DNA Productions

Background
DNA Productions was an animation company founded in 1987 by John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn. Undeniably its most successful project was Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and its animated spin-off show for Nickelodeon. The company closed down in 2006, following The Ant Bully. Many of its employees went to work for Reel FX Creative Studios, while others went to O Entertainment and founded its animation division, Omation.

1st Logo (1992-1994)
Note: The 2nd and 3rd variants are graphic.

Logo: On a white background, three people (Keith Alcorn on the left, an unknown person in the middle, and John A. Davis on the right) are seen with quirky expressions on their faces; they look somewhat distorted (likely mirrored). The pictures are all in boxes and in grayscale. Copyright information is seen below.

Variants: FX/SFX: The text wobbling, or the animation for the VHS variant.
 * In 1993, the picture was changed to three people (John A. Davis on the left, Keith Alcorn in the middle, and an unknown person on the right; it could be Paul Claerhout, who voiced the 8th logo) with vivid expressions while the photo is distorted.
 * On the Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss Show VHS tape from Expanded Entertainment, the people are replaced with Lil' Puss Puss constantly hiccuping and Nanna trying to shush him throughout the credits. Puss Puss then tries to hold the hiccups in, expanding his head until it explodes, with blood covering Nana in the process as she too begins hiccuping. Copyright information appears above.
 * On the Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss short "The Honeymoonies", the people are replaced with a static image of Puss Puss holding up Nana's disembodied head and presenting it with his other hand as he smiles. Copyright information is seen below.

Music/Sounds: The end theme of the short.

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the Nanna & Lil' Puss Puss short "Off the Record", the vocals are backmasked. When the music ends and fades out, it then fades back in and ends with a broken glass sound effect.
 * The VHS variant uses a fiddle version of the theme composed by Paul Claerhout (used in the shorts as background music), which is accompanied by various sound effects that correspond to the actions displayed on screen.
 * On the short "The Honeymoonies", the audio is very slightly higher-pitched.

Availability: Seen on Nanna and Lil' Puss Puss.

Editor's Notes: None.

2nd logo (1994)


Nicknames: "The Demo", "DNA Drive-In", "The Pegasus Crashing Into a Rock Formation Logo"

Logo: We see a road with cacti spread about it on the sides. The camera zooms into a drive-in theater, with large signs depicting "The Demo: Now Showing On Screen 1". Once it fully zooms into a screen, we see an animated pegasus flying in the air as normal. Helix the Cat (who looks rough) flies by using his tails as a propeller and the pegasus looks at him for a moment. Helix motions toward the audience in a pose that seems like he's going to whisper to them as he flies offscreen. Suddenly, the pegasus is in shock and it crashes into a giant rock formation, with the big letters "DNA" carved into it. The camera slowly pans out. The text "DNA" in a white Times New Roman font is seen at the bottom left of the screen throughout the entire logo.

FX/SFX: CGI and traditional animation.

Music/Sounds: The sound of wind blowing as we zoom down the road, followed by an excerpt from Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto #1" which plays throughout the animation of the pegasus flying. This becomes distorted once the pegasus flies into the giant rock. A final, triumphant chord plays as the rock structure is revealed.

Availability: Extremely rare. Alongside the 3rd-6th logos and the prototype variant of the 7th, it appears as a bumper on the same Nana and Lil' Puss Puss VHS that houses the VHS variant of the 1st logo.

Editor's Notes: None.

3rd logo (1994)
Nicknames: "The DNA Pencil Sketch"

Logo: On a background that looks like a multicolored light's rays and an abstract, multi-sided, pointy shape, we see a green pencil sketch turn from a "D" into an "N" and finally into an "A".

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A fast, dramatic piano piece.

Availability: See 2nd logo.

Editor's Notes: None.

4th logo (1994)
Nicknames: "Paper DNA"

Logo: Just three pieces of paper being crumpled over and over, each saying the letters "D", "N", and "A".

FX/SFX: TBA.

Music/Sounds: A gurgling sound, spitting, and a burp.

Availability: See 2nd logo.

Editor's Notes: None.

5th logo (1994)


Nicknames: "DNA?" "Spinning DNA"

Logo: The logo consists of "DNA?" in a bold color-changing font spinning on a bluish background.

FX/SFX: The text spinning. It's hard to tell what this logo really resembles, making it almost seem like a station ID.

Music/Sounds: A quirky, fast-paced woodwind theme.

Availability: See 2nd logo.

Editor's Note: None.

