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Extremely dark black and white version
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Dark black and white version
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Filmed version in black and white
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Early color version of the filmed variant
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"V of Moon" version
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Filmed version in color
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Videotaped version in color
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Videotaped version in black and white
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Orange videotaped version
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Lime version
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Turquoise version
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Logo: On a sky blue (or lavender) background, the text "A Viacom Presentation" in a Palatino-like typeface zooms in from the center of the screen at a very fast pace, then stops abruptly (on the filmed variant) when it gets near to the screen. Then, a stylized navy blue "V" (a downward trapezoid with a curved line in the near center) appears from the center. At first it is small, but the "V" starts to move gradually closer and closer towards the screen, almost to the point where it takes up nearly the entire frame. The logo then suddenly cuts to black or fades to black (depending on the version of the logo).
Trivia: This logo is often unofficially nicknamed the "V of Doom", as during its lifespan, this was notorious for scaring many.
Variants:
- The original version of this logo was filmed, and was used from 1976 until 1985.
- A black & white version of the filmed "V" was used in the earlier years.
- On the earlier color variant of the filmed version, the "V" is black, with a light blue background. The more common version premiered by 1977.
- Videotaped variants have the words "A" and "Viacom" spaced farther apart, and the animation is more smooth. This was used from 1978 to 1986. Color variants include monochrome, purple background with dark blue "V", and faint purple background with blue "V", among others.
- Some filmed variants feature the "V" actually stopping right before it cuts to black. This was largely common in its earlier years (especially in black & white variants).
- An extremely rare videotaped variant featuring a yellow "V" was used on some syndicated prints of The Honeymooners, appearing in a giant moon over a city skyline where the credits appear. This is a result of a chroma-key mistake. This variation was given the nickname "V of Moon".
- There is also a rare videotaped variant with a jungle green background and a Charleston green "V".
- An extremely rare turquoise variant with an ultramarine blue "V" was used in 1984. The "V" stops moving before we fade to black.
- A videotaped variant of this logo has an orange background and a midnight blue "V" seen on 1978 episodes of You Don't Say!. There is also a warp speed version of this.
- An extremely rare videotaped variant with the logo superimposed in a circle over a moving starfield background was used on the short-lived series Hot City. This is nicknamed the "V in Space".
- There is an uncommon "warp-speed" videotaped variation where the logo and music are sped up. This was used alongside co-distributor logos and was seen from 1979-1986.
- An extremely rare videotaped variant that flashes different colors reputedly exists. It was reported to be seen on an airing of The Honeymooners episode entitled "A Man's Pride" on The Comedy Network in Canada. A reconstruction can be seen here; caution is advised for those sensitive to flashing images. No evidence of the actual logo has surfaced as of yet. This variant is unofficially nicknamed the "Rainbow V of Doom".
- A variant where the "V" is dark red on a pink background appeared on the 1985 syndicated series The Star Games. It also appeared on a 1994 rerun of an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.
- A videotaped variant with a lime background was found on an episode of The Andy Griffith Show on TBS in 1992 and on the Perry Mason S8 episode "The Case of the Wrongful Writ" on a March 13, 1991 TBS broadcast.
- Dark variants of the Film-O-Vision version in color and B&W, due to film deterioration, exist.
- The first second was lopped off on the 1979 version of Magnetic Video's VHS release of Blue Hawaii.
- There was a high pitched, slightly sped up version of the videotaped variant spotted on the Cannon episode "He Who Digs a Grave (Part 2)" on Me-TV. As of May 2019, this variant is still intact.
- An ultra dark/deteriorated black and white version exists, in which the background is nearly black and the "V" is almost invisible. This was spotted on a Me-TV airing of Perry Mason as well as on a 16mm print of an episode of I Love Lucy.
- A "blacked-out" variant also exists on film prints of episodes of Greatest Heroes of the Bible on the Internet Archive, which has the "V of Doom" music on either the "END OF PART ONE" or "THE END" card, likely due to sloppy plastering.
Technique: Depending on the version: Filmed and Videotaped Variants: The former used camera-controlled animation, while the latter uses either Scanimation or another form of early computer graphics.
Music/Sounds: Here are the main music variants used on this logo:
- Usually, the music used was a 5-note synthesized fanfare (composed on an ARP Odyssey synth), complete with a timpani drum roll playing throughout with a final, rather loud pound at the end. Even after the logo faded (or cut) to black, the timpani's echo could still be heard. It is different for both the filmed and videotaped variants, with the audio quality being clearer for the latter.
