Klasky-Csupo
Written & Complied by Nicholas Aczel
Klasky-Csupo (pronounced CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO) started in 1982, when
animators Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo set up a studio in the
spare bedroom of their Los Angeles apartment. Over the next
several years they produced animated commercials, network promos,
station IDs, and graphics titles for other companies. Their big
breakthrough came when Gracie Films’ owner James L. Brooks
hired them to do outsourced animation for the 1989-92 seasons of
Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons” (after which Film
Roman took over the outsourcing), but since the show only gave
Klasky-Csupo a mention in the credits it is not covered here. The
company’s first logo made its debut on the world premiere of
“Rugrats” on August 11, 1991.
1st Logo
(1991-1998)
Nickname: “Graffiti”
Logo: On a white background of dancing gray confetti, we see
some transparent squares sliding from the right. In the first
square some cubic shapes choppily form a K, the second square has
a shoe morphing into an L, third has a footprint become an A,
forth a snake twists into an S, fifth some mammals make a K,
sixth an acrobat flips into a Y, then a scribble wipes a C, S, U,
P, O into the remaining squares. As the last square passes, we
zoom out to find the completed logo
[K][L][A][S][K][Y]
[C][S][U][P][O] INC.
in approximate colors shown above (they are constantly
changing), and the INC appears one letter at a time. “KLASKY
CSUPO” is seen in a graffiti font. The logo turns black and
white and fades to black.
FX: The dancing gray confetti, the
objects-morphing-into-letters.
Cheesy Factor: Overcooked. It’s hard to imagine a more
1990s logo than this. The logo cut from the end credits is very
jarring, the background is cluttered with dancing confetti crap,
the morphing animation effects are done by a series of extremely
choppy quick-cuts, and what’s with the logo turning
black-and-white anyway?
Music: A bass-heavy, turntable-scratching house tune with lots
of percussion, leading into a dog barking at the end.
Availability: Can be seen on “Rugrats” episodes from
the period when rerun on Nickelodeon. A warp speed variant
appears on “Duckman” reruns on Comedy Central.
Scare Factor: Median, I know it’s supposed to be funny,
but the fast pace of the logo can catch some off guard, the way
it cuts roughly from the end credits and all those very weird
graffiti animation/sound effects.
2nd Logo
(1998-)
Nickname: “The Robot”
Logo: We see a screen of purple static with blue and black
paint splashing over it, and a hand moves from left to right
dropping a piece of paper with an open mouth on it over the black
paint splotch. Two big blue blinking eyes appear above the mouth.
As the mouth speaks the words “Klasky-Csupo!” (in a
robot voice), some white 3-D toy blocks with the words KLASKY
CSUPO come spinning out of the mouth. The blocks arrange
themselves similarly to the previous logo as the background
blurs, and wipe effects from the top and bottom of the screen
change the background to black. The “Y” in KLASKY also
turns purple.
FX: The paint splashing, the animation of the mouth and eyes, the
toy blocks spinning, the background transitions.
Cheesy Factor: Off the scale. The logo uses very low-budget
special effects all over; they were probably intended as funny,
but some might find them annoying.
Music: A playful robot-music tune with vocoder voiceover,
ad-libbing and boing sound effects.
Availability: Seen on more recent “Rugrats” episodes as
well as “Rocket Power,” “As Told By Ginger,”
and “The Wild Thornberrys” all on Nickelodeon.
Scare Factor: Median, probably even higher than the first
logo, the robot mouth and eyes don’t look particularly
friendly, and the background transition effects and the music
move at a fast pace bound to go over the heads of some. Adults
will probably find it more annoying than scary, though.