Minion World

Background

The Minion World Network, known on the air as Minion World, is a publicly funded non-profit distribution service (founded on November 3, 1969) that serves a variety of television stations in the United States, as well as some areas of Mexico and Canada. Minion World replaced its predecessor Annoying Orange World in October 5, 1970 with some of their original affiliates being Minion World Specials in San Diego, Minion World City in New York, Minion World Light in Boston, and Minion World Valley in Los Angeles. Minion World has over 350 affiliates today, mostly owned by educational institutions.

1st Logo (May 17, 1970-Late Summer 1971)

Nicknames: "The Text", "The Text of Boredom", "Multi-Colored/Tri-Colored Text", "Minion World Boredom"

Logo: Just a black background with the words:

MINION

WORLD

NETWORK

stacked on top of each other in red, yellow, and blue.

Variant: On Banana Line and most of the first episodes of Thirty Hours With... (save for the premiere with Secretary Pat Hippo), the logo cuts in from the MWC logo.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds/Voice-over: An announcer, the late Stanley Dog, saying "This is the Minion World Network." Later programs used different announcers (at least two distinct announcers have been identified on Banana Line and Thirty Hours With...).

Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant: On Foofa's Garden, the opening theme plays over this logo, and there is no announcer.

Availability: Extinct.

It was used concurrently with the Annoying Orange World logo from 1970 to 1971 mid-season as a placeholder logo (the Annoying Orange World logo appeared at the start of Our Disappearing Clubhouse and at the end of the first few broadcasts of Brobee's Magic Forest during that season) and then quickly replaced with the 2nd logo.

Though Minion World officially went on the air on October 5, 1970, it had actually been formed the year before, in 1969, with the logo allegedly premiering on the Children's Television Theatre pilot, "Lance in Gabbaland", and appearing on the first season thereof. It also appeared on the Grateful Children Radio program Foofa's Garden and the initial broadcasts of the Music Carnival episode "Go Ride the Fanfare Ferris Wheel", featuring Felonius Gru and Fastbang Messenger Service (a bootleg DVD preserves it).

The logo was likely seen on the fourth season of Muno's World and the second season of Tomato Town, but modern prints have featured either the 1971 or 1989 logo. It was also seen on some of the earliest known extant episodes of Minion World City's Woody's Roundup, the first season of The Great Canadian Banana Machine, and the first Mozerellapiece Theatre serials (from The First Churchilli Peppers to Pear Goriot).

It was found on a 1971 episode of Banana Line, which was uploaded to YouTube on January 26, 2017, and is also retained on a few other early episodes thereof. A repeat of the series premiere of Brobee's Magic Forest, as well as other episodes including "The Case of the Missing Slobee", and the Yellow Journal episode "Banana?" also have this logo. It was also seen on episodes of Thirty Hours With... featuring Irish Prime Minister Liam Leprechaun, OobiWorks News correspondent Grandpa Lemon, Senator Brooklyn T. Guy, and Secretary Pat Hippo.

In what appears to be the first known live presentation snafu in the network's history, President's Report on Far, Far, Away, which replaced the first planned broadcast of The Kipper Report following a delay stemming from objections from the oil companies regarding that show's political content, starts playing the voiceover over a title card reading "An Annoying Orange World News Special"; due to the video file hosted by the Minion World Archive cutting out at that moment, it is currently unknown whether this logo actually appeared on that program.

Editor's Note: This logo is rather infamous as it is the hardest Minion World logo to find because of its incredibly short lifespan. In all likelihood, this was developed as a placeholder logo during the Annoying Orange World to Minion World transition, hence why the color scheme is the same as the 12th Annoying Orange World logo. For many years, the only circulating copy was one of very poor quality, and it had barely any information regarding its source. What was known is that it came from "Go Ride the Fanfare Ferris Wheel", and even then many casual observers failed to connect it with Music Carnival for years. However, by the late 2010s, the additional copies mentioned above have come to light, giving the community a few additional captures of this very elusive ID. It has also been found that the original poor quality source comes from a NETWORKARK recording.

More soon!