Millar Gough Ink

''This article is about a real company. For a fictionalized company, see Millar Gough Ink.''

Background
Millar/Gough Ink is an American film and television production company founded by Miles Millar and Alfred Gough.

1st Logo (October 12, 1999-November 10, 2011)




Nicknames: "Orange-Red Ink", "Ink Bottle Gets the Hammer", "Hammer Breaks The Ink Bottle", "Ink Spreading", "Okay, Who Broke the Ink Bottle?"

Logo: In an office setting, we see a bottle filled with orange red ink in it. A black label covers the bottom half, containing the words reading "MILLAR GOUGH INK" in an Impact font,, a stacked format and all in capital letters. The word "INK" has the bottom half in white. A split-second before the logo ends, a hammer (which can be seen coming down in the bottle's reflection (white light part) if the viewer looks very closely) swings down and breaks the bottle, causing the orange red ink in it to spread everywhere, including covering up the whole screen.

Variants:

Trivia: None.
 * Formats for any show may use the logo include:
 * Full Screen/Open Matte Version: For standard airings, sometimes the logo is in an open matte format. Most prints have the logo cropped.
 * Widescreen/HD Version: For most prints of any shows, the logo is cropped in 16:9 aspect ratio.
 * As originally seen on The Strip, the logo plays faster.
 * On 2003 DVD releases as well as UK airings of season 1 of Smallville, the logo is shown in full screen with left and right black bars.

Technique: Entire live-action footage.

Cheesy Factor: How can there be so much ink in that one, tiny bottle? Also, the transition to the next/split-screen logo is really poorly done.

Music/Sounds: Depending on the variant:


 * October 12, 1999-July 7, 2000: The closing theme of the show, along with the splattering sound.
 * October 16, 2001-February 12, 2002: Just a sound of the bottle breaking.
 * February 26, 2002-May 21, 2002: An odd, three-note piano tune with an eerie sound effect.
 * September 24, 2002-November 10, 2011: A reverberating cartoon ditty.

Music/Sounds Variants:


 * On the Smallville season 1 episodes "X-Ray" and "Hug", no audio is played over the logo.
 * On The C&W airings of Smallville, it may use generic themes and the announcer.

Availability: Common. First seen on The Strip, and was later seen on Smallville, the 2006 television pilot of Aquaman and the 2011 remake of Charlie's Angels. The extended version was extinct.

Legacy: The bottle breaking with no warning can be jarring to many people, though it is slightly less scary with the music playing.

Scare Factor: Depending on the variant:


 * 1999-2000: High, the splattering sound could get some people.
 * 2001-2002: Medium to high. The bottle breaking with no warning can be jarring to many people.
 * Early 2002: Medium, the piano tune can be creepy.
 * 2002-2011: Low to medium (sometimes minimal). It is more familiar with the music playing.

2nd Logo (November 15, 2015-November 23, 2022)


Logo: On a black background, we see the stacked words "MILLAR GOUGH". To the right of it is a beaker with a water-drop in it. Inside the drop is "INK".

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or the ending theme of the show.

Availability: Seen on the 2015 AMC series Into the Badlands, the 2016 MTV series The Shannara Chronicles and the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday.

Legacy: None.

Scare Factor: Low.