Cinar

Logo descriptions by Nicholas Aczel, Sean Beard, and WillWill45

Logo captures by Eric S., EnormousRat, Juniorfan88, snelfu, V of Doom, and StephenCezar15

Editions by WizardDuck, LJVborgSuperSet, mr3urious, and GETENT

Video captures courtesy of Eric S., M249M4A1, CrazyBrandondorf, NinJutsuDude1997, and ItsBartman

Background
Founded in 1976, Cinar (pronounced "seh-NAR") was originally a film distribution company which distributed international/foreign films from the 1970s to the early 1980s from offices in New York City. The company was owned by the married couple Ronald Weinberg and Micheline Charest. In 1984, things were changing for Cinar as the couple moved the company to Montreal, Quebec and began to focus on children's TV programming. Between 1985 and 2004, Cinar produced a number of successful shows such as Arthur, Caillou, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Adventures of David the Gnome, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, and Zoboomafoo, among others. In March 2004, after a financial scandal which brought down the company's founders several years earlier, the company was bought out by Michael Hirsh and the company was renamed and rebranded as "Cookie Jar Entertainment" (now an in-name-only unit of "DHX Media").

1st Logo (1985-1994)
 Nickname:  "Rotating Blue Bars"

 Logo:  On a primitive computerized dark blue dark blue background vaguely looking like stone or rock, a blue line draws in, revealing many bright blue 3D bars interlocking with each other. The bars rotate up and zoom-out, revealing the text: CINAR  glittering with stars. The word "CINAR" is thick and full of segmented lines, with the letter "I" dotted red and the letters "N", "A", and "R" connected together.

 Variants: 
 * Sometimes, "A" and "PRODUCTION" (or "PRESENTATION") are shown above and below the logo, respectively.
 * On the first season of Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992-93), the Cinar logo is in-credit on a black background, bypassing this logo.
 * A 2D still of this logo with "A" above and "PRODUCTION" below was seen on David the Gnome, Adventures of the Little Koala, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1993-94 season, before the 2nd logo was introduced). Sometimes, "CINAR" turns upward.
 * The logo may be shorter so that it starts fading into the zoom-out.
 * On A Bunch of Munsch, the logo animation starts at the zooming and is transitioned out from the ending sequence in the credits.

 FX/SFX:  The bars interlocking, the glittering stars.

 Cheesy Factor:  Rather primitive computer graphics and cheesy "glittering" effects, although the animation itself is pretty cool (kinda resembling Marvel Productions "CGI Spidey" logo).

 Music/Sounds:  A synth note, then a whoosh, and finally an 8-note theme that sounds like it's on the Super Nintendo. On most shows, it plays over the ending theme, or has a soothing synth-piano theme.

 Availability:  Extremely rare/Extinct on TV. Last seen in the U.S. when Boomerang reran Young Robin Hood. Can be seen on Cinar shows of the period on VHS releases by Golden Book Video, such as Madeline. The musical variant can be found on the Just for Kids video release of John the Fearless and was found on reruns of Maya the Bee on Canada's YTV during the 1990s.

 Scare Factor:  Minimal. Pretty much depends on the ending theme shown.

2nd Logo (1993-2004)
 Nickname:  "Cinar in Space"

 Logo:  On a space background, various glowing line blocks zoom-out from the bottom of the screen, forming a redesigned Cinar logo. Most of the differences are subtle, but the most obvious is that the letters "N", "A", and "R" are separate. The logo flashes and the disclaimer "CINAR is a registered trademark of CINAR Corporation" appears below. Starting in 1998, the URL "www.cinar.com" appears below that (this variant may have plastered the URL-less logos on newer prints of Cinar’s classics).

 Variants: 
 * Sometimes, there is no byline.
 * Most of the time, the byline is used in different forms, like on Caillou and Arthur.
 * Sometimes, a byline would say: "CINAR is a registered trademark of CINAR Films Inc.".
 * A still version of this logo exists on Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Wimzie's House and Zoboomafoo.
 * Another still version with "A" above and "PRODUCTION" below was seen on the second season of Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

 FX/SFX:  The zooming line blocks, the flash.

 Music/Sounds:  A whooshing sound with a calm new age synth tune, which is rarely heard. It most commonly used the ending theme of the show. On some shows, like Night Hood and The Busy World of Richard Scarry, it is silent.

 Availability:  Rare now, though it was common back in the '90s. It survives on some pre-2004 Arthur episodes on both DVD and VHS, as most PBS affiliates have now replaced it with a Cookie Jar Entertainment logo. It is also seen at the end of the 1996 television movie Wish Upon a Star. Also on some earlier Caillou episodes on Netflix; the full version with music was seen at the beginning of the first episode Big Brother Caillou. In Canada, this logo remains intact on 1997-2000 episodes on Treehouse. This TV's prints of former Cinar shows had this logo plastered with the Cookie Jar logo. It is also preserved on the Time-Life DVD of The Adventures of Paddington Bear, released in 2002. Also seen at the end of The Little Lulu Show. Recent re-airings of The Busy World of Richard Scarry on This TV kept the Paramount logo, but replaced "A CINAR Presentation" in the in-credit logo with "A COOKIE JAR Presentation".

 Scare Factor:  Low. The darkness and quick pace may get to some, but the CGI is much improved over the previous logo.

3rd Logo (2003-2004)
 Nickname:  "Bland CGI"

 Logo:  On a variable background, we see the Cinar logo, in white, zooming out on a blue oval, with the same copyright stamp and URL from the previous logo fading-in. On Mona the Vampire, it was a town at nighttime with a bat flying.

 Variant:  On Zoboomafoo: Playtime and Zobooland games for GBC, the logo is white.

 FX/SFX:  The CGI logo zooming out.

 Music/Sounds:  A whooshing sound followed by a baby laughing, which is rarely heard. At most times, the closing theme of the show, or none.

 Availability:  Near extinction. After Michael Hirsh acquired Cinar because of their 1999 scandal (as well as debts and losing worth) in 2004, Cinar became kaput. Expect this logo to be replaced with a Cookie Jar or as of 2012 the DHX Media logo these days. This logo was seen on the last season of Mona The Vampire and season 2 of Simon In The Land of Chalk Drawings. Ironically, neither Arthur, Caillou, or even Zoboomafoo for that matter used this logo as those shows continued to use the 2nd logo. Mona The Vampire's broadcasts on This TV likely had this logo plastered with Cookie Jar. The musical version can still be found at the beginning of Sony Wonder releases of Cinar shows from the period.

 Scare Factor:  None to minimal. The dark skies on the Mona variant may or may not get to some people, besides the terrible CGI animation compared to the 1st logo.