Saban Entertainment

Logo descriptions by Matt Williams Logo captures by Eric S., wisp2007, and V of Doom Editions by mr3urious, WizardDuck, V of Doom, Donny Pearson, MariluHennerArtist45, and Shadeed A. Kelly Video captures courtesy of JohnnyL80, joliver325 and LogicSmash

Background: Saban was an independent television production company formed in 1980 by music and television producers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy (who also reached the bottom line with the edition of Nippon Animation Grimm's Fairy Tales) as "Saban Records", a U.S. subsidiary of "Saban International Paris" (later "SIP Animation") who provided music soundtracks to shows made by other companies (most notably DiC). In 1984, the company expanded in television production of its own, and was renamed "Saban Productions". In 1988, the company also established "Saban International N.V." (now part of "Disney Media Distribution") for international distribution of its shows (Note: Though used interchangeably with "Saban International Paris", they were technically two different entities). Around the early 1990s, the company was reincorporated as "Saban Entertainment, Inc.". In October 2001, Saban Entertainment was renamed to "BVS Entertainment, Inc." when Saban and News Corp. sold it to the Walt Disney Company. Likewise, Saban International became "BVS International N.V.". Today, most of the Saban library is held by The Walt Disney Company through Buena Vista Studios (BVS Entertainment), except for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, and Digimon: The Movie, which are held by 20th Century Fox. The Power Rangers and Power Rangers-related series (VR Troopers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, Masked Rider, The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation) were reacquired on May 15, 2010, and are currently held by the newly-formed "Saban Brands" through "SCG Power Rangers, Inc.", both subsidiaries of "Saban Capital Group, Inc", a private investment firm here.

1st Logo (1984-1988) Saban (1987)DiC/Saban

Nicknames: "Rings of Saturn", "Pac-Man's Planet", "Pac-Man's World", "The Saban Planet"

Logo: Against a light indigo/white gradient background (in which a few stars can be faintly seen), we see a static shot of a purple Saturn-like planet, with a ring. In the middle of the planet and the ring, the word "S A B A N" is seen in a pac man font. Below it is the word "P R O D U C T I O N S". On the bottom half of the planet to the left, there are five lines.

Variant: On Kidd Video, the Saban logo is seen in a box in the upper left corner of the screen, and the DiC logo in the bottom right. The corner of the Saban logo overlaps the DiC logo, and this is up against an orange background with a streak in the middle.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic synthesized theme.

Music/Sounds Variants: •The theme was sped-up and played on different notes on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n Wrestling. •On ALF: The Animated Series, the last few notes of the Saban logo theme was used.

Availability: Will probably be intact if any shows produced by Saban during this time are reran in the future, such as Maple Town and I'm Telling. It was also seen on The New Archies during its' original run on NBC. Preserved on DVDs of ALF: The Animated Series and ALF Tales.

Scare Factor: Low. The music may startle some.

2nd Logo (1988-1996, 2010) Saban ProductionsSaban Entertainment (1993)Saban International (1994)

Nicknames: "Gold Circle", "Gold Coin", "Gold Plate", "Coin in Space", "The Saban Plate"

Logo: On a background with stars, a white marble rectangle with a round hole in the middle moves slowly from the left-hand side of the screen towards the middle of the screen, growing as it does so. In the hole, "glowing" but in black lettering, is the word "SABAN" and below the circle-shaped hole is the word "PRODUCTIONS" (in later years "ENTERTAINMENT"), or "INTERNATIONAL" for international distribution, with a gold line underneath. On the right side of the screen, a gold "coin" (or plate) twirls towards the middle of the screen as well. As the coin gets closer to the rectangle and the middle of the screen, it starts twirling faster and faster until it is affixed firmly in the hole in the center of the rectangle like a magnet attracting metal. Three white lines form on the bottom-left of the circle.

Variant: There is a very rare variant without the spinning coin.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Early computer animation for this logo, but it outdid the effects on the first season of Power Rangers.

Music/Sounds: A short synthesized theme ending in what sounds like a jail door slamming shut. For most of the '90s shows, the end of the show's theme played over it.

