Before the early 1980s, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation were the only two industry juggernauts that ruled the Saturday Morning airwaves with HB ahead of the pack.

And nobody could catch up to either in popularity and the amount of animated shows they produced in a factory-like way.

But with the advent of weekday afternoon and first run syndication in the 1980s, other companies started to appear and for the first time become real competition for the two studio giants of the animated landscape.

The one that popped out of nowhere and was stiff competition for both was a French/American company called D.I.C. Or Diffusion Information Communications was its full name … although there are some in the industry that thought it should have stood for Do It Cheaply.

Though, much like a great number of these companies that cropped up in the 80s, D.I.C produced a great number of shows based on toys (M.A.S.K and Care Bears) as well as shows based on comic strip characters (Heathcliff and Dennis the Menace).

Their most popular and best remembered character might very well be INSPECTOR GADGET. An original character that was not connected to a popular toy line. Although one would come out of its popularity.

D.I.C was also infamous in the industry for underbidding properties and courting toy companies away from other studios. A good case in point is the way they took over Alvin and the Chipmunks from Hanna-Barbera legends Ruby-Spears and GI Joe away from Sunbow after the failure of GI Joe the Movie.

So, join Bret, Jamie and Andrew as they take a trip down memory lane as they prove once and for all that they DO know D.I.C.

And a big thank you to performer Madam Misfit for allowing us to use her electro swing version of INSPECTOR GADGET at the end of this episode.

Please go to her website to learn more about her as well as listen to and purchase her music. And follow her on social media.

Mental Suppository Podcast