Universal Pictures Home Entertainment/LaserDisc Side Bumpers
1st Side Bumper (MCA DiscoVision) (1978-1981)
Side 2 (part 1)
Side 2 (part 2)
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Side Bumpers:
- Side 1/End of Side: A white/pale yellow spirograph drawing crazily animates itself on an orange-ish background. A tiny transparent teal blue circle is in the center of the spirograph, and it no-more-than-slightly expands during the animation. This bumper lasts ten seconds.
- Sides 2 to 6: A second side bumper has the exact same bumper as above, except for these changes: a big white number "2" (or "3", "4", "5" or "6") in the top-right corner, and the teal blue circle expands to the point of engulfing the screen making the logo tinted entirely in teal blue (except for the number 2; it stays white as it should logically be pale blue). This bumper lasts twenty seconds.
Variants:
- Some releases had a different version of the bumper for Sides 2 to 6. Here, the bumper is darker, the number is smaller, the teal blue circle is red, and, as the circle expands, the number zooms out and disappears.
- A black and white variant exists.
Technique: Likely Scanimate.
Music/Sounds: The Side 1/End of Side and red Side 2 bumpers are silent, but the standard bumper for Sides 2 to 6 has the DiscoVision jingle.
Availability: Seen on every DiscoVision release from 1978 to 1981. The red version of the Side 2 bumper was seen on CAV releases of Smokey and the Bandit and Elton John: In Concert at Edinburgh, and the Side 5 bumper was seen on Airport '77; the CAV versions of Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Birds, The Other Side of the Mountain, The Sting and Thoroughly Modern Millie were reported to have used the red version on all sides other than the first.
2nd Side Bumper (MCA Videodisc) (1981-1983)
Side Bumpers:
- End of Side 1: On a black background filled with a pattern of green, gray, yellow and blue "1"s, the white words "END OF SIDE" appear in white lettering. The background zooms out while the numeral "1" appears below "END OF SIDE". This bumper lasts nine seconds.
- Side 2: A second side bumper has the exact same bumper as above, except for these changes: the "1"s in the background are replaced with "2"s, the words "END OF SIDE 1" are replaced with "2", the camera zooms in instead of zooming out, and the number "2" fades out leaving just the background of "2"s. This bumper lasts fifteen seconds.
Technique: Zooming effects.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on some MCA Videodisc releases and also seen on some 1980-1982 DiscoVision releases from the era. This does not appear on any MCA Videodisc CED releases.
3rd Side Bumper (MCA Home Video) (1983-1985)
Side Bumpers: The bumpers were merely the stars from the 1983-1991 MCA Home Video logo by themselves, with an "End of Side 1" for the end bumpers, and "Side 2" for side 2.
Technique: Likely Scanimate.
Music/Sounds: None.
Availability: Seen on some MCA Home Video LaserDisc releases from the time period such as the 1984 LaserDisc release of Rear Window. No MCA CED releases have this logo, however.