Music/Sounds Variants: • There are two short versions. The first one is the 2nd half of the logo theme. The other has the first three notes followed by the slamming jail door sound. • Sometimes, the "slamming door" sound is omitted, which was probably the variant used on the coinless variant. • The music was altered in 2010 for the remastered version of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This time it consists of a series of loud whooshes that culminate in a different "slamming door" sound.

Availability: Uncommon. It can be seen on 1993-1996 episodes of Power Rangers (specifically Mighty Morphin') when they're reran. The 2010 version is now extinct as it last appeared on the remastered version of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers on ABC Kids. The "PRODUCTIONS" variant can be seen on Noozles and VHS releases of Bumpety Boo. The "INTERNATIONAL" variant was seen on international prints of various Saban shows from the era, most notably on English-dubbed anime shows and co-produced shows. Seen on the ClearVision DVD releases of X-Men (as well as the complete series boxset) released in the UK starting from 2009.

Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant: • Low. The "jail door slamming shut" may unnerve some people or even make them laugh, but the logo is otherwise tame. • Minimal for the closing theme variant.

3rd Logo (1996-2002) Saban (1998)Saban International

Nickname: "The (Saban) Twirly-Doo"

Logo: A group of children, which are ethnically diverse and wearing extremely weird clothing, are shown in a circle, looking upward as the camera revolves around and zooms out for a second. Then, it fades to a shot of the children from above as they take a piece of orange-yellow cloth with a globe pattern imprinted on it and throw it in the air as they are standing on opposite ends of a small "orb". Then, it fades to another shot of the children, who are shown raising their hands up and releasing brown, spherical objects into the air as they fade out as the orb (which resembles an Earth globe with yellow water and red and green continents) "transforms" into the Saban logo, which resembles a shiny gold crescent moon on the right with 3 "swishing" lines on the left. The word "SABAN" appears below the logo. The Saban logo zooms-in slightly. This is done on a cloudy sky background that seems to converge towards the center.

Variants: There are 5 variations of this logo: • A "short" version that only has the "hands-up" part of the animation with an abridged version of the music (two different versions were used). • A "medium" version that lacks the close-up shot of the children. The music plays in its entirety (though sometimes only the first six notes and the last note of the jingle plays). • A long version has all the shots of the logo and the music plays completely. •The logo was still on the game Power Rangers Zeo.

• Some Saban Entertainment shows distributed outside North America have "INTERNATIONAL" at the bottom.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Nothing cheesy; professional graphics used here.

Music/Sounds: A 13-note flute/xylophone-like jingle that eventually coalesces into a trumpet. The sounds of children laughing are also heard throughout.

Music/Sounds Trivia: This music was actually used on the English-dubbed version of Kamen Rider/Masked Rider (made before the "twirly-doo" was introduced), as the theme for one of the supporting cast members, the alien Ferbus.

Music/Sounds Variants: •The logo was shortened to 7 notes. •Sometimes, the "INTERNATIONAL" version uses 10 notes that are rearranged.

•A low tone version exists using the same 10 rearranged notes.

Availability: Uncommon. Still preserved on all Saban shows from the era, such as Flint the Time Detective, Mon Colle Knights, and specifically on pre-2002 episodes of Power Rangers and the Digimon (the U.S. dubbed version) series, as well on most series from Saban's library, including some of the 1980s and 1990s Marvel Productions shows it owns (Dungeons and Dragons) among others. It was last seen on Inspector Gadget on This TV. However, the company itself does not exist anymore, having been acquired by Disney and dissolved into the Disney corporate structure. Disney-era episodes of Power Rangers have no logo and a copyright credit to "BVS Entertainment", with BVS standing for "Buena Vista Studios" (the same was the case for Digimon; though that show had a logo for Sensation Animation at the end). Power Rangers was sold back to Haim Saban in 2010, and the Saban Brands logo now closes out the show. Seen on the Revelation Media DVD releases of Goosebumps released in the UK from 2012 starting with the complete first season.

Scare Factor: None to minimal. The music and the children may catch someone off-guard, but it may quickly become annoying to some.