6th logo (1994)


Nicknames: "Yay! Boo! Yay!", "DNA Place-down"

Logo: The word "DNA" places itself by letter on a textured floor. The letters are textured as well.

FX/SFX: The letters placing themselves.

Music/Sounds: Two people shout "Yay! Boo! Yay!" alternating between letters as each letter appears. This sound effect also appears on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Sequel".

Availability: See 2nd logo.

Editor's Notes: None.

7th logo (1994-2000)
Nickname: "Helix, the Purple Cat Scientist"

Logo: Inside a red-orange circle on a very dark red background, we see a purple cat (nicknamed Helix) with two tails looking like DNA and a big pink human-like nose, wearing a white lab coat with a purple bowtie on it, from the back. In a circle around the circle containing the creature, we see the pink text "DNA PRODUCTIONS INC." in a cartoony font. He then turns his head to look at us, and jumps to face us while holding his arms out. The text shines.

Variant: A prototype version had a black background, red, puffy text, and a rougher version of Helix having an even more unfriendly appearance. He simply raises his finger in the air and adorns a Cheshire Cat grin. Helix is also contained within a solid, blue circle.

FX/SFX: Helix turning around and jumping, the text shining; pretty fluid animation. For the prototype, Helix raising his finger and the text shining.

Music/Sounds: The best way to describe the noises heard is two series of echoing, bouncy, high-pitched, distorted "guitar notes", followed by an echoing beat, and a loud, echoing (SPROING) sound as Helix finishes his jump. The prototype had a stock high-pitched "phone-voice" sound.

Availability: Rare. Seen on the 1998 Jimmy Neutron pilot "Runaway Rocketboy", which can be found on the Confusion Fusion DVD. Was also seen on the obscure video series Jingaroo. See 2nd logo for the prototype. It doesn't appear on Olive, the Other Reindeer.

Editor's Notes: None.

8th Logo (July 20, 2002-November 25, 2006)
Nicknames: "Paul", "The Tropical Paradise"

Logo: On a tropical background complete with a beach, and a sunset, we see the black, lowercase text "d n a productions" with "d n a" bigger and spaced and "productions" underneath, near the top of the screen, and 2 double helix coconut trees twisting behind a bush. Paul jumps up from behind the trees with his back turned to us. Then, he turns around, revealing that he has a parietal eye, and waves at us, saying "Hi, I'm Paul!"

Variants: 6 variants of the normal logo exist, they can be seen on selected episodes of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, the following are listed below:


 * Double Your Pleasure: Two Pauls appear and say "Hi, we're Paul!". Seen on the half-hour special "The Junkman Cometh".
 * Bi-Lingual Paul: Paul is wearing a (barely visible) hat and a mustache, when he turns around, he says "¡Hola, soy Pablo!", which means "Hi, I'm Pablo!" in Spanish. Seen on "The Mighty Wheezers"/"Billion Dollar Boy" and the CGI Nanna and Lil' Puss Puss theme song music video.
 * Backwards Masking Paul: The logo is played in reverse, making Paul sounding like he's saying "Oh, my eye!" (he actually says "Hi, I'm Paul!" in reverse). Seen on "Foul Bull"/"The Science Fair Affair".
 * Paul Blooper #1: Paul forgets his lines, and says "So what do you want me to say now?" Seen on the hour-long special "Attack of the Twonkies".
 * Paul Blooper #2: Paul forgets his lines again, and says "Hi, I'm.....line?". Seen on the half-hour special "My Big Fat Spy Wedding".
 * Coffee Break Paul: Paul is missing. A man off-screen says softly, "Paul?". Seen on the half-hour special "Men at Work".

Trivia: The logo's mascot is named after Paul Claerhout, one of DNA's first three employees. According to a Tumblr post of an email asking about Paul's creation (which might be proof that DNA has restarted), Paul was voiced by Claerhout himself.

FX/SFX: Beautiful CGI made in the same style as The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, as done by O Entertainment (with the collaboration of DNA Productions, of course).

Music/Sounds: A happy tropical xylophone sounder, originated from the Macintosh game Ants Afire. Tropical birds and insects can be heard in the background, but only on the original variant. Paul's voice is an innocent, high-pitched male voice.

Availability: Uncommon. This appeared on all episodes of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour trilogy. It also appeared on the early Nickelodeon airings of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, using the logo combo from the show itself, current airings on Nickelodeon have the variants replaced by the normal version. It doesn't appear on 2006 film The Ant Bully.

Editor's Note: None.