Universal Pictures Home Entertainment: Difference between revisions

{{PageButtons|Universal Studios Home Entertainment|Logo Variations=1|Print Logos=1}}

'''Nickname:''' "Glowing V-LaserDisc"

'''Logo:''' We start out with glowing {{Font color|blue|blue}} light in the center of a black background. The glowing light shrinks until it is the size of a small {{Font color|gold|yellow}} circle embedded in an {{Font color|orange|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.

'''FX/SFX:''' The shrinking of the light in the center of the screen.

'''Music/Sounds:''' An 8-note percussive string tune followed by a dramatic orchestral finish.

'''Availability:''' Ultra rare. This was only used in a 1977 test pressing that was used as a public display by MCA.

'''Editor's Note:''' Because this was only used on a test pressing, this logo was a surprise find.

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File:GW252H189.jpg|Color (1978)

'''Nickname:''' "Big V", "Majestic V"

'''Logo:''' On a black background, the words "DISCOVISION" crawl across the entire screen in a rainbow of colors like a kaleidoscope, and rows of vertical {{Font color|orange|orange}} lines appear on the screen. The center lines open up in a rainbow 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 {{Font color|deepskyblue|Bondi blue}} streak in the middle. The DiscoVision logo sparkles for a second and then an abrupt cut to black.

'''Variants:'''

*On 1979-1981 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''.

*The last few seconds are cut off on the CAV edition of ''The Jerk''.

'''FX/SFX:''' The crawling of the "DISCOVISION" letters, the appearance, splitting and sparkling of the logo, all in Scanimation.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A flute tune accompanied by a lavishly orchestrated theme. On some releases, such as ''Bustin' Loose'' and ''The Four Seasons'', it's silent.

'''Editor's Note:''' A great logo. However, it is tough to find in good quality, as poor manufacturing practices have caused most DiscoVision discs to degrade over the years.

'''Nickname:''' "Flashing MCA Rainbow"

'''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 rainbow color that zoom out to the middle of the screen and flash to form...

'''FX/SFX:''' '80s computer effects.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A synth drone that culminates in a dreamy siren-like sound, ending with some synth bass notes.

'''Availability:''' Extremely rare. It's seen on all MCA Videodisc releases, both Laserdisc and CED, from 1981 to 1983. 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. This appears on a pre-production United States VHD of ''Smokey and the Bandit'', but VHD never made it to commercial release in the US.

'''Editor's Note:''' None.

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File:GW250H188.jpg| Color

'''Nickname:''' "The Arc", "Videocassette Inc. MCA"

'''Variants:'''

*Some black & white movies featured this logo in monochrome.

*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.

*On ''The Seduction of Joe Tynan'', instead of fading out, this logo cuts to the start of the feature.

'''FX/SFX:''' The rising in of "VIDEOCASSETTE INC."

'''Music/Sounds:''' None.

'''Availability:''' Extremely rare. Seen on every MCA Videocassette release from 1980 to 1983. However, your best bet is to find it on an early MCA Home Video reprint; details of some of these cases are below.

*A few of their first releases were ''Jaws'', ''National Lampoon's Animal House'', ''Psycho'' (which has the black & white variant. Also on the 1984 MCA Home Video reprint), ''Smokey and the Bandit'', and ''1941''.

*Later reissues have both updated logos on the packaging and labels, but still preserve this logo on-screen due to reuse of older tape masters. This is the case with ''American Graffiti'' (1985 release, in print into early 1986), the 1931 version of ''Dracula'' and ''The Bank Dick'', starring W.C. Fields.

*Despite similar circumstances to the releases above, the 1984 reissue of ''1941'', which reuses the 1980 box art, has the logo below.

'''Editor's Note:''' This logo is very simple, especially when compared to the MCA Videodisc bumper of the time. However, this may be explained by MCA's heavy videodisc investment. Also, "VIDEOCASSETTE INC" really shouldn't be read before "MCA."

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File:GW200H157.jpg| Standard version

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'''Nicknames:''' "The Gold MCA", "The Zooming MCA", "MCA in Space", "Earth Yellow MCA", "VHS Assembly", "The MCA VHS Assembly"

'''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.

'''Variants:'''

*Some later releases featured an announcement asking the viewer to stay tuned for previews of future releases that faded out shortly before the logo's appearance. Releases that use this variant include, but are not limited to, ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', ''Twins'', ''Biloxi Blues'', ''The Land Before Time'', ''Field of Dreams'', ''Shocker'', ''Reason to Die'' (Canadian VHS), and ''The Dream Team''.

