Gecko Studios

Background
Gecko Studios was a production company that was formed by Elliot Strange in 1987, based in San Diego, California. 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 1989, the company would expand to creating new productions, though could only land three successful pitches, also assisting on producing cutscenes and character designs for video games as well as acquiring anime releases to sell to distributors and rescuing cancelled projects. Gecko would also produce commercials, namely for clients like Subway, Robert’s American Gourmet Food (Smart Puffs, Original Tings), The Coca-Cola Company (Barq Root Beer), Diners Club International and the Got Milk? campaign, 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 become dormant in 2005, but Strange has gone on record saying the company was not dead. In 2017, Strange announced a partnership with Twitter influencer Doug Barton, but things became fractured due to mounting animosity between Strange and Barton over differences in opinion, culminating in Strange cutting ties with him following a controversy surround a review of Pixar's Turning Red, with Strange bringing up Barton's endorsements and donations made toward the likes of Phil DeGraw and Autism Speaks. Strange would sell Gecko Studios' catalog to Passport Films and stepped down as a showrunner for the then upcoming Gran 2.0, giving it to writer and illustrator Morton Ezra. Strange would remove all of his online profiles thereafter, though would put out a message to assure fans he was alright, but no longer had any reason to return to the animation industry.

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 a ponytail with a scared look, a brunette with a wide grin, an auburn-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.

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. British prints issued by The Video Collection had used FHE's prints; though this only occurred for early releases in 1989. Re-issues used The Program Exchange's prints.
 * 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 respectively.
 * 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, with distribution duties being taken over by The Kushner-Locke Company.
 * The primetime special The Celtic Connection was exempt from this, due to Sternwest not having any involvement, them considering primetime specials to be too expensive, though this logo doesn't appear on it. However, as with other titles in the Kushner-Locke Company's library, the Multicom Entertainment Group logo plasters the former.
 * 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.
 * Airings on The Children's Channel had used The Program Exchange's prints, though British airings would have their prints 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 (1988-2002)
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.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A tribal tune.

Availability: Appeared on the film Tonka: Search and Rescue, the short-lived Black Lagoon Adventures, The Halloween Kids and Forget Tess. It also appeared the unsold pilot Rockett to Earth. It debuted on the primetime special The Halloween Gang: The Celtic Connection. Also appeared on anime acquisitions, such as the Streamline Pictures dubs of The Fairies of Silver Platte and the obscure Strikers, and also appeared on the Primal Rage OVA.

4th Logo (1992-2003)
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, along with anime acquisitions. Seen on Green Jean for the SEGA Genesis and SEGA CD and 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).

5th Logo (2002)
Logo: We fade in to the inside of a car driving down a desert highway with power lines, via the perspective of the backseat. A blonde-haired woman is driving while a curly haired girl is in the passenger seat. Three flies splat onto the windshield and the woman activates the wipers, leaving behind a red smear with the Gecko logotype on it. The woman looks on in disgust

FX/SFX: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: An easy listening tune with sounds corresponding to the actions.

Availability: Seen on Green Jean for XBOX, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC and Macintosh.