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Topic: "Courage the Cowardly Dog"...opinions?
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IEcm
Member # 9
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posted
Sorry to hear you were sick Scott :-( But up here in Canada..we only have Teletoon and YTV. So we never see the cartoons on the Cartoon Network..only Powerpuff girls and Dex's Lab, So the only way we can get the Cartoon Network is if you have a dish. I dont know if Courage plays up here..as I dont even have cable..SO Am I missing something funny?
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mantis
Member
Member # 2776
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posted
I taped a couple of episodes of the 2 new 3D-CGI TV seres Tripping The Rift & Game Over. I have to say I pretty much fast foward the 2 shows, I found them pretty much un-watchable. The characters just talk and talk. From a design and Lighting stand-point they both are terrible looking.
With that said I pulled out a couple of VHS tapes I have of the show Courage The Cowardly Dog. I have to say I only have seen a couple of shows and I have to say I think this is one of the best and funniest animted series I have ever saw. It has just the right amount of dialouge and comedy. I love the paste-up/cut-out backgounds combined with great looking characters. I felt so much better watch these toons.
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B Moore
IE # 21
Member # 855
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posted
Courage was (is?) one of CN's best shows, I thought, in terms of its sheer bizarreness and "only in a cartoon" action, such as:
-- the episode where Muriel and Eustace are kidnapped by a mad-scientist mole (posing as a vacuum cleaner salesman, he sucks them into his old-style canister vacuum), for the purpose of testing his cosmetic products on them (one roll-on deodorant makes their feet swell to gigantic proportions, burst like balloons, then re-form.)
-- the episode where the humans and the dog end up in a sinister island resort, where they are transformed into household appliances/construction equipment and sent into gladitorial combat for the amusement of their host
-- Courage's "takes" whenever something creepy boiled out of the ground
I could see where they might run out of ideas after awhile, though ... it would be tough to keep up that level of strangeness for long.
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Brian
Teddy & Anna: An Animated Web Serial
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
I can't stand Courage the Cowardly Dog. I can understand its emphasis on visual storytelling but I disagree about the pacing and the snappiness. I feel it to be incredibly lethargic, not to mention some plot points are a bit too absurd, even for absurdist's sake.
Visually it just feels incomplete. All of the backgrounds use nauseating textures that feel grabbed from some 1993 CD-ROM of textures not even fit for the likes of "Ken's Labyrinth" (I know people remember that game). Courage is like the only decently animated charcater and I've only enjoyed when he goes crazy or screams at something.
For a show of its type it really should be more energetically drawn than it is. Everyone looks so indifferent when they emote, like this were Scooby Doo or something. The final season got slightly better at being exaggerative and goofy but then the stories got even more predictable.
Also hate the constant recycling of musical cues and even dialogue (such as half of Eustace's lines).
Man I'm hateful.
The "Cartoon Cartoon" I'd sell my soul to is Ed Edd n Eddy. Blast the first 13 episodes all you want, but episodes #35-52 feature some of the most amazing direction, boarding, and timing I've ever seen. Even with the somewhat "non-punchline" style of humor. Which I myself don't mind. Yum.
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Coffee Cat
Member
Member # 897
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posted
My opinion is tainted, cause I've met "Johnny" and found him to really be a jerk. Maybe he was just pissed off that night or something, but it might be part of what has killed his art for me. Liked some of his shorts and I guess I appreciate Courage okay - but find it be lacking compared to his shorts. Did I mention Dilworth was a jerk?
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
I find Dirty Birdy to be better than Courage as a whole. But maybe that's because Dilworth's style lends better to 5-7 minute shorts, not 11 minute/22 minute TV series.
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Vaughan
IE # 145
Member # 2968
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posted
I just want to chime in and say that my GF and I *love* