Written and Compiled by Jason Jones, Matt Williams, Matt Anscher, Nicholas Aczel and John Coffey
Logo captures by V of Doom and others
Editions by Mr. Logo Lord, Shadeed A. Kelly and V of Doom
Video captures courtesy by dylanman10, Tlogos, JoeCool85, Roygerdodger, JohnnyL80 and Bob Fish


Background: This was the distribution arm of Walt Disney Television established in 1985 to distribute all Disney shows on TV. When Disney retired the Buena Vista brand in 2007, this unit was renamed Disney-ABC Domestic Television.


1st Logo
(1985-2006)

Nicknames: "Abstract Castle", "Blue BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom"

Logo: On a shady indigo blue BG, we see the familiar Disney stylized, segmented castle, but shaded (from top to bottom) red, orange, and yellow. The white circular line is already there, as is the "WALT DISNEY" corporate words below but with "Television." A spark flies around the circular line from right to left as the words fades to "Distributed By Buena Vista Television."

Variants:

• There is a variant with no animation and no text fading when the "Walt Disney Television" text stays on screen. Winnie the Pooh videos had this still logo, although one tape had full animation.
• On shows produced by Buena Vista, there is only the "Buena Vista Television" text and no "Distributed by" header.
• This logo was shown until 2006 at the end of local-Disney produced shows for example on 2003, as "Club Disney" produced in association with Telecinco.

FX: The "spark" flying, the text fades. In other cases, it's completely still.

Music/Sounds: Sounds of some "pings" or the bells sounding like you move your hand rapidly on the keys of the piano.

Availability: Appears at the end of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and Bill Nye the Science Guy on Univision. Most shows on Toon Disney replace it with the Walt Disney Television or current Buena Vista logo, sometimes with the original music preserved. Amazingly, though, this logo was found on the DuckTales and currently on The Golden Girls DVD sets. The non-animated version of this logo was found on Winnie the Pooh videos.

Scare Factor: Low.



2nd Logo
(1988-1995)

Nicknames: "Abstract Castle", "Black BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom"

Logo: On a black BG, we see the castle as in the 1st logo with the 3-D words "Walt Disney Television" (now with "Walt Disney" in the same font as the rest of the words) below it. A spark flies around the circular line, but this time from left to right, and the words below fade to "Distributed By Buena Vista Television."

Network TV: See 1st logo

FX: See 1st logo

Cheesy Factor: The words are in 3D, but the castle is STILL in 2D.

Music/Sounds: A bells music, in other cases, it's silent. But on reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy from this era that were reran after the next one debuted, the music from the next logo was used.

Availability: Again, usually only seen on older prints. Check old tapes for shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy when it was aired on PBS. Was last seen on Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime with the BVTV logo.

Scare Factor: Same as 1st logo.



3rd Logo
(1991-1992)

Nickname: "Goofy Filmstrip"

Logo: On a shaded blue background, we see a white filmstrip. Then Goofy appears on the top left corner of the filmstrip and moves. The Text "WALT DISNEY Television" (With Walt Disney on its corporate font) fades below, then after few seconds it changes to "Distributed by Buena Vista Television".

FX: Goofy moving, all good Disney animation

Music/Sounds: Silent.

Availability: Extinct, being seen originally on 1991-1992 episodes of The Disney Afternoon.

Scare Factor: None.



4th Logo
(1995-2005)

Logo: We start at the angle of a purple Earth globe with comets streaking past on a space background and gradually zoom away. Three comets streak from the left, casting a light glow on the Earth before freezing in the center, and writing the words:



Variants:

• An early variant has the comets leaving three abstract streaks and the earth completely black, and the words and space background in a different color. This variant appeared regularly from 1995 to 1997, when the more common version debuted. Though "Live with Regis & Kathie Lee/Kelly" continued to use the original version in subsequent seasons.
• Reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris shows, such as "The Golden Girls", have this logo with a Touchstone Pictures copyright, plastering the original Touchstone logo with copyright.
• Some prints of this logo show a (c) year at the bottom.

FX: Zooming from the earth, the comets "streaking," the light effects, the fades.

Music/Sounds: A majestic tune cumulating in a 7-note horn fanfare. There is also a long version of this logo that has some chimes before the horns come in. In other cases, the short version has the last note incomplete.

Availability: No longer current, but still common given its longevity, and the new logo has not plastered anything yet. Should still appear on reruns of Disney, ABC and Touchstone Television shows for the time being. The 1995 version was rare for a while, but it has resurfaced in all it's glory on Univision reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy, preceding the previous BVTV International castle logo, and it was still used on Live with Regis (and Kathie Lee/Kelly) episodes of this era.

Scare Factor: None.



5th Logo
(2005-2007)

Nickname: "2000's Comets"

Logo: The same concept as before, except that the globe is now a bluish-green on a spiffier starfield, and we start from a different position than last time. On a black space background, we see three comets. We pan up to the Earth and pan to its upper right, where the comets fly to the back. Three comets streak from the left and freeze, and the screen turns white with the logo of the comets and globe in space in a box at the top, and the "BUENA VISTA TELEVISION" text appears at the bottom in gray.

Variant: A more common short version starts with the comets streaking past.

FX: Zooming from the earth, the comets "streaking," the light effects, the fades.

Music/Sounds: A reorchestrated version of the fanfare in the 1995 logo.

Music/Sound Variant: On The Tony Danza Show, it used the 1995 logo theme.

Availability: No longer current. Appeared on episodes of Buena Vista-produced shows such as Live with Regis And Kelly, The Tony Danza Show, and the syndicated version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire from 2005 to 2007; also appears on reruns of other shows including The Golden Palace. The long version appears on some syndicated reruns of Scrubs.

Scare Factor: None.