Logo descriptions by Nicholas Aczel
''Editions by The Twenty Thousand TonneBomb (aka, 20000), kidinbed, and LJK193
1st Logo
(1980-1986)
Nickname: "The Spinning Scimitar Sword"
Logo: On a space background, we see a black and blue scimitar (a sword with a curved blade) with a swirly-styled red S on the front spinning up to the center of the screen. The scimitar "flashes" and the letters "IMITAR" slide from behind the S to the right to spell the word "SIMITAR." The text "ENTERTAINMENT INC." fades in below the scimitar, which flashes again.
FX/SFX: The scimitar "flashing", the spinning, the animation.
Cheesy Factor: The space background looks as if it were done on an Apple II, the letters "IMITAR" sliding out like construction paper, and the poor coloring and flashing of the scimitar.
Music/Sounds:*1980-1984: A majestic horn sounder.
- 1984-1986: A creepy synth bass, accompanied by a loud synthesized crash when the scimitar sword and "S" spinning up, a loud synthesized choir when the scimitar flashes, another loud synthesized crash when the "ENTERTAINMENT INC." fades in, and a loud WHOOSH or two to top it all off as the logo fades out.
- On some tapes, the logo is silent.
Availability: Hard to find. Seen on specialty videos from Simitar Entertainment from the 80s. Some 1986 releases used this with the next logo below.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:*1980-1984: None to minimal, the majestic horn sounder is a bit creepy. What with the bad animation, not to mention the scimitar spinning up so close it looks like it’s gonna poke you in the face.
- 1984-1986: Medium to high. With the loud, oversynthesized, dramatic synth music, the animation may be unsettling and even scary to younger kids, while older ones will have less of a problem.
- Medium to high for the silent version, but without the musical themes, there's still that bad animation.
But the next logo is much, MUCH worse...
2nd Logo (1985-1990)
Nicknames: "S of Doom", "Giant S", "The Real (CGI) S From Hell!!!!!", "The Other (CGI) S From Hell", "SIMITAR!!!", "SimiDoom", "SimiNightmare", "Simitarmageddon", "Another Personification of All That is Evil"
Logo: On a black background, a creepy white line moves from left to right, up, right to left, up, and left to right, etc. many times to draw a lined square, shining cheesy rainbow colors as it moves. When it finishes drawing the square, the line takes a right curve up to draw the outline of a very ugly, boxy "S." Suddenly, the logo flashes, and in the lower left of the box a ray of light sweeps across, leaving a black trail with "Simitar Entertainment Inc." written in white. Then the logo shines and flashes again.
FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: This logo screams 1980s; the white line drawing and shining rainbow colors, the ugly S, the flashes, the ray of light sweeping, and the logo shining all seem to be made of super cheesy 1980s computer effects. Not to mention the dated synthesizer music!
Music/Sounds: Same as the previous logo from 1984. Also, some tapes have this logo silent.
Availability: Very rare. Seen on special interest videos released by Simitar in the 1980s such as Vitsie tapes. Some early 1986 releases that used this logo also used the previous logo above.
Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant:
- Low to medium. The synth music combined with the animation in the logo, the darkness, the super cheesy animation, the scary light effects, the trail effects and the music are screamed out, but tamer than the previous logo and the music still get to some.
- Medium for the silent version. Even without the extremely dramatic synth music, there's still that ugly animation.
3rd Logo
(1990-2000)
Nicknames: "Golden Bars", "Golden S"
Logo: We start out on a shady blue background. Then, after a few seconds, we see two separate sets of gold bars at opposite angles merging into each others’ spaces in the center of the screen. From offscreen bottom the familiar S, now in gold CGI, swoops up and rotates 90 degrees to plaster itself on the bars. Underneath the gold text "Simitar" appears underlined with another gold bar.
FX/SFX: The gold bars merging, the S swooping, "Simitar" appearing.
Cheesy Factor: Still rather poor CGI; at least better animation than the previous logo, but that’s not saying much. Also, before the logo breaks into the synth choir, you can see one of the gold bars protrude from the right side of the screen (on a TV this is covered by the safe area depending on your TV).
Music/Sounds: Same as the 1984-1986 theme from logo 1.
Availability: A bit more available than previous logos being more recent; seen on '90s Simitar Entertainment videos, and some DVD's like Dumb Luck in Vegas. It was also spotted on a tape of It's a Wonderful Life. Scare Factor: Low to medium. That music will still get to some, but at least the animation is much tamer.
4th Logo (Simitar DVD) (1997-2000)
Nicknames: "Golden S II", "Gold S On DVD", "Golden Bars II", "Flying DVD"
Logo: On a shady denim blue-textured background with some light near the upper-left, we see a faded square in the center (think the Burt Reynolds Productions and Madacy Video logos) with a shadow drop behind it. A DVD flies around with a dust trailing effect, and parts of the Simitar logo (very much like what you see in logo 3, but slightly re-textured) fly into place in the center. The word "Simitar", now in a gold Futura font, flies around and settles underneath it, and the silver DVD logo (which looks slightly different, because the letters are in a different font) flies into place under that. The disk seen earlier is part of this.
FX/SFX: All the animation in the logo
Cheesy Factor: The logo looks like cheap
Music/Sounds: A short variant of the 1984-1986 music.
Availability: Can be seen on most Simitar DVDs, including Firehouse, Mob War, Search and Destroy (1988), Hyperspace, Cybernator, Cartel, Frankenhooker, Red Scorpion, The Naked Truth, Ninja Academy, Bloodstone and Glitch!, among others.
Scare Factor: Low to medium.