Medialab

Medialab was a French animation studio founded in 1990. It animated the first two seasons of Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Planet, and commercials for the series.

History
Medialab was spun off from Videosystem in 1990 to focus on 3D animation for post-production work and the production of Starwatcher, a 3D animation movie done in cooeperation with artist Moebius. Following the death of founder Alain Guiot in a car incident in 1992, Medialab was acquired by Canal+, which canceled Starwatcher and focused the studio on TV animation.

The company acquired the rights to produce a Donkey Kong Country animated series from Nintendo, but fired the original writers after they produced scripts that were judged terrible and featured content unacceptable for a children's program. Medialab contacted Nelvana for assistance in producing the show, and insisted it features singing and dancing sequences in each episode. Parralel to Donkey Kong Country, Medialab also produced La planète de Donkey Kong for France 2, a post modern programming block for France 2's children programming. The company's work on its two Donkey Kong shows pioneered the use of magnetic motion capture in TV animation.

The company was reacquired by Videosystem in 1999, and filled for bankruptcy in 2000.