Golden Books Family Entertainment/Summary

Golden Book Video

Background: Golden Book Video was a children's line of videos released by Western Publishing, starting operations in the 1985 holiday season. In the first couple years of its existence, it mostly focused on providing visual adaptations of children's books from Western's publications using limited animation techniques, such as characters blinking or moving from one place to another. Western Publishing used the slogan "bringing storybooks to life" when promoting Golden Book Video releases. Some of their most popular adaptations include the Richard Scarry series, Sesame Street books, and other traditional fairytales. In 1986, Golden Book introduced a line of music videos, showcasing traditional children's songs to its visual animation style, alongside original compositions. In the same year, they also introduced a line of educational videos, called "Golden Step-Ahead", targeting younger children in the very early elementary school phase. Many of their original videos were later reissued in 1991 under their "Video Classics" banner. In 1987, Golden Book Video introduced their GoldenVision label, which first marked the beginning of the company stepping away from its original adaptations and releasing more generalized TV-aired content, as well as holiday specials. In 1990, GoldenVision was dropped, with its releases subsequently merging back into the standard Golden Book label.

In 1991, Golden Book acquired Hi-Tops Video, which was known for releasing the Baby Songs series and Madeline specials, and began releasing its content under the Golden Book name. In 1993, Sony Wonder would take over publishing Western's properties, beginning the decline of the Golden Book Video line. In 1996, amidst financial troubles, Golden Book Video was absorbed into its parent company, Golden Books Family Entertainment.

1st Logo (1985-96)

Nicknames: "Turning Pages", "Book Sunrise", "Opening the Golden Book", "Prestige Golden Logo"

Logo: On a blue-black gradient background, a white book is seen laying on an invisible flat surface. Suddenly, the book zooms to the right side of the screen, opens, and its pages start to turn to the left. At the same time, a yellow circle (representing a person's head reading the book, though it can also be interpreted as a sunrise) rises up from the pages, and the background quickly turns all black. The book then starts to morph into the print logo, with everything turning yellow. A yellow outlined box quickly surrounds it, turning the logo into a shiny gold color. "GOLDEN BOOK" wipes itself underneath the logo, and shrinks a bit to make room for "VIDEO", which appears via CGI light trails from the bottom. The outlines around the logo also bend outward. After the logo is finished, it shines three times. A chryoned-in registered trademark "®" symbol also appears on the bottom right.

Variants:

• A shorter variant exists where the finished logo just shines twice. This was mainly seen at the end of tapes that didn't use the next logo.
  • A rare sub-variant exists where the logo quickly zooms and spins itself into place before it shines.
• Another short variant exists where the finished logo slowly zooms toward the viewer (a la Viacom's "V of Doom"), shining once before fading out as it takes up the entire screen.
• A special variant was made for videos released under the company's GoldenVision label. It starts off with the already-finished logo shining two times, before it suddenly zooms out from the middle of an orange, empty 3D banner with a "V" cut out in the middle. The banner turns upright, and at the same time, the 3D words "GOLDEN" and "VISION" swing from the left and right, respectively, and rest themselves onto the banner. After this, the banner shines from behind, the letters shine in the same way as the original logo, and the banner shines once more before finally fading out. A registered trademark "®" symbol appears on the bottom right once the logo is put together.
  • A shorter variant exists where it just shows the finished product shining. Again, this was seen at the end of tapes.

FX/SFX: The book turning, the colors changing, the words appearing, the logo shining. A mix of 2D computer graphics and CGI for the "VIDEO" text. For the GoldenVision variant, it's mostly CGI, with the flashing being 2D effects.

Music/Sounds: A re-arranged version of the KPM stock music Prestige Logo (a) by Paddy Kingsland, sounding much more powerful and with added electronic percussion sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On videos released in 1985, the original version of Prestige Logo (a) was used instead, and is slightly extended to fit the duration of the logo. This was changed to the re-arranged version in 1986, as Western Publishing likely didn't want to continue to pay full royalties to use the original song.
• On the GoldenVision variant, another re-arranged variant of the ending of "Prestige Logo (a)" is used, then a whoosh sound is heard, changing the music to a synthesizer-heavy piece.
• On all of the short end variants, it is silent.

Availability: Common during its use. Golden Book videos haven't been in print since 1996, though they can still be found on resell sites such as eBay and at some thrift stores if you look hard enough.

• It was seen at the beginning of nearly every video released from the company. Some of these include Masters of the Universe, the Richard Scarry series, Commander Toad in Space, My Little Pony (G1), and several other adaptations of Western Publishing works.
• Also seen on some Rankin-Bass specials released on video in the late 80's when Golden Book had distribution rights.
• The early variant was last used on 3 Care Bears Stories.
• The GoldenVision variant was only used on releases labelled as such, and was used from 1987-90.
• It was used in tandem with the next logo, with this mostly being used at the beginning of tapes. After the next logo's retirement, this would become the standard end logo in the early 1990's.

Editor's Note: A very memorable logo to those who grew up watching their videos. The next logo, however, wouldn't be remembered as fondly by some...

2nd Logo (1985-93)

Nicknames: "(Outer) Space", "The Final Frontier", "Space from Hell/of Doom", ''Space from 1985'', "A Golden Book in Space", "Golden Book Video Logo in Space", ''The Logo from Outer Space'', "The Neon Golden Book Video of Space", "You Know, for Kids!"

