Friday, February 25, 2005

Retro television graphics: just can't get enough



(The 1974 ITC Entertainment ident: "probably about as scary as you can get without causing fatal injury". Description from KRS Logos, image via TV-Ark.org.uk)

Turns out I wasn't the only kid who was mildly--and sometimes not-so-mildly--creeped out and fascinated by those choppy animated production company tags that bumpered the television reruns of my 70's/80's youth. This brilliant post at Metafilter has inspired about five days of surfing for retro "idents" ("closing logos" in US parlance) and half-remembered theme music. KRS Logos is an impressive compilation of text descriptions with some great twists--a "scare factor" rating (it's comforting to know that large portions of your generation were unnerved by the old Viacom "V of Doom" ) and insider-chic nicknames. The odious yellow-and-red mid-60s Screen Gems "S" animation has earned some titles that made me laugh out loud.

But Ident Surf 2005 has led me into some bummer territory, too. A morbid desire to see the Scariest British Ident Ever in action brought me to this page at TV-Ark.org; a trip through the Cult TV section made me wish I'd spent a couple of growing-up years watching the telly in England, just as an eye-opener. I mean, really. Sky--which I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of until last night--sounds like the most intriguingly eerie live-action "children's" show in history, with minimal kitsch and lots of Stonehengian mystery. The descriptions alone make me ache for a DVD release. (Compare this to what we in the US were getting at about the same time, and ponder the difference...)

On a lighter note, one of the links in the original Metafilter post leads to The Color Television Revolution , a splendid labor of love site with a low key, retro web design and some very cool clips and info. The color presentation logos section was the hook, but the most memorable artifact here is this sweet 50s animated commercial for RCA color TV sets, which features a diabolically simple, "Sugar Shack"-esque jingle that you will not be able to get out of your head for days. Trust me on this. You've been warned!

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