*Some releases, such as the 1983 VHS of ''Jaws 3'' and the 1980s VHS of ''Rear Window'', often had this logo segueing into the 1963 Universal logo.

*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.

'''FX/SFX:''' The stars and the zooming in of the logo.

'''Music/Sounds:''' None.

'''Availability:''' Uncommon. Check your thrift stores for tapes featuring this logo on the cover. 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). Others include the mid-late '80s releases of ''Back to the Future'', a 1987 reprint of ''Play Misty for Me'' (which reused 1981 box art), ''An American Tail'', ''*batteries not included'', and ''Dragnet''. Since MCA Records was one of the U.S.' largest record companies of the time, it also can be seen on music related tapes that predate the founding of [[MCA Music Video]], such as ''Olivia Newton-John: Twist of Fate'', ''U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky'', and ''Jimmy Buffett: Live by the Bay''. Among the last releases to use this logo were ''Harvey'', ''Dad'', and reissues of eleven James Stewart films. It can also be found on Canadian 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!''), ''Bedroom Eyes II'', ''Reason to Die'', and ''Hot Times at Montclair High'', among possible others. 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''. It was also recently spotted on the 1991 Canadian Cineplex Odeon Video VHS release of ''The Grifters''. However, this does not appear on the French Canadian International Video Entertainment release of ''Eddie et les Cruisers II: Eddie est de retour'' (''Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives'').

'''Editor's Note:''' The CGI is actually decent for its time.

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'''Nicknames:''' "Zooming/Sliding MCA", "VHS Assembly II", "The MCA VHS Assembly II"

'''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 ''An American Tail'' (1986), the logo was in gold on a black background.

*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.

'''FX/SFX:''' Typical late-'80s computer effects/animation.

'''Music/Sounds:''' The music or theme from whatever movie is being advertised.

'''Editor's Note:''' None.

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File:MCAUniversalHomeVideo1990.png|Color

'''Nicknames:''' "The Clean Globe", "Shiny Globe", "MCA Globe", "Shiny MCA Globe", "90s Globe", "90s MCA Globe"

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

'''Variants:'''

*On some 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.

*A black-and-white version appears on some releases of black-and-white films (most notably ''To Kill a Mockingbird'').

*A longer version appears on the original 1990 VHS of ''Back to the Future Part II''.

'''FX/SFX:''' The slow appearances of the globe and the starfield background and the sparkling of the logo.

'''Music/Sounds:''' None. However, on ''The Making of E.T.'', the opening theme plays over the logo.

*This can be seen on almost all of the releases from MCA/Universal during the era, like ''An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'', ''Jurassic Park'', the ''Back to the Future'' sequels, 1991 and 1996 reprints of ''The Land Before Time'' (and its sequels up to the fifth film), ''Exo-Squad'', ''Earthworm Jim'', ''Back to the Future: The Animated Series'', ''The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth'', ''We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story'', and ''Happy Gilmore'' (also makes a surprise appearance on its 2001 Universal Comedy Greats reprint).

*This made its first appearance on ''Back to the Future Part II'', and also appears on a reprint of the original release.

*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''.

*Surprisingly, 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.

'''Editor's Note:''' The name on this logo became outdated in late 1996, as MCA ceased operations by that point, even more so when the movie division updated its logo several months later. Otherwise, this logo has decent animation for its time and is a favorite to those who grew up with it.

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'''Nicknames:''' "Airplane Passing Globe", "The Raining Filmstrips", "Rotating Globe", "90s Globe II", "MCA Globe II", "Morphing MCA Globe", "90s MCA Globe II", "From Classic to MCA Globe"

'''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 rainbow. Suddenly, rainbow 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.

'''Variants:''' There are three variations of this logo:

*There is a version where the both the line and "HOME VIDEO" fade in as the comet flies through. That was seen on a demo tape for ''Bird on a Wire''.

*There is a short version in which the airplane and filmstrips parts of the logo are cut out and begins with the words zooming and rotating in.

*There is a still version of the logo without music.

'''FX/SFX:''' The airplane passing the globe, the transition from black and white to color, the letters rotating in, and the fire flying through the screen.

'''Music/Sounds:''' Usually the theme from from ''Back to the Future'' composed by Alan Silvestri, Sometimes, it used a shortened version of the Universal theme (from that era). On promotional VHS releases, a voiceover advertising upcoming releases is heard.

