Lyrick Studios

Background
Lyrick Studios was a video production and distributing company founded in 1994, best known for their production and distribution of children's programs like Barney and Friends and Wishbone. It was formed by the same people who founded The Lyons Group, which became an in-name-only subsidiary of Lyrick. In 2001, the company was acquired and folded into HiT Entertainment for $275 million; the remaining Texas office was still open for production of Barney & Friends, but they released nothing up until its folding due to arguments from PolyGram over Barney's Great Adventure (the film was released theatrically instead of straight-to-video, thus making it not part of PolyGram's picture deal). Today, Lyrick Studios' properties belong to Mattel Creations except for VeggieTales (which is currently distributed by DreamWorks Classics), Groundling Marsh (currently owned by Portfolio Entertainment and FilmRise) and Bob the Builder (currently owned by WildBrain).

1st Logo (1996-1998, 2000)
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Nickname: "Forming Lyrick", "Flying Letters"

Logo: On a white background, six letters zoom out from the screen in each other, in 30 degrees. The letters than separate themselves, revealing the words "Lyrick" in a crazy font with colors (green, yellow, purple, blue, orange, and finally, red). After they have zoomed out in place, a blue dot flies out and dots the "I" ala the Jim Henson Productionslogo, and the word "STUDIOS" fades in on the bottom-right of "Lyrick", with a line above "STUDIOS".

Variants:
 * On some tapes from the company, "Distributed by" wipes in above the logo as the letters fly in. There's also a still version of this logo.
 * There is a rare early variant of this logo where the logo is taller and skinnier, it doesn't have the shadow effect, "Studios" is in a different font, the words "Distributed by" are yellow and there is a bigger space between "Distributed by" and "Lyrick Studios". This variant is still. There is also a version of this variant without "Distributed By", which is seen at the end of the tape. This version can be seen on Joe Scruggs: Live From Deep In The Jungle, Joe Scruggs: Joe TV, the first 2 Francesco's Friendly World tapes, Barney's Musical Scrapbook, and some others.
 * There is another early variant where the logo is zoomed closer to the screen and "Distributed By" is yellow. This can only be seen on the tapes of Vatican 2: The Faithful Revolution, a surprisingly non-children's release. Again, the non-distributed by variant is seen at the end of the tapes.
 * There is yet another still variant that's very close to the finished logo, only lacking any shadows, the Distributed by is in a different, more generic font.

FX/SFX: The six flying letters and the "dot-the-I" sequence to form the company's name.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic 4-note synth-piano riff is heard throughout the logo, with 3 low-pitched synth violin notes as the "dot-the-I" sequence plays, followed by a glockenspiel glissando and a final note.

Music/Sounds Trivia: Even though the logo was replaced with the second logo, the music for this was used on bumpers involving Barney Home Video.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * The "Distributed By" variant features only 2 low pitched notes for the "dot-the-I" sequence. Ringing bells can be heard when the "Distributed by" and "STUDIOS" text appears and during the "dot-the-I" sequence, and finally the tune ends on a piano note and a slightly different stinger. In some exceptionally rare cases, like the screener VHS of Barney: It's Time for Counting!, it uses the standard music.
 * On the 1998 VHS release of Barney & Friends: Down on Barney's Farm, the "Distributed by" music is used on the regular version of the logo, but the ringing bells are only heard once, since the words "Distributed by" aren't there.
 * The still version is silent.

Availability: Rare. This logo was only used for a few years, and was limited to tapes of Barney and Friends, VeggieTales, Wishbone, Kids for Character, Francesco's Friendly World, and Joe Scruggs. Most of these videos from this time period are long out of print and are hard to find; the latter 3 properties are quite obscure, for all of their VHS releases by Lyrick Studios were released throughout 1997. However, tapes of Barney and Friends are the least scarce of the the bunch, so those are your best bet to find this logo. The later still version exists on 2000 VHS releases such as of Where's God When I'm Scared!?!, God Wants Me To Forgive Them?!, Are You My Neighbor?, Rack, Shack, and Benny, and Dave and the Giant Pickle from VeggieTales.

