Williams Street

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum


Background

In 1999, Ghost Planet Industries was renamed to Williams Street and it expanded to produce anything beyond SGC2C and Toonami, which included the new Midnight Run and Rising Sun blocks. Named after 1065 Williams Street NW in Atlanta, Georgia, the company heralded the creation of Adult Swim in 2001, with such shows like Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The company also opened a small subsidiary in 2003 as Williams Street West so that their creative director, Matt Harrigan could work for Viacom International and Williams Street without having to return to Atlanta constantly. It closed its doors shortly after he stopped working for Viacom (though the subsidiary was revived in 2017, however, it was closed again in 2020). All of the company's shows are currently aired on Adult Swim.

Logo (October 8, 1999- )

Visuals: Same as the Ghost Planet Industries logo, except the text reads "WILLIAMS STREET" in a Futura-like font.

Early Variant: Some early shows with the logo contain the letters farther apart (in a proper Futura font), the waving is bigger and it has a smoother and faster rate, and had better image quality.

Trivia: This early logo variant was featured in an Adult Swim bump from 2010.

Variants:

  • On most Adult Swim shows from 2012-2022, the logo has (barely readable) Cartoon Network copyright information that also waves like the logo, and it does not cut to the Cartoon Network "Skull". Also, the logo has been converted to letterbox. A few shows from the time frame however don't use the copyright info, alongside shows returning from that time frame in 2022 due to the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.
    • From 2018-2022, the "A Time Warner Company." part of the byline is replaced with "A WarnerMedia Company.", the rest of the logo though is the same. The reason for this is due to the AT&T acquisition of Time Warner which changed the latter's name to WarnerMedia on June 14, 2018.
    • On season 2 of Birdgirl, the copyright information is different, longer, and in a different font (presumably Haettenschweiler or Impact?) and it no longer waves like the logo. Most of the time, the logo is slightly moved up to make room for said copyright information.
  • On Mister America, the logo appears in the end credits alongside the Magnolia Pictures and Abso Lutely Productions logos.
  • On the first episode of Blade Runner: Black Lotus, the copyright information appears for a split-second before disappearing.
  • On Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell: The Cartoon, Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, and the Adult Swim Yule Log, the logo is redrawn and the "WILLIAMS STREET" text is in a different font.
  • On the pilot of Stroker & Hoop, the early version has a copyright notice below the logo.

Technique: Same as the Ghost Planet Industries logo.

Audio: Same as the Ghost Planet Industries logo, but starting in late 1999, it was cut down to two hammer strikes.

Audio Variants:

  • In other cases, it used the closing theme of the show (if you listen closely, certain shows (such as early seasons of Robot Chicken) still have a bit of Master Shake from ATHF (voiced by Dana Snyder) yelling "Dance!" really quickly, which is taken from him saying "Dancing is forbidden!" from the first episode of ATHF).
  • Sometimes, it's silent.
  • On Squidbillies, it's the respective ending theme of the show.
  • On The Eric Andre Show episode "The Eric Andre Show 15", the logo cuts out early and we hear the 2nd hammer strike while the screen is black.
  • On The Eric Andre Show season 2 finale, the logo has a darker sound that gets slightly louder.
  • On Aqua Something You Know Whatever (the ninth season of ATHF), a random quote from the specific episode is right after a hammer strike.
  • On the China, IL episode "Dream Reamer", a "Skull!" sound from the 2001 Cartoon Network Productions logo is heard.
  • On the season 3 finale of Rick and Morty on Netflix, the French audio track has a low pitched version, which is also the case for the other logos before it and the whole episode.
  • On the Off the Air episode "Moon", musak is heard instead.
  • On the Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell episode "Fried Alive", a shotgun sound effect with a splatter is heard due to the end of the episode, in which a Hell employee tries to commit suicide by shooting himself through the mouth.
  • On the Gemusetto episode "Episode Two: A# Minor", the tail end of the next-week music and the man's dialogue is heard instead.
  • On King Star King, a hammer strike is slowed down.

Availability:

  • Can be seen on most shows Williams Street has produced, and SGC2C episodes from season 6.
  • It is also seen at the beginning of Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Colon Movie Film for Theaters.
  • It can also be seen on the pilot episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Rick and Morty, as well as season 5 of Samurai Jack, and the 2 new FLCL seasons (Progressive and Alternative) as well.
  • Strangely, this logo does not appear on IGPX (both the 2003 microseries and the full 26-episode show from 2005), probably due to the fact that the show aired on CN's Toonami rather than on Adult Swim.
  • The early version was first seen on the SGC2C episode "Chambraigne", and is regularly seen on Sealab 2021, Squidbillies (seasons 1 and 2; except for "Giant Foam Dickhat Trouble"), Frisky Dingo, Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil (starting with the second episode) and season 2 of Delocated. It was also seen on the first episode of Stroker and Hoop.

Legacy: A well-known logo among Adult Swim fans due to its sampling of a logo theme from the past, its concept, and its longevity.

Ghost Planet Industries
Williams Street
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