DIC Entertainment, producer of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, has a documentary on Kickstarter

If you were a child of the 80s and 90s, there is no doubt that you saw the logo for DIC Entertainment after countless animated shows. From Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Ghostbusters, and Inspector Gadget to the Care Bears and Dennis the Menace, DIC produced some of the most memorable syndicated cartoon shows for over two decades. Now, three Australians are hoping to create a documentary on DIC and an obscure animated show created by the company in the early 90s called Twins of Destiny. The documentary, English Dub – A DIC Entertainment Story, is hoping to hit a lofty goal of nearly $19k in less than 12 days with $2,000 raised so far. You can check out the trailer and read their plans over on their Kickstarter.

My take: While I am very excited to see anything covering DIC, a company which I enjoyed a great many productions from during my childhood – most notably Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog – I do have some problems with English Dub – A DIC Entertainment Story. Most notably, I find the framing device of the obscure The Twins of Destiny cartoon to be a odd choice. I get that the documentary crew originally set out to create a film about an obscure show they loved, but I feel that the show is so unknown that few people will be willing to back a documentary with that as the focus when DIC produced so many well known shows.

A DIC documentary (a “DIC Doc”?) that focuses on the company’s history as a whole with a greater focus on popular brands like He-Man, Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, Ghostbusters and Sonic, while also focusing on lesser known shows, would be far more interesting. Also, I found the praise for Jean Chalopin, DIC creator, to be a bit over the top. The guy is a powerhouse, but mentioning him alongside Disney and Miyazaki felt like the crew were too happy to stroke the ego of their hero. The production quality is also iffy. They do show that they can string together a documentary, but the audio and video quality of the Kickstarter video was lacking and I did not like the mention of using existing Skype conversations in the documentary.

What do you think of the idea of the documentary? Does it need more Sonic?

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