- The very first version of this logo featured the "Pinball" music from the first logo and was used eventually until late 1978 (and was also often used when replacing the original "Pinball" logo, possibly a bad plastering error). This variant is known as the "V of Pinball".
- The very first version of the normal 1976 music had a slightly faster tempo/low-pitched version of the usual music, used on the same logo with the very dark blue/black "V" logo, and it was also used in tandem with the standard filmed variant in the mid- and late 1970s.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- In some rare cases, the closing theme of the show was used, or none.
- The turquoise variant of the logo has two extra pounds of the timpani at the end.
- Sometimes, the "V of Doom" music cuts off right before the last timpani beat, removing the final echo in the process. This was heard on the Magnetic Video release of Don't Give Up the Ship.
- Sometimes on the filmed variant, the first note or two can be cut off. Often, the final bit of the show's closing theme will play over the logo briefly. This is caused by a bad splice on the film between the credits and the logo. An example of this would be the Season 11 finale to My Three Sons.
- On The Beverly Hillbillies episode "Christmas with the Clampetts", and perhaps other episodes from the first two seasons, it has a generic theme (the show's theme couldn't be used due to it being copyrighted while episodes from the first two seasons have fallen into the public domain) playing over the filmed version of this logo.
- On the Have Gun-Will Travel season 3 episode "Fragile" on Me-TV and H&I, the 1987 Paramount Television theme plays faintly over a black screen before the videotaped variant appears, due to a double plaster.
- On the Hot City variant, the music starts playing over the last bit of the closing song.
- On a 1985 WTBS airing of Girls! Girls! Girls!, a split second of the "Pinball" music can be heard before the normal music starts, due to sloppy plastering.
Availability: Fairly common, since it has become a bit easier to find in the past few years. Most shows that had this logo have been updated with either the "V of Steel" or "Wigga Wigga" logos, or those of Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount Domestic/Network Television, or CBS Television Distribution. However, newer variants might be seen on local stations that show older Viacom shows, such as The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Rawhide, Hogan's Heroes, The Twilight Zone, and Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C. All variants of the "V of Doom" (with the exception of the "V of Pinball" until evidence is found) can be seen on VHS tapes of The Andy Griffith Show released by various video outlets such as Premier Promotions and sometimes (though mostly the videotaped variant) by UAV Corporation.
- V of Pinball:
- The B&W filmed variant with the "Pinball" theme is near extinction at this stage. It appears on the Magnetic Video releases of King Creole (also on the Key Video re-releases) and Visit to a Small Planet.
- This variant was also recently discovered on a 16mm print of The Phil Silvers Show.
- Its color counterpart has been seen on the 1975 TV movie Eric, and is intact on the film's VHS release, the Magnetic Video release of Girls! Girls! Girls! (also on the 1985 Key Video re-release), the Australian Magnetic Video VHS of All in a Night's Work, and on one mid-1970s print of an early color episode of Gunsmoke, which aired on Superstation WTBS back in 1986.
- Filmed Variant:
- It appears at the end of most Viacom syndication prints of the time, on shows such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, The Phil Silvers Show, and My Three Sons. It appeared on the Season 11 finale of My Three Sons on Hallmark back around 2000 and was again seen on a Me-TV airing of the latter on July 2, 2018, strangely with CBS Television Distribution preceding it.
- It appeared on some TV movies from the era, such as Police Story, The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan, and Top Secret (1978), among others. It was also seen on the original Magnetic Video VHS releases of many feature films, such as Last Train from Gun Hill and possibly All in a Night's Work; those featuring Elvis Presley, including G.I. Blues (also on the 1985 Key Video re-release) and Blue Hawaii; those featuring Jerry Lewis, including Don't Give Up the Ship and at the end of earlier video prints of the 1981 film Firebird 2015 AD and the 1980 film The Unseen, while the videotaped variant makes a strange appearance at the beginning of the latter film (the same also applied to an '80s broadcast on the USA Network).
- The filmed variant can be seen on Cozi TV airings of episodes from the first two seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies, due to said network using public domain prints of that show.
- It also appeared on Nelvana's first special A Cosmic Christmas; this is intact on current prints of the special whenever it gets aired on TV, as well as on Amazon Prime and Nelvana's Keep it Weird YouTube channel (where it is followed by the 2004 Nelvana logo), in addition to Terror In The Wax Museum on Amazon Prime.
- The B&W filmed variant was once spotted on an episode of Perry Mason on Me-TV before it was replaced with a later print sometime in 2015.
- It can also be spotted on almost every episode of The Millionaire, which can occasionally be seen on Decades.