Logo: Taking place in space, the camera passes an orange planet on the right and a blue planet on the left. Suddenly, a comet appears and flies towards the center of the screen. When it reaches the center, it "blows up". A large Golden Book Video logo, glowing blue, zooms out as the comet's remains dissolve. The logo shines once, then zooms out with a yellow shadow effect.

Variant: On Commander Toad in Space, a registered trademark "®" symbol appears on the bottom right after the Golden Book Video logo appears, which fades out as the "shadow effect" occurs.

FX/SFX: The panning through space, the comet zooming toward the screen and exploding, the Golden Book Video logo animation, and the "shadow effect" zoom out. Produced by Animagination, Inc.

Music/Sounds: A strange humming sound, with a "whoosh" as the comet appears, followed by a synthesized explosion sound. It drones out, and a gradual synthesized fade-out during the "shadow effect".

Music/Sounds Variant: On some videos released in Canada, a female voiceover is heard saying, "The best of children's entertainment, presented by... Golden Book Video". This variant would be used at the beginning of the video in place of the previous logo.

Availability: Rare. Used in tandem with the previous logo in the company's early years, with this mainly appearing at the end of tapes.

• It was seen at the end of a handful of Golden Book video releases from 1985 that have the original KPM music variant of the previous logo at the beginning.
• This logo was spotted on VHS releases of Masters of the Universe - 3 Stories, Three Richard Scarry Animal Nursery Tales and Herbert the Timid Dragon and Other Tales, to name a few. It was also seen on reissues of those videos well into 1991.
• It also shows up in the middle of Masters of the Universe - 4 Stories (in-between the second and third stories). It also surprisingly appeared at the end of the 1993 VHS and Scholastic DVD of Commander Toad in Space, long after it was no longer in regular use.
• In a few rare cases on some Canadian releases, this actually replaces the opening logo at the beginning (with voiceover), and was only spotted on a few releases to begin with, such as the 1986 release of Sandra Beech: The Pretend Box.

Editor's Note: Definitely not a suitable logo to follow children's programming at all. Its very dark and ominous atmosphere, combined with its loud and unnerving soundtrack, have caused many nightmares for children who viewed it after the program they just watched. The logo didn't even match the theme or setting of the program it closed out most of the time, though its appearance on Masters of the Universe and especially Commander Toad in Space can make for some plausible exceptions.

Golden Books Family Entertainment

Background: After Golden Book Video was absorbed into its parent company, Golden Books Family Entertainment took over releasing content on video using its name. The company itself had massive financial trouble all throughout the 1990's, with Western Publishing's debt alone reaching up to $250 million near the end of the decade. In 2001, the company filed for bankruptcy.

DiC Entertainment had originally planned to buy out the company for $170 million, but later backed out due to its high cost. On August 16th, 2001, Golden Books Family Entertainment was bought out by Classic Media and Random House in a joint effort for $84.4 million. Classic Media would acquire the company's entertainment catalog, while Random House acquired publishing rights for its books. Today, Golden Books' entertainment library is owned by DreamWorks Animation after their acquisition of Classic Media, later renaming it to DreamWorks Classics.

1st Logo (1996-2005)

Nicknames: "Sliding Text"

Logo: On a black background, "Golden Books", in the company font, slides in from the left side of the screen, with "FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT" sliding in from the right. When both reach the center of the screen, the logo glows.

Variants:

• On The Rudolph, Frosty & Friends Sing Along, the logo appears superimposed on the opening scene, with "PRESENTS" appearing below when the text glows.
• At the end of Lassie, the logo is smaller. Depending on the print, either "A CINAR Production" or "A Cookie Jar Entertainment Production" appears at the top, with "in association with" above the logo and a copyright notice on the bottom.

FX/SFX: The connecting of the words, the glowing.

Music/Sounds: The opening/end theme of the program.

Availability: Very rare. It originally appeared at the end of Frosty Returns and Lassie, and is preserved on most VHS releases and early DVDs.

Editor's Note: A simple effort, even if it looks a tad boring.

2nd Logo (1997-2008)

Nicknames: "Reading 'g'"

Logo: On a white stage, a closed red book is seen in the center of the screen, with an anthropomorphic lowercase "g" peeking up and looking at it. The "g" then jumps up with the book, opens it, and begins to read it. The "g" then jumps as if its excited, then leaps back to make room for "Golden Books", which writes itself on the screen. "Family Entertainment" then fades in below, completing the animation.

Variants:

• Sometimes, at the beginning of programs, the "g" and text fade out and "Presents" in a Times New Roman font appears.
• A still variant exists where it has "in AssociATion WiTH" in an unusual font above the logo.

FX/SFX: The "g" moving around with the book, the text appearing. Typical 90's CGI.

Music/Sounds: A wooden xylophone is heard, which corresponds to the movements of the "g". At the end, sparkling sounds are heard when the text appears, as well as a short deep cello note. None for the still variant.

Availability: Uncommon. It appears on later releases from the company, even appearing after being acquired by Classic Media all the way up until 2008.

Editor's Note: A fun logo utilizing some decent CGI for the time.