Background: Rodney H. Mess (b. 1948) founded this company in 1984. He is famous for combining live-action and animation in his shows. The show that he is most famous for is The Caleb M Show starring a live-action man Caleb Martin (b. 1971) and an animated monster named Ickis. He also produced Fast Food Chaos (1986-1990), Bruce's Beasts (1986-1992), Who's Afraid of Stephen Wolf? (1988-1991), The Rocko Hour (1989-1993), White & Nerdy (1989-1990), Kang, Kodos, and Koolien (1991-1992), and My Dad's a Dragon! (1992-1995). The company was sold to Proctermation Studios to make GoAnimate shows.
1st Logo (1985-1987)
Nicknames: "I'm Not Rodney!", "Tommy Pickles the SSF"
Logo: On a black background, we see the back of Tommy's head. Suddenly, the words "RODNEY MESS PRODUCTIONS" in blue write in one-by-one. After that, Tommy turns to reveals his clown face. He says "I'm not Rodney!" and laughs.
Trivia: This logo was animated at SNAS, Inc. in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Variants:
- On the Bruce's Beasts episode "Silent Night, Crazy Night", the background is dark blue, the text is red, and Tommy's head is replaced with Stu's head.
- On the Bruce's Beasts episode "Rog Day Afternoon", the background is green and Tommy's head is replaced by Rog's (one of the characters from the show) head.
Trivia: The animation of this logo was later used in the Rugrats episode "In the Dreamtime".
FX/SFX: The animation of the face.
Music/Sounds: A male voiceover saying "And now, here's the producer of the show... Rodney!", then a Moog synthesizer jingle with the face saying in a high-pitched "I'm not Rodney!" and laughing.
Availability: Rare; this logo was seen on Ickis' Misadventures (1985-1987), the first season of Bruce's Beasts (1986-1992), and the pilot episode of The Caleb M. Show.
Scare Factor: High to NIGHTMARE!
2nd Logo (1987-2013)
Nicknames: "Twister Mouth", "Messed-Up Bart", "That Face Looks Weird", "Twisty", "Twisty the Simpson", "Milhouse Is Not a Mess" (White & Nerdy variant)
Logo: In a black background, Bart Simpson's head is seen, but with his mouth is reversed twisted. A Mess Productions logo appears below it.
FX/SFX: It's a still logo, perhaps.
Variants:
- This logo changes depending on the year the episode was released.
- 1987-1988: "A ROD MESS PRODUCTION (IN ASSOCIATION WITH)
- 1987-1994: "ROS MESS PRODUCTIONS"
- 1988-1995, 2001-: "MESS PRODUCTIONS"
- 1995-2001: "MESS PRODUCTIONS, A GRACIE FILMS COMPANY"
- Sometimes, Bart's eyes are closed.
- On the short-lived TV sitcom White & Nerdy (1989-1990), Bart's head is replaced by Milhouse Van Houten's head.
- On The Caleb M Show (1987-1991) and The New Caleb M Show (1992-1994), the background is checkers and Bart's head is replaced by Ickis' head.
- On The Rocko Hour (1989-1993), the background is zig-zags and Bart's head is replaced with Rocko's head.
- On Crazy Old Maurice (1993-1995), the text is in the Laser font and Bart's head is replaced by Mr. Burns' head.
Cheesy Factor: Cheese me! This logo is based on Bart's "twister mouth" as seen in some early 90s episodes of "The Simpsons" and most recently on the Season 23 episode "How I Wet Your Mother". The Milhouse variant is based on a 1988 Butterfinger commercial.
Music/Sounds: Usually, Bart Simpson says "Woah!" (as heard on the Simpsons short "The Funeral"), but it depends on the variant:
- In 1988, Bart Simpson said either "Gooba Gooba Gabba!" or "Gooba Gabba, GOOBA GABBA!" (as heard on the Simpsons short "Maggie's Brain" from The Tracey Ullman Show)
- On White & Nerdy, there is no music.
- On The Caleb M Show, the closing theme of the show ("The Hit" by Richard Myhill, as heard on a Cheetos commercial) plays.
- On The New Caleb M Show, the closing theme of the show (a remix of The Caleb M Show's theme) plays.
- On Crazy Old Maurice, the music is the last few notes of "Gaston" from the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast.
- On The Rocko Hour, the audio from the last logo plays (the male announcer says "And now, here's the producer of the show... Rodney!", with the Moog synthesizer jingle after the male announcer).
Availability: Common..
Scare Factor: Medium to NIGHTMARE; Bart's messed up face or mouth may scare a lot of people, but it's a cool logo!
3rd logo (2013-)
Nicknames: "I'm not Rodney! II", "Lenny Restorerfish the SSF"
Logo: On a black background, we see the text "Rodney Mess Productions" below. Then, Lenny with a Clown Face shows up and says the same as Tommy says it as an Eric voice.
FX/SFX: The same GoAnimate animation.
Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo (with the same male announcer saying "And now, here's the producer of the show... Rodney!", except with an Eric voice of Lenny with a Clown face saying "I'm Not Rodney! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Availabilty: Seen on Lenny's World (in collaboration with Proctermation Studios, Harmonious Claptrap and Frederator Studios).
Scare Factor: None. It's a Funny Logo!