'''Availability:''' Uncommon. It was seen primarily on home video trailers and promotional VHS tapes at the time, as early as a demo tape for ''Bird on a Wire''. The still version appeared on some trailers for ''The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth'' videos, especially the promotional trailers for demo VHS tapes of the show and on the In-School Lesson video of it. Also seen on the trailer for ''The Shadow''. The short version can be found on the 1995 release of ''The Little Rascals''.

'''Editor's Note:''' Once again, the name became outdated by the end of 1996. Plus, this is a pretty wasted effort, as it was mainly used for promotional releases.

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File:GW288H217.png|1997

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'''Nickname:''' "CGI Globe", "Still CGI Globe", "Boring CGI Globe"

'''Trivia:''' This was used on the start-up page of the Universal Studios website in 1996 which can be viewed [https://web.archive.org/web/19961223055723/http://www.mca.com/ here.]

'''Variant:''' A darker, zoomed in version can be found on a home video trailer for the ''Hercules & Xena Video Collection'' on the 1998 VHS of ''Hercules & Xena: The Animated Movie''.

'''FX/SFX:''' None.

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File:Universal Studios Home Entertainment (1998-2012) A.png

'''Nickname:''' "CGI Globe II", "Animated CGI Globe"

'''Logo:''' Only the 1997 Universal Pictures logo with no video indicator whatsoever.  

'''Trivia:''' The logo was originally going to be used on the 2006 DVD of ''Curious George'' (the 2006 film), but it is not used for some reason. However, it can still be accessed by going to "Title 33" on the disc.

'''Variants:'''

*On UK VHS and DVDs (mainly from [[Right Entertainment (UK)|Right Entertainment]], Universal distributed tapes from this company), the logo has the Universal City Studios byline as well as the URL.

*There is a variant of the short version where the URL "www.universalstudios.com/home" appears at the bottom. This was used on several "making-of" featurettes, such as ''The Stories Behind the Making of'' The Blues Brothers and Duel: ''A Conversation with Steven Spielberg''. The 1997 Universal Studios copyright may or may not appear in the bottom right. Surprisingly, the ''Conan Unleashed'' featurette on international DVD/Blu-Ray releases of ''Conan the Barbarian'' (1982) from [[20th Century Fox Home Entertainment]] retains this variant at the end.  

*Another home video-specific URL version has the URL placed within the bottom letterbox fill. This appears on the ''Field of Dreams'' making-of featurette on its 1999 Special Edition release.

'''FX/SFX:''' Same as the Universal logo from 1997.

'''Music/Sounds:''' Same as the Universal logo from 1997, composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Sometimes the opening theme of the movie would be used instead.

'''Music/Sounds Variants:'''

*There is a higher toned version which can be found at the beginning of ''Making An American Werewolf in London'', which can be found on the 2001 Collector's Edition DVD of ''An American Werewolf in London''.

*A silent version can be found at the end of ''The Stories Behind The Making of The Blues Brothers'', which can be found on the 1998 Collector's Edition DVD of ''The Blues Brothers''.

'''Availability:''' No longer current, but still very common. This was used as the de-facto home video logo. Appears on many Universal and Focus Features releases, direct-to-DVDs, DVD versions of older, pre-1997 Universal movies, and made-for-TV family movies such as ''Balto III: Wings of Change'', ''Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior'', ''Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein'', ''Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman'', ''The Land Before Time'' sequels starting with ''The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island'' and ending with ''The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends'', ''An American Tail'' sequels starting with ''An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island'' and ending with ''An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster'', ''LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers'', the 1971-1982 Dr. Seuss/DFE animated specials, the Barbie direct-to-video films starting with ''Barbie of Swan Lake'' and ending with ''Barbie in A Mermaid Tale 2'', ''Coraline'', ''Despicable Me'', and ''Hop'', among others. This logo with the NBC Universal byline was seen on ''An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars''. It also made a surprise appearance on the Australian DVD release of ''U2: The Best of 1990-2000''. This also made a surprise appearance on ''Pontoffel Rock, Where Are You?'' (''Pontoffel Rock & His Magic Piano'' on later video releases) on the 2012 Deluxe Edition DVD of ''The Lorax'' (1972) due to using the 2003 master as they forgot to cut the logo. Surprisingly, this appeared at the start of the Descriptive Video VHS of ''Shrek'' before the DreamWorks logo (the normal VHS release don't have it).

