[INTERVIEW] Dooly returns to theaters to celebrate 40th anniversary

Cartoonist Kim Soo-jung, creator of Dooly / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han

By Kwak Yeon-soo

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Dooly, one of Korea's most beloved cartoon characters. Kim Soo-jung, its creator, began publishing his cartoon "Dooly, the Little Dinosaur" in the monthly magazine Bomulseom in its April 1983 edition.

It was later adapted for the animation series "Dooly, the Little Dinosaur," which aired on KBS in 1987. In 1996, the film "Little Dinosaur Dooly: The Adventure of Ice Planet" landed in cinemas and became the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year. It was exported at the highest cost for a Korean film to a number of countries, including Germany. The animation series was revived in 2008 under a new creative team and it was aired on SBS under the title, "The Little Dino Dooly."

The 1996 animated film will be remastered in 4K and released in theaters on May 24. Just like the animation series, the film begins with Dooly, who had been locked inside of a glacier for 100 million years, floating down to a stream in northeastern Seoul after a chunk of the iceberg breaks off.

Dooly and his friends ― Heedong, Douner, Ddochi and Michael ― embark on a time-traveling adventure to the future using the Time Cosmos Spaceship, but they mistakenly land on an ice planet and must find a way back home.

Both Dooly the animation series and film hold an appeal and comedic edge which remains innovative and culturally significant until now. Kim said he never expected Dooly to be so popular four decades later.

"I didn't know Dooly's popularity would last for this long. But I had a feeling that Dooly would be a hit because of its endearing, imaginative characters and absurd-yet-relatable story. I feel very, very lucky," he said during an interview with The Korea Times at the newspaper's office in Seoul, Wednesday.

Following popularity both at home and overseas, there had been many attempts to bring Dooly to Hollywood. The closest attempt was in the late 1990s when Kim decided to co-produce the Dooly animation with Warner Bros. However, the discussion was cut short due to the 1997 financial crisis.

"The Korean won currency relative to the U.S. dollar collapsed and we were unable to find investors. Besides the money issue, there were disagreements regarding changes to the script and who will be in charge and lead the production," he said.

The writer-director revealed he continues to receive offers from streaming platforms with some in development already.

"Offers often come in two ways: They either want to make animation series or live-action/3D hybrid series. However, I'm cautious about taking the approach because I realize that people have different ideas and interpretations of Dooly. Whenever I read their synopsis, I find a repeated pattern that hinders our imagination from expanding," he said. "For the same reason, I'm reluctant about letting other cartoonists write a follow-up to the origin story of Dooly."

A scene from the film "Little Dinosaur Dooly: The Adventure of Ice Planet" / Courtesy of Water Hole Company

Although Kim is best known for creating Dooly, he has published many other comic series that encompass diverse genres. They include "Spring of Odalja (1981-1984)," about high school girls in the 1980s, "The Honeymooners" (1982), about the twists and turns of marriage, "Let's Fly Godoree" (1982), about a salaryman working hard to get a promotion at his workplace.

During a 15-year hiatus from Dooly, since the 2008 animation series "The Little Dino Dooly," Kim wrote a three-volume children's novel called "Where Did Everyone Go?"

"I was planning to make a sequel to the film 'The Adventure of Ice Planet' in 2009. The film was about halfway completed before production was halted due to the production company's insolvency. Frustrated, I moved to Canada to see my daughter. There I was reminded of the wonderful memories I shared with her and I ended up writing children's books," he said.

He said there are many restraints to creating Dooly sequels because each time he tries to do something new, he has to hire a new team of animators.

"Because Korea's animation industry is harsh and unprofitable, we work with animators on a project for the short term. So there is no chance of gaining know-how over time or improving quality in the next project. In my case, I spend a lot of time training newly joined animators for each of the projects," he said.

Asked if he is interested in publishing webtoons, the 73-year-old director said he does not want to live on the edge of deadlines.

"Webtoons have more pages to draw and they need to be all-colored. I'm done with meeting deadlines. When I was most busy with publishing cartoons in monthly comic magazines in the 1980s, I slept for three to four hours a day. That continued for nearly a decade. It was hellish," he recalled.

From left, cartoon characters Heedong, Ddochi, Dooly and Douner / Courtesy of Dooly Nara

He shared his thoughts on being referred to as a success model for a one-source, multi-use formula, with his cartoon characters being made into TV animation, film, merchandising items and books.

"With webtoons being the next big thing in comics, I think the animation market is blooming. However, there are downsides to it as well such as the unfair contracts or intellectual property (IP) issues. The more people get involved in creating an animation, the more they would want to share the pie. That can result in legal disputes in the future," he said.

The veteran director warned aspiring cartoonists to not simply look at the glittering side of the industry.

"When I was starting my career as a cartoonist 50 years ago, all of my family were against the idea because it was a job that could starve me to death. But nowadays, webtoon artists are glorified because they regularly appear on TV. But what the public sees is only the tip of the iceberg. There are over 5,000 webtoon artists today and the majority of them suffer from overwork without proper compensation," he said.