Background: Warner Bros. Animation is the successor to the original Warner Bros. Cartoons established in 1944, which was known before as Leon Schlesinger Productions. The studio was established in 1980.
1st Logo
(October 11, 1960-1967)[]
Nickname: "WB Shield"
Logo: A generic variant of the 1955 Warner Bros. Television logo with Looney Tunes characters.
Variants:
- On The Bugs Bunny Show, the WB shield is seen on a red background. After a short fanfare, Bugs Bunny appears, and says, "This folks, is a Warner Bros. Television production." The shield closes. At the end of the show, the Warner Bros. Television logo appears.
- On The Porky Pig Show, during the credits the classic Warner Bros. Cartoons logo is seen on a bumper tire. As the camera zooms in, the tire opens like a door. Porky appears and utters his famous catchphrase, "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!" The door closes, but shortly after Porky is shown saying "We've been brought to you by..."
- On The Road Runner Show, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are seen on two different sides of the shield.
FX/SFX: It depends on the variant. For The Bugs Bunny Show and The Porky Pig Show, it's the characters opening the shield. None for The Road Runner Show.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show. On The Road Runner Show, we hear the Road Runner's distinctive "Meep meep!" and tongue-popping-out sound effect.
Availability: Rare. It's seen on TV broadcasts of The Porky Pig Show and The Road Runner Show.
2nd Logo
(1967-1970)[]
Nicknames: "W7", "The W7 Shield"
Logo: Another generic variant of the TV logo of the era, this time for the 1967 WB-SATV logo.
Variant: Some episodes of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show have the shield on a red background. The color of the shield is yellow, and the company name is absent. Suddenly, Bugs Bunny pops out of the shield, and says the following: "This has been a Warner Bros. Seven Arts-". Road Runner then pops out of the shield too and says: "Beep, beep!". Bugs then continues: "Like the bird says, this has been a Warner Bros.-Seven Arts television presentation". The shield then closes.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: Rare. It's usually seen on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show. Later used for some pre-1970 episodes of The Bugs Bunny Show.
3rd Logo
(1972-1984)[]
Nickname: "The Big (\\')"
Logo: Same as before, except the LT characters stand beside the 1972 WBTV logo (the Big "W" logo) with the company name on top (in the Warner Communications custom typeface) and the byline "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY" below.
Variant: On the 1982 Bugs Bunny Valentine Special, the logo text is in black.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: Quite rare, seen on episodes of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show and The Sylvester and Tweety, Daffy, and Speedy Show, as well as other Looney Tunes specials during the era.
4th Logo
(1982-1986)[]
Nickname: "WB Shield II"
Logo: Same as before, except the LT characters stand beside the WBTV logo logo with the company name on top and the Warner Communications byline below. The WBTV logo uses the WB shield logo, without the banner. This is all on a red background.
Variant: In the early days, the name and the byline were in the previous logo's font. In 1984, the font was updated to reflect the new WBTV logo introduced at the time.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: Extinct. Once again, it was available on The Bugs Bunny Comedy Hour and on the last few seasons of The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show during the era.
5th Logo
(September 13, 1986-March 8, 1992)[]
Nicknames: "WB Shield III", "Unprofessionally Drawn WB Shield"
Logo: Same as before, but with Bugs Bunny (on the left) and Tweety (on the right) on a purple background with the WB logo with a maroon background inside.
Variant: By no later than 1990, the top byline was changed to "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION INC.", which takes over the screen.
Bylines:
- September 13, 1986-1990: "A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY"
- 1990-March 8, 1992: "A TIME WARNER COMPANY"
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: Despite this being used for two more years, it's even rarer than the previous logo. Only seen on The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show.
6th Logo
(1988-1992)[]
Nickname: "WB Print Shield Wallpaper"
Logo: Over a royal blue wallpaper of little WB print shields, we see Bugs Bunny in the spotlight, prompted on top of the company name "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION INC." in yellow-green.
FX/SFX: Bugs eating his carrot.
Music/Sounds: The sound of Bugs munching his carrot, usually played over the closing theme of the show.
