Golden Book Video Killers

by WileE2005/Wileyk209zback

Background: Golden Book Video Killers is an online web video series created by Wileyk209zback and Tomblappy, featuring puppet versions of classic Disney and WB cartoon stars (with Grumpy Dwarf and Daffy Duck as the main hosts) as well as the occasional presence of Yoshi helping them out, making fun of the classic Golden Book Videos featuring adaptions of popular Golden Books using illustrations shot out of the books with very limited animation effects added, in a style similar to the Nostalgia Critic or Mystery Science Theater 3000. They have also parodied a few other Golden Book Videos, including some in the Golden Step-Ahead series and the Golden Book Music Video series.

Golden Book Video Killers

1st Logo (Opening)

(December 8, 2007-September 2018)

Nickname: "The Turning Golden Book"

Logo: The screen is divided into two parts horizontally: the top half is black and the bottom half is a lilac-sea green gradient. We see a book with its bottom side facing us, on the bottom half of the screen. Daffy Duck is standing on the right side, and Grumpy on the left. As we zoom out it opens up and the pages turn, while a yellow pie-shaped sun flies up from the book, whose pages rise up and turn yellow. As this happens, the background becomes completely black, all the while Daffy and Grumpy (and on occasion, Yoshi) are dancing and singing along with the logo.The pages and sun turn golden (or at least a cheesy recreation) as a golden rounded rectangle border zooms out and encloses the elements, with a space left where a ray of light wipes "GOLDEN" in a Serif Gothic-like font below it. The rounded rectangle "morphs" into a TV tube as "GOLDEN" zooms out to make way for "BOOK" which is wiped on similarly, and "VIDEO" which zooms out below that, with a shadow effect, followed by "KILLERS (number of episode)" fading in underneath "VIDEO". (On special episodes, the text under "VIDEO" just says "KILLERS" with a subtitle reading "SPECIAL (franchise name) EDITION." The logo shines several times.

Closing Variants:In most cases, the "shining" part of the logo plays at the end, without music, and with Daffy Duck or another character complaining about how boring the closing logo is. On Golden Book Video Killers XVII the standard "shining" end variant is seen, but the logo spins into view from a far distance before resuming like normal once it is at the correct size, when this happens Daffy, Grumpy and Mushu all get dizzy and then puke. On four GBVK episodes, a different animation was used sometimes, which is described as the second logo.

FX/SFX: All the animation in the logo. Daffy and Grumpy are superimposed live-action puppets.

Music/Sounds: There were two fanfares used on this logo, both synthesized. They both were basically the same in format, but used two different sets of keys. "Version 1" is heard on 1985-1986 video releases that are spoofed; "Version 2" is used on spoofed video releases from late-1986 to 1996. Grumpy and Daffy hum along with the music as the logo starts, then sing with it "Golden Boooook Video Killerrrrrrrs!" The key they sing it in depends on the fanfare being used. On special episodes, after singing, Daffy Duck says "A special edition!"

Music/Sounds Variant:

An abridged version of the logo is used which plays a variation of the last few notes of the 2nd version music, and the GoldenVision logo follows it. This has Daffy and Grumpy just briefly singing "Golden Book Video Killerrrrrs!"

On the episode Golden Book Video Killers: Special Care Bears Edition, Daffy sings along in a somewhat sarcastic tone, then says in a depressed sort of tone "A special edition..." and sighs.

On the episode Golden Book Video Killers XVI, Daffy Duck is tied up and gagged, and tries singing along in a muffled voice. After singing, Daffy shouts (though still muffled) "UNTIE ME THIS INSTANT!"

On Golden Book Video Killers: Si and Am's Edition, after singing along with the theme, one of the cats (Si or Am) says "OUR episode!"

On Golden Book Video Killers XXIX, after singing the theme, Daffy, dressed in his Duck Dodgers outfit, calls out "With Duck Dodgers of the 24th 1/2 Century!"

On the closing variant, Daffy Duck would usually say something along the lines of "Aw man/crap/nuts/darn it, this one doesn't have the Space Logo (either)!" usually followed by "That's lame/stupid/dumb!", "What a rip-off!" Or "That's Just Dreamworks Territory!"

On Golden Book Video Killers: Special Care Bears Edition at the closing, Mushu the Dragon complains about there being no Space Logo, so Daffy comes up and accuses him of stealing his bit, and they both fight as it fades out. Golden Book Video Killers: Special Pound Puppies Edition also features a similar bit at the end, but with Tito the Chihuahua instead of Mushu.

