Alliance Atlantis/Salter Street Films

Alliance Atlantis/Salter Street Films
Written and Compiled by Nicholas Aczel and Sean Beard

Alliance
1^st Logo
(1985-1991)

Nickname: "Alliance Entertainment Corporation"

Logo: On a shady blue gridlined BG, the metallic stylized text

ALLIANCE

appears in the center of the screen, and the underlined text "ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION" uncovers below it. The "ALLIANCE" shines.

During 1985-86 had the joint byline "An RSL • ICC Company" written below "ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION." Dropped in 1986 as the merger between two of producer Robert Lantos’ movie companies, RSL • ICC and French-Canadian film distributor Vivafilm Ltée., was completed.

FX/Cheesy Factor: The graphics look quite ugly, and the light effects look cheesy.

Music: None, played over the ending theme of a show.

Availability: Uncommon, at least in America. Seen on a daily basis on reruns of "Night Heat" on Canada’s Showcase (an Alliance Atlantis-owned cable network), and should be intact on all other Alliance shows of the period whenever rerun on Canada’s many cable networks.

Scare Factor: Median, the terrible look of the logo may not sit well with people.

2^nd Logo
(1991-1998)

Nickname: "The Metallic A"

Logo: We see a dark night sky with mountains of metallic silver gemstones below, one of which streaks brightly. The screen cuts to a bird’s eye view of the gemstones. One of the pyramid-shaped gemstones rises into the air. We cut to a side view of the gemstone turning in the sky, then a facing view of the gemstone turning up on its side until it shapes a long isoceles triangle. A spark flies from the bottom left of the triangle. When the spark nears the top, it brightens and the triangle turns into a boomerang-shaped metallic A with the text "ALLIANCE" written below. The spark reaches the top and streaks again.

On French-language theatrical films, the text "VIVAFILM" appears under the Alliance logo.

FX: It’s all CGI.

Music: Lush synthesizer music, with a ding when the spark brightens.

Availability: The short TV version appeared on "Beast Wars: Transformers", "Due South", "Once a Thief", "ReBoot", and lots of other shows. The long version sometimes pops up on made-for-TV movies.

Scare Factor: Not all that scary.

Atlantis
1^st Logo
(1985-1989)

Nickname: "Sunburst"

Logo: The screen is divided with the top half black and the bottom half blue. A golden sun rises from under the blue. When it is halfway up the screen, the text "ATLANTIS" zooms out and flashes. The blue disappears and we are left with a black background with a sunburst in the middle and the "ATLANTIS" below it shining.

FX: The light effects.

Cheesy Factor: Early animation.

Music: A six-note bell tune, followed by a horn fanfare.

Availability: Uncommon. Currently found on 1985-1989 episodes of HBO’s "Ray Bradbury Theatre" on Sci-Fi Channel. The second half was also seen on first-run episodes of "Airwolf".

Scare Factor: Median, the somber music may bother more than a few.

2^nd Logo
(1989-1992)

Logo: On a CGI sky above, sea below background, the familiar sunburst, now in CGI, rises from the sea. The text "ATLANTIS" zooms out and settles itself below the sunburst.

FX: The sunrise, the zooming "ATLANTIS."

Cheesy Factor: Somewhat primitive CGI, which would improve by the 3^rd logo.

Music: Plays over the ending theme.

Availability: Uncommon. Seen on 1989-1992 episodes of "Ray Bradbury Theatre", as well as Nickelodeon’s "Wildside" series.

Scare Factor: Coming after the previous logo, this is pretty harmless.

3^nd Logo
(1992-1997)

Nickname: "CGI Sunburst"

Logo: On a black background, two parallel golden laserlights draw a round curve across the screen. As we zoom out and turn up on their side, we notice at the focal points of the lower curve 5 laserlights, about an inch apart, draw lines connecting with the upper curve. There is a flash of light and we see the CGI sunburst with the text "ATLANTIS" below it on a dark marble background.