Availability: Appears on various WB TV cartoon specials, often plastering over older logos used on specials from the 1970s-80s.
7th Logo
(September 14, 1990-September 15, 1995)[]
Nickname: "WB Shield IV"
Logo: On a cloud background, we see the standard WB shield in a small, different looking design. The banner reads "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION".
Bylines:
- 1990-1992: "A TIME WARNER COMPANY"
- 1992-1995: "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY"
- On the intro of Batman: The Animated Series, it's bylineless.
Variant: On Happy Birthday, Bugs: 50 Looney Years, Bugs Bunny's Creature Features and Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes, the WB shield banner doesn't read the Warner Bros. Animation name, but "WARNER BROS. PICTURES" (exactly what you'd see on a first run Warner Bros. Television program (without the Animation name, of course) from 1990-1992 or on Tiny Toon Adventures). On top of that, "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION INC." is written on top and the Time Warner byline is on the bottom.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: Opening theme of the show. On Taz-Mania and Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, it has the end of the closing theme.
Availability: Rare. It should be seen on Batman: The Animated Series whenever reran. The byline variants were seen on Taz-Mania and Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation. This was also seen at the beginning of some reruns of Beetlejuice, when it was on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It also appeared at the end of The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show's 7th season (1992).
8th Logo
(September 9, 1995-August 11, 2001)[]
Nicknames: "WB Shield V", "Metallic Shield"
Logo: Over a set of clouds, the WB shield appears, with the banner reading "TELEVISION ANIMATION", and the byline at the bottom. Underneath is the byline, " A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY".
Variants:
- On the Animaniacs episodes "The Presidents Song/Don't Tread on Us/The Flame Returns" and "Birds on a Wire/Scoring Session/The Animaniacs Suite", the logo is bylineless and the cloud on the lower left is brighter as well.
- On three Animaniacs episodes, the entire program's color levels are more saturated, and as such, the logo is more saturated as well.
- On both The New Batman Adventures and Superman: The Animated Series, the logo is a bit darker.
- On the last few episodes of Road Rovers, the logo appears in both the beginning and end.
- Classic Variant: On the Looney Tunes anthology series That's Warner Bros.! (1995), Bugs 'N' Daffy, and The Daffy Duck Show (Kids' WB version), "TELEVISION" (on the banner) is replaced with "CLASSIC" and there is no byline.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: Silent or the ending of the show's theme.
Availability: Survives on The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid, all of which are on DVD (although in the case of Sylvester & Tweety, only the first season was ever released). Last seen on season one of The Zeta Project. It is also seen on almost every Warner Bros. Animation series from 1995 to 2001, including Detention, Histeria!, Road Rovers, seasons 3-5 of Animaniacs (and its direct-to-video finale, Wakko's Wish), Pinky and the Brain and its ill-fated spinoff, Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain. The "Classic Animation" variant appeared on That's Warner Bros.! (1995), Bugs 'N' Daffy, and The Daffy Duck Show (Kids' WB version). Also seen on Batman Beyond and The New Batman Adventures (a.k.a. the 4th season of Batman: The Animated Series and originally one half of The New Batman/Superman Adventures on original Kids' WB broadcasts). However, when reruns of Animaniacs aired on Nickelodeon from 2001-03 and on Nicktoons TV from 2002-05, this logo was plastered by the "Distributed by" version of the 2001 Warner Bros. Television logo.
9th Logo
(November 17, 2001-2009)[]
Nicknames: "WB Shield VI", "CGI Shield", "The Sander Schwartz WB Logo"
Logo: Same as before, except the new logo has yet another different cloud background. It has a much better defined Warner Bros. shield logo with an updated banner inscription, like that of the current motion picture version, still reading "TELEVISION ANIMATION" across. Underneath is the byline, "An AOL Time Warner Company" and the www.warnerbros.com URL.
Trivia: On one episode of Duck Dodgers, the end credits cut to black in the place where the logo should be. The reason for this is unknown, though it may be due to bad editing. This almost also happened on What's New, Scooby-Doo?, but the last credit is somehow frozen and the logo doesn't appear at all.
