Pickwick Video (UK)

Logo descriptions by mr3urious

Background: The Pickwick Video Group was a British home video distributor from the early 1980s until 1995 when it was acquired by Carlton Home Entertainment.

1st Logo (1989-1991)

Logo: A series of gray and white vertical lines are formed on the screen. They flip around a few times to show brief clips of some films from Pickwick's library (including a yacht race, boxing match, and even Thomas the Tank Engine). After that, "PICKWICK", in red italic letters, slides in letter-by-letter from the right. Then "Video" is written below in blue script and underlined in red. The words shine.

Variants: Australian releases plaster the clips with the copyright warning and rating screens. On other Australian releases the ending animation plays and then stays on screen for 30 seconds

FX/SFX: The lines, the letters, and the shining.

Music/Sounds: A synthesized rock tune that sounds like the theme to Earthvue on the then-Prevue Guide (now Pop) around that time.

Availability: Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK and Australia around the time period.

Scare Factor: Low; the lines and the synth theme may bother some.

2nd Logo (Early-Late 1992)

Logo: A series of gray and white vertical lines are formed on the screen. They flip around once, and the word "PICKWICK", in red italic letters, slides in letter-by-letter, this time from the left. Then "Video", in the same blue script from the previous logo (this time underlined in blue), "ripples" down and places itself below "PICKWICK".

FX/SFX: The lines, the letters, and the "Video" text.

Cheesy Factor: Not much up to par with the previous logo in terms of effects - the lines flipping seemed rushed, the letters sliding in is very cheaply done (for example, part of the first "K" in "PICKWICK" slides in with the "W"), and the rippling effect used for "Video" is very outdated, even by early 1990s standards. The whole logo seems to be an inferior copy of the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A synth hum which sounds similar to the one used on the Roadshow Home Video logo, followed by five timpani bangs and a different synth warbling sound.

Availability: Very rare.

Scare Factor: Medium to high. The dated effects and music may scare some people.

3rd Logo (Late 1992-1995)

Logo: The camera travels through a curvy blue maze and drops down a strange hole, revealing several blue and purple copies of the maze. It then pans through the bottom-most area of the maze and reaches a yellow light coming out of another hole, then begins to travel upward through the hole and spins around a bit, eventually revealing the word "PICKWICK" (in blue, and in the same font as before) against a black background. The word shines.

Variant: A rare prototype short variant starts with two copies of "PICKWICK", one on top of the other, being viewed from the left side, before the camera goes through the first "C" and travels quickly between the two copies until coming out again through the second "C". The ending is largely the same as the main logo except it shines differently.

FX/SFX: The CGI maze. Extraordinary CGI animation for its time. Way better animation than the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic breakbeat piece plays throughout with a few descending and ascending sounds as the camera pans down and up the bottom-most section of the maze. The short version has two whooshes and a heavenly choir.

Availability: Seen on Pickwick videos from the UK across the time period.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. The music can bother a few people and the logo does seem suspenseful. However, this logo is mainly harmless and has excellent CGI.