Tag Archives: Pop Culture

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Some logos don't evolve, they regenerate.

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Last week, the BBC revealed its newest logo for 2010′s season of Doctor Who.

who_logo_eleven2

Aside from the “Holy-Lens-Flare-Batman” factor, I’m kind of feeling this. Actually, I all but ignore the stacked type on the left because I’m in love with the treatment of the initials “DW” forming the shape of the TARDIS.

(For those who are scratching their heads and wondering “Doctor.. what?”; the TARDIS is a time machine in the form of a Police Call Box, used by the title character of the Doctor to gallivant through space and time.)

tardis
It’s much bigger on the inside.

This is the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor Who logo since the show’s premiere in 1963 and celebrates the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor. Doctor Who is unique in the fact that the title character has remained the same, despite eleven different actors playing him. The show handles the changes in talent by having the Doctor “regenerate” instead of die. And in honor of the release of the newest regeneration of the branding associated with the show, I thought it’s be fun to take a trip back through time ourselves.

The following is going to be a test of endurance for those designers out there who cringe at the idea of a brand constantly changing its look every few years. Or those who suffer when a design reeks of the trends from the era in which it was created. But when the show/brand in question is one of the longest running television shows in the world (the longest running science fiction program, period);  I guess it’s hard to argue with success.

Check out the history of Doctor Who logos, the good, the bad and the ugly… after the cut.

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Comic-Con 2009: Day Two or The British Invasion

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Come with us now on a journey through time and space…

mighty_boosh_logo

That’s the opening of the British cult hit, The Mighty Boosh, and it’s the only warning you’re given before entering a world of zookeepers, shamans, DJ-ing gorillas, a moon that talks, cockney hitchhikers, evil jazz spirits and that’s just scratching the surface. The Boosh trickled onto American television this year, appearing in the 1am Sunday time slot on Adult Swim in March. It’s one of those shows where there’s no middle ground. You either love it or hate it, or don’t even know it exists. It’s like a children’s show for adults. Melissa Block from NPR described it (accurately, in my opinion) as “a cross between Monty Python, H.R. Pufnstuf and Flight of the Conchords.” There’s hilarity, costumed characters and boy is there ever music.

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Comic-Con 2009: Day One (Part 2)

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One note about Avatar before I start: it’s suffering from a terrible identity disorder. When I’ve talked to people about Avatar, I get halfway in before I realize they’re thinking of Avatar: The Last Airbender (a Nickelodeon cartoon coming to the big screen with M. Night Shyamalan behind the wheel). So, this is not that. This is James Cameron’s Avatar.

Driving to our hotel on Wednesday, the Comic-Con banners on the lampposts of San Diego could not be missed. Flanking each banner of the iconic CCI “eye” logo was another eye, staring out from an almost-human-kinda-kitty, blue face with the name “Avatar” emblazoned on the bottom. I now knew a total of three things about this movie.

  1. It was James Cameron’s.
  2. It took place on another planet.
  3. There were blue people, or something that looked like blue people.
James Cameron's Avatar

James Cameron's Avatar

The details of Avatar had been kept tightly under wraps; save for instances like Stephen Spielberg coming forward to say that “Avatar will be the biggest 3-D live-action film ever”. So, when James Cameron came out on stage, the refreshed crowd at Hall H cheered wildly (completely full again, despite the Twlighters leaving, with people still waiting in line hoping to get in). He spoke about how this movie was 14 years in the making and that when he tried to approach the film once in 1995, he was told it couldn’t be made because they didn’t have the technology to do it. It wasn’t until advances like the motion capture used for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, did he think they were getting close.

James Cameron talks Avatar. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

James Cameron talks Avatar. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

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Comic-Con 2009: Day One (Part 1)

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I forgot to mention one other thing about Preview Night —not everyone was inside exploring the Exhibition Hall. Some people were outside, setting up camp and getting in line to secure a spot in Thursday’s Summit Entertainment panel.

Why? Well, Summit holds the theatrical reins of a little thing called the Twilight saga.

I didn’t see the line for myself until Thursday. Waking up bright and early, we left our hotel and make the block-and-a-half trek to the convention center. The crowds were already amassing, as none of the door had opened yet. We made our way down the length of the building to the far end which houses the second largest room at the con, Hall H. Hall H is reserved for the major panels because it can hold up to 6,500 people. It’s also a popular hangout for the fire marshal, because it’s notoriously always full.

This is actually nowhere near the end of the line. This guy was just directing people in the general direction of the end of the line. We still had far to go. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

This is actually nowhere near the end of the line. This guy was just directing people in the general direction of the end of the line. We still had far to go. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

Looking back from across the street. The front of the line? That's up on the other side of that blue trailer. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

Looking back from across the street. The front of the line? That's up on the other side of that blue trailer. Photo by Matt DeTurck.

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