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Background: 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 Tracey
Ullman Show" in 1987 and the 1989-1992 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.
SFX: 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.
SFX: 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.
