Curious Pictures/Summary

Background: Curious Pictures (stylized as curious?ictures) was an American animation studio and multi-media company set in New York City and Los Angeles that created and produced television programs, commercials, animation and video games that was founded in 1993. On October 16, 2014, the company is defunct.

= Broadcast Arts =

1st Logo (June 1984)
Logo: We fade from black to the color test card. After a few seconds, the color bars becomes the color tubes. The camera pans to the blue neon sign saying "Broadcast Arts" with a machine on a table with red sparks coming out of it.

Variants: A shorter version can be seen at the end of the demo reel.

FX/SFX: The camera transitioning to the tubes, the camera panning and the sparks from the machine.

Music/Sounds: The 400 Hz tone, which trails off when the camera transitions, along with the sparks.

Availability: It is seen on the Broadcast Arts 1984 Demo Reel, which can be seen online.

Editor's Note: The tone’s hum may be considered anywhere from frightening to annoying. Other than that, this logo is fine.

2nd Logo (1990)
Logo: On a black background with some moving clouds, we see the text "BROADCAST arts," (The "T" is in a red box with a blue rectangle on a top part of the box, and "arts" is in a cursive font and is light blue.) the same logo appears even larger and moves fast from the right to the left.

FX/SFX: The text moving from the right.

Music/Sounds: An almost creepy synth tune that plays throughout the logo.

Availability: Seen on the failed pilot for NBC, The Jackie Bison Show.

Editor's Note: Low to high, the dark atmosphere and the synth music may startle some, but this is slightly tamer than the previous logo.

= Curious Pictures =

1st Logo (January 7, 1993 - December 15, 2001)
Logo: On the white background, we see a red question mark. Above it has the curious (on the upper left) and ictures (on the upper left).

Variants:


 * At the end of the making of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. featurette, we see the white background with the red question mark. After 2.5 seconds, the words appear. After three seconds, the whole thing disappears to black. The whole thing is silent.


 * On HBO Family's A Little Curious (at the end of all episodes), we fade from the closing credits to the white background, to have the question mark appearing. The words fades in and out (forward-and-reversed version of the Kraft Super Mario Bros. variant), followed by the whole thing fade to black. The closing theme ends throughout.
 * At the end of the TV Funhouse skit "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas" from a December 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live, the logo is placed on an orange background. Also, the words "ANIMATION BY" in a Franklin Gothic-looking font appear above the logo and the words "New York City" in Comic Sans appear below the logo.

FX/SFX: The background fading, the question mark appearing, the text appearing in the first variant and the text fading in and out in the second variant.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the short.

Music/Sounds Variants:


 * The animated version is silent.
 * The A Little Curious variation has the closing theme ending throughout.

Availability: Seen on the short film The Louie n' Louie Show. When Nickelodeon's KaBlam! re-created and aired this short, it was cut. The variations as seen on the above mentioned.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (February 14, 1999 - April 24, 2015)
Nicknames: "The Dot", "Dot of Smoke", "City Dot", "Runaway Dot," "The Dot Rocket", "The Crazy Question Mark"

Logo: On a black background, we see these words written across it:

curious?ictures

Suddenly, the dot in the "?" does something random:


 * The "?" morphs into a humanoid object with dots and lines representing its hands, feet, arms, and legs and falls down. It runs towards the right end of the screen.
 * "The Dot of Smoke" has the "?" dot become a rocket and fly around, spin in circles, then fly quickly towards the bottom right of the screen, leaving a trail of smoke as it does so.
 * The 2nd one is a still of the logo.
 * On the pilot episode of Sheep in the Big City, the "Runaway Dot" logo fades in and out.
 * On 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza, "The Dot of Smoke" logo fades in and the animation goes as normal.
 * On all episodes of Hey Joel, there's a custom variant called "The Crazy Question Mark". The question mark jumps out from the text to the left to right to the center.
 * On Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, the "Crazy Question Mark" logo plays in reverse.

FX/SFX: The dot morphing and running on the "Dot" logo. The rocket flying and the trail of smoke on the "Dot of Smoke" logo. None on the still logo.

Music/Sounds: Depends on the variant:


 * On the "Runaway Dot" logo, there are squeaking sounds as the dot falls down and runs.
 * On the "The Dot of Smoke" logo, there is a loud rocket "WHOOSH" sound.
 * On Codename: Kids Next Door, a weird sound plays at the end of the credits which follows on to the "Dot of Smoke" logo. Then the whoosh sound plays as normal. On later episodes a different louder whoosh sound is used.
 * On Little Einsteins, the ending theme plays over the "Dot of Smoke" variant.
 * On the pilot for Sheep in the Big City, the dot squeaking is much different then episode 2 and onwards.
 * On the My Scene and Polly Pocket films, the logo has the closing theme playing over.

Availability: The "Runaway Dot" variant was first spotted on the Cartoon Network show Sheep in the Big City, which is long gone from TV. It also appeared on the first episode of Codename: Kids Next Door, as well as Prickles the Cactus, 2 My Scene films, which are My Scene: Jammin' in Jamaica, and My Scene Goes Hollywood (also known as My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie), and on some episodes of Team Umizoomi on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. (The logo sometimes uses it’s Original Audio) The "Dot of Smoke" variant is seen on most Codename: Kids Next Door episodes, My Scene: Masquerade Madness, 2 Cool at the Pocket Plaza, and on season 1 & 2 episodes of Little Einsteins on Disney Junior. The still logo can be sighted on Codename: Kids Next Door 2-part episodes, PollyWorld, and An Off-Beats Valentine's.

Scare Factor:


 * Runaway Dot (Both Normal & Closing Theme Versions): None to the minimal. The squeaky sounds and the running of the dot may annoy people, but this is so cute & a favorite of many, including little kids.
 * Dot of Smoke (Both Normal & Closing Theme Versions): None to low for both with sound and with the closing theme of the show. The launching sound and the trail covering the company name may scare some.
 * Crazy Question Mark: Minimal to low. The question mark covering curiousictures may be scary for some people.
 * Still: None.