Mark VII Limited

History
Mark VII Limited is a logo showing a man with a hammer (which is the company's creator, Jack Webb) banging twice (short variant only once) and words "MARK VII LIMITED". Most shows would have this logo followed by the 1969-1973 Universal Studios logo or the 1971-1973 Universal Studios Still Zooming Globe Variant.for 1973-1975 shows, this logo would be followed by the 1973-1975 Universal Television logo. The company was defunct due to Jack Webb's death in 1982.

Logos
1st logo: On a gray background, we see a stamp, on a stone, with the palm holding the stamp and the gold-brown hand holding the hammer already in

Mark VII Limited

use. The hand then rises the hammer and hits it twice. The stamp is pulled away as it reveals "'VII". "A MARK" appears above the stone, and "PRO'DUCTION" is below it.

Early variants

The letters appears in lowercase: one in a Times and the other in a rounded 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: Against a sandy background, we see the following text:

A

PRODUCTION OF

MARK VII

LTD.

The font is similar to the one used in the first logo, albeitmodified.

4th logo:

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

A Production of MARK VII LIMITED

5th logo: 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.

Scare Factor
1st logo: Minimal for the original, and low to medium for the one with the spider-like hairball stuck in the tape, as it may put off people with insect fears, It's not bad in contrast to its successor...

2nd logo: Low to high. 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: None to low. The drumroll might get to you, but it's mostly boring. The scare factor will increase with the next logo.

4th logo: High to Nightmare, 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: Medium. This edited variant of the original 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.

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.

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

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, which was retained when Ghost Planet Industries changed its name to Williams Street Productions, its current name, 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".