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. Gecko would later expand to acquiring anime releases for localization and distribution on cable and independent junctures, along with other animated productions. 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 2004 after the release of their last film. Gecko would relaunch as a producer of Java and flash content, producing Hudson Soft conversions along with original titles in collaboration with Namco and Konami/PlayFirst. The name would be retired by 2009, as Strange would focus more on online content, though it would be revived twice between 2012 and 2020, with his wife Madelyne Dern joining him in 2020.

1st Logo (1987)
Logo: Against a blackboard-like background, we see four characters; an adult blonde woman with a scowl, a black haired girl with glasses and braces, also having a shocked look, a short-haired brunette laughing and a girl with a forlorn look. "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: Appeared on the syndication run of The Halloween Gang.This and the logos for Sternwest Productions and Entropy Films would wind up plastering the Blessard Animation Productions on local reruns of the first season of The Halloween Gang, as well as the eighth through thirteenth episodes of the second (those were traded off from the syndicated seasons) distributed through The Program Exchange. This also applies to earlier VHS releases through Family Home Entertainment, as Strange sanctioned the release. Newer prints, such as the budget DVD release by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, wind up removing the logos, and as is the case with shows produced by DiC Entertainment and those inherited Sony Pictures Television, the DiC and Coca-Cola Telecommunications logo are replaced with the Cookie Jar Entertainment and SPT Bars of Boredom respectively, while the Gecko, Sternwest and Entropy logos are replaced by the Blessard Animation Productions logo.

2nd Logo (1992-2012, 2020-)
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(s):


 * When the logo debuted, it was still.
 * On the OVA Champion, this shares the screen with the logos for GoodTimes Entertainment, Central Park Media, Broadway Video and Distant Horizon.
 * On some episodes of Dark Materials, this shares the screen with the logo for It's Time for Cake.

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A tribal tune.

Availability: First appeared on the Streamline Pictures dub of The Fairies of Silver Platte. Would go on to appear on the ADV Films dub of Esteem and the Central Park Media dubs of the OVA Champion and Titanic (the 1998 anime), and the film Tonka: Search and Rescue. The short version appeared on the unsold pilots for The New Adventures of Woody Woodpecker, Rockett to Earth and Foxtrot, The Halloween Kids, Forget Tess and the miniseries WorldBuilders. It was brought back in 2012 for the film Don't Watch These: Five of the Worst Movies Ever Made. It was brought back yet again for the film Memory and the series Dark Materials.

3rd 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"

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

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

Availability: Seen on Green Jean for the SEGA Genesis and SEGA CD, Green Jean 2: Enter the Nega Jean for the SEGA Saturn and PlayStation, 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. It was brought back for the freeware game Spongey Dev Kit.