Wildbrain Entertainment

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

Wildbrain Entertainment, Inc. (commonly known as Wildbrain, stylized as W!LDBRAIN, formerly known as Wild Brain, and later known as DHX Media Los Angeles) was an American entertainment company and animation studio that developed and produced television programming, motion pictures, commercial content, and licensed merchandise. Established in 1994, it maintained offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. The company was known for making Poochini for Junior, Higglytown Heroes for Playhouse Disney and Yo Gabba Gabba! for Nick Jr. Productions. On September 14, 2010, DHX Media acquired Wildbrain. The company was closed in 2017.


Wild Brain

1st Logo (October 14, 1997-1999)

Visuals: On a black background, there is a purple man's head with a pencil through his ears. Certain areas on the head throb, before it eventually explodes, with the letters in "Wild Brain" in a crude font flying out before settling.

Variant: Around June 26, 1998, the text was in a completely different font. The "B" has an extra hump and the "W" has an extra stem. This font was recycled for the third logo.

Technique: Flash animation.

Audio: The sound of a harp.

Availability: It was only seen in the late '90s on the main page for the Wild Brain website at the time. An archived version of the site during that period can be found here. It was claimed to appear at the end of the original VHS release of FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, but this has since been debunked.

2nd Logo (October 11, 1998)


Visuals: On a white-gradient background, there is a crudely drawn jack-in-the-box toy containing a human brain with a cartoony expression and wearing a crown. "Wild" and "Brain" are present on opposing sides of the jack-in-the-box in black.

Technique: A still image.

Audio: The ending theme of the show.

Availability: Only seen on normal airings of the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short Fathead. This doesn't appear on split-screen airings.

3rd Logo (February 2, 2000-January 7, 2008)



Visuals: There is an eye that looks more like a speech bubble, that changes graphics in backgrounds with a variety of crazy stuff, which consist of (all are seen for a split-second):

  • An anthropomorphic dog with big eyes.
  • A family eating pizza on an eye-shaped table.
  • A naked man lifting the eye, in front of a background with constellations.
  • The eye on a background with squares, each with stripes of a color.
  • The eye in orange and red, on a background with bubbles bearing the same color combination.
  • Some houses seen on a helicopter view, with a pond in the form of the eye.
  • The eye on a red background with zip-line-like clouds.
  • The eye drawn in a zigzag-like style.
  • The eye drawn in a blue oil-pastel style on a white background.
  • The eye drawn in a blue watercolor paint style.
  • The eye with multi-colored lines and lighting on it.
  • The eye drawn in a purple ink-like style.
  • The eye slightly blurred and in bright-blue, on a background with squares of different tones of blue.
  • The eye in orange, on a background with different colors.
  • The eye in a bright-yellow color, on a psychedelic background.
  • A town of people with eyes as heads.
  • Again, the eye in orange on a background with different colors.
  • The eye drawn in a dark-green/orange spray-paint style, on a background of pale green.
  • The eye drawn in a very-scribbled manner.
  • The eye drawn in a smoke-line style.

After that, the eye appears on a teal background with a "™" symbol next to that. The eye then spins around, turning the background blue and revealing the word "WILD BRAIN" from the June 1998 variant of the first logo.

Variant: On Higglytown Heroes, there is a short version that begins with the eye on the teal background, spinning. It is also still for a brief moment at the beginning.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: 2 drum beats, followed by a spinning sound and a weird 2-note theme. On Higglytown Heroes, the ending theme plays.

Availability: The normal version can be seen on Poochini, while the short version is found on Higglytown Heroes (the show kept this logo until 2008). This was once claimed to appear on the first episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! on its premiere date airing, but this rumor has since been debunked.

Wildbrain Entertainment

Logo (August 20, 2007-February 24, 2016)


Visuals: On a white background, an orange atom-like object zooms out and spins around in a spiral before stopping for a second on the left side of the screen. The atom then flies across to the right, wiping in the text "W!LDBRAIN", with a fat-looking exclamation point replacing the first "I", and various copies of the atom appear behind it as a trail before they shrink away. The exclamation point also flashes, turning orange.

Trivia: This was designed by Adams Morioka.

Variants:

  • A longer variant exists where the atom's circles zoom past the screen the screen before it zooms out.
  • On later series from the company, "W!LDBRAIN" is sandwiched between 2 bars, with "ENTERTAINMENT" in orange below "W!LDBRAIN", and a DHX Media byline is seen below the finished product. It first appeared on the Monster High special Fright On!.
  • On The Ricky Gervais Show, the logo is still.
  • On season 1 of Bubble Guppies, the logo and animation are further away.
  • n season 1 of Bubble Guppies.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A Mexican-esque trumpet fanfare (an excerpt from Cordoba Bumper, from Megatrax), accompanied by a faint wind sound, followed by a ding sound.

Audio Variants:

  • On some occasions, a couple of whooshing sounds, a chime arpeggio, and a different ding sound.
  • Sometimes, the end theme of the show or silent.
  • On some episodes of season 1 of Bubble Guppies, the wind sound is a little louder.

Availability: It was first seen on Yo Gabba Gabba! on Nick Jr.. It was also seen on season 1 of Bubble Guppies, The Hard Times of RJ Berger, The Ricky Gervais Show, pre-Nerd Corps Monster High specials, and on the special Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown. It was also seen on the Wildbrain website. However, more recent prints of Yo Gabba Gabba! have begun plastering this logo with the current WildBrain logo.

Wildbrain Entertainment
DHX Media
Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies.