The Dawson Duo

***The Dawson Duo*** is an American animated television series created by Aldrin Copperfield for Nickelodeon, centered around the adventures of two identical 12-year old twin boys who live with their single father and friends in the fictional American town of Blackberry Hills. The series premiered on Nickelodeon in May 21, 1994 and ended on December 21, 1996; in total, there were four seasons each containing 13 episodes.

The series was produced by A.J.C. Entertainment, the production company of Aldrin Copperfield and his partner, Jake Carlson. Almost all of the characters in the series are designed similarly to the main characters of *Whoopass Stew! A Sticky Situation*, an animated short film created in 1992 by Craig McCracken, who would later go on to create *The Powerpuff Girls* for Cartoon Network.

Throughout its run, the series received acclaim from both critics and fans alike, who praised its characters, humor, storylines and voice acting, and has gone on to become a cult classic.

A feature film based on the series was released on August 15, 1997, serving as the finale to the series.

## Premise

*The Dawson Duo* revolves around the lives of Aaron and Everett Dawson, a pair of identical 12-year old boys who are told apart only by the number of hair strands on their heads, eye colors and the length of the sleeves on their shirts. They reside in Blackberry Hills, a town in an unspecified state in the United States, and get into various adventures while also tackling typical slice of life situations.

Characters among the titular duo include Gregory Dawson, the boys' single father who bears an uncanny resemblance to his sons, Emma Miller, Aaron and Everett's next-door neighbor and primary best friend, and Jacob Clark, their other best friend who lives on the other side of the block facing their house.

## Characters

### Main characters

* **Aaron James Dawson** (voiced by Justin Shenkarow): A 12-year old (later 13-year old) boy who is the twin brother of Everett Dawson. He wears an orange long-sleeved shirt with a brown bottom half, dark gray pants and blue sneakers, as well as having light brown eyes and three long strands of hair on his head. He is laid-back and easygoing, and often spends his free time reading comic books. He also often serves as the voice of reason to Everett and is slightly wiser than him.
* **Everett Edward Dawson** (voiced by Billy West): Aaron's more fun-loving and adventurous twin brother. He is dressed similarly to his brother, except his shirt has shorter sleeves and he has green eyes as well as only two shorter strands of hair on his head.

### Supporting characters

* **Gregory Nash Dawson** (voiced by Dan Castellaneta): The single father of Aaron and Everett who resembles his sons in terms of hairstyle and the color scheme of his clothing. He resembles Aaron more closely since he shares the latter's brown eyes and has long sleeves on his shirt as well.
* **Elizabeth "Emma" Miller** (voiced by Kath Soucie): A slightly tomboyish 12-year old (later 13-year old) girl who lives next door to Aaron and Everett. She is the duo's main best friend who is their go-to person to hang out with and even participates in some of their adventures.
* **Jacob Ethan Clark** (voiced by Rob Paulsen): An active 12-year old (later 13-year old) boy who is Aaron and Everett's secondary best friend. He lives in a house on the opposite side of Aaron and Everett's block, and occasionally tags along with his friends on their adventures. His main hobby is riding around on his skateboard.

### Recurring characters

* **Ms. Joyce** (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman): The boys' homeroom teacher at Blackberry Middle School.
* **Principal Phillips** (voiced by Jim Cummings): The principal of Blackberry Middle School. While he tends to be a bit stern, he is generally well-respected by the students in the school.
* **Felix Cody Franklin** (voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez): A nerdy 12-year old (later 13-year old) boy who is one of Aaron and Everett's classmates and also the smartest one in their class. He wears a pair of glasses with one temple missing. Underneath his nerdy exterior, he has also proven himself to be a good inventor, able to craft devices such as a robot and an electricity experiment.
* **Amelia Q. Thompson** (voiced by Debi Derryberry): An athletic 12-year old (later 13-year old) girl in Aaron and Everett's class who also serves as a cheerleader for the school's gym. She is also quite good at mentoring her classmates on cheerleading, as shown in *"Cheers for Emma"* and *"Boyleaders"*.
* **Carl "Cameron" Watterson** (voiced by Jaleel White): A sporty 12-year old (later 13-year old) African-American boy in Aaron and Everett's class who is skilled at dodgeball. He is the only African-American character in the series.
* **Jasper Bartley** (voiced by Peter Cullen): The janitor of Blackberry Middle School.
* **Jasmine Miller** (voiced by Kath Soucie): Emma's mother.
* **Marilyn** and **Caesar Clark** (voiced by Andrea Martin and Mark Hamill, respectively): Jacob's parents.
* **Claude Bram Armstrong** (voiced by Rob Paulsen): A 13-year old boy who moves in next door to the Dawsons in his debut episode, *"The Tough Guy Next Door"*. Though initially suspected by Aaron and Everett to be a bully due to his unfriendly-looking appearance and tough hobbies, he ultimately reveals that even though he looks and seems gruff, he is actually a friendly person at heart and becomes one of their friends.
* **Bethany Armstrong** (voiced by Lauren Tom): Claude's mother.
* **Humphrey Dawson** (voiced by Jim Belushi): Gregory's brother, Bradley's father and Aaron and Everett's uncle.
* **Bradley Dawson** (voiced by Jason Marsden): Aaron and Everett's 12-year old cousin, Humphrey's son and Gregory's nephew.
* **Penelope Sanders** (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh): A recently-enrolled 12-year old student at Blackberry Middle School who catches the romantic interests of Aaron, Everett and Jacob. After her debut, she now appears as a background character in subsequent episodes.
* **Dr. Julius** (voiced by Maurice LaMarche): A doctor who works at the Blackberry Medical Center.

## Production

### Development

In 1992, Aldrin Copperfield and his friend, Jake went to an animation festival for hangout but Aldrin saw *Whoopass Stew! A Sticky Situation* (*The Powerpuff Girls* afterwards), an animated short created by Copperfield's close friend Craig McCracken, that inspired them to give him a idea for a new TV show on Nickelodeon. Aldrin has stated that he liked how the main characters in Craig's short film were designed and decided to draw his characters similarly to them to pay tribute to McCracken, something which would later be utilized in Copperfield's next and final series *Spencer's Escapades*.

In 1993, Aldrin and Jake are hired by Nickelodeon to working on development of *The Dawson Duo* along with the other animators from *Rugrats* and *Ren and Stimpy*.

*The Dawson Duo* was set to be premiered on May 21, 1994 on Nickelodeon.

### Animation

The animation for the series was done in-house at Games Animation and outsourced to Rough Draft Korea and Sunwoo Entertainment.

## Episodes

Main article: *List of episodes*

 1 | 13
 2 | 13
 3 | 13
 4 | 13

## Home media

Shout! Factory releases
 The Complete Second Season
 The Complete Third Season
 The Complete Fourth Season
 The Complete Series

## Film

On August 15, 1997, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies produced a movie based on the series, simply titled *The Dawson Duo Movie*. It focuses on Aaron, Everett, Gregory, Emma and Jacob as they take a trip to New York City during summer vacation, only for Gregory to be arrested by the police when he is mixed up with a similar-looking fugitive. Once they learn of Gregory's incarceration, the kids now have to save Gregory and catch the real criminal. The main cast from the series returned to voice their respective characters, with Clancy Brown as a guest star.

The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was a modest box office success, grossing over $130 million against its $24 million budget.