Variants:
- Some series didn't feature the Warner Bros. URL under the AOL Time Warner byline.
- In 2003, the banner was changed to read "WARNER BROS. ANIMATION" across with the www.warnerbros.com URL underneath. This was most likely due to the closure of Warner Bros.' Feature Animation division, and the former television/direct-to-video unit became Warner Bros.' main animation department.
- On Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!, a variant of this logo was seen with the Warner Bros. URL missing, just the shield on the clouds. This variant was also seen on The Batman episode "Night and the City" and on the Tom and Jerry Tales episodes "Fire Breathing Tom Cat / Medieval Menace / The Itch."
- In October 2007, a variation was introduced with the byline "A TimeWarner Company" on the bottom. Last seen on Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword.
- On Tom and Jerry: The Karate Guard, the shield is much smaller, and underneath it is the byline "A TimeWarner Company" and the www.warnerbros.com URL.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: Usually the outro of the show's theme music, but is also seen silent on some direct-to-video movies (typically if it follows a DC Comics logo, a Hanna-Barbera credit, or a dedication in the credits).
Availability: Common on various shows on Cartoon Network and Boomerang, including Teen Titans, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Loonatics Unleashed, Tom and Jerry Tales, Xiaolin Showdown, Ozzy and Drix, Krypto the Superdog, The Batman, Legion of Super Heroes, Duck Dodgers, Baby Looney Tunes, What's New, Scooby-Doo? and the infamous Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, and on various direct-to-video productions from the studio, such as Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas. This logo can also be seen on the Looney Tunes cartoons produced by Larry Doyle in the 2003-05 time frame. The version with AOL Time Warner byline can be found on early episodes of Justice League and first season episodes of Teen Titans, among other shows.
10th Logo (Tom and Jerry variant)
(September 27, 2005-October 2, 2007)[]
Nicknames: "Warner Bros. Meets MGM Cartoons 1953"
Logo: The logo is very similar to the 1953 MGM cartoons logo, but instead of using Tanner the lion with baby blue ribboning, it was replaced by a Warner Bros. shield, and instead of "A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer", it's "A Warner Bros. Animation". The word "CARTOON" is still used, and it still takes place in a blue background.
FX/SFX: None
Music/Sounds: The movie's opening music.
Availability: Only seen in The Karate Guard and A Nutcracker Tale.
11th Logo
(November 14, 2008-May 2015)[]
Nicknames: "WB Shield VII", "CGI Shield II", "Moody WB", Looney Tunes Shield"
Logo: On a red spotlight background, we see the standard WB shield much like before, with Bugs Bunny (drawn in his 1940s style) on the left, munching his carrot. The shield is more computer-generated. Below the shield is "Presents" in white script (until 2014, where the word "Presents" is omitted).
Variants:
- On the alternative variant (this time without Bugs Bunny), a small light flickers out of darkness on a partially gray background. The bottom part of a B&W WB shield becomes visible as the light slowly edges out some the dark sides, while the rest of the uncolored WB shield slowly zooms in on the background, with "Presents" fading in and becoming visible. The background then becomes a tad red as the logo slowly zooms in even more, becoming clearly seen before fading out.
- A ghouly variant has the shield and "Presents" on a smoky green background without Bugs. Only seen on certain episodes of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.
- As a closing logo, Bugs does not appear and the TimeWarner byline appears below.
- On The Looney Tunes Show, the closing variant is modified in 3D, but then the WB shield opens up (ala the opening to The Bugs Bunny Show) to reveal Porky Pig inside, who says his trademark "T-th-th-that's all, folks!" line, and then fades out. Other variants feature different characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Taz, Lola Bunny, Foghorn Leghorn, Granny, Dr. Weisberg and Mac & Tosh - The Goofy Gophers who would say Porky Pig's line and then chatter amongst each other as the logo fades out.
- On split-screen credit airings of The Looney Tunes Show, the logo freezes just before the shield opens.
FX/SFX: Just Bugs munching his carrot. Also, the shield zooms up a bit on both the original and alternate logo. None for the closing variant.