- The color variant of the filmed variant was seen on some prints of The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and recently (as of 2018) on three episodes of Gunsmoke on Me-TV ("The Witness", "Eleven Dollars", and "Kitty's Love Affair") and one episode ("Like Old Times") on CBS Drama in the UK.
- The B&W filmed variant variant can also be spotted on DVDs of The Beverly Hillbillies released by the Platinum Disc Corporation, Madacy Entertainment, Mill Creek Entertainment, and GoodTimes Entertainment, among other companies.
- It is unknown if this was seen on the Magnum Entertainment releases of The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans (1977) or California Gold Rush, the Magnetic Video VHS release and 1985 Key Video re-release of Roustabout, or the 1985 Key Video re-issue of Blue Hawaii.
- Videotaped Variant:
- The videotaped version used to be somewhat common on Perry Mason on Me-TV, but since 2015, they have started using remastered DVD prints with the 2007 CBS Television Distribution logo. However, these older prints can still be seen on FETV.
- It's also seen at the end of most Cannon episodes, mostly between seasons 3-5, shown on Me-TV (and whenever it airs on Decades, owned also by the parent company of Me-TV, Weigel Broadcasting).
- Several of the "Classic 39" episodes of The Honeymooners, as well as the "lost" episodes, had this logo when they previously aired on WGN America and TBS. Newer prints of the "lost" episodes use the MPI Home Video logo instead.
- It was also seen on episodes of The (New) Price is Right from 1976-1980.
- The 1978 and 1983 variants were formerly seen on two episodes of The Twilight Zone on Syfy ("You Drive" and "One for the Angels") until Syfy acquired updated prints sometime in 2015.
- It was also surprisingly seen on a 2012 airing of The Missiles of October on Me-TV, before the 1990 "Wigga Wigga" logo; however, newer prints, such as a recent Decades airing, used CTD instead.
- The warp-speed variant was also recently spotted on a rerun of The Bob Newhart Show S5 episode "Making Up Is the Thing To Do" on Me-TV, Hallmark Channel, Decades (occasionally), Sundance, and FamNET, after the decorated MTM Enterprises logo and preceding the 20th Television logo, and is also available on various season 5 and 6 episodes of that show on Shout Factory's 2014 complete series set, as well as solo releases of said seasons and Me-TV airings of most season 6 episodes, with the logo on a majority of those episodes being followed by the 20th Television logo.
- It can be seen on two season 3 episodes of Have Gun-Will Travel on Me-TV and H&I ("Fragile" and "The Black Handkerchief").
- It was also seen on some episodes of All in the Family before Columbia Pictures Television Distribution (now Sony Pictures Television) acquired the syndication rights to that show.
- The videotaped variant was also recently spotted on two Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C. VHS tapes released by Forum Home Video in 1989, as well as The Devil and Daniel Mouse, which is included as an extra on the Blu-Ray of Nelvana's Rock & Rule.
- It also makes a strange appearance at the start of the original VHS release of the 1980 film The Unseen (also intact on an '80s USA Network airing), while the filmed variant appears at the end.
- It can also be found on seasons 3-5 of Cannon on DVD; Season 3 has an odd combo of this with the CBS Television Distribution logo following it, while the remaining two seasons have the videotaped VoD alone.
- This logo also made a surprise appearance on a recent Decades airing of the season 2 Bob Newhart Show episode "The Modernization of Emily".
- This variant had recently made a surprise appearance on GSN and Buzzr airings of a 1980 episode of To Tell the Truth.
- It appeared on original broadcasts of Family Feud's first syndicated run (where it was preceded by in-credit text), but does not appear to have ever been retained in repeat airings.
- This recently made surprise appearances on Sky Go New Zealand prints of some episodes of All in the Family (such as season 1 episode 2).
- Silent Variant: Rare.
- It was seen on old VHS releases of the 1963 movie Fun in Acapulco and the 1966 movie Paradise, Hawaiian Style from Magnetic Video (both of which plaster over the Paramount logo at the end of the film, though the Spanish-dubbed version, as well as the 1985 Key Video reprint (In English) of the latter film used the standard "V of Doom" music), the 1974 TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman from Prism Entertainment, and the 1976 movie The Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena.
- It is also retained on the 1985 Key Video re-issue of Fun in Acapulco.
- It was also spotted on an '80s USA Network airing of the 1968 movie Mission Mars (it is unknown if it's intact on any VHS releases of the movie).
- 16mm prints of Fun in Acapulco also have this variation.
- Rainbow Variant: Unknown. This variant's existence has yet to be confirmed. It was rumored to be on a Comedy Network Canada airing of a Honeymooners episode.
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