Editor's Note: A pretty nice logo for the time; simple, but very effective.

2nd Logo (March 27, 1998-March 24, 2001, 200?-2007?)
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Nicknames: "The Hand", "Lyrick Lake", "Touch the Sky"

Logo: In a lake surrounded by a forest at twilight, we see a silhouette of a waterbird (possibly a duck, loon, or an albatross) swimming from right to left at the bottom of the screen. The camera then moves up to the sky, and a live-action child's hand touches the sky, causing ripples as if it were a pond. As it ripples, the word "Lyrick" (in the same font as before) slowly zooms in and stops in the middle of the screen. The logo shines as the word "STUDIOS" written with a line above it fades in along with a "™" symbol.

Variants:


 * Some VeggieTales tapes have the text "Distributed by" in white bold Arial Black font on a black background before the logo animates. This is regularly seen at the beginning and end of the tapes. This variation is also seen on Groundling Marsh and Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends VHS tapes.
 * There's a rare, early variation with fewer stars in the night sky, rough animation at 23fps, longer panning up in the sky until the hand comes, a redder sunset, a different forest design, and the logo is off-center. Most of the releases of Barney's Great Adventure do not show the red sleeve on the child's arm due to their aspect ratio. This appeared on the film Barney's Great Adventure.
 * There is a still version of this logo, which can be seen on 1998 prints of Veggietales: Josh and The Big Wall and Very Silly Songs. It can also be seen in 2000 re-prints of Veggietales tapes from The Toy That Saved Christmas to LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed.
 * Another variation has the logo with the camera panning it up more and a white "Distributed by" byline above the logo after it is formed.
 * There is an extremely rare variant with the words "Distributed by" on a black background in white Arial font before the logo animates. This appeared on an alternate print of The Wiggles: Yummy Yummy. The proof can be seen here.

FX/SFX: The water bird scene and the hand poking the sky like water in a quite beautiful mix of live-action and computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A dreamy, calming orchestral theme accompanied by a dog barking, birds tweeting, and a cymbal crash when the hand touches the sky.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the early variant, the cymbal crash comes a little late.
 * Like the previous logo, the still variant is silent.

Availability: Preserved on most VeggieTales and Barney and Friends tapes from the period distributed by the company. Also seen on all Wishbone tapes made after 1997, when Lyrick Studios began distributing the videos, taking over from PolyGram Video. Can also be seen on most The Wiggles, Bob the Builder, and Kipper tapes from the period. The logo also appears on some DVDs as well like More Barney Songs and the Mexican Spanish dub of Barney's Good Day Good Night. The early variant exclusively appears on the 1998 PolyGram film Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie, which probably is the first piece of media to use the logo. In 2000, the still variants began to replace the animated variant in the videos. One of the last (if not the last) releases to use this logo was the 2001 VHS print of VeggieTales: Lyle the Kindly Viking using the still variant.

Editor's Note: Great animation and a soothing fanfare have made this logo a favorite of many for those who grew up with their shows.

Final Note: In 2001, HiT Entertainment acquired Lyrick Studios. HiT kept the Texas office of Lyrick open for production of Barney & Friends; as a result of the HiT buyout they released nothing up to its shutdown in 2002, due to arguments from PolyGram over Barney's Great Adventure being released theatrically instead of straight-to-video (and thus not part of PolyGram's picture deal). Some 2003 VHS copies of ''The Wiggles: Magical Adventure! A Wiggly Movie'' feature the 2nd Lyrick logo on it, but it was widely released by HiT instead. Today, Lyrick Studios' properties are owned by HiT Entertainment except for VeggieTales, which is currently owned by NBCUniversal through DreamWorks Animation, and Groundling Marsh, which is currently owned by FilmRise.