Universal Pictures Home Entertainment: Difference between revisions

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[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]]' home entertainment unit descended from MCA's "DiscoVision" system, which was created to develop the LaserDisc system and entered the market in 1978 after development that started in the late 1960's, and the first demonstration of the system in 1972. DiscoVision was riddled with issues, and numerous films were released from Universal, with [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]], [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]], and [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] also licensing titles to the label. With DiscoVision failing, MCA entered the home videocassette market in late 1980, creating "MCA Videocassette" to market releases to VHS and Betamax. DiscoVision was finally folded as a software label by MCA in 1981 reorganizing the division as "MCA Videodisc", and also expanded their videodisc operations to cover RCA's "SelectaVision" videodisc format. However, the "MCA Home Video" moniker was applied to both VHS and disc releases and became simply known as "MCA Home Video", alternating with the "MCA Videocassette" name until 1984. In 1990, MCA Home Video renamed itself as "MCA/Universal Home Video" to capitalize the Universal Studios name and to coincide with Universal's 75th Anniversary, alternating with the "MCA Home Video" name in 1992 or 1995. In December 1996, it renamed itself as "Universal Studios Home Video" when MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios and in 2005 changed once again into "Universal Studios Home Entertainment". In 2016, the home entertainment division was restructured and was renamed as "'''Universal Pictures Home Entertainment'''". In January 2020, it was announced that Universal and [[Warner Bros. Home Entertainment]] would be partnering to form a brand new home media joint venture, which will see new and library titles from both companies being released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD under one entity; the venture launched in early 2021 under the name Studio Distribution Services.

 

[[File:GW279H210.jpg|400px|center]]

 

'''Logo:''' We start out with glowing {{color|blue}} light in the center of a black background. The glowing light shrinks until it is the size of a small {{color|gold|yellow}} circle embedded in an {{color|orange}} upside down triangle split vertically in the center. The words "MCA DISCO-VISION" appear on top of the triangle, and while the circle turns the same color as the triangle, the copyright symbol appears on the bottom right area.

 

 

 

 

===2nd Logo (December 15, 1978-January 1982)===

File:GW252H189.jpg|Color (1978)

File:GW252H190.jpg|Color/copyright stamp (1979-1981)

File:GW252H191.jpg|B&W

 

'''Logo:''' On a black background, the words "DISCOVISION" crawl across the entire screen in a {{color|red|r}}{{color|orange|a}}{{color|gold|i}}{{color|green|n}}{{color|blue|b}}{{color|darkviolet|o}}{{color|pink|w}} of colors like a kaleidoscope, and rows of vertical {{color|orange}} lines appear on the screen. The center lines open up in a {{color|red|r}}{{color|orange|a}}{{color|gold|i}}{{color|green|n}}{{color|blue|b}}{{color|darkviolet|o}}{{color|pink|w}} of colors to reveal a white "V", with "DISCO" and "ISION" appearing on the left and right sides of the "V", respectively, appearing on a blackish background with a large {{color|deepskyblue|Bondi blue}} streak in the middle. The DiscoVision logo sparkles for a second and then an abrupt cut to black.

 

*On 1979-1982 releases, a copyright stamp appeared underneath the DiscoVision logo.

*Most of the later LaserDisc players will skip over most of the animation on most DiscoVision titles due to DiscoVision's decision to encode the start frame halfway through the bumper on most titles. Some titles will play the full opening, such as the 1978 standard play version of ''The Sting''.

 

 

 

 

===(1981-1983)===

[[File:GW276H206.jpg|400px|center]]

 

'''Logo:''' On a black screen, the words "A PRESENTATION OF" zoom-out in the 1972 MCA font in yellow before dissolving in the center. Following that are streaks of {{color|red|r}}{{color|orange|a}}{{color|gold|i}}{{color|green|n}}{{color|blue|b}}{{color|darkviolet|o}}{{color|pink|w}} color that zoom out to the middle of the screen and flash to form...

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Some MCA Home Video releases from early 1983 on LaserDisc and CED, such as ''Psycho II'', may have this instead of the MCA Home Video logo at the start.

 

===(June 16, 1980-October 1983)===

File:GW252H197.png| B&W

 

'''Logo:''' On a black background, the MCA logo appears in the center of the screen colored in {{color|blue}}. The words "VIDEOCASSETTE INC", in a white segmented font appear in an arc formation, surrounding the MCA logo through an "iris in" effect.

 

* Surprisingly, a still version of this logo was seen on the DVD release of ''Duck Soup'' at the end of the film's theatrical trailer.

 

 

 

 

File:GW200H157.jpg| Standard version

File:GW200H152.jpg| B&W with byline

File:GW200H151.png| More Programming variant

 

'''Logo:''' On a CGI starry background, we see the MCA Home Video logo (in Earth yellow color). This logo has the usual MCA logo (with the "C" and "A" connected) and the words "HOME VIDEO" (in a sleek, smaller font that has the same width as "MCA") in a box that resembles a videotape (but "MCA" overlaps this box on the top, making it "cut open"). The logo zooms in slowly, like the Universal globe at the time. The logo fades out to the starry background for a second, and then an entire fade to black.

 

* MCA releases co-released by GoodTimes Home Video have "UNDER LICENSE TO" at the bottom of the screen. The GoodTimes logo of the period would follow. A black & white version of this can be found on ''The Creature from the Black Lagoon''. A similar variant was also spotted on the Kartes Video release of ''You Can't Cheat an Honest Man''.