On Golden Book Video Killers XX, at the closing, Daffy Duck simply says "Well you cut that out!".

On Golden Book Video Killers: Special He-Man Edition, at the closing of the third story, Daffy Duck feels relieved and says "Wow! At least the Space Logo was there in the middle of this video."

Availability: Seen on all episodes of Golden Book Video Killers after our hosts introduce the episode and the Golden Book Video they are presenting begins.

Scare Factor: Low; this logo has cool animation effects, and the presence of Daffy and Grumpy makes it a rather funny logo.

2nd Logo (Closing)

(December 8, 2007-January 2, 2018)

Nicknames: "(Outer) Space", "The Final Frontier... AAAAAAAAH!", "All Right, the Space Logo!",  Daffy Duck Versus the Comet , "Duck Dodgers Collides With the Space Logo"

Logo: We start out zooming in space, with an orange planet at the right of the screen and a blue planet at the left. Daffy Duck pops up, pleased to see this logo and begins flying around. Suddenly a comet appears and flies towards the center of the screen as Daffy zooms toward it. When it reaches the center it "blows up"--i.e., there is a flash and the screen turns yellowish tint and a few yellow streaks emerge from the center and fly toward the screen, slightly moving left as they do so. As this happens, Daffy goes flying off-screen. A large Golden Book Video logo glowing blue zooms-out as the yellowish tint fades, as Daffy comes back up again, looking dazed. The logo shines and zooms out with a yellow shadow effect.

Variant: Each time this has been seen, Daffy Duck's dialogue has been a bit different:

Golden Book Video Killers (I): This is a rare version were we do not see Daffy instead we hear Daffy saying "oh this is a nice space scene, oh look here comes the comet." then an explosion effect happens and everything go black and we here Grumpy saying "we're dead".

Golden Book Video Killers: Special Revised Edition (a remake of Golden Book Video Killers (I)): Daffy says "All right, the Space Logo! Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half Centur..." and yells "OW!" when he collides with the comet. Then he says "Why do I have to do something like that?"

Golden Book Video Killers V: Daffy says "Yes, the Space Logo! Duck Dodgers and the return of the 24th and a half Centur..." and yells "YOUCH!" when he collides with the comet. Then he says "I gotta stop doing this bit," then Yoshi comments off-camera as the "shadow effect" zoom-out occurs, "Maybe if you weren't so obsessed with it!" to which Daffy replies, "Yeah." before fading out.

Golden Book Video Killers: Special He-Man Edition: Daffy Duck, in his "He-Duck" alter-ego, says "All right, it's the Space Logo! He-Duck to the rescue, with the power of his magic... YOUCH!" After the explosion, Daffy groans and says "I guess He-Duck is no match for the comet, too!" and walks off. Unlike the other three appearances, this one appears about halfway through the episode (in-between the second and third stories).

Golden Book Video Killers: Mushu Takes Over: Daffy says: "All right! The Space Logo! Duck Dodgers of the 24th and a half centur- YOW!" Then Mushu says: "Why do you always do that?" and Daffy says: "It's a running gag. Live with it."

Golden Book Video Killers XXIX: Daffy, in his Duck Dodgers outfit, says "YAY, the space logo! Duck Dodgers of the 24th 1/2 Centure-AAAH!" After the explosion, Daffy comes back up and says "I gotta stop doing this every time it comes on.

Trivia:

This logo has been referenced a few times in other episodes, such as Golden Book Video Killers: Special Sesame Street Edition when a similar "streaks" animation plays during an explosion sequence at the video's intro, to which Daffy says "Just like the Space Logo!" and Golden Book Video Killers XVII where (in between the spinning Golden Book Video logo mentioned above and the White Screen of Death) Daffy talks about how in 1985 Golden Book Video closing logos had more variety, one of the mentioned variants is this logo.

A future variant was planned for the beginning of the unproducedGolden Book Video Killers: Special Sandra Beech Edition where Daffy says "All right, the Space Logo! Duck Dodgers and the return of the 24th and a half centur... YOUCH!", and after a female voiceover says "The best in chidren's entertainment presented by Golden Book Video", Daffy says "What?! Who said that?". When the GBV logo appears, the words "KILLERS" and "Special Sandra Beech Edition" appear. Unlike the other four appearances, this one appears at the beginning of the episode (replacing the Opening Logo).

