Gecko Studios

Background
Gecko Studios was a production company that was formed by Elliot Strange in 1987, based in Tyler, 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 sought to fund and produce a greenlit syndication run for the show, leading to him creating Gecko and seeking out other producers interested in the project. Strange's association with producers Phil Sterns and Julia West from the syndicated season helped to finance a pet project Strange was working on, which would become The Key to Laurie Locke. The film was only a moderate success, but enabled Strange to build connections from there. He would later help acquire and produce an American dub of the anime film Gin no ōzara no yōsei (released in the US as The Fairies of Silver Platte.) From there, Gecko would produce animated commercials for local Texas businesses, but would later land major clients such as RadioShack, Whataburger, Mystic Pizza, Barq root beer, Rolling Rock beer, Yuengling and more notably, American advertising for NEC/Hudson Soft and SNK for the TurboExpress and the Neo Geo Pocket Color respectively. The company went dormant in 2002, but was briefly brought back in 2011 only to fall short again. In 2015, the company was acquired by Sterner Stuff and went through a restructure. Under Sterner Stuff, the company became an animation studio, contracting other studios for animation services, Jam Filled Entertainment being a primary client. Around 2019, the company landed a distribution deal with STXtelevision and an exclusivity agreement with Apple to release future productions.

1st Logo (1987)
Logo: On a black background, we see a grey box containing a circular image of a girl with her hair arranged in a pony-tail fashion and wearing a red sports shirt with blue jeans, standing in a fighting stance. The girl throws a few rapid punches before the image freezes. Beneath the frame is the text "GECKO STUDIOS" in black.

Trivia: The girl in the logo is known as Judy. She was the first character ever created by Strange. She was intended to be included in The Halloween Gang, but as co-creator Byron Blessard had become more accepting of ABC's impending alterations, intended to revision her as a more submissive character (Blessard had also become infamous for a number of allegations of pedophilia, which would get confirmed years later.) The extent of the conflict led to Strange using Judy as a personal trophy to reflect his victory against Blessard and the network. Judy would appear in The Halloween Kids and would also appear in various commercials produced by Gecko.

FX/SFX: The punching.

Music/Sounds: Various punching sounds, ending with a bell sound.

Availability: Appeared on syndicated episodes of The Halloween Gang. This and the Sternwest Productions logos would wind up plastering the Blessard Animation Productions on local reruns of the first season and the eighth through thirteenth episodes of the second (those were traded off from the syndicated seasons) distributed through The Program Exchange. This principle also applies to earlier VHS releases through Family Home Entertainment.

2nd Logo (1989-1995)
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, the image from before fades in. The background flickers as Judy throws a punch before the image clears out, leaving an image of her 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: Originally none. In 1995, it was given a fast paced techno theme

Availability: Seen on The Key to Laurie Locke, The Milkman, the Streamline Pictures dub of The Fairies of Silver Platte and the 1995 remake of The Beast of Yucca Flats.

3rd Logo (1998-2007, 2021-)
Logo: Atop a skyscraper against a red background, we see a blonde woman and the girl from the previous logo in superhero garb standing triumphantly. A spotlight containing a gecko embryo is to the left and above them is a marquee reading "GECKO STUDIOS"

Variant:


 * On Champion, this shares the screen with the logos for Distant Horizon, Broadway Video and The Firm.
 * On Sami, this shares the screen with the logo for The Tannenbaum Company.

FX/SFX: Flash animation.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Appeared on the short-lived The Halloween Kids. Was also seen on Forget Tess and its spin-off holiday specials, which were last seen on Nicktoons Network years ago and the obscure OVA Champion. Brought back for Sami. First appeared on the unsold pilots for Laborteria and Foxtrot.

4th Logo (2012)
Logo: On a white background, we see a gecko in wizard garb and two kids standing before it. The gecko waves its magic wand and conjures up a gecko embryo, a film-reel, a camera and finally a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse. The dynamite explodes, leaving a majority of the area and the three covered in ash, with a spot of ash on the background having the name etched into it. The kids glare at the gecko who gives an embarrassed look.

FX/SFX: Traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: A piano tune with sounds corresponding to the actions.

Availability: Appeared on Channel 2 and Don't Watch These: Five of the Worst Movies Ever Made.

5th Logo (October, 2020)
Logo: Against a sheet of wallpaper, we see various pictures hung up. In the center we see a picture of the two characters from the previous logo sitting by a bar counter facing the viewer. The woman is drinking a coffee while the girl looks bored. "GECKO studios" is below in yellow.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None, or any still-playing sound or music from the proceeding episode.

Availability: Appeared on Little Miss Fearless.