Gecko Studios

Background
Gecko Studios was a production company that was formed by Elliot Strange in 1987, based in Houston, Texas. Following creative issues at ABC centering on The Halloween Gang and them restructuring their programs under the guidance of the Q5 Corporation for that year's television season. Strange initially created Gecko to fulfill executive producer obligations due to him agreeing to helm the show's syndication package. After getting officially launched in 1992, Gecko would later expand to producing art assets and cutscenes for video games, as well as acquiring anime releases for localization and distribution on cable and independent junctures, along with producing animated programs (albeit only landing two successful pitches.) Gecko would also produce commercials, namely for clients like Subway, Frito Lay (Munchos), The Coca-Cola Company (Barq Root Beer) and Winstar Communications, but are perhaps best known for producing advertisements for Japanese and Korean clients like Sharp, JVC, KEC Corporation and Funai, the latter mainly for their Symphonic line of televisions. Gecko would shut down professionally in 2005 and relaunch as a producer of Java and flash content, producing Hudson Soft conversions along with original titles in collaboration with Namco and Konami/PlayFirst. Gecko would move away from full-scale productions for several years before returning to it in 2017.

1st Logo (1987)
Logo: On a black background we see a blue circle zooming forward with a wide glow slowly forming around it. The glow shrinks as the circle moves closer. Suddenly, the circle turns orange along with the glow, and once the latter makes it to the circle, a gecko embryo forms.

FX/SFX: The zooming.

Music/Sounds: An 8-note percussive string tune followed by a dramatic orchestral finish.

Availability: Extinct. This only appeared at the start of a sales tape for The Halloween Gang 's syndication package.

2nd Logo (1987-1988)
Logo: Against a blackboard-like background, we see four characters; a girl with braids with a sad look, a freckled girl with a dazed look and open mouth, a short-haired brunette laughing and a similar girl with an overbite donning visible braces and looking confused. "GECKO STUDIOS" is in the center in a scrawled font.

Trivia: These characters would also be used in the logo for It's Time for Cake in 1999. The characters would appear in a series of shorts Strange would create in 2007.

FX/SFX: None, beyond the fade-in.

Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.

Availability: Ultra rare.


 * Appeared on The Halloween Gang 's syndication package as well as local reruns of the first season through The Program Exchange.
 * Preserved on early VHS releases by Family Home Entertainment.
 * This plasters the Blessard Animation Productions logo on local reruns of the first season and episodes eight through thirteen of the second season. This is owed to Gecko and Sternwest Productions acquiring the rights to the former, and the five episodes from season 2 had been traded with those from the syndicated episodes.
 * In the early-2000s, Sternwest sold off the syndicated and other previously acquired episodes to Blessard, leading to Gecko's logo being removed. This occurred in 2009 with the show's DVD release, which also plastered DiC Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecommunications' logos with those for Cookie Jar Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television respecitvely.
 * What's odd about the above is that neither company was always present in the production of most episodes; the syndicated episodes were handled by Nelvana due to the syndicated season and the second season being released around the same time, while Coca-Cola Telecommunications would fold by the end of 1987 and LBS Communications would take up distribution duties.
 * Was kept intact as late as 1995 through reruns on USA Network and TBS. Interesting thing to note on the latter is that one of the episodes they aired used a direct rip from FHE's VHS release and it had their logo at the end.
 * Was also seen on Australian airings on ABC until their prints were updated.

Editor's Note: This marked an early point in Gecko's history, when it was made solely to handle production duties on The Halloween Gang 's syndication package out of protest toward executive mandates made by ABC for the September, 1987 network season. Due to frequent trouble Strange faced with Sternwest, including an incident where Strange punched co-owner and then manager Phil Sterns, Strange does not acknowledge this era of Gecko Studios.

3rd Logo (1989-)
Logo: We see a gecko embryo illuminate against a sandy background. The sand slowly parts as a gecko emerges from the embryo and begins crawling around. Enough sand is moved to reveal the white word "GECK" etched into a rocky background. The gecko crawls next to the "K" and bursts into flames, forming into the embryo from earlier.

Variant:


 * A shortened version exists, where it shows the last few seconds.
 * This shares the screen with the third logo for It's Time for Cake on Dark Materials. However, there is an exception with the first episode which was released on YouTube for free to promote the series when the producers were looking for a network to air it.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A tribal tune.

Music/Sounds/Variant: In 2022, the shortened variant features two scorching sounds.

Availability: The long version appeared on the film Tonka: Search and Rescue, 7 Deadly Tales and Memory. The short version appeared on The Halloween Kids, Forget Tess and the miniseries WorldBuilders. It also appeared on various unsold pilots, an American adaptation for Watch With Mother, Hang in There, Yogi Bear!, Rockett to Earth, Foxtrot and Hailey's Debts. The long version had also plastered the fourth logo on re-releases of Gecko's anime acquisitions by Media Blasters/AnimeWorks. It can currently be seen on Dark Materials.

4th Logo (1992-1999)
Logo: On a black background, we see the word "GECKO" in a Century Gothic font, with a gecko embryo in place of the "O". Suddenly, the background flashes as the text pulsates and becomes electrified before returning to its previous state.

FX/SFX: The flashing and the jolts.

Music/Sounds: A tense synth pad drone.

Availability: Used primarily on anime acquisitions. It appeared on the 1992 Streamline Pictures dub of The Fairies of Silver Platte and the ADV dub of Titanic. This was plastered by the third logo on re-releases by Media Blasters/AnimeWorks. This doesn't appear on the Central Park Media dub of Primal Rage, which has a version of the next logo below.

5th Logo (1992-2008, 2020)
Logo: Same concept as the first logo, but this time featuring the logotype from the second logo in the middle of the screen.

Variant:


 * On Green Jean for the SEGA Genesis, the logo is letterboxed and has text above it reading: "Art direction handled by"
 * On Green Jean 2: The Meaner and Greener Edition, similar to above, text is above the logo reading "Contains cutscenes and art assets provided by Gecko Studios.". There is also text below listing the company's location and web URL.
 * On the Central Park Media dub of the Primal Rage OVA, this shares the screen with the logos for SEGA, Broadway Video, Distant Horizon and Central Park Media.

FX/SFX: None, unless you count the fade in on most uses.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Used mainly on video games where Strange handled the art direction and cutscenes. Seen on Green Jean for the SEGA Genesis and SEGA CD, Green Jean 2: Enter the Nega Jean for the SEGA Saturn and PlayStation (along with its expansion Green Jean 2: The Meaner and Greener Edition for PC and the SEGA Dreamcast), Green Jean (2002) for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and XBOX and WorldBuilders for the Game Boy Advance. It also appeared on various mobile phone games, such as the java conversion of Binary Land and original titles like Tricky Pac-Man and Hotel Manager. Strangely appeared on the Central Park Media dub of the Primal Rage OVA in spite of a dedicated logo existing (lest this was to play on the fact it was based on a video game.) It was brought back for the freeware game Spongey Dev Kit.