Gecko Studios

Background
Gecko Studios was a production company that was formed by Elliot Strange in 1987 and based in Tyler, Texas. Gecko was initially formed by Strange in order to co-finance a syndication package for The Halloween Gang after leaving the network run following ABC setting out to restructure their programs under the guidance of the Q5 Corporation. In 1989, Gecko expanded to film production, producing a new film, as well as aiding on the localization of an acquired anime which was released independently. In 2002, Gecko was acquired by Sterner Stuff and became their animation division, aiding on acquiring and managing animated properties, though the venture would end in 2006 following the financial failure of their last film and Gecko was spun-off. The company would shift their focus to short-form entertainment but would become dormant by the end of 2011. In 2020, Gecko announced they would be involved in reboots of two obscure shows, revealed to be Princess Natasha, which would be produced for HBO Max and Sami, renamed from This Just In..., which would be produced for Netflix. The former show was handed over to a new show-runner when it was set to debut on Cartoon Network, but a controversy relating to her nationalistic views led the show to getting purged from Cartoon Network and HBO Max. Sami was initially dropped from Netflix before getting picked up by IFC. In August of 2021, Strange announced that when Sami concludes, he will retire and the company will close.

1st Logo (1987)
Logo: On a white background, we see a boy and a girl. The boy is sitting and leaning on a table with a smug expression, while the girl is standing, visibly angered and cracking her knuckles. "GECKO STUDIOS" is above in a small black Courier New font. The image cuts out as she readies to punch the boy.

FX/SFX: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appeared on syndicated episodes of The Halloween Gang. Would also plaster the Blessard Animation Productions logo on episodes from the show's first season and the first five episodes of the second season (the latter being attributed to a trade-off during the show's initial broadcast. The same principle applies to initial home media releases by Family Home Entertainment. However, after Blessard bought back the rights to the show, references to Gecko were removed and by extension, logos already on the show were replaced by the logos for Blessard Animation Productions, Cookie Jar Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television.

2nd Logo (1989-1992, 2006)
Logo: We fade in to a white background with scribbles on it, as well as a black number "3". The area flashes a bit before cutting to the number "2" against the same background but with smaller, more faded blue scribbles, then cutting to "1" with green and yellow scribbles. Suddenly, an image of the girl from the first logo, with her hair arranged in a pony-tail fashion and wearing a red sports shirt with blue jeans, standing in a fighting stance, fades in. The background flickers as the girl throws a punch before the image clears out, leaving an image of the girl in a circular frame, with "GECKO" above her in yellow and red squares (a gecko embryo replaces the "O" in "GECKO" and "STUDIOS" below in a spaced out font. All of this is on a grey stone background.

FX/SFX: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Originally seen on The Key to Laurie Locke and the Streamline Pictures dub of The Fairies of Silver Platte. Was brought back for The Doomed Stones in 2006.

Editor's Note: Films released any point between 1992 and 2006 used the next logo at the end.

3rd Logo (1998-2004, 2008-2010, 2020-2021)
Logo: In a messy room, we see a girl sitting by a computer (this one different from the previous ones, looking more gothic with pale skin. "GECKO STUDIOS" is on the wall behind her, arranged in the "Hollywood sign" fashion. As the girl clicks on something, a live-action fist emerges from it and punches her off-screen.

FX/SFX: Flash animation, with a mix of stop-motion animation.

Music/Sounds: Either the closing theme of the show or none.

Availability: Appeared on the short-lived The Halloween Kids on FX, the end of the film Inside-Out Boy and the direct-to-video film The Incredible Hulk Vs. The Wolfman, the web series Odd Reads which was hosted on YouTube and Revver, the Machinima series Green Jean's Down and Five Minutes or Less, which was available on TheWB.com. First appeared on the ultra short-lived revival of Inner Sanctum. Was brought back for the first season 2020 reboot of Princess Natasha. The logos were only shown on HBO Max and other on-demand prints; broadcasts and app prints remove four logos, this included. Due to a dispute with a newly appointed show-runner, the show was purged from Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

4th Logo (2015)
Logo: Against a CG landscape with a visible sunset, we see a bald bearded man, a creepy-looking anthro gecko and what looks to be Fred Jones in a negative color palette floating around (each in the infamous "T" pose. In the center is the text "A UGLY CRAPP SHORT BY GECKO, CYBER8 AND PAMTRI", in white and set in Comic Sans.

Trivia:


 * The character models were designed by YouTube animator Cyber 8, while the background was designed by other YouTube animator Pamtri.
 * The bald man reflects Pamtri's credit (the Santiago man that appears at the end of many of Pamtri's videos.)
 * Fred Jones is a reference to Cyber 8's video parody "Fred Makes Pizza"

FX/SFX: Very cheap 3D graphics, though this was intentional to go with the style of the video.

Music/Sounds/Trivia: A distorted tune, which is actually a heavily edited audio clip taken from Ashlee Simpson's infamous performance at the 2005 Orange Bowl.

Availability: Appeared on "Arthur Into Sleep", which was a collaboration between Strange and animators Cyber 8 and Pamtri.

Editor's Note: For fans of both or either Cyber 8 and Pamtri, as well as those who picked up on Strange's penchant for obscure references, this is a feast for the eyes and ears.

5th Logo (2021-)
Logo: On a window, we see a picture containing five girls, one of which being the girl from the first two logos. People can be seen walking by through the window. "Gecko Studios" fades in to the bottom left in white.

FX/SFX: Live-action.

Music/Sounds: A five-note jazzy tune, ending with an electronic note.

Availability: Seen on Sami.