Lyrick Studios

Background: Lyrick Studios (formerly known as "The Lyons Group", although they still used this name for some IPs they co-published with HiT Entertainment until they went defunct) was founded in 1991 and was a video production and distributing company, best known for their production and distribution of children's programs like *Barney and Friends* and *Wishbone*. The company did not use a logo until 1997.

## 1997-1998, 2000

Logo: On a white background, six letters zoom out from the screen in each other, in 30 degrees. The letters than separate themselves, revealing the words "Lyrick" in a crazy font with colors (blue, yellow, red, green, purple, and orange). After they have zoomed out in place, a blue dot flies out and dots the "I", and the word "**STUDIOS**" fades in on the bottom-right of "Lyrick", with a line above "**STUDIOS**".

Variants:

* On some tapes from the company, "Distributed by" wipes in above the logo as the letters zoom out. There's also a still version of this logo.
* There is a rare early variant of this logo where the logo is taller, it doesn't have the shadow effect, "Studios" is in a different font, the words "Distributed by" are yellow and there is a bigger space between "Distributed by" and "Lyrick Studios". This variant is still. There is also a version of this variant without "Distributed By", which is seen at the end of some early prints of *The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss* and *The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth* tapes.
* There is another early variant where the logo is zoomed closer to the screen and "Distributed By" is yellow. This can only be seen on tapes of *Vatican 2: The Faithful Revolution* and *Trucky and the Mighty-Car: Volumes 1 & 2.* Again, the non-distributed by variant is seen at the end of the tapes.

FX/SFX: The zoom-out of the six letters and the "dot-the-I" sequence to form the company's name.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic electronic keyboard tune plays throughout the logo, with 3 low-pitched synth violin notes as the "dot-the-I" sequence plays ; followed by a toy xylophone and a synth violin stinger. The "Distributed By" variant features only 2 low pitched notes for the "dot-the-I" sequence. Ringing bells can be heard when the "Distributed By" and "STUDIOS" text appears and during the "dot-the-I" sequence, and finally the tune ends differently on a synth piano and a synth violin stinger. The still version is silent.

Availability: Rare. This logo was only used for a year, and were limited to tapes of *Barney and Friends*, *VeggieTales*, *Wishbone*, *Kids for Character* and *Francesca's Friendly World*. Most of these videos from this time period are long out of print and are hard to find; the latter 2 properties are quite obscure, for all of their VHS releases by Lyrick Studios were released throughout 1997. However, tapes of *Barney and Friends* and *VeggieTales* are the least scarce of the the bunch, so those tapes are your best bet to find this logo. Even the 1998 VHS releases of *Where's God When I'm Scared!?!* and *Are You My Neighbor?* from *VeggieTales* are notable to have this logo. The later still version exists on 2000 VHS releases such as of *The Best of Oddhouse Phatom: Volumes 1-4, Where's God When I'm Scared!?!*, *God Wants Me To Forgive Them?!*, *Are You My Neighbor?*, *Rack, Shack, and Benny*, and *Dave and the Giant Pickle* from *VeggieTales*. The most wide release with this logo is *It's Time for Counting!*.

Scare Factor: None.

## 1998-2001

Logo: In a lake (probably Otter Lake) surrounded by a forest at twilight, we see a silhouette of a waterbird (young duck, a loon, or an albatross) swimming from right to first at the bottom of the screen. The camera then pans up to the sky, and a child's hand (with its index finger extended) touches the sky, causing ripples. As the ripples fade away, the word "Lyrick" (in the same font as before) slowly zooms in and stops in the middle of the screen. The logo shines as the word "**STUDIOS**" written with a line above it fades in along with a "TM" symbol.

Variants:

* Some *VeggieTales* tapes from 1998-1999 have the text "**Distributed by**" in white bold Arial Black font on a black background before the logo animates. This is regularly seen at the beginning and end of the tapes. This variant is found on *Groundling Marsh* VHS tapes, *Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales and Legends*, and Barney Classic Collection releases from 1998-1999.
* There's a rare, early variation with fewer stars in the night sky, rough animation, longer panning up in the sky until the hand comes, a redder sunset, a different forest design, and the logo is off-center with no white shining on the edges. The red sleeve on the child's arm cannot be seen as well. This appeared on the film *Barney's Great Adventure*.
* There is a still version of the 1999-2001 "Distributed by" version of the logo.
* A daytime variant of both the regular and Distributed by version of the logo exists.
* Another variation has the logo with the camera panning it up more and a white "*Distributed by*" byline above the logo after it is formed. This variant appears on most *VeggieTales* tapes from 1999-2001, a few *3-2-1 Penguins!* tapes from 2000-2001, *The Wiggles*, some *Barney & Friends* tapes from 1999-2000, *Bob the Builder, Kipper* and *Murray and the Backyard Kangaroo*.

FX/SFX: The water bird scene and the hand poking the sky like water in a quite beautiful mix of live-action and computer animation.

Music/Sounds: A beautiful dramatic tune accompanied by a dog barking (or the waterbird crowing) and birds tweeting. Just like the previous logo, the still version is silent.

Availability: Preserved on most *VeggieTales* and *Barney & Friends* tapes from the period distributed by the company. Also seen on all *Wishbone* tapes made after 1997, when Lyrick Studios began distributing the videos, taking over from PolyGram Video. Can also be seen on most *The Wiggles* tapes from the period. The early variant exclusively appears on the 1998 PolyGram/Universal film *Barney's Great Adventure: The Movie*, which apparently is the first piece of media to use the logo. The daytime variant of both the regular and Distributed by version was shown on later tapes of *Trucky and the Mighty-Car* and on 2000 VHS releases of *The Toy That Saved Christmas, Very Silly Songs!, LarryBoy and the Fib from Outer Space, Josh and the Big Wall, Madame Blueberry, The End Of Silliness!* and *LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed* from *VeggieTales.* The last release to use this logo was the 2001 VHS print of *Angelina Ballerina: Rose Fairy Princess.* Since 1999, the still version of the logo is more common than the usual logo.

Scare Factor: None to low. The hand sequence might cause some scares from first-time viewers, but it's otherwise harmless and a very well-liked logo.

**Final Note**: In 2001, HiT Entertainment bought the assets of and rights to *Barney & Friends* from Lyrick Studios and the company shut down. The last remaining Texas office of Hydraulic Studios remained open, but as a result of the HiT buyout they released nothing up to its shutdown in 2003, due to arguments from PolyGram Video over *Barney's Great Adventure* being released theatrically instead of straight-to-video (and thus not part of PolyGram's picture deal). Today, Lyrick Studios' properties belong to HiT Entertainment except for *VeggieTales*, which is currently distributed by Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics).