Dong-Chouel The Naughty Brother (1986 TV Series)

***Dong Chouel The Naughty Brother*** is an animated comedy children's television series that originally aired on CBS from 13 September 1986 to February 10, 1990, lasted for 4 years. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, it is based on the Franco-Belgian comic series by the same name, created by French and Belgian cartoonists Albert Uderzo, Réne Goscinny and Nic Broca

## History

In 1983, Albert Uderzo was approached by Hanna-Barbera and CBS about the possibility of adapting the Dong-Chouel into a television series. Uderzo was reluctant at first to become a part of a medium for which he had little respect, but soon agreed when he learned that the objective of the television series would be to use the powerful medium of television to encourage children to read books

Tom Ruegger served as his translator for the initial meetings between him and the studio. During said meetings

As Season 1 came to a close, Berny Wolf handed his duties as producer over to Paul Sabella, who had started working on the series as an associate producer. Berny Wolf continued his stint as an animation director for Season 4

Following the cease of production for Season 1, Albert Uderzo was convinced by the CBS executives to create a personal advisor for Dong-Chouel to and ordered Hanna-Barbera to tone down Dong-Chouel's bad behavior. The result was Swoople, who was Dong-Chouel's personal advisor since he and Dong-Chouel met during a field trip at the zoo, Swoople can communicate with other people in Dong-Chouel's friends and family. Joe Barbera's contribution to the series' third season was Chang-Ho Chouel, who is, Dong-Chouel's great-grandfather, who used to hate modern conveniences, but now likes them after Joseon Makeover.

Meanwhile, Uderzo and Hanna-Barbera's relationship became more and more rocky over time, coming to a standstill when he learned the anti-violence episode, "Hot Pains", was made despite his disapproval. In retaliation, Uderzo then refused to approve any further material he received, causing an abrupt pause in production and panic for the studio. It was only after Tom Ruegger spoke with Albert Uderzo that production resumed as normal.

In France, South Korea and Belgium, a compilation film: Mon meilleur ami, Dong-Chouel (1987), are released in cinemas each containing three episodes to surf on the success of the animated series. Despite the meager success of the first compilation film, Claude Berda, had the initiative of this experience, requested to release the second compilation film. To promote the release of the compilation film, Peyo agreed to create a comic album based on the episodes, "The Kimchi Caper" and "Dong-Chouel's Very Bad Day"; however, due to him being busy with the Astérix series, he allowed Doug creator, Jim Jinkins to create 20 panels of the stories in six days.

Since November 1988, before the opening and the next episode previews, each show has ended with a Taekwando match between Dong and the viewers at home, in which Dong holds up a sign representing one of the appropriate hand gestures. From 1986 until October 1988, Dong started the show by tossing a rice cake in the air and catching it in his mouth. CBS switched to the Taekwando match after doctors at Stanford Children's Hospital raised concerns that children may try to imitate Dong and potentially choke on food.

The series aired in reruns on Boomerang from 2000 to onward, The series is still being shown regularly on many channels throughout the world. The cartoon was formerly distributed by Viacom International (later Paramount) and Worldvision Enterprises. The cartoon is now distributed direct from Warner Bros. Television; Time Warner is the current owner of all Hanna-Barbera properties (now known as Cartoon Network Studios), having inherited them in their 1996 merger with Turner Broadcasting.

In February 22, 2023, Warner Bros Discovery has made a deal with ODMedia to digitalise and remaster the entire series in full HD

## Production

Outsourced production work was done by Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studios, Hanna-Barbera Australia (Seasons 1 and 2), Fil-Cartoons (in Seasons 3 and 4) Big Star, Pion Animation, Daewon Media and, only for Season 2, by Toei Animation. and Optifex

### Music

The TV show's reggae-style theme song, "The Arirang", was written and composed by Hoyt Curtin, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Tom Ruegger, Alan Burnett, Glenn Leopold and Albert Uderzo,

The original music score was produced by Hoyt Curtin.

In season 2, the song "Crazy Train", written and performed by then-head writer Tom Ruegger, was introduced. It served as the alternate anthem of the television series. When Tom Ruegger left Dong-Chouel in season 4, the song was officially retired from the show.

## Home Media

### VHS

In 1987, Channel 5 Video in the UK released every Season 1 episode with the SEPP restorations

Hanna-Barbera Home Video released all the episodes of the series each on individual VHS tapes in Spring 1992,

### DVD

Warner Archive (via Hanna-Barbera Classics Collection) released the complete first season on DVD in a two-volume set in 2014. Despite high sales of both sets, Seasons 3 and 4 have been released. Warner Archive later released a series of three single-disc releases of *Dong-Chouel* in 2015, each containing five episodes from the second season. A two-disc DVD was set to be released in 2021 to tie into the theatrical film with 10 episodes which would be culled from the entire run of the series, instead, it included episodes from the second season. Another DVD with all the *Dong-Chouel* Christmas specials was released later that year.

## Trivia

* C. Franck Symphony In D. Minor and In The Hall Of The Mountain King are the only classical music played in the series
* In 1987, This series has been exported to France, Spain, Turkey and Germany
* In 2022, Seasons 1 and 3 are available on HBO Max

## Franchise

This series started having tie-ins since 1988, with Dong-Chouel books at McDonald's in Thanksgiving 1988