Hanna-Barbera Home Video/Summary

Background : Prior to 1987-1988, Hanna-Barbera released its product through Worldvision Home Video. During the shakeup at then owner Taft who was transformed into Great American Communications, Worldvision Enterprises was sold off. Accordingly, Hanna-Barbera got its own home video line (though distribution continued through Worldvision). This lasted until late 1991, when Turner bought H-B and subsequently put the video line on moratorium. Thereafter, all H-B product was distributed through Turner Home Entertainment, then Warner Home Video.

1st Logo (1987-1991)
Nicknames: "H-B Stars", "H-B Swirling Star", "A Very Cheesy H-B Logo", "The H-B Team"

Logo: On a blue-violet background wallpapered with the “Hanna-Barbera” script logo, a picture of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, and Scooby-Doo, all standing together with big, goofy grins, “flips” up and moves towards the screen. When it is in position, there is a large, cheesy-looking flash, then the “Hanna-Barbera” script logo, in red and treated pretty badly, is “wiped” in from both sides with a cheesy-looking “sparkly trail” effect. Then, after that forms, the "Swirling Star" (1979-86 version) animates, as per usual, below the script logo. A long, elongated rounded rectangle with the words “HOME VIDEO” on each side, flips up so that the words flank the "Swirling Star".

FX/SFX: A cool logo design, actually, the flipping motions, the spark trail, and the animation of the "Swirling Star".

Music/Sounds: A synth-piano tune that builds up into a rendition of the first few bars of the Flintstones theme. Actually quite addictive and memorable.

Music/Sounds Variant: A variant has a male announcer saying the following: "Bring home all your friends on Hanna-Barbera Home Video." Variant at 0:42

Availability: Rare. H-B Home Video did release a morass of product (almost 200 titles), but most (if not all) are pretty hard to find these days. Most of the titles are in slipcovers released after 1989; the very first titles to use this logo on the packaging (usually orange clamshell cases with a Worldvision byline) do not have this logo, but rather the original "Swirling Star" logo, or in some cases, no logo at all. It turned up strangely on a Christmas Day 2011 airing of Yogi's First Christmas on Australian television networks, plastering the Operation Prime Time logo. This was due to the fact that said networks used the LaserDisc release of the special as a source. Don't expect this on Flintstones Anniversary Collection tapes, as they have a special Flintstones anniversary logo in this logo's place. It also appeared on the Warner Home Video TV Premiere DVD release of The Jetsons: Microchip Chump due to using the 1990 VHS master.

Editor's Note: This logo is a favorite of many, but the animation quality is pretty low (but expected) and the background is a bit of an eyesore.

2nd Logo(1989?-199?)
Logo: On a black background, a square appears and it spirals and forms a pattern that changes colors as the camera quickly zooms in to reveal the same four characters from the previous logo. Then, they disappear to reveal the 1986 H-B "Swirling Star" starting to animate like usual and then the star quickly zooms in with the letters "HB" in black. It then cuts to another scene with the words "HANNA BARBERA" stacked and zoomed up on the screen and it then zooms out while changing multiple colors before flashing red and becoming a dark red. The words "home video" in yellow wipe themselves on screen.

Variant: At the end of a promo advertising other H-B titles on VHS, the logo appears and the words "home video" are not there, so the "HANNA BARBERA" text is centered.

FX/SFX: The square, the characters, the "Swirling Star" and the words.

Music/Sounds: A strange "whoosh" sound followed by a synth-orchestra rendition of the first few notes of The Flintstones theme.

Music/Sounds Variant: The promo variant uses music from the promo and a male announcer saying, "Join the laughter, join the fun. Join the good times with the Hanna-Barbera Family. See these and all of your favorite Hanna-Barbera characters on Hanna-Barbera Home Video!"

Availability: Extremely rare. It was discovered on the 1989 VHS, Top Cat: T.C.'s Back in Town as an intermission bumper. It's unknown if any other tapes use this.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1991)
Nicknames: "Happy Birthday Fred!", "The Flintstones 30th Anniversary logo"

Logo: Same as the Hanna-Barbera logo from this era, but with the Hanna-Barbera Home Video logo instead of the normal Hanna-Barbera logo.

Trivia: This logo was created in celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Flintstones' premiere back in 1960.

FX/SFX: Same as the Hanna-Barbera logo from that era.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Hanna-Barbera logo from that era.

Availability: Extremely rare. Seen on tapes from the Flintstones Anniversary Collection, including The Flintstones Meet Samantha and The Flintstones Meet the Great Gazoo. Surprisingly, it's seen at the end of Warner Archive's release of Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears. It may have appeared on other VHS tapes from this era.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo(1991-1993, March 1, 1994)
Logo: On a black background, "Hanna-Barbera" in its corporate font is written out in white. A large flash then appears, causing "Hanna-Barbera" to become a blue-gradient color and also creates the words "HOME VIDEO" in the same color as the "Hanna-Barbera" text.

Variants: There was a variant seen on the opening of H-B cartoons on VHS. It's the same as the normal variant, except "P R E S E N T S" appears instead of "HOME VIDEO". Another variant only shows the name of the company, and the home video words are omitted. One tape known to have this is the UK VHS The Flintstones: I Yabba Dabba Do.

FX/SFX: The "Hanna-Barbera" text writing out, the large flash creating "HOME VIDEO", or "P R E S E N T S" for the opening variant.

Music/Sounds: None.

Music/Sounds Variant: The VHS release of Young Robin Hood: The Wild Boar of Sherwood and the UK VHS releases of Hong Kong Phooey: Car Thieves and The Flintstones: I Yabba Dabba Do uses the music from the 1st logo.

Availability: The variant is seen on certain Hanna-Barbera tapes, like the 1991 VHS of Dastardly & Muttley, which can be seen on the video above and also contains the FBI warning, the Turner Home Entertainment and Turner Entertainment logo, and the normal 1991 Hanna-Barbera Home Video logo. The normal version is seen on other many different releases from the company. It also can be found on the UK VHS of Hong Kong Phooey - Car Thieves (skip to 4:30). The "Presents" variant was also seen before an airing of Jonny's Golden Quest on Boomerang some years ago.

Editor's Note: None.