films like Nine 1/2 Weeks (surprisingly, the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment PAL DVD release of said film also retains it as well) and Oxford Blues on the Encore networks, and is also intact on the original DVD releases of Poltergeist, The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story (it was also spotted on a 2001 TNT airing), Logan's Run, How The West Was Won, the 1998 U.S. VHS release of Gone with the Wind, and the 2000 U.S. VHS release of Shaft (1971), among other pre-1986 MGM films from MGM/UA Home Video, MGM Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.
• It was also seen on Movies! airings of Crossfire (1947).
• The short version was also sighted at the end of a Huckleberry Hound cartoon on Boomerang in 2001 (which was "Bars and Stripes"), and the short also even ended up like that on at least one rerun on the Latin American Boomerang.
  • The same also happened with a Pixie and Dixie cartoon ("Goldfish Fever"). This was odd, as these cartoons aired in a three-hour block.
• The original version is also preserved on international Tom & Jerry Kids VHS releases.
• The long version was also seen on a mid-2010s airing of Hey There, It's Yogi Bear (1964) on the Australian TV channel "GO!" (now known as 9Go!), as well as a 2017 airing of Teahouse of the August Moon followed by the 1956 MGM "George the Lion" logo.
• The long version is also preserved at the start of the 1993 UK VHS releases of Tom and Jerry's Festival of Fun and Tom and Jerry on Parade from MGM/UA Home Video, the 1995 UK VHS release of The Pagemaster (1994) from Columbia TriStar Home Video, the 1996 UK VHS release of Daffy Duck & Company from MGM/UA Home Video, and the 2001 UK VHS release of Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) from Warner Home Video, respectively, among many others.
• The version with the planet on the right side and the green and white marquee cane be found on the Taiwanese Video CD release of The Sea Wolf.
• The short version can also be seen at the end of all five episodes of Scooby-Doo, Where are You! on the DVD release "Original Mysteries", preceded by the "Action" variant of the 1994 Hanna-Barbera logo.
  • Also, it is preserved at the end of every episode on both the VHS and DVD releases of the "Cartoon Crack-Ups" set.
• It is known that the logo was present from the start on every 1995 "new modern remaster" of the series and feature films done by Turner before the broadcasters and home video staff made any edits to the prints.
  • While the WarnerMedia-owned channels often plaster out the logo (especially on international airings), local channels not affiliated with Warner always keep the prints of the shows and films they air unaltered (besides needed censorship), so all the beginning and end logos are kept as is, including this one, which is why the logo was seen on 2000s overseas airings of shows including Droopy Master Detective, Tom and Jerry Kids, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, The Scooby-Doo Show, The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, and Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (both 1979 and 1980 versions) on CTC in Russia, The Addams Family (1992 animated series) on Nova TV in Bulgaria, The Richie Rich Show (1980) on Planet Çocuk in Turkey, some episodes of The Mask: The Animated Series on THT in Russia, The Flintstones, Top Cat, and The Scooby-Doo Show on TV Prima in Czechia, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, The Scooby-Doo Show, The Flintstones, and Paddington Bear (1989 series) on TV Puls 2, plus some syndicated airings of the pre-1986 MGM and pre-1948 WB libraries (like Kelly's Heroes on AMC, A Time to Sing on Circle, and the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on GoodLife TV Network / YTA TV).
• While live-action television series from the Turner library would always have the long extended version of the logo, be it before the intro or after the end credits, there is one exception: the 1977-1983 MGM series CHiPs actually ends with the shortened variant of the logo.
• The short version is also kept on the "Dexter's Laboratory: Season One" DVD release.
  • Notably, Dexter's Laboratory is the only Cartoon Network original series to have this logo, as it was the only one released before the 1996 merger (excluding series like The Moxy Show or The What-a-Cartoon Show).
• As stated before above, somehow the short variant in high-pitched audio ended up on The Flintstones episode "The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes" on recent Boomerang CEE airings from 2013 until 2018 (when the show left the schedule at that time).
  • As the logo is always wiped out on modern overseas airings on the Warner-owned TV channels, it's obvious that it was kept on that episode unintentionally (plus it was the only episode on the channel to keep the full logo).
  • Not only that, but post-2014 reruns of the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "What a Night for a Knight" on the channel featured only a small nano-second frame of this logo after the 1994 H-B All-Stars "Action" logo before cutting to the promos and commercial break.
• The logo is also kept on the Warner Archive Collection DVD release of the 1995 Dumb and Dumber animated series, as well as on Amazon and iTunes prints thereof.
  • The same can also be said for a few episodes of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, although most of them have the 1988 Worldvision Enterprises logo instead, following the 1988 version of the 1986 CGI "Swirling Star" Hanna-Barbera logo.
  • It is also kept on the Warner Archive Collection DVD release of Josie & The Pussycats in Outer Space, and also on the DVD release of the 1993 special The Halloween Tree.
• The short version of this logo is still intact on the Boomerang streaming service prints of The Flintstones, most episodes of The Jetsons, Top Cat, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics, Yogi's Galaxy Goof-Ups, Yogi's First Christmas (1980), some episodes of Johnny Quest and a few episodes of Tom and Jerry Kids among others.
  • Tubi prints of The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries also kept it, as they use older prints (conversely, the HBO Max prints are restored and therefore lack the logo), as does The Halloween Tree (1993) on the same service.
• The short version of this logo was also spotted at the end of the Yogi Bear episode "Bear on a Picnic" on HBO Max, as part of a combo with the 2003 Warner Bros. Television logo.
  • This is because Warner Bros. "restored" that episode by keeping it in the same early 1980s tape quality, as the other negative materials were damaged (which is why it also ended up like this on The Huckleberry Hound Show: Volume 1, albeit with no Turner logo there).
• The short version of this logo was also seen on Hulu and Netflix prints of the 1978 Godzilla series, preceded by the Hanna-Barbera 1977 version of the 1974 "Rainbow H-B" (small variant) and the 1994 All-Stars "Action" logos.
• This also used to occasionally appear on The Flintstones when aired on MeTV, until Warner Bros. restored the entire series in 2020 for both HBO Max and the Blu-ray release and replaced any end logo with the 2003 WB Television one, and MeTV began running these prints instead.
• The matted widescreen/green marquee version is only known to appear on the 1993 25th Anniversary VHS release of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
• It was also spotted on Grit airings of The Treasure of Pancho Villa and Devil's Canyon, respectively.
• The B&W version was also sighted on Amazon Prime Video's print of Step by Step (1946), and some prints of Idiot's Delight, Honeymoon for Three, Laughing Sinners, and Strange Interlude as well.

