Bumper Films (UK)/Summary

Bumper Films was a children's stop frame production company, which was established by John Walker & Ian Frampton in 1982. They are best known for producing the original series of Fireman Sam, which aired from 1987 to 1994. They also created Joshua Jones, which aired briefly in 1992, Starhill Ponies, which aired from 1998 to 2001, as well as Rocky Hollow, which aired in 1985.

In December 2001, the Fireman Sam brand was sold to Gullane Entertainment, and after finishing production on Starhill Ponies in 2002, the company shut down. In Welsh, Bumper Films was called Ffilmial Bumper.

1st Logo (1983)

Logo: Superimposed over the ending of the show, on the bottom of the screen there is the text "made by Bumper Films Ltd. for S4C" in yellow. Underneath it is the copyright "Rocky Hollow ©Rockcense Ltd 1983 ©S4C 1985".

Variant: On the Welsh version of Rocky Hollow, the text says "Cynhyrchiad Ffilmiau Bumper Cyf. ar gyfer S4C" instead. The copyright is the same.

FX/SFX: None, except for the ending of the show.

Music/Sounds: The ending of the show.

Availability: Rare. It only appeared on Rocky Hollow.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (February 2, 1987-April 11, 1994)

Nicknames: "Dodgem Car" "WHOOSHHHH!"

Logo: The screen fades to a white background, and a picture of a dodgem car fades in. Inside it are a boy wearing headphones and holding out a microphone, and a girl looking through a camera with a telephoto lens. On the car is a yellow flag with the company name in black. The whole symbol is colored blue and yellow. Underneath the dodgem car is the text "BUMPER FILMS Ltd for S4C", with "S4C" being in said channel's corporate typeface. A copyright stamp attributing Prism Art & Design Ltd is displayed underneath.

Variants:


 * On Fireman Sam, "with thanks to the Fire Service" is written in Gill Sans under "BUMPER FILMS Ltd for S4C".
 * From 1988 onwards, the "S4C" text was updated to match the channel's then-new logo.
 * On Joshua Jones, the colors on the flag are inverted, and the copyright text is different. Instead, it reads "BUMPER FILMS" in Futura Condensed, and then "for S4C, BBC, Prism Art & Design" underneath. Below that are copyright stamps for Rob Lee and S4C.
 * On Season 4 of Fireman Sam, the logo has been made identical to the Joshua Jones variant, but with "With thanks to the Fire Service" underneath and the copyright stamp for Prism Art and Design Ltd.
 * On Welsh prints of the 4th season of Fireman Sam (Or Sam Tân in Welsh) the logo is set on a black BG and is on the top with Welsh text saying "Cynhyrchiad" ("Production") and on the bottom of that is the S4C logo of that time and text saying "Ar Gyfer" ("For") on the top of the S4C logo. The copyright date is below that. "BUMPER FILMS" is in English though.
 * On current prints of the original series of Fireman Sam, the logo has the S4C logo in the left corner, and the HiT Entertainment logo in the right corner, and the copyright now says "© (year) S4C International (with S4C in the 1995 typeface, along with the notice that reads "BUMPER FILMS for S4C") and Prism Art & Design Limited, a HIT Entertainment Company."

FX/SFX: The fade in from white.

Music/Sounds: On Fireman Sam, the synthesized whoosh from the end of the show's theme tune is heard. Oddly, the "whoosh" sound is also heard in Joshua Jones, but sounds noticeably faster.

Availability: Presumably on original broadcasts and VHS tapes of the first four seasons of Fireman Sam. The variant with the HiT logo is seen on current DVD releases of the original series of Fireman Sam, though some DVD's have the original logo intact. The logo was present on all episodes of Joshua Jones, which was given a DVD release in Australia but not the UK.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1998-2002)

Logo: On a white canvas background, we see the words "Bumper Films" under the Mike Young Productions logo in a blue pudgy font. Underneath the symbol reads "for S4C" with "S4C" being in the channel's then-current logo typeface. A copyright stamp appears below.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show.

Availability: Was only seen on Starhill Ponies.

Editor's Note: None.