HIT Entertainment: Difference between revisions

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=== Background ===

HiT Entertainment is a British-American children's television company established in 1982 originally as the international distribution arm of [[The Jim Henson Company|Jim Henson Productions]] called "Henson International Television" (later reincorporated as "HiT Communications plc."). However, following the death of Jim Henson in 1990, the business was sold to several members of the company's management, led by Peter Orton, and reincorporated to its current name to prevent any future confusion between the two companies. Today, HiT Entertainment is owned by [[Mattel|Mattel, Inc.]]

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'''Nicknames:''' "HiT Globe IV", "2000s HiT Globe", "Cheesy Glow"

'''Logo:''' On a {{Font color|blue|blue}} background, we see the HiT logo (as seen in the last two logos), but less shiny and solid, and with "ENTERTAINMENT" replacing "ENTERTAINMENT PLC". A glow of light surrounds the globe. Sometimes, a copyright notice appears below. Like the 4th logo, sometimes the URL (www.hitentertainment.com) and byline (DISTRIBUTED WORLDWIDE BY HIT ENTERTAINMENT) are seen below the logo.

*The "Classic Collection" range (earlier VHS prints from December 2003 carry the previous logo instead)

'''Variants:'''

*There is a difference between the original and the standard versions.

***Has a constant color scheme/contrast

***Has a thinner text for "ENTERTAINMENT"

***The animated version

***Can be with the URL or byline, or both, or bylineless

*Like with the previous logo, "PLC" can be seen next to "ENTERTAINMENT".

**This doesn't happen when the same feature was part of ''Christmas Children's Favorites'', when it was replaced by the standard version with the URL and byline.

*On 2004-06 episodes of ''Thomas and Friends'' and its related home videos (at least in the UK), there are several versions of the logo. Copyright info is below.

**The first variation is seen on individual episodes and airings. It has the copyright notice for every episode per year of release (2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006) and the disclaimer about the series.

**The second variation is seen on several home videos, such as ''Hooray for Thomas! and Other Stories''. It has the copyright notice for the episodes (2003, 2004, 2005 or 2006) and the disclaimer about the series. (The font of the copyright notice is the same as the collaboration with Nick Jr.)

**The fourth variation is seen on ''Thomas' Halloween Adventures''. The copyright notice used from the restored formats of previous seasons is used, along with the North American disclaimer.

*On the sixth and seventh seasons of ''Thomas & Friends'', there are three variations of the logo.

**The first variation uses the logo with the URL and byline, with the copyright notice "© 1984-2003 Gullane (Thomas) Limited. All rights reserved." below the byline. (seen on season 6)

**The Latin-American (Spanish & Portuguese, among those that are aired on Discovery Kids Latinoamerica, the standard (bylineless) version is used in in the USA and Canada) and European (Spanish, Portuguese, French & German, the standard version is used in the UK) airings of the ninth season of ''Barney & Friends ''(Especially Universal Kids airings in North America) and iTunes releases of ''Thomas & Friends'' including ''Thomas and His Friends Get Along'' and ''Thomas and His Friends Help Out'' use the version with just the byline.

**''Fraggle Rock'', ''Animal Jam'' (along with other programs made by Jim Henson), and the East Asian (Malaysian, Indonesian, Philippine and Thai, and other versions distributed by Buena Vista International Television in Asia; the standard (URL and byline) version is used in China and Japan) airings of the ninth season of ''Barney & Friends'' use the version with just the URL.

'''Music/Sounds Variants:'''

'''Availability:''' Very common. Seen on HiT shows from the period including ''Barney & Friends'' from the 2002-2006 seasons, ''Bob the Builder'', ''Angelina Ballerina'', ''Rubbadubbers'', 2003-2006 episodes of ''Thomas and Friends'', and ''Oswald''. It was also seen on the ''VeggieTales: The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown'' 2001 VHS. It also appears on the remastered versions of episodes from seasons 1-4 of ''Pingu''. The normal in-credit variant appears on seasons 5-6 of ''Pingu'', while the white background one appears on the 2003 series of ''Fireman Sam'' and at the end of games from the company. Both the “Entertainment” and “Consumer Products” white background variants appear on games of the company’s shows, and an “Entertainment PLC” version was seen on the remastered versions of the original ''Fireman Sam'' alongside the [[Bumper Films (UK)|Bumper Films]] and [[S4C (UK)|S4C]] logos. One of the last releases to use this logo was the 2007 DVD of ''Barney & Friends: Let's Go to the Firehouse!''. It was also used to plaster over the 4th logo at times, and also makes a surprise appearance on the Britbox print of episode 1 of ''Dennis the Gnasher'' (1996-1998) through plastering the 4th logo.

===8th Logo (September 4, 2006-)===

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*In credit variants exist. One is of the still worldwide distribution variant, one is an in credit still of the normal animated version, and the final one shows just the HiT block with the text “Distributed Internationally by HIT Entertainment” to the left of it.

*On many DVD releases of HiT Entertainment shows, such as Lionsgate releases of the CGI ''Thomas and Friends'', the still variant is shown with two blue buttons below it, one reading "Auto Play" and the other reading "Main Menu". (à la [[Disney's FastPlay]] logo.)

*The Sprout reairings of the tenth season of ''Barney & Friends'' use the very last part of the logo's sequence (ie. the HiT block is already there after the animation). Those aired originally on PBS use the original variant with animation. The ninth season reairings on Sprout plaster the previous logo with this one. However, the 10th season episodes aired on Universal Kids in the US, Canada, Mexico and Colombia use the previous logo (the HD version used in 2006-07).

'''Music/Sounds Variants:'''

*Sometimes, just the end theme of the show is used, or silence.

*On Channel 5 airings and prints of ''Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps'', the WNET Thirteen and/or the HiT logo theme play over the in-credit variant.

*Low-pitched versions exist.

'''Editor's Note''': It's a cute logo, but may be annoying for people who are fans of the older logos. This also marked the departure of the globe logo that was used for about a decade.

Starting in 2017, HiT Entertainment programming now has [[Mattel Creations]]' logo instead of the HiT logo. However, the HiT logo is still used on DVDs.