Music/Sounds: The opening variant plays a sped-up version of the very end of the 1945-1955 rendition of "Merrily We Roll Along" with Bugs munching his carrot, while the end variant uses the end theme of the show.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- The ghouly version plays an organ sped-up version of the very end of "Merrily We Roll Along."
- The alternative logo has no music.
Availability: The standard version with Bugs Bunny appears on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes, and MAD, and the ghouly version w/o Bugs appears on Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated on Cartoon Network (though the standard logo did appear on the first episode as a sneak preview, and later episodes have no opening logo). The alternative logo appears on Young Justice (though the standard logo appeared on the first two episodes), and DC Universe Original Animated Movies made after 2008, such as Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Superman: Unbound, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Son of Batman, and Batman: Assault on Arkham. It also appears on Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur, as well as all DC Showcase shorts. Although the opening with Bugs Bunny appears on Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword, they strangely used the 3rd version from the 9th closing logo instead. The opening logo isn't seen on The Looney Tunes Show, which instead uses a variation of the 6th Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies (post-1979) logo. The opening logo is also missing from some WB Animation programs such as ThunderCats, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, and the first season of Teen Titans Go!.
12th Logo (MAD Variant)
(September 6, 2010-December 2, 2013)[]
Nicknames: "Creative WB", "WB Shield VIII", "Print WB Shield"
Logo: On a selective yellow background, the WB shield (similar to the 1985 Warner Home Video shield) is at the center, and on the bottom, the byline reads "A WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT CO.". Below the company byline is the "www.warnerbros.com" URL.
Variant: On the episode "KoBee Movie/Law and Ogre," the logo is drawn on a flip book, like the credits were.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The ending theme of MAD.
Availability: Only seen after the end credits of MAD.
13th Logo (Second Tom and Jerry variant)
(September 28, 2012-present)[]
Nicknames: "Warner Bros. Meets MGM Cartoons 1953 II"
Logo: Similar to the 10th logo. Once again, the logo is very similar to the 1953 MGM cartoons logo, but instead of using Tanner the lion with baby blue ribboning, it was replaced by the Warner Bros. Looney Shield shield, and instead of "A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer", it's "A Warner Bros.". The word "CARTOON" is still used, and it still takes place in a blue background.
FX/SFX: None
Music/Sounds: The movie's soundtrack or part of the T&J theme.
Availability: Used only in Tom and Jerry direct to video movies, starting with Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse.
14th Logo
(June 5, 2014-July 30, 2015)[]
Nicknames: "Boring WB", "WB Shield IX"
Logo: On a black background, the WB Shield used from the intro of The Looney Tunes Show is displayed. Below the logo is a byline script that reads "Animation".
Variant: Starting with Green Lantern: The Animated Series, it appeared in credit on shows before it became an official logo on its own.
FX/SFX: None.
Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show.
Availability: This logo can be seen on the second season of Teen Titans Go! and Mike Tyson Mysteries, Tom and Jerry: Santa's Little Helpers, Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas, and Lego DC Comics: Batman Be Leaguered!.
15th Logo
(May 4, 2015- )[]
Nicknames: "WB Shield X", "Looney Tunes Bullseye", "Looney Tunes Shield II", "Tribute Shield II"
Logo: The WB shield fades in with a dim shine over the shield and zooms in as the black background turns into a dark blood red background of Looney Tunes bullseye rings. After the WB shield is there, the script "Animation" is written in cursive writing.
Variants:
- On Vixen and Freedom Fighters: The Ray, the logo is flashed in after the credits on a cloudy or smoke-like bluish/grayish background with light hues showing the logo before switching over to the Blue Ribbon Content logo, their sister producer.
FX/SFX: The shield fading and zooming, the background fading in, and the script being written.
Music/Sounds: None, the closing theme of the show, or whoosh sound effects starting in 2019. Sometimes, it's the very end of Merrily We Roll Along, like the 11th logo.
Availability: Current and common.
- The logo was first seen in the trailer of the direct-to-video movie, Looney Tunes: Rabbit's Run.
