Mark VII Limited

Logos[]

1st logo (1951-1954): On a gray background, we see a stamp on a stone with two hands, one is the palm holding the stamp, and the other hands is holding the hammer already in use. The hand then rises the hammer and hits it twice. The stamp is pulled away as it reveals "VII". The text "A MARK" fades in above the stone, and "PRODUCTION" fades in below.

Mark vii limited 1967-33180 — Mark VII Limited

Early variants:[]

The letters appears in lowercase: one in a Garamond, and the other in a Futura font. Another version is shown where the logo goes as follows, but a spider-like object shows up at the very end. This is actually a hairball stuck in the film.

2nd logo:[]

1954-1959: Two hands work on a silver sheet of metal, holding a stamp in place and hitting it twice with a hammer. When the hands and tools pull away, we see a "VII" imprinted on the metal. Above the roman numeral in white is the word "MARK," and below "LIMITED" (There have been several variations on the text over the years; some are listed below).
1967-1971: The same premise, except the stamp is somewhat smaller and the hammer is somewhat larger. After the stamp is hit the first time, the hand holding the hammer pulls the hammer back so far that the back of the hammer's head engulfs the screen. Then the hammer hits the stamp again, and the tools are pulled away.

Variants:[]

On Pete Kelly's Blues "A PRODUCTION OF MARK" is above the "VII" with "LIMITED" at the bottom. This is also accompanied by a rather bombastic fanfare upon the "VII"'s revealing.
On the theatrical version of Dragnet, the Dragnet theme was heard once the name was revealed.
Starting on the 1969-1970 season, the logo is shorter starting on the last half of the hammering.

3rd logo (1971-1973):

On a gold background, we see the following outlined phrase taking up nearly the whole screen:

A Production of

MARK

VII

LIMITED

5th logo (1973-1979):

It's the same as the 1969-1971 variant of the 1967 logo, but it starts midway through the animation; just one hammer strike revealing "VII" and the words "MARK" and "LIMITED" fade in at the same time afterwards.

Music/Sounds[]

1st logo: Two "clangs" of the hammer. Starting in 1952, a drum roll sound was added in the background.

2nd logo: A drum roll is heard throughout. Two "clangs" of the hammer are heard, more spaced out from the 1st. In 1967, the "clinks" and drum roll were somewhat heavier-sounding, and were spaced even farther apart.

3rd logo: Used a loud drumroll; could've been the closing theme to the show, however.

4th logo: There were two versions of the music. The music was the same, a loud bombastic fanfare, but was rearranged throughout. "Version 1" was used from 1971 to 1972, and "Version 2" was used from 1972 to 1973. 5th logo:

A "clang" of the hammer with a drum roll. In 1978 on Project UFO, the drum roll was omitted.

Music/Sounds Variant:[]

On The Greatest Rescues of Emergency: Part 2, the drum roll extends into the following Universal logo.

Scare Factor[]

1st logo: Low for the original, and medium to high for the one with the spider-like hairball stuck in the tape, as it may put off people with insect fears.

2nd logo: Low to medium. This is a popular and memorable logo, having one of the most famous soundtracks in all of logos, but it is understandable that some may be turned off by the loud nature or the sweaty palm.

3rd logo: Low. The drumroll might get to you, but it's mostly boring. The scare factor will increase with the next logo, however…

4th logo: Low to high, because of the music and phrase taking up nearly the whole screen. The logo usually following a dramatic closing theme (like Adam-12) really doesn't help much either.

5th logo: Low to medium. The edited version of the 2nd logo is a bit HIGHER, due to the fast pacing, but shouldn't be too bad to most. Low for the version without the drum roll.

Trivia[]

1st logo: This logo logo was parodied at the end of the 1954 Woody Woodpecker cartoon "Under the Counter Spy". The man hits the stamp three times, hitting his thumb on the third. He yells in pain and lifts the stamp, revealing the words "The End". The usual Woody Woodpecker theme song is heard when the words are revealed.

2nd logo:

The hands in the logo actually belong to Jack Webb himself.
The 1967-1971 soundtrack to the Mark VII logo was also used for the Ghost Planet Industries logo on Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and among other shows on Adult Swim, when Ghost Planet Industries changed its name to Williams Street Productions in 1999.
It was also used as the beginning to wrestler Greg "The Hammer" Valentine's 1991 theme music in the WWF.
This logo was also parodied on the intro title of The Simpsons S16 episode "Treehouse of Horror XV".