MCH Productions

Background: In 1977, MCH was formed in a bedroom apartment in Los Vengoles, Decigornia, Union of Aqesia. The name of the company derives from the initials of the last names of the three producers: Charles Mallion, Dave Charler, and Gabere Heltian. During The Jenny Pennington Shows days, MCH produced the animated Brentons shorts, consisting of 48, before The Brentons became a full-time network series in 1982. After those initial skits, MCH worked with Trigon Television and Steven Kennington to produce the early seasons of the animated sitcom until 1989, when Hexafilm took over production. In 1984, the trio cut a production deal with KidWorld, and there they made the cable network's most successful animated series, Cats and Dogs. After that, MCH made other successful animated shows such as The Jungle Family, Don't be Afraid, XPlosive, Cats and Dogs in Space, Gooseboy (for Aqesian Cable Network and Natamount Network Television, distribution currently held by UBS), and The Weird Adventures of David O'Daniel (a promoted cartoon available exclusively at O'Daniel's restaurants from 1994 to early 2002). The company also produced Agent vs. Agent cartoons for FTV's FunnyTV.

1st Logo

(October 30, 1977-December 19, 1983)

Nicknames: "Ping-Pong Music", "M-C-H", “M-C-H Ping Pong”

Logo: The word "MCH", a letter at a time (in an ascending number: "M" (1), "C" (2) and "H" (3), slide in from the right on a red background. First, the letter "M" slides in. Then "C" slides in. Then "H" slides in. When the word "MCH" is formed, the camera quickly pans outward and the word "PRODUCTIONS" is seen to the right of the word "MCH". The logo is in the Futura Medium font in white.

Variants:

• One version of the logo replaces the red background with blue. Could possibly be because of film quality, however.
• Other sources would have this logo completely out of sync with the sound effects.
• There is a B&W variant.
• There is also a rare dark (not B&W) variant (possibly) due to the film deterioration.
• There is also a sepia variant.

FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: Animation was very rough, primitive keyboard music, the changing backgrounds.

Music/Sounds: Consists of pitch ascending ping-pong ball noises. The first three bring up the letters to "MCH", and the last, which plays over the zoom-out, has a zap-like "WHOOSH" that blends in with the last ping-pong noise, combined with a synth cord and gurgling sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes, the logo is silent.
• Sometimes, especially on PAL, SECAM, and German dubbed prints of shows made/produced by this company, the music is of a slightly higher pitch.

Availability: Extremely rare, due to excessive plastering with the "Pyramid of Doom" and "Flying Kitten" logos. The color version has turned up on at least 5-10 color episodes of My One Thousand Sons on TheTV years ago. Supposedly these include episodes last seen on Argosy Classics around 1987-1992. The B&W variant was seen on late 70s prints of The Grentingson Show, The Zenkei Raumcastoar Show, A Semi-Normal Affair, and The Middington Hillbillies, among other classic shows. This logo made a recent appearance on David's Heroes on the TV channel "HTV3" in Draconia, but only a split second was shown, due to dirt covering up the whole screen because HTV plc buried the film prints in a local baseball field. The B&W Variant appeared on a VHS of The Grentingson Show by Release Promotions titled The Grentingson Show Double Feature Volume 34. There is a really rare occurrence it may appear on YourNetworkTV, but the odds are very unlikely cause they usually plaster everyone's logos with their station ID. The blue variant appears at the end of the FastFood Video release of 5 Draconian Cartoons Featuring the Works of Raisgrove Gaul Films.

Scare Factor: Low to medium. It has scared some by its cheesy animation, fast pace, "zoom-out", and primitive music. But that's absolutely nothing comparing to the 2nd logo...

2nd Logo

(December 19, 1983-October 8, 1993)

Nicknames: "Pyramid of Doom", "Why, MCH? Why?", "The Personification of All That is Evil", "That Strange Logo After Cats and Dogs", "Why I Don't Watch The Credits of Cats and Dogs"

Logo: On a light blue background, a dark blue 3D pyramid zooms in (a la this universe's V of Doom). Afterwards, the white "MCH" lettering in the Cooper Black font zooms in similarly.