'''Editor's Note:''' This logo began a long-running trend of Universal using their movie logo as their home entertainment logo. However, for some reason, none of these logos seem to have the phrase "PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT" on the bottom of the word "UNIVERSAL", which therefore creates confusion and causes many people to scratch their heads all the time.

[[File:GW308H233.png|400px|center]]

'''Nicknames:''' "CGI DVD Globe", "DVD Globe"

'''Logo:''' A series of clips from various Universal Studios-owned films plays. Between clips, the animation of the 1997 Universal Studios logo is seen. The logo then finishes as normal, only the globe rises up and the DVD logo fades in underneath.

'''Trivia:''' This logo was used as an advertisement for Universal Studios Home Video DVD releases. However, in this version the titles of various films are shown to promote their releases.

'''FX/SFX:''' The flashes between the film clips and the Universal Studios logo and the fading in of the DVD logo.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A sample from "Ecosystem" by John Pratt and Michael Alemania.

'''Availability:''' Can be seen on DVD releases by Universal Studios Home Video from April 28, 1998 to January 2, 2002. Some examples include ''The Little Rascals'', ''Major Payne'', ''Babe: Pig In The City'', ''Winning'', ''The Hurricane'', and the Collector's Edition DVDs of the ''Jurassic Park'' trilogy, ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' (Collector's Edition), ''1941'', ''Street Fighter'' (Collector's Edition), and other 1998-2001 DVD releases, with the final release with this logo being the 2002 DVD of ''The Fast and the Furious''. Strangely, this doesn't appear on the 2000 Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD of ''Jaws'', the 1998 Collector's Edition DVD of ''The Blues Brothers'' or the 2001 Collector's Edition DVD of ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas'' (the 2000 Jim Carrey movie).

[[File:GW309H233.png|400px|center]]

'''Nicknames:''' "Special Edition Globe", "Filmstrip Globe"

'''Logo:''' A scene from an upcoming release of a film is shown and zooms out onto CGI-animation of a filmstrip. Another film strip appears and the text"SPECIAL" (on the left) and "EDITIONS" (on the right) appear with silver bars appear on the top and bottom of the filmstrip and the letters are spaced out. The 1997 Universal Studios logo appears in the center. A copyright for Universal Studios Home Video, Inc. appears underneath.

'''FX/SFX:''' The CGI-animation of the filmstrip and the appearing of the text and globe.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A male announcer (Jerry Houser) says "Universal special editions, add them all to your video collection."

'''Editor's Note:''' None.

[[File:GW308H234.png|400px|center]]

'''Nicknames:''' "Widescreen Globe"

'''Logo:''' The 1997 Universal Studios logo appears and zooms out slightly onto a yellow background that has a flowing effect on it, similar to the 1995 Columbia TriStar Home Video logo. The words "WIDESCREEN EDITION" are underneath the Universal Studios logo and in white.

'''FX/SFX:''' The zooming out of the Universal Studios logo and the flowing background.

'''Music/Sounds:''' A male announcer says "The Universal Studios Home Video Widescreen Collection."

'''Availability:''' Can be seen on widescreen releases from Universal Studios Home Video, such as the 1998 Widescreen VHS release of ''The Sting''.

'''Editor's Note:''' None.

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File:Universal BluRay.png| Blu-ray

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'''Logo:''' Here are the variants used on HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc:

*HD-DVD: An updated edition of the 1997 logo. The logo plays normally but with updated animation and several dots coming out of the globe instead of streaks. At the end, the logo zooms back to reveal it is being reflected in a giant "HD-DVD" logo in the same space background. The logo shines.

*Blu-Ray Disc: Same as above, except the "HD-DVD" logo is omitted.

'''Trivia:''' This logo was used on Universal HD-DVD releases from 2006-2008 and Blu-ray Disc releases since July 22, 2008 until early to mid-2012.

'''FX/SFX:''' Same as the 1997 logo, except the end on the HD-DVD version.

'''Music/Sounds:''' The 1997 Universal fanfare by Jerry Goldsmith.

'''Availability:''' On every Universal HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc release from the era.

'''Editor's Note:''' None.

==Final Note==  

Beginning with the release of ''Safe House'' (released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 5, 2012), all Universal DVDs and Blu-rays began using the 2012-present theatrical logo as a de-facto home video logo.