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DiC Entertainment
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DiC Entertainment (Creator)
Get your mind out of the gutter. It's pronounced "deek".

DIC Entertainment Corporation (stylized as DiC) was a production and distribution company that started as a subsidiary of Radio-Television Luxembourg in 1971, that would go on to produce many kids' cartoons, particularly in The '80s and The '90s. Its name is an acronym for "Diffusion, Information et Communication". Originally founded by Jean Chalopin, DiC was acquired in 1986 by Andy Heyward, who continued to head DiC until its demise in 2008. Heyward is currently the head of Genius Brands International, which he bought in 2015.

The company is mostly remembered for its closing logos that appeared at the very end of its shows. Its most notable was the "Kid in Bed" logo, in which a camera zoomed in above a boy who was sleeping in his bed and through his bedroom window, where the DiC logo formed outside. A child's voiceover then says the company's name. This closing logo, first used in 1987, went through various variations before being replaced altogether in 2001. More information on this and the other closing logos for DiC can be found here.

DiC remained an independent studio for much of its days under Heyward's watch, until 1993 when it formed a limited partnership with Capital Cities/ABC, the then-parent company of the ABC network. It became a subsidiary of Disney after their takeover of Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. Unlike ABC, however, Disney had little interest in DiC, and so, Heyward purchased back DiC in 2000. In 2008, the studio was acquired by Cookie Jar Entertainment, which itself was acquired by WildBrain (then known as "DHX Media") in 2012. Currently, with certain exceptions, all of DiC's programming archive remain controlled by WildBrain.

DiC worked with Tokyo Movie Shinsha early on note , switching to studios like KK C&D Asia, Visual 80, Mook DLE, Hong Ying, Pacific Rim Animation, Saerom and Sei Young later on as Disney and later Warner Bros. were giving TMS more money for their shows. As a result, the higher-quality shows of the company's heyday in The '80s (including Inspector Gadget, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, M.A.S.K., Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats, The Real Ghostbusters, Rainbow Brite, Dinosaucers, and so on) gave way to cheaper cartoons such as the ones based on the Super Mario Bros. and Sonic The Hedgehog video games, some of which have gained a minor cult following since their release.

One reason for DiC's decline in quality could be laid at the feet of their 1980s business model, which was to underbid on new projects (in hopes of denying competitors from landing the gig), often losing money on their shows (using the money from a second show to cover the losses of the first one, etc.) and also selling their stock like crazy based on their "predictions" of there being more and more kids TV on the air (when in fact that market was flooded in the late 1980s and led in part to a collapse in the syndicated kids TV market).

It is also famous among the anime community for its dub of Sailor Moon, although despite not being a perfect dub, it is very nostalgic for many Moonies (the dubs of Saint Seiya, aka Knights of the Zodiac and Speed Racer X can be laid directly at their feet however). Voice acting since The '90s were (mostly) provided by the Vancouver talent pool, with some other shows recorded in Toronto, Ottawa, Los Angeles and Omaha (or some mix thereof).

They also released EasyPlay DVDs in the early 2000s back when their library was distributed by Lionsgate in the US, in which you can hear Inspector Gadget (who essentially served as the company's mascot and spokesperson) deliver an extremely long and detailed lecture on how to use them.

Notable shows produced by the company include:

Tropes present in DiC Entertainment's work:

  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The famous "Kid in Bed" logo has a 3D star and a 2D photograph of a kid laying in bed. Also pops up in some of their later output like Dino Squad and Stargate Infinity.
  • Amateur Cast: Several of the company's series from the late 1990s up until the company's demise, such as Archie's Weird Mysteries, Strawberry Shortcake and Horseland used voice actors based out of Omaha, Nebraska, most of whom had never acted before or at best, had involvement in local theater and/or were local/regional radio and/or television personalities. A majority of them have became One-Book Authors and faded into obscurity, with the exception of Andrew Rannells, who became a major star in his own right.
  • 65-Episode Cartoon: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Sabrina: The Animated Series and more.
  • Animation Bump: The animation in intros of shows such as Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, All-New Dennis the Menace (alternative intro with different animation style, seen in international releases of "Navy Destroyer"), Ultraforce and Hammerman, range from slightly better to way more fluid than that of the show. This also applies for the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog pilot.
  • Animesque: As a result of shipping much of their work over to Japanese studios in the 1980s, many of their shows from that period exhibit this on full display.
  • Determinator: One of the things DIC was most known for during their run was buying the licenses for as many series as possible and then stretching themselves and their annual budgets to the breaking point to get all the shows made through sheer force of willpower. Whenever this happened, you could usually see the impending disaster coming from ten miles away-and boy did they crash spectacularly. To name only the most major examples:
    • 1987: This was the year Andy Heyward bought out his partners and aimed to prove he could run the place solo. To make his mark, he announced no less than ten new shows for that season and promised they'd all be out by September come hell or high water. The shows in question were Lady Lovely Locks, Teddy Ruxpin, Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater, Sylvanian Families, ALF: The Animated Series, The New Archies, Beverly Hills Teens, Dinosaucers, Starcom: The US Space Force and I'm Telling. While all ten series miraculously did get made and delivered on time, only ALF lasted more than one season, and DIC had to scale back for 1988 to avoid going bust.
    • With the '87 disaster and a subsequent recession seemingly behind them, Heyward went back to full force for 1991 by picking up a good eight production deals that year, which were Super Mario World, Hammerman, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures, Prostars, Wish Kid, Where's Wally/Waldo?, Captain Zed and the Zee Zone and James Bond Jr.. Unfortunately, with most of their interim hits still running as with the networks not willing to cough up as much cash as they had pre-stock crash, DIC went overbudget and ultimately had to drop the latter license after completing pre-development. (Bond Jr. ultimately moved to Fred Wolf Films and was fortunately still able to meet its intended deadline). As for the rest of them, once again only one show landed a second season-which was Captain Zed, and that show didn't even reach US airwaves.
    • Not one to give up, (or indeed learn from his mistakes), Heyward again went full throttle for 1993 and launched six new series that year in hopes of putting himself back into the big leagues. This time the lineup was Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, Incredible Dennis The Menace, Madeline, Hurricanes and Double Dragon. He fared a bit better this time as both Madeline and SatAM were renewed stateside, while Hurricanes lasted a good five seasons in its native UK (it also aired in the US, but didn't get past Season 2 stateside).
    • With this in mind, Heyward went for one more super-push in 1995 with another six series lined up for the fall premiere slate. The shows he went into this battle with were Street Sharks, Gadget Boy and Heather, Ultraforce, Action Man, Sailor Moon and What-A-Mess. Unfortunately, once again only half the shows got past their first seasons, with USA Network having to bail out Sailor Moon and Gadget Boy forced into an educational retool.
      • Thankfully, Heyward finally cooled down after this and decided that DIC would never again average more than three projects in a given year, a decision which saved the company enough reserve cash to ultimately continue for about another decade.
  • Heh Heh, You Said "X": Regardless of how it's officially pronounced, there's no denying that hearing the name can make you chuckle.
  • Limited Animation: A popular joke among detractors was that DiC stood for "do it cheaper". Super Mario World, Hammerman, All-New Dennis the Menace and pretty much all of their Audience-Alienating Era series suffered from this. Some of their earlier shows like Inspector Gadget and The Real Ghostbusters devolved into this over time.
  • Only So Many Canadian Actors: Despite not being a Canadian company (at least until Cookie Jar Entertainment bought them out), many of their shows feature Canadian voice actors more typically associated with Toronto's Nelvana, Montreal's Cinar and Vancouver's Ocean Group.
  • Vanity Plate: Its ending logos.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • During their first look live-action film contract with Walt Disney Pictures, DIC had plans to create live-action films based on Sailor Moon and Carmen Sandiego as well as an original project named Beardstown Ladies, but these never got past the planning stages.
    • In 2001, DIC announced a co-production deal with Celador Productions to create a Animated Adaptation of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for 2002, but aside from an initial announcement that it would be shown off as MIPCOM 2001, nothing else was said about the series.

 
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DIC

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DiC - Inspector...

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Alternative Title(s): Di C

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DIC

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DIC

DiC - Inspector...

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