Disney's Dragon Club

Disney's Dragon Club (Chinese: 迪士尼小神龙俱乐部 (The Little Dragon Club) was a daily Chinese children's programming strand produced and operated by Disney Media Distribution that aired on various syndicated television stations across Mainland China. The block was originally launched as a venture between ABC Distribution Company and its subsidiary DIC Entertainment before the Disney buyout of Capital Cities/ABC and the block then became Disney branded and focused.

## History

On September 19, 1994, Dragon Club was officially launched on cable television in China. Originally an exclusive cable-only children's TV program, the block was created as a way for DIC and ABC's limited partnerships DIC Entertainment, L.P. and DIC Productions, L.P. to supply animated cartoons and children's programming TV shows to the Chinese television market. At its key, Dragon Club aired in a prime time slot on more than over 40 syndicated Chinese over-to-air terrestrial, cable and satellite TV stations in more than over 200 cities across Mainland China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin (Sino-Russian), Shenyang (Sino-Korean), Dalian (Sino-Japanese), Xiamen (Sino-Taiwanese), Guangzhou, Haikou and Nanning (Sino-Indochinese).

On October 2, 1994, Panda Club (Chinese: 熊猫俱乐部 (The Little Panda Club) was officially launched as an over-to-air television companion to Dragon Club in China.

In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Disney had shows on the main Chinese state-run national TV station China Central Television (formerly Peking Television) showing Chinese-dubbed classic Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck cartoons to the public eye across the mainland following the Sino-Soviet split in 1960, which led to China, a East Asian country who was once had been a satellite state of the Soviet Union since October 1, 1949, broke away from the Asian Soviet sphere and became a neutral third-world independent socialist state with its own independent path in 1961, the Cultural Revolution of 1966, the death of Chairman Mao in 1976, the opening of the Chinese economic reform in the late 1970s, which was held by Deng Xiaopeng in 1978.

In 1967, the People's Republic of China became one of the first Asian countries to broadcast color television and Peking Television was considered to be one of the first TV stations in Asia to adapt the French, Soviet-backed SECAM color encoding system following a huge big wave of imported PAL/SECAM dual-standard color TV sets, particularly from America (NTSC-M), Britain (PAL-I), France (SECAM-L), West Germany (PAL-B/G), East Germany (SECAM-B/G), the Soviet Union (SECAM-D/K) and Japan (NTSC-J). In 1970, China has created its own modified version of the West German, British-backed PAL color encoding system (PAL-D/K) as a Chinese variant of the French, Soviet and Eastern European PAL/SECAM dual-standard system provide color television for the entire Chinese mainland (PAL-D/K) as well as for many other poorer-developing countries such as the Soviet Union (SECAM-D/K), East Germany (SECAM-B/G), Poland (SECAM-D/K), Czechoslovakia (PAL-D/K), Yugoslavia (PAL-B/G), Albania (PAL-D/K), Romania (PAL-D/K), Saudi Arabia (SECAM-B/G), India (SECAM-B/G) and Thailand (PAL-B/G).

In 1978, Peking Television was renamed into China Central Television and Beijing Television.

In April, Disney also started providing one hour of TV programming a week on two regional Chinese stations. And even the many countless numbers of foreign-owned satellite TV services such as STAR TV, TNT & Cartoon Network and Disney Channel from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and the West and Ostankino and Qazaqstan from Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and the East have beamed in various shows with both Simplifed and Traditional Chinese subtitles as well as Russian, Korean and Japanese subtitles. However, China's deal with ABC and DIC seems to be their most far-reaching to date.

Both DIC and ABC have been doing business in China for many years. ABC has been there since 1987, selling various programs and building relationships with the local entertainment community.

And DIC and many other North American (USA/Canada), Western European (UK/France/West Germany), Japanese and Australasian (Australia/New Zealand) studios from across the Western Bloc has long subcontracted much of the labor-intensive animation work for outsourcing its shows overseas into Eastern European and Asian studios from across the Eastern Bloc behind the both two Iron and Bamboo Curtains, including several in East Germany (DEFA-Studio für Trickfilme), Poland, the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia) (Bratři v triku), Hungary (Pannonia Film Studio/Varga Studio), Croatia (formerly Yugoslavia) (Zagreb Film), Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) (Soyuzmultfilm), the People's Republic of China (Mainland China) (Shanghai Animation Film Studio/Shanghai Morning Sun Animation), Taiwan (Wang Film Productions), North Korea (SEK Studio), South Korea (Hanho Heung-Up/AKOM) and Thailand, because of the low cost. So far, about more than over 200 half-hour DIC and other acquired programs that were aired on the both two Dragon and Panda Clubs have been animated at the Suzhou Hong Yang Cartoon Studio, a Sino-Taiwanese joint-ventured animation company founded by Bobby Hsieh in 1978 based in Suzhou (Soochow), Jiangsu Province, which is near the largest city of Shanghai. The Little Dragon Club is seen on Hong Kong's STAR TV Chinese Channel (particularly on many cable operators and for many individual home receivers in Russia (Siberia), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Phillipines, South Korea and Japan, where STAR TV is already available in an estimated of more than over 30 million cabled households from all across Northeast and Central Asia) and on many large countless numbers of China's own cable and direct-to-home satellite TV outlets across the mainland, while the Little Panda Club appears on 5 of the various Chinese regional over-the-air terrestrial TV stations.

There is really no accurate way of measuring the size of the Chinese viewing audience as China lacks the equivalent of the Nielsen ratings. Heyward recalls that “in trying to measure the number of individual wired homes with large numbers of equally-advanced multi-standard TV sets, a wide range of handsomely-styled viewing units and many countless analog/digital terrestrial, cable and satellite television reception receivers being reached, we found out that they might count Plumbing Factory No. 712, where they have more than over 2,000 people, as one household in total. Because it’s wired up to the cable, it’s considered to be one household in total!” Digital television, certain to be available in Mainland China for the next few years, has already being catered for to provide DVB digital video and audio reception signals for the Chinese terrestrial, cable, satellite and SMATV television systems by using a VHF/UHF TV antenna, a big C/KU-band satellite dish and a digitally-encoded multi-standard receiver (NTSC-PAL-SECAM/50HZ-60HZ).

In 1996, Dragon Club continued on and became a Disney-themed block after the Capital Cities/ABC purchase renamed as Disney's Dragon Club, and began airing Disney cartoons by introducing new characters added to the block such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck.

Marathon Media and Taffy Entertainment had also signed an over-to-air terrestrial broadcast and cable television programming distribution contract deal with Disney's Dragon Club in China to provide a whole package full of their own shows to air on numerous Chinese terrestrial and cable TV stations from across the mainland including Totally Spies! (Disney Channel Asia/HaHa Children's Channel), Code Lyoko (Cartoon Network Asia), Martin Mystery (Disney Channel Asia), Pet Alien (Cartoon Network Asia/Shanghai Toonmax Cartoon TV), Team Galaxy (Nickelodeon Asia), Cosmic Quantum Ray and The Twisted Whiskers Show (Disney Channel Asia).

## International co-productions

### Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Hong Ying Universe/Shanghai Morning Sun Animation)

In 1993, the Hong Ying Universe Studio/STAR TV of Taipei, Taiwan, the Shanghai Morning Sun Animation Studio of Shanghai, China, co-produced Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The entire animation of the series was produced at Shanghai Morning Sun Animation Production Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, China under the overseas supervising direction of Pierre DeCelles and Bin Chuang with additional animation provided by Soyuzmultfilm in Moscow, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) and the SEK Animation Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Lovesick Sonic and High Stakes Sonic were animated at the Chinese subdivision of Rainbow Animation Group (Shanghai Hongqiao Animation Production Co., Ltd.) in Shanghai, China under the overseas supervising direction of Horseman Cao.

Big Daddy was animated at Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Production Co., Ltd. (formerly Suzhou Hong Yang Cartoon Production Co., Ltd.) in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China (which is located near the largest city of Shanghai) under the overseas supervising direction of Skinny Wen.

### Crocadoo (Zagreb Film/Shanghai Animation Film Studio)

In 1996, Croatia Film-Zagreb Film/RTV Pink of Zagreb, Croatia and the Shanghai Animation Film Studio/Cartoon Network Asia Pacific of Shanghai, China co-produced Crocadoo with Energee Entertainment/Nine Network of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and Ravensburger Radio & TV/Super RTL of Germany.

The series was aired on RTV Pink in Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) and on the Nine Network in Australia since 1996, on Dragon Club/Panda Club in Mainland China since 1997 and on Cartoon Network Asia in most parts of the Asian continent (including India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) since January 5, 1998, which at the time was free to anyone in Asia and the Middle East with a big C/Ku-Band satellite dish.

The entire animation of the series was produced at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in Shanghai, China with additional animation provided by with additional animation provided by Soyuzmultfilm in Moscow, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) and the SEK Animation Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea.

The Noise Machine was animated at Shanghai Morning Sun Animation Production Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, China.

The Club was animated at Dong Yang Animation Co., Ltd. in Seoul, South Korea.

### Oscar's Orchestra (Hong Ying Universe/Shanghai Animation Film Studio)

In 1995, Marathon Media of Paris, France and the Shanghai Animation Film Studio/CCTV of Shanghai, China co-produced Oscar's Orchestra.

The entire animation of the series was produced at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in Shanghai, China with additional animation provided by the SEK Animation Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Season 1 was animated at Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. in Taipei, Taiwan.

Season 2 was animated at Suzhou Hong Ying Animation Production Co., Ltd. (formerly Suzhou Hong Yang Cartoon Production Co., Ltd.) in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.

Season 3 was animated at Shanghai Morning Sun Animation Production Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, China.

### Poochini (Suzhou Hong Guang Animation/Hosem Animation)

In 2000, Carbunkle Cartoons/Teletoon of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Suzhou Hong Guang Animation Studio/Cartoon Network Asia Pacific in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China, the Hosem Animation Studio/Shanghai Oriental Television of Shanghai, China co-produced Poochini with WildBrain of San Francisco, California, United States for EM.TV of Munich, Germany.

### Pet Alien (Hosem Animation)

In 2004, the Hosem Animation Studio/Shanghai Toonmax Cartoon TV of Shanghai, China and [[ co-produced Pet Alien for its division Taffy Entertainment and Telegael/TG4 of Ireland.

### Nudnik (Bratři v triku)

In 1965, Bratři v triku of Prague, Czechoslovakia co-produced Nudnik.

### Samson Scrap and Deliah (Bratři v triku)

In 1960, ARD of West Germany and Bratři v triku of Prague, Czechoslovakia.

### Tom and Jerry (Zagreb Film/Soyuzmultfilm)

In 1960, Croatia Film-Zagreb Film of Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bratři v triku of Prague, Czechoslovakia and the Shanghai Animation Film Studio of Shanghai, China co-produced Tom and Jerry (Serbo-Croatian: Tom i Džeri / Том и Џери) with Rembrandt Films of New York City, New York, USA for worldwide theatrical distribution with [[]].

When the production of the new Tom and Jerry cartoon series began in 1960 while living in Prague, Czechoslovakia behind the Iron Curtain, Gene Deitch subcontracted his production work to the Zagreb Film Studio of Cartoon Films in Zagreb, Yugoslavia with the help of William L. Snyder, Václav Bedřich and Dušan Vukotić (one of the founding members of Zagreb Film's cartoon division).

Like Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia was actually a communist country located in the Balkans (particularly at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe) and it was also part of the Eastern Bloc, but the country itself was a third-world neutral nation and Yugoslavia was considered to be one of the countries being a part of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Switchin' Kitten was animated at Rembrandt Films and Bratři v triku in Prague, Czechoslovakia under the supervision of Gene Deitch and Václav Bedřich.

Down and Outing was animated at the TV Cartoons and Zagreb Film under the supervision of George Dunning, Richard Williams and Jimmy T. Murakami.

High Steaks was animated at the Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Studio in London, England, United Kingdom and the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in Shanghai, China under the supervision of John Halas and Wan Laiming.