Variants:

• A still version of the logo was spotted on A Kid in Hell.
• A version exists on the first two seasons of Don't be Afraid where the logo fades out early and the music trails off into the KidWorld "Spiral" logo.
• On the Gexicainesian Spanish dubbed version of "Cats and Dogs", the logo is shown on the bottom right of the screen with the KidWorld "Russian Backwards R" logo at the top left.
• On a 1991 Christmas special of Cats and Dogs (later released on video as Christmas Chaos), the logo is superimposed over the end of the final scene.

FX/SFX: The zooming in...

Cheesy Factor: ...which is very choppy and complicated.

Music/Sounds: A very loud 5-note fanfare.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• In some cases, it uses the closing theme, like A Kid in Hell and the Cats and Dogs episode "The Evolution of Canis and Felis Sapiens/Literal Catfight".
• On "Birdy and Friends", the logo is silent.
• A version exists on the 1993 pilot of The Jungle Family where the logo plays as usual, but with the 1993 "Flying Kitten" logo audio instead. The pilot aired on September 1, 1993, and the "Flying Kitten" logo was introduced on October 8, 1993, so the "Flying Kitten" logo might had been intended to debut on this pilot, but for unknown reasons, was changed back to the "Pyramid of Doom" logo, but keeping the "Flying Kitten" audio intact. Interesting, but still very strange, not to mention that all other episodes with this logo use the normal music/sound variant.

Availability: Uncommon. Currently seen on Cats and Dogs episodes from the era on Retro Toons on Teen TV, DVD, and VHS (however, current prints of these episodes use the 2nd logo). An example of this is the 2003 Cats and Dogs Halloween VHS. It's also seen on DVDs of Gooseboy, DVDs of Fish City, and VHS tapes, DVDs and digital downloads of Don't Be Afraid. Also seen on early episodes of The Jungle Family. The Flying Kitten music variant is extinct, as the pilot hasn't been released or aired since its original airing in 1993. Don't expect to see this on the early seasons of The Brentons as the studio only did the animation for the show. They did not produce the show. Split-screen credits airings of their shows usually plasters this logo with the next one, but it did appear on some episodes of Cats and Dogs after KidWorld Aqesia's split-screen credits when it made reruns from 2009-2011.

Scare Factor: Depending on the variant:

• Original version: Medium to nightmare. The cut from the credits to the logo is jarring and the zooming and music are very scary.
• The Jungle Family Pilot variant: Low to medium. The jarring cut from the credits and the zooming are scary, but the music isn't. It can be jarring if you expect the "Pyramid of Doom" audio and wind up with this. In addition, it's highly unlikely people would expect this due to this version being only a one time occurrence; however, it will also bring back good memories to the people who like the next logo.
• With the closing theme: Low to high, as it does not stop the cut from the credits nor the effects.

Fortunately, it gets better...

3rd Logo (October 8, 1993-present)

Nicknames: "The Kitten", "Flying Kitten", "Mr. Kitty", "The Signature Non-Scary Logo"

Logo: Over a blue sky background, a kitten (colors depend on the show) with wings flies to the center of the screen. Below the kitten, the blue Times New Roman Condensed "MCH" lettering in 3-D flies in, and below the "MCH", a blue "Productions" with a black shadow in Gill Sans Ultra Bold fades in.

Trivia:

• Strangely, this logo appeared on early airings of the LampGuy episode "Painting Problems/Mr. CardBox's Restaurant vs. The World". It was an editing mistake made by KidWorld when they first started doing the split-screen credits. Normally, KidWorld makes custom split-screen credits for each cartoon and its producers. MCH was the only one that produced multiple KidWorld shows, and KidWorld created a generic one for these shows [which mentioned Mallion, Charler, and Heltian as producers and included Mr. Kitty], but, on the said episode of LampGuy, KidWorld accidentally used the MCH split screen credits for that episode. As of 2009, the logo is replaced by the Talking Chair Productions logo on recent airings (which was in the original credits to begin with). Still, it is one of the oddest editing mistakes ever made, next to a odd B&W Qwana-Kaivera Swirling Cross appearing on The Adventures of the Evil Verlamanian Leader a while ago.
• On October 2014 to circa May 2016 airings of Hey David on Retro Toons, this logo appeared instead of the Kai-Whoosh logo for the same reason stated above. This was fixed by the time the programming block got its own channel.
• At the July 2011 Comic-Con venue in Janvigorya, Decigornia, Dave Charler mentioned that he found, as claimed, "a bunch of fan mashups" of their production logo, in which he also added that the mashups might have been created in part with how many people explained their experience with the logo as kids, and how much they liked it, so she later decided to give the "flying kitten" character a name: Mr. Kitty. Mr. Kitty was also given the ability to speak. Actor, musician and professional surfer Daniel Mipens (known for voicing Demon Boy in Kid Heroes (2004)) is responsible for the voicing of Mr. Kitty. The character was originally intended to be in an animated PSA, with Mr. Kitty explaining his confusion onto why these mashups exist. He stars in his own web series. It is also worth mentioning that, according to Charler, the "Pyramid of Doom" was not intended to be scary.