FX/SFX: The panning through space, the comet zooming toward the screen and exploding, the Golden Book Video logo animation, the "shadow effect" zoom out, and the live-action Daffy.

Cheesy Factor: The video animation is NOT suitable AT ALL to follow children's programming; it's very dark and ominous, the comet animation is very choppy and lumpy (even worse than early Hanna-Barbera or Jay Ward's animation), the "explosion" is really fake and amateurish, and the "shadow effect" is bad enough!

Music/Sounds: A strange humming sound as we begin, with a "whoosh" as the comet appears followed by a synthesized explosion sound, another strange humming sound, and a gradual synthesized fade-out during the "shadow effect". This all plays underneath Daffy's dialogue.

Availability: Only the episodes mentioned in "Variant" above, but should be expected to appear on more as the series progresses.

Scare Factor: Medium to high; with the very dark theme, horrific comet/explosion animation, combined with the strange humming, and the unnerving "shadow effect", this is one of the scariest children's logos ever, but this "spoofed" variant with Daffy Duck is rather funny, but can still catch some people off guard.

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GoldenVision Edition

Background: This was the general entertainment division of Golden Book Video.

(October 13, 2009 - April 2018)

Nicknames: “The Big Golden V”, "V of Gold"

Logo: We see the end part of the Golden Book Video Killers logo, where it shines all over, and Daffy and Grumpy are singing along (saying "Golden Video Killerrs!!") with it as usual. Suddenly, the logo zooms out as "KILLERS" fades out, as Daffy yells "WHAT THE?!" and we zoom out through a giant outlined “V” over a red rectangle, on its side. As Grumpy and Daffy dance to the music, the "V" shape rotates into place, and “Golden” zooms out, then “Vision” (with a “V” that’s bigger than the other letters), and you see the sides of the words as they zoom out, but they then turn into place. As this happens, Daffy says "Cool animation!" Once the two words settle onto the rectangle, the rectangle produces a yellow flash around the edges. The words shine twice, then the rectangle’s edges flash yellow again, all the while Daffy says "A GoldenVision Edition!".

Closing Variant: The end variant just showed the fully-formed logo shining, as Daffy complains how GoldenVision releases end in a lame manner.

FX/SFX: The logo parts zooming-out, the shining and flashing. Very good CGI animation for its time.

Music/Sounds: The end of the 1986 jingle with a 4-note synth fanfare throughout is heard at the beginning of the logo where we see the Golden Book Video logo, combined with Daffy and Grumpy singing "Golden Book Video Killerrrrrrrrrrs!", then it transforms into a whoosh when we go to the GoldenVision logo which crescends into a different synthesizer tune, which sounds like something on a light rock station (or a 16-bit SNES system or MIDI file). The end version is silent except for Daffy's dialogue.

Availability: Only seen so far on Golden Book Video Killers VI and the twoGolden Book Video Killers: Special School House Rock Editions.

Scare Factor: None.

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Golden Step Ahead Edition

Background: This was the educational division of Golden Book Video.

(December 16, 2010 - September 2018)

Logo: On a tan background, we see a drawing of a girl in a red dress run toward two other children, one male and one female. Daffy and Grumpy are imitating the walking, as Yoshi comments on it, saying "What the? Oh, they're animated so weirdly!" The three children then continue walking and meet up with two other children, one male and one female. Then, the camera zooms out, and one small boy runs toward the other children to catch up with them. They all transform into still images, as Daffy and Grumpy freeze. The words "A GOLDEN STEP AHEAD EDITION" appear above, as Daffy says "A Golden Step-Ahead Edition!" and Yoshi comments "Oooh, look at that! Human statuettes with actual colors!"

Variant: On Golden Book Video Killers XXI and XXIII, Yoshi does not appear, we only see Grumpy and Daffy.

FX/SFX: The animation of the children combined with the live-action Grumpy, Daffy and sometimes Yoshi.

Music/Sounds: A gentle guitar/woodwind tune. As it plays, Daffy and Grumpy hum along with the music as they imitate the animation, and then after they freeze, they stop humming so Daffy can say his line. The dialogue mentioned above is also present of course.

Availability: The original version has only appeared on the series' first, last and only double-feature episode Golden Book Video Killers XIII and XIV. The Yoshi-less variant has appeared onGolden Book Video Killers XXI and XXIII. This logo always follows the standard Golden Book Video Killers opening.

Scare Factor: None; this logo is nice and rather funny.