#### Zagreb Animation Crew (Zagreb Film, Yugoslavia)

##### Directors

* Gene Deitch (Switchin' Kitten, It's Greek to Me-ow!)
* John Halas (High Steaks)
* Jimmy T. Murakami (Calypso Cat, The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit)
* Richard Williams (Down and Outing)

##### Test Animators

* Børge Ring
* Gene Deitch
* George Dunning
* Harold Whitaker
* Jimmy T. Murakami
* Richard Williams

##### Layout Artists

* Gene Deitch
* Dušan Vukotić
* Václav Bedřich

##### Animation Directors

* Dušan Vukotić
* Wan Laiming

##### Key Animators

* Duan Rui
* Pu Jiaxiang

### Totally Spies! (Shanghai Jiang Toon Animation/Hosem Animation)

In 2004, the Shanghai Jiang Toon Animation Studio-Hosem Animation Studio/Disney Channel Asia Pacific-HaHa Children's Channel of Shanghai, China co-produced Totally Spies! with Marathon Media/TF1 of Paris, France and Image Entertainment Corporation/Teletoon of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The series has already first began in North America, in the UK and in most parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Fox Kids/Jetix, particularly for the Central and Eastern Europe feed in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, for the Russia and Southeast Europe feed in partnership with RTV Pink in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova and the Middle East and North Africa feed in partnership with STAR TV under the STAR Select cable and direct-to-home satellite TV package in Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran and Kazakhstan) in November 3, 2001, in Mainland China (Disney's Dragon Club), South Korea (Tooniverse) and Japan (TV Tokyo) in 2002 and in most parts of the Asia-Pacific region (Disney Channel Asia, particularly in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Thailand, India and Saudi Arabia) in 2003.

The entire traditional hand-drawn animation of the series was produced and handled overseas at Wuhan Jiang Toon Animation Co., Ltd. in Wuhan, Hebei, China with additional animation provided by the SEK Animation Studio in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Starting around the third season, a new team of Sino-Taiwanese animators dedicated to producing Totally Spies! cartoons from Western Europe into overseas in East Asia for both European and Asian television distributions from across the globe was formed by a group of Shanghainese freelance animation directors from the Hosem Animation Studio's main Shanghai City headquarters in Asia such as Horseman Cao, Bin Chuang, Thomas Huang, Paul Lin and Arthur Wu at the Wuhan Jiang Toon's satellite studio in Shanghai, China, who were managed on-site by the founding members of the European Animesque animation industry from Marathon Media's main Paris headquarters in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France. The Chinese freelance animator Horseman Cao himself (who directed the entire series for Wuhan Jiang Toon while working at the Hosem Animation Studio in Shanghai) has also took the Japanese anime influence in a 2001 Chinese animated TV series called Music Up.

Between 2005 and 2006, most selected episodes of the fourth and fifth seasons were animated at the Sandman Animation Studio in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China (a foreign-owned Chinese independent animation studio which is located near the largest city of Shanghai) under the overseas supervising direction of the Irish freelance animator Kieron Seamons, starting with the Season 4 episode called "The Dream Teens".

In 2007, some selected episodes of the fifth season were animated at the Synergy Animation Studio in Shanghai, China, starting with the Season 5 episode called "Evil Pizza Guys".

#### Shanghai Animation Crew (Wuhan Jiang Toon Animation Co., Ltd., China)

##### Animation Directors

* Arthur Wu
* Bin Chuang
* Horseman Cao
* Paul Lin
* Thomas Huang

##### Key Animators

* Billy Ho
* Tank Chi
* Sterling Hsiao

## Programming

The block was originally launched as an exclusive cable-only children's TV program in China with a mixture of DIC Entertainment cartoons and other acquired faire, and after Disney took over broadcast Disney programmes were added in addition to local Chinese animated shows and live-action and became an over-to-air children's TV program in 1999, replacing its sister block Panda Club by launching on both analog and digital terrestrial television stations across Mainland China.

### DIC Entertainment/ABC

* Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (刺猬索尼克历险记) (1994)
* Mummies Alive!
* Sabrina: The Animated Series (魔法少女萨琳娜) (2000)
* Sabrina's Secret Life
* Sonic Underground
* Sushi Pack
* The Wacky World of Tex Avery (1997)

### Saban Entertainment/20th Century Fox

* Eek! The Cat
* Jin Jin and the Panda Patrol (熊猫京京)
* Life with Louie (Prime-Time)
* Little Mouse on the Prairie (大草原上的小老鼠)
* Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic (After-School)
* The Why Why Family

### Disney

* Disney Doug (After-School)
* House of Mouse
* Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Pre-School)
* Nightmare Ned
* Timon & Pumbaa

