Gaby International Ltd. (Poland)

Background: Gaby International was a video distributor company in Poland, where they distributed old horror movies in the region. They also claimed to be from Sweden for some reason (at least in the second logo).

1st Logo

(1985?-1988?)

Nickname: "gabylogo.bas", "Ugliest Logo of The 80's"

Logo: On a black background, a blue box is drawn in, followed a giant yellow lowercase "i". A globe is drawn in the box, with latitude and longitude lines in it. Outlines of the letters "ABY" are then drawn in then filled in with the same blue. As this happens "INTERNAT ONAL" appears below, with the giant "i" acting as the 9th letter. After the letters get filled in, "Ltd." appears below as well as a registered trademark symbol beside the logo. The final result looks like this:

GABy

INTERNATiONALLtd.

FX/SFX: The logo being drawn.

Cheesy Factor: This has got to be one of the most ugliest logos of all time. The way it looks is just questionable, with the second "I" being bigger than the rest of the text, as well as the clunky design choices. The animation itself is also something to complain at, with the entire logo looking like it was made on QBasic. But considering that Polish was a Communist country still, it can be past upon, but other logos from the time look a lot better than this. Not to mention it dosen't match the print logo.

Music/Sounds: A beep is heard, then two slow beeps, the first is indicating the logo is being drawn, and second one is indicating the drawing is done.

Availability: Extremely rare. Tapes that had this maybe had generic yellow and blue cases with them, so keep an eye on them.

Scare Factor: None to medium. The odd design as well as the silence, beeps, and the logo forms can be scary to some, but it's just a very ugly logo.

2nd Logo

(1989-1992)

Logo: On a grey background, two orange lines draw in the middle of the screen. Then, "Gaby" in a less blocky font, flips in. Vertical and horizontal lines are drawn in the "G" as an giant lowercase "i" flips in onto the "G" and the text "SWEDISH COMPANY IN POLAND" and "NTERNATIONAL Ltd.", with the giant "I" serving as the first letter, wipe in above and below the logo respectively, giving this result:

SWEDISH COMPANY IN POLAND

Gaby

iNTERNATIONAL Ltd.

A registered trademark appears in the "b". The logo then plays again with no changes in the animation before going to a warning screen.

Variant: A later variant had the logo rolling on a grey background in a orange border, with their address below. At the end, the logo then rolls away.

FX/SFX: The logo flipping in.

Cheesy Factor: A major improvement over the first logo, and it actually match the print logo a lot more, but 2 things come to mind. First, why do they say they are a company from Sweden based in Poland? Did they want to claim they they're a branch of another company but in reality it actually was just a Poland based company? Second, and probably the most laziest one, why does it repeat twice? Was the editor off the day and forgot to remove it?

Music/Sounds: None. A funky fanfare that sounds like a MIDI (years before it actually existed) plays in the later version.

Availability: Not as rare as the first logo. Seen on Polish VHS copies of Comrades of Summer, among other titles.

Scare Factor: None, as the animation and design has much improved in this, though the logo repeating may get someone surprised.