FX: The sketching laserlights, the light flash. Awesome CGI abound.

Music: Digitally synthesized whoosh sounds amongst a dreamy choir, ending with a 5-note electric piano tune.

Availability: Seen on reruns of "Earth: Final Conflict," "The (New) Outer Limits", "Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal", and other shows produced during the period. Also appears on some made-for-TV movies.

Scare Factor: None, just great CGI animation.

Alliance Atlantis
1^st Logo
(1997-1999)

Logo: On a black background, the silver text stack "ALLIANCE ATLANTIS" folds onto the screen. A red horizontal line draws between the "ALLIANCE" and the "ATLANTIS."

FX: The letters folding, the line drawing.

Cheesy Factor: The folding letters look cheesy.

Music: The ending theme of a show.

Availability: Quite rare, this was a placeholder logo that can still be seen episodes of shows (such as "The Famous Jett Jackson" on The Disney Channel) produced during the 1997-99 seasons. By the following season it was succeeded by the 2^nd logo.

Scare Factor: None, it’s only BORING.

2^nd Logo
(1999-)

Nickname: "Gold-Black A"

Logo: We see a cloudy gray sky with snow-capped mountains of gold-black metallic gemstones below. Two of the gemstones streak into the air, positioning themselves to the shape of a long isoceles triangle. The image fades into the boomerang-shaped Alliance "Metallic A" but with the bottom left gold and the top right black. The text "ALLIANCE ATLANTIS" is seen below. A spark flies from the bottom to the top.

As with Alliance logo #2, only the short version is used on TV shows, but the long version opens some made-for-TV-movies.
The company's URL www.allianceatlantis.com sometimes appears below the name.
On French-language theatrical films, the text "VIVAFILM" appears under the Alliance logo. Vivafilm Ltée. is now called Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and is their French-Canadian division.

FX: The flying spark, the CGI.

Music: A majestic symphony fanfare.

Availability: Common, it’s the logo currently in use.

Scare Factor: Not all that scary.

AAC Kids
(1999-)

Nickname: "The AAC Rocket"

Logo: We see a paper-cutout space background filled with stars, meteors, the moon to the east and the sun to the south. We also see a black rocket, with the Alliance A logo on top in yellow, and the text stack "AAC KIDS" written below in light blue with the "I" dotted with a yellow star. The rocket lands on the sun and sits there as stars and meteors pass by.

FX: The star and rocket animations...

Cheesy Factor: ...which looks tacky and choppy.

Music: Assorted sci-fi sound effects accompanied by a child giggling.

Availability: Seen on "The Famous Jett Jackson" and "In a Heartbeat" on The Disney Channel.

Scare Factor: Low, the cheap animation might bother some, but is mostly just annoying.

Salter Street Films
(1987-)

Salter Street Films was acquired in 2001 by Alliance Atlantis, which maintains it as a wholly-owned subsidiary with its own distribution unit.

Logo: In the end credits of a show, we see a silver image of a head in a bust-like pose in front of a TV-tube-like outline. To the right of the logo is the silver text

SALTER
STREET
FILMS

in a stocky font. The logo "shines."

In recent years the URL www.salter.com or one connected with a particular SSF series appeared under the logo.
The CBC series "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" has an enhanced "photo-realistic" version of this logo in the end credits, which also serves as the logo of the show itself. This end credit-variant reads "Produced by Salter Street Films Ltd. in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation" with a post-1993 CBC network ID displayed below. This is followed by a tag for the show’s URL www.22minutes.com, and then the generic SSF logo with copyright info and no URL.

FX: The logo "shining."

Music: Plays over the ending theme.

Availability: Seen on "LEXX" on Sci-Fi Channel, as well as syndicated reruns of "The Odyssey."

Scare Factor: Might surprise if you’ve never seen it before, but with almost no animation and no regular music it’s pretty innocuous.

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