### Cartoon Network/Warner Bros.

* Chowder (After-School) (2008)
* Camp Lazlo (疯狂夏令营) (After-School) (2005)
* Cow and Chicken (鸡与牛) (After-School) (1997)
* Dexter's Laboratory (德克斯特的实验室) (1996)
* Foster’s Home of Imaginary Friends
* I Am Weasel (黄鼠狼威索) (After-School) (1997)
* Johnny Bravo (After-School) (1997)
* Looney Tunes (After-School) (1994)
* The Powerpuff Girls (After-School) (1990s)
* Tom and Jerry (After-School) (1994)

### Nickelodeon/Viacom

* All Grown Up! (After-School) (2000s)
* The Ren & Stimpy Show (Prime-Time) (1994)
* Rugrats (After-School) (1994)
* SpongeBob SquarePants (海绵宝宝) (After School) (2000)

### Third-party shows (Acquired)

#### Western Cartoons

* Atomic Betty (原子贝蒂) (Canada/France) (After-School) (2004)
* The Baby Huey Show (鸭宝宝休易) (USA/Canada/China/South Korea) (After-School) (1994)
* Crocadoo (Australia/Germany/Croatia/Russia/China) (After-School) (1996)
* D'Myna Leagues (After-School) (2000)
* Dino Babies (恐龙宝宝 / 小恐龙的故事) (USA/Ireland/Taiwan/China) (Pre-School) (1994)
* Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (USA) (Pre-School) (2003)
* Loggerheads (Ireland/Germany/Hungary/China) (After-School) (1997)
* Mona the Vampire (Canada/France/Hong Kong) (Pre-School)
* Ned's Newt (Canada/Germany/Hungary) (After-School) (1997)
* The New Woody Woodpecker Show (伍迪啄木鸟) (USA/Canada/France) (After-School) (2000)
* Oscar's Orchestra (奥斯卡的管弦乐队) (UK/France/Germany) (After-School) (1990s)
* Pet Alien (USA/France/India/China/Ireland/Germany) (After-School) (2004)
* Pelswick (Canada/South Korea/China/USA) (After-School) (2000)
* Poochini (USA/Canada/Taiwan/China/Germany/Netherlands) (After-School) (2001)
* Stickin' Around (Canada/France) (After-School) (1996)
* VeggieTales (蔬菜总动员) (USA) (Pre-School) (1990s)
* What About Mimi? (Canada/South Korea/China) (After-School) (2000)

#### Chinese and Foreign

* Gene Deitch's Tom and Jerry shorts (Czechoslovakia/Yugoslavia/USSR/China/USA) (After-School) (1994)
* Inspektor Maska (Yugoslavia/Czechoslovakia/USSR/China/USA) (After-School) (1994)
* Martin Mystery (France/Canada/Italy) (After-School) (2003)
* Nu, Pogodi! (USSR/China) (After-School) (1994)
* The Nudnik Show (努德尼克) (Czechoslovakia/USA) (After-School) (1994)
* Oggy and the Cockroaches (France/Germany) (After-School) (1998)
* Professor Balthazar (巴尔萨扎尔教授) (Yugoslavia) (Pre-School) (1994)
* Space Goofs (France/Germany/USA) (After-School) (1997)
* Team Galaxy (France/Canada/Netherlands) (After-School) (2006)
* Totally Spies! (间谍少女组 / 少女特工组) (France/Canada/South Korea/China) (After-School) (2002)
* Winx Club (魔法俏佳人 / 神奇仙女公主) (Italy/South Korea/China) (After-School) (2004)
* Wunschpunsch (France/Canada/Germany) (After-School) (2001)
* Zagreb Film shorts (萨格勒布电影短片) (Yugoslavia) (Pre-School/After-School/Prime-Time) (1994)
	+ The Substitute (Yugoslavia/USSR/China) (1961)

#### Live-Action

* Saved by the Bell (USA) (Prime-Time) (1994)
* Sesame Street (芝麻街) (USA) (Pre-School) (1994)

### Local Animation

* The Blue Mouse and the Big Faced Cat (蓝皮鼠大脸猫)
* Journey to the West: Legends of the Monkey King (西游记)