Variants:

• There is an extended version where the cat flies in the opposite direction, and then flies back saying "Hiss" (in red), and then flies again, and then the logo animates normally. A gif file of the first few seconds of this variant can be seen here.
• Video games from the company have a still version of the logo on a white background.
• Since October 20, 2005, a variant is used where the animation is better (e.g. the clouds on the blue sky background move, the kitten looks more realistic, the wings on the kitten flap like bird wings, and the "MCH" text sparkles).
• Since October 20, 2013, a variant is used where the animation is completely 3D.
• For horror films, there is a variation of the 2013 variant where the kitten looks like taxidermy, the text is red, and the background is black. A screenshot from this variant can be seen here.
• On the 2008 film "A Little Love", we see 2 cats flying onto a tree. A screenshot from this variant can be seen here.
• This logo comes in 3 versions: a standard 4:3 version (for pre-HD era TV shows), a 1.55:1 widescreen version (matted to 1.85:1 for theatrical features released in the US (1.66:1 in Europe) and to 1.78:1 for both home video releases of those films and the final season of Cats and Dogs in Space), and a 16:9 HD version (for newer TV shows).
• Sometimes on Cats in Dogs in Space, the sky background is pink instead of blue. This variant is extinct; it was last seen on 2008 reruns of the show on KidWorld.
• On Retro Toons reruns of MCH shows, the logo is in warp speed.
• On 1993-1995 episodes of Cats and Dogs, the background is a rainbow gradient, and after "Productions" fades in, "A MCH PRODUCTION FOR KIDWORLD" appears below the text in the ITV 1989 Generic corporate font. On 1995-2007 episodes, it appears on a purple-black gradient background, then slides to the left to show the KidWorld "4-Pointed Star" logo.

FX/SFX: The kitten flying, the "MCH" text flying in, and the "Productions" text fading in. All CGI animation...

Cheesy Factor: ...that's kinda cheesy. It looks like the logo was done in an hour by a sixth grader using Flash, Blender, Sony Vegas, and a green screen program. For the 2005-2013 and 2013-present variants, none.

Music/Sounds: A jingle that sounds like a electric piano rendition of a NTSC-slowed-down version of this universe's Macintosh Chimes of Doom.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• Sometimes the music is in warp speed (most likely on PAL television or media due to speedup).
• On the still video game variants, it's silent.
• On early television airings of Cats and Dogs episodes with this logo, the logo theme is low-pitched.
• On Cats and Dogs: The Movie and the 2013-present variant, the music has percussion.

Availability: Fairly common. It can be found on episodes such as those of later Cats and Dogs seasons starting in 1993, XPlosive, The Jungle Family, and on Cats and Dogs in Space, all of which are currently airing on the Retro Toons channel; it is also shown in place of the previous logo on airings with split-screen credits. Debuted on the rather obscure cartoon The Weird Adventures of David O'Daniel. This logo was used on MCH films from Cats and Dogs: The Movie to Refugees (which used this logo at the end). The still variant appears on Cats and Dogs: The Movie for GameStation and Cats and Dogs vs. The Draconian Royal Family for GameStation 2 among others. Recently appeared on Attack of the Evil Ferret. This logo also appeared on the obscure Cats and Dogs spin-off Cats and Dogs in the Future.

Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:

• 1993-2013 version: Low to medium, because of the cheesiness. It's a very popular logo and a favorite of many. It's very famous among and outside the logo community due to its "non-scary" status.
• 2005-2013 and 2013-present variants: None; the improved animation of the kitten makes it even more non-scary than the previous logo. The improved sky background with moving clouds and the effects on the text also help.
• Still variant: None.