2nd Logo (January 1, 1988)

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Visuals: A still of the Turner logo on a white background, which is positioned center-left. There are segmented lines behind the logo.

Technique: A still graphic produced on print.

Audio: A snippet of the Droopy cartoon "Drag-A-Long Droopy", which is an echoed gunshot after Droopy says the line "Exciting, isn't it?".

Availability: Seen only on the documentary Tex Avery: King of Cartoons.

3rd Logo (October 1988-December 4, 1993, 2001)

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Visuals: This has two distinct versions:

• 1988-1993: Everything is concentrated on the center of the screen and appears through a fade-in effects on a black background. At the top, there is a very tiny star outlined by five stylized low-cut fuchsia filmstrips. Below the star are the words "A TURNER ENTERTAINMENT" in a serif font and underneath, in the same font but smaller, "Presentation". At the bottom-center, in an even smaller lettering are the words "in association with" and underneath "SELZNICK PROPERTIRES LTD." on the same font size as the Turner credit. All of the text is in the same type of fuchsia color. This variant only appears on the direct-to-VHS documentary The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind.
• 2001: On a black background, the same star from the previous variant, but now bigger and in white, fades in alone on the top-center. Then the words "TURNER ENTERTAINMENT CO." in a serif font fade in after a few seconds below in white, after which in the same way does the Time Warner byline in its trademark font underneath on the bottom-center in the same color, but way smaller. A widescreen version of the logo also exists for films released in that format.

Variants:

• An alternate variation of the logo from The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind cane be found on some VHS re-releases. This time, the background is a shot of a night sky covered by dark clouds and the full moon scattered in the middle. The fuchsia star appears taking the most from the middle of the screen, while the filmstrips that surround it have a full solid color. After a few seconds, it skrinks while moving a bit below and upwards in its initial position from the original logo. The rest of the text in the same fuchsia color then fades in and is positioned like in the original logo.
• An in-credit version appears on Tom and Jerry Kids:
  • The filmstrip star along with the "TURNER ENTERTAINMENT CO." text (in the same serif font from Gone with the Wind) appear near each other in a white color. Above is a white "Hanna-Barbera" logo in its cursive trademark font at that time with a silver-looking Swirling Star (1979-1986 style) on the left. A tiny "A" and "and" appear above and below the Hanna-Barbera logo in Arial font, while "CARTOON" is below the Turner font on the same size but a bit bigger. All of this appears on a grass-like green background with a sunburst effect, while the text and the logos have a shadow effect. The whole text reads as "A Hanna-Barbera and TURNER ENTERTAINMENT CO. CARTOON".
  • Later, the title card received some modifications. The background is now of a darker shade of green while the Swirling Star is gone. The text now reads as "A H-B Production Co. and TURNER ENTERTAINMENT CO. CARTOON", with the H-B logo and "A" being written in a different crawled font with the Turner stamp, and "and" and "CARTOON" in an Arial Narrow font.

Technique: A still graphic, created either digitally or with traditional ink and paint.

Audio:

• On both logos of The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind, a triumphant trumpet piece is heard.
• None for the later 2001 variant.
• On Tom and Jerry Kids, the final fanfare of the end credits theme is heard.

Availability: Turner used this logo mainly as a print logo during this era, and any onscreen appearance of this logo is quite rare.

• The Time Warner variant was seen on some modern home video releases of MGM features, like the 2001 special edition of the 1970 documentary film Elvis: That's the Way It Is.
• The H-B/Turner combo can be seen on seasons 2-4 of Tom & Jerry Kids, and can also still be seen on the show's prints on the Boomerang streaming service. It was later revealed that this logo appeared in what is considered to be the original airing of the season 1 short "Flippin' Fido" (if it didn't even contain the actual intro and credits) on Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection, where that variation was restored.
• The variants from The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind are seen on said documentary, although it was not seen much anywhere after the VHS releases.

4th Logo (January 7, 2009-November 18, 2011?)

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Visuals: Essentially just the Turner logo (which is slightly modified) in gray with a TimeWarner byline below it slowly zooming in on a black background.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Appeared on episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (the show) of the era. It is left intact on BET's prints (as part of the "last-scene-of-the-show" credits).

External Links

• Turner Entertainment credits on IMDb
• Turner Entertainment article on Wikipedia

◄ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (pre-1986) MGM Cartoons Sib Tower 12 Productions Warner Bros. Cartoons (pre-1948) RKO Radio Pictures Paramount Cartoons (Popeye the Sailor library) Brut Pictures Ruby-Spears Productions (pre-1991)

Turner Entertainment Co.

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