- The full normal logo is currently seen on DC Original Animated Movies mid-2015, web shorts based on Batman Unlimited, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, Wabbit, Bunnicula, Be Cool Scooby-Doo!, DC Superhero Girls shorts and specials (as well as the 2019 series), seasons 2-4 of The Tom and Jerry Show , and Teen Titans Go! beginning with the third season, the Teen Titans Go!/The Powerpuff Girls crossover special "TTG v PPG".
- The variant can be seen on Vixen and Freedom Fighters: The Ray.
- The enhanced logo first appeared on Netflix's adaptation of Green Eggs and Ham. It was later seen on the 2020 revival of Animaniacs, DC Animated Movies starting with Superman: Man of Tomorrow, and Camp WannaRunnaRound: The Early Years. As of this writing, it is used in tandem with the normal logo.
- The logo with sound effects first appeared on Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, alongside other future releases from DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
- This doesn't appear on Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship.
Editor's Note: None to minimal. The WB shield fading in and the dark red rings can be a little creepy to some. This logo, however, is definitive in their Looney Tunes roots. For the variant, low to medium as it's a bit more creepier.
16th Logo
(July 27th, 2018-)[]
Nickname: "The New Looney Tunes Logo"
Logo: We open with the WB shield and the "Animation" text from the last two logos over a red background. Suddenly, Daffy Duck (in his classic design) comes out of the shield and starts jumping everywhere, making his iconic laugh, eventually falling to the ground. Porky Pig (also in his classic design) comes out of the shield and picks Daffy, as some of his feathers come out. One of the feathers lands on the "n" of "Animation" as the logo fades out.
Variants:
- On Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, Daffy is instead pulled by Scorpion, who shouts his catchphrase, "Get over here!"
- On Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, Scorpion leaps out from behind the shield. He throws a few punches and bounces on the "Animation" text, making a pose in the foreground. The shield swings open as a super-powered Shaggy Rogers (from the Scooby-Doo! franchise), with a fiery green aura, glowing eyes (likely a reference to the Ultra Instinct Shaggy internet meme) and the NetherRealm behind him, grabs Scorpion by the neck, says "Like, get over here, man!" (in which he obviously imitates Scorpion's catchphrase), and pulls him into the shield. Shaggy also steps in with a menacing expression in front of the shield with Scooby-Doo behind him, before it is filled with light and the shield closes again.
FX/SFX: Fantastic hand-drawn animation mixed with CG on the shield.
Music/Sounds: A series of cartoon sound effects, along with Daffy's trademark "Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!".
Availability: Current. The logo debuted on Teen Titans Go! To The Movies and later appeared in Justice League vs. The Fatal Five, Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island and Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge.
Editor's Note: Minimal. Daffy's sudden appearance may be startling at first, but nevertheless, it's a great tribute to classic Looney Tunes shorts. _____________________________________________________
Copyright Stamps: Here is some information about the copyright stamps on the Warner Bros. Animation series:
- 1967-1970: © [YEAR] WARNER BROS.-SEVEN ARTS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
- 1972-1992: © [YEAR] WARNER BROS.INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (This was used after 1980 on shows based on classic WB properties, e.g. Taz-Mania.)
- 1980-1992: © [YEAR] WARNER BROS. ANIMATION INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (This was used on original shows.)
- 1992-1995: © [YEAR] Warner Bros., A Time-Warner Entertainment Company.
- 1992-1993: © [YEAR] Warner Bros. Animation, A Division of Time Warner Entertainment Co. L.P. (This was briefly used to replace the one for WB Animation Inc., and has been removed from many DVD and syndication prints.)
- 1995-1999: © [YEAR] Warner Bros. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
- 1999-2003: © [YEAR] Warner Bros. All Rights Reserved
- 2001-: © [YEAR] Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. (This is used on shows based on H-B properties, e.g. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.)
- 2003-: © [YEAR] Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (This is used on show based on classic WB properties, e.g. The Looney Tunes Show.)
- 2003-: © [YEAR] Warner Bros. Animation, Inc. (This is used on original shows.)