Channel 5 Video (UK)

 Background : Channel 5 was a significant British home video distributor from 1986 until at least 1991, when it was acquired by PolyGram. It is completely unrelated to (and not to be confused with) Britain's fifth terrestrial TV station.

1st Logo
(1986-1990)

 Nicknames : "The Segmented Trapezoid 5", "3D Segment 5", "CGI 5", Cool 5

 Logo : On a gradient blue BG, a series of translucent 3D quadrilaterals rotate into view and form what turns out to be a right-pointing arrow with an italic number 5 cut out of it. The arrow is then hit by a line of electricity (believed to be stock footage) and turns gold, and as it turns to face us, the word "CHANNEL", also in gold, appears above. The whole logo faces us very briefly, with a flash of white light behind it, then zooms in towards us and disappears, leaving just the blue BG.

 FX/SFX : CGI.

 Music/Sounds : A synthesizer tune is played with some bells and electric guitars and just before the bolts of lightning hit each other a cymbal is heard building up to the flash and a final electric guitar riff before the synthesizer fades out as the logo zooms off the screen.

 Availability : Seen on Channel 5 videos from the UK around the time period.

 Editor's Note : This logo boasts some pretty impressive CGI for 1986.

2nd Logo
(1989-1991, 1997-1999)

 Nicknames : "The Segmented Trapezoid 5 II: Not An Electric Boogaloo", "2D Segment 5"

 Logo : On a gradient brown background, a beige square zooms from the bottom right hand corer towards the center of the screen before disappearing. two more squares, colored purple and black respectively, participate in similar sequences. While this is being done, the word "CHANNEL", rendered in gold, is formed, letter by letter. After all this is done, the symbol from the first logo (A segmented arrow with a 5-shaped hole) is formed segment by segment. After it has appeared on the screen for a few seconds, the symbol and the word "CHANNEL" fly to the top-right corner of the screen, leaving just the background.

 FX/SFX : Computer Graphics.

 Music/Sounds :
 * Early : An excerpt from "Threshold" by The Steve Miller Band [A droning note with drumbeats, followed by a downing synth chord, which surprisingly is in sync with the lines forming the logo and even fits a bit more].
 * Later : A dreamy tune with a xylophone and woodwinds.

 Availability : Seen on Channel 5 videos from the UK around the time period.

 Editor's Note : A simpler and cheaper effort compared to the previous logo.