* Side opening bumpers on some MCA Home Video LaserDiscs between 1984 and 1986 used the stars by themselves, with "Side 2", "Side 3", etc., appearing by itself in the center of the screen, and then a fade out back to the stars. The 1984 LaserDisc release of ''Rear Window'' features this bumper.

 

 

 

* It was seen on tapes such as the 1988 video release of ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' and the 1989 release of ''The Land Before Time'' (1991 and 1996 reprints use the first MCA/Universal logo).

* It can also be found on Canadian [[Alliance Releasing (Canada)|Alliance Releasing Home Video]] VHS releases of ''Nightbreaker'', ''Deadly Innocents'', ''State of Mind'' (AKA: ''Private War''), ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie'', ''American Boyfriends'', ''Iron Eagle II'', ''Cameron's Closet'', ''Nukie'', ''A Whisper to a Scream'', ''Final Cut'' (1989) (AKA: ''Lights! Cameras! Murder!''), ''Devil in the Flesh, Bedroom Eyes II'', ''Reason to Die'', and ''Hot Times at Montclair High'', among possible others. The Alliance Releasing logo may appear before or after this logo.

* Some tapes up until 1991 with the MCA/Universal Home Video print logo on the cover may still have this due to being reprints of earlier MCA titles, such as ''Arabesque''.

* This does not appear on the French Canadian [[Artisan Entertainment|International Video Entertainment]] release of ''Eddie et les Cruisers II: Eddie est de retour'' (''Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives'').

 

File:GW197H146.jpg| Blue Version

File:GW210H151.png| Blue Version #2

 

'''Logo:''' The MCA Home Video logo appears in chrome (usually zooming in or sliding into the view). There are different variants:

* On the VHS trailer for ''Shakedown'' (1988), the logo is silver on a blue-black gradient background.

* On the VHS trailer for ''Hellgate'' (1989), seen at the end of a Canadian VHS of ''Reason to Die'', the logos starts with a shady gray background of diagonal bars with several "MCA HOME VIDEO" logos appearing inside the bars (like a wallpaper pattern). A sky blue "MCA HOME VIDEO" logo fades in the center and slowly zooms in while rotating/straitening itself into the view. This also plasters the [[New World Pictures]] logo originally seen in this film's trailer.

 

 

 

 

==MCA/Universal Home Video==

File:GW230H172.png|B&W

 

 

<center>{{Huge|MCΛ<br>

'''{{color|peru|UNIVERSAL}}</u><br>}}

H O M E {{color|white|---------}} V I D E O</center>

 

 

* On some [[GoodTimes Entertainment|GoodTimes Home Video]] releases (i.e. ''Car Wash''), the MCA/Universal logo plays normally. The background, however, has moving stars from the 1983 MCA Home Video logo in the background (as opposed to the regular version where the background stays static). At the end, the words "UNDER LICENSE TO" pops up, peeking above the globe as the logo fades out and the words straighten out at the center of the screen. The GoodTimes Home Video logo would follow.

* Some MCA/Universal releases have a GoodTimes byline at the bottom.

* On ''The Making of E.T.'', the logo is sped-up.

 

 

 

* This makes surprise appearances at the end of ''The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy'' documentary on the 2002 DVD release of ''Back to the Future Part III'' (which was part of the ''Back to the Future: The Complete Trilogy'' DVD set from 2002) and the beginning of ''The Making of Jurassic Park'' documentary on the 2000 Collector's Edition DVD of ''Jurassic Park''. Both of these were likely sourced from LaserDisc masters (especially since the latter even has the LaserDisc warning screen intact). It was later intact on the Peacock prints of ''The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth'', and more recently on an airing of ''Foreign Student'' on Screenpix (as well as on The Roku Channel's streaming print). It also shows up at the start of a Netflix print of ''Deep Red'' a recent airing of ''Boss of Lonely Valley'' on Starz Encore Westerns, and a TCM airing of ''Secret of the Blue Moon''.

* On a later VHS reprint of ''Fletch'', the MCA/Universal logo and even the Universal Pictures logo in the film was replaced with the 1997 logo.

 

===2nd Logo (1990-1998)===

File:GW264H201.png|Commercial Bumper

{{YouTube|id=P5P7BseOV1I|id2=vMBH51bo2iI}}

 

'''Logo:''' On a space background, we see the rotating globe in the 1930's style rotating. Coming from behind is an airplane passing over the globe, as usual, which flies through the screen, as the propeller becomes {{color|red|r}}{{color|orange|a}}{{color|gold|i}}{{color|green|n}}{{color|blue|b}}{{color|darkviolet|o}}{{color|pink|w}}. Suddenly, {{color|red|r}}{{color|orange|a}}{{color|gold|i}}{{color|green|n}}{{color|blue|b}}{{color|darkviolet|o}}{{color|pink|w}} filmstrips are seen falling over the logo before the nebula sky forming from filmstrips. Over the globe, while it changes into its 1990s style and in color, we see these words coming from the left and right sides of the screen (respectively) in their same corporate fonts:

 

 

A few seconds later, as "MCA" and "UNIVERSAL" go into their positions in front of the globe, a red orange/yellow gradient fire flies through the screen, forming the words "HOME VIDEO" underneath, with a line above it and the globe stops rotating afterwards. When the logo forms, either the "(R)" symbol or the "TM" symbol fades in on the bottom right of the screen.