Background: Ickis Pictures was an independent company produced in association with Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. It was initially used when Angelica Puckle (not Angelica Pickles, the fictional charcter from Rugrats and All Grown Up) and Cannell Animation/Visual Arts co-produced How Oblina Stole Summer! and Ickis Hears a Who!, until it moved from Earth's Ameirca to Mars' Mobius and Dr. Robotnik Animation Studios took over animation production of the Real Monsters TV specials in 1993. Currently, The Cannell Studios owns How Oblina Stole Summer! and Ickis Hears a Who!, while Dr. Robotnik licenses the remaining material along with Ickis Pictures, Inc. In 1999, the series Oblina's Pinatas was launched and become a Dr. Robotnik hit series and it was ended in 2008.
1st Logo (1988-1992)
logo: A yellow circle appears on a dark blue (or sky blue) background, surrounded a circle by the words "A ICKIS PICTURES PRESENTATION", and inside the yellow circle is a white circle with a purple monster named Ickis (from AAAHH!!! Real Monsters). He "blinks" his eyes. On the closing credits of How Oblina Stole Summer!, the logo would cross-fade to the 1987 Stephen J. Cannell Productions logo.
Cheesy Factor: Ickis' eyes look a little unusual.
Music/Sounds: None, just the opening/closing of the animated special. However, on the 1995 VHS release, Cartoon Network airings, the 2002 Anchor Bay DVD release, and the 2009 Mill Creek DVD release of How Oblina Stole Summer!, it has the farting version of the Viacom "V of Steel" jingle playing over the logo.
Availability: Rare. Can be seen on the earlier Real Monsters specials, specifically on How Oblina Stole Summer! and Ickis Hears a Who!
Scare Factor: None. But the cross-fade into the Cannell typewriter logo may throw people off.
2nd Logo (1993-1997)
Nicknames: "Ickis II", "The Logo of the Water", "The Magician Cat"
Logo: On a black background, we see a yellow circle with Ickis (from AAAHH!!! Real Monsters) inside the purple circle as in the first logo. The words "A ICKIS PICTURES PRESENTATION" surround the circle, and Ickis does some tricks (his bowtie spins, and then his hat compresses and then expands back to normal size, and he blinks).
Variants:
- On the logo's 1993 debut in The Shadow of Oblina, it begins with water drops on a black background, and a big drop falls down on the screen, transforming into the finished logo seen above. The standard version was introduced in 1994 in front of Oblina Takes Over Rugrats, and ended in 1997 with The Crossroad Highway.
- The closing variant of this logo is completely still, with the sky blue circle inside. It can be seen at the end of Oblina Takes Over Rugrats.
- The animated closing variant of this logo back from 1997 has a dark blue background and the same sky blue circle inside. It can be only seen on The Crossroad Highway, which was the last special to use the logo.
Music/Sounds: On the short "standard" version, just instrumental sounds while Ickis is doing tricks leading to a short dramatic fanfare in the short logo, all composed by Earth's music composer Mark Mothersbaugh. On The Shadow of Oblina, we hear dramatic "ding" sound as the water drops, followed by Heffer Wolfe (from Rocko's Modern Life) who says (when the logo forms) "Ickis Pictures presents...", and finally, (on the title screen) "The Shadow of Oblina". On the closing variant, it uses the closing theme of the show.
Availability: Rare. Can be only seen on the first five specials produced by Dr. Robotnik Animation Studios, including The Shadow of Oblina, Oblina Takes Over Rugrats, the RMOTL shorts W.Z.E.A. and Original Boy, and of course, The Crossroad Highway. The closing variant is extremely rare and can be seen on Oblina Takes Over Rugrats. Expect the 2011 Pronz Film Releasing logo to precede this logo on many remastered prints of The Shadow of Oblina, Oblina Takes Over Rugrats and Real Monsters on the Loose, all released on DVD. The 1994 version can be found on the Original Boy DVD release.
Scare Factor: None, it's sure to be a favorite of Real Monsters fans.
3rd Logo (1995, Alternate)
Nicknames: "Ickis III", "That's Me!"
Logo: On a blue background we see Ickis' tails (from AAAHH!!! Real Monsters) inside a blue circle with a gold circle outline around it. We then see Ickis revealing wearing his tail, and says his catchphrase "That's me!". Then Ickis holds a yellow paper, revealing the title screen that says "REAL MONSTERS ON THE LOOSE", in the same font as the Rocket Power ending credits, but in red.
Variant: There is a closing variant in which the catchphrase "That's me!" and the title screen were cut out, instead, the logo freezes and fades away. It was seen at the end of Original Boy and Real Monsters on the Loose.
FX/SFX: Ickis appearing, the title screen revealing.
Music/Sounds: The Man With The Yellow Hat (from the 2006 Curious George series) who says "Ickis Pictures presents..." (on the logo) with Ickis saying "That's me!", followed by (again, on the title card) "Real Monsters on the Loose". On the closing variant, the closing theme of the show.
Availability: Rare. Only seen on Real Monsters on the Loose (1995) and Original Boy. The recent DVD release of the TV special cuts this opening logo and replaces it with the 1994 opening logo from Oblina Takes Over Rugrats.
Scare Factor: None.
4th Logo (1998)
Logo: On a yellow background, we see the print version of the next logo only the company name is blue. Below that is "presents" in an Arial font.
Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the Oblina's Pinatas pilot episode.
Availability: Rare. Seen only on the original pilot of Oblina's Pinatas from 1998.
Scare Factor: Low. The music for the pilot of Oblina's Pinatas does seem a bit ominous.
5th Logo (1999-2008)
Variants:
- There was a filmed variant where the logo animation was much slower, and among finishing, the red text appears above it. The videotaped variant as seen on the series speeds up the animation, then freezes on the finished logo for a few seconds until the "ICKIS PICTURES" text appears above it.
- On Oblina's Pinatas Christmas Special and on video games with the Oblina's Pinatas license, the logo is still.
- On the Oblina's Pinatas episode "Oblina Meets Ickis", the logo is cut short, bypassing the "sleeping and blocks and circles forming" animation and goes straight to the company name appearing.
Music/Sounds Variants: There are two music variants with split screen credits:
- On Robotnik and Robotniktoons airings with split-screen credits, a loud whirring noise with French horns is heard.
- Early split-screen airings has a flute/bass electric guitar/woodwind flute tune composed, written, and played by Jhas Blujk and his brother Nick Blujk and sister Lisa Franks-Blujk accompanied by boing noises, the film-projector noise from the VID-TV logo, Ickis yawning and saying "HEY! Look where you're going!" (even though his mouth does not move!) and stamping and crashing noises.
- On video games with Oblina's Pinatas license and on the Oblina's Pinatas episode "A Oblina Halloween Special", a farting sound is heard.
Availability: Appears on reruns of Oblina's Pinatas on RobotnikToons. However, the pilot used the previous logo instead.
Scare Factor: Low.