Legal Video (Argentina)

Background: This was a children's division of Gativideo (then called Legal Video), which distributed cartoons from Hanna-Barbera from early 1986 to 1988. The description is also applicable to the "movies" variation with no frog, obviously.

Nickname: "Chinese Dragon in Argentina", "Ranita", "Ugly Frog"

Logo: On a black background, we see a teal/green/yellow/orange pixelated artwork of an ancient Chinese dragon scrolling downwards. A metallic rectangle with the cutout letters "LV" at the top ("LEGAL VIDEO S.A.") with a very "futuristic" font, In the rectangle cutout after a "blast" (leaving trails of the rectangle), a lime green circle with the text "Video Niño" (In English translated "Video Child") fades in; at the top of this circle are icons representing two children. On movies, the "frog" doesn't fade in and with the additional 2 seconds of the logo.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Early mixer effects; the logo is ugly, and the circle looks like a frog with strange eyes.

Music/Sounds: A futuristic synth theme with zaps.

Availability: Unknown. This was found on a video of El inspector Ardillas [sic] (Secret Squirrel). The original version was found on Regreso al mundo del futuro (Futureworld) and the 1st edition of Predator.

Scare Factor: Low to high. The pixelated dragon, the cheesy video feedback effects, and even the "frog" seem rather weird, and the synthesized music can test the nerves of a few viewers--but for most who are not children, it's just cheesy. Considering from a child's viewpoint, however, it's a very strange logo and doesn't fit their audience too well. Believe it or not, the next logo is only worse.

2nd (known) logo

(Late 1980s)

Nickname: "Lady in the Lamp", "Tempting Eyes", "Eyes, Sparks, Flames and Explosions, Oh My!", "The Eyes Ask For a Date", "Vadimon's Daughter", "The Argentine Equivalent of Golden Book Home Video" "Illegal Video"

Logo: On a black background we see a pair of women's eyes. After at least four seconds a yellow grid moving upwards and a light-bulb with a faint flame both fade in. As the logo progresses sparks move through the light-bulb then numerous animated flames appear to form a silhouette of a conveyor belt carrying some boxes and vanish after a yellow flash with a white solid 8-point star in the middle appears. The Legal Video text from before in white flips up zooms out and settles beneath the eyes and the grid/light-bulb fade out. The prototypical Gativideo logo in yellow fades in on top and stays on for ten seconds before finally fading to black.

FX/SFX: The flames, the grid, the text.

Cheesy Factor:The company's catalog had mostly children's titles. However,it's not suitable for children. In fact, it's not even a good idea for a logo. It uses incredibly cheap effects, most of which, once the logo is finished, become unnecessary, but the heart of the utter cheesiness of the logo is in the eyes. They are obviously tacked on and, if you look closely, the upper/lower sections disappear when the grid appears and appear again when the grid disappears.

Music/Sounds: An excerpt of "Generando" by Pastoral, combined with a thunderclap and an explosion sound.

Availability: Seen on later releases from the company. It appeared on Spanish prints of My Science Project with the Touchstone Home Video logo of the era following suit. This also appeared on some Walt Disney Home Video releases such as Rock n' Roll Mom.

Scare Factor: Low to nightmare. The very weird (almost nonsensical) nature of this logo and the "in your face" nature of it will creep out more than a few people - it's even worse considering that this was on Disney tapes at one point, that will likely scare children. It's lower for those who are used to it and for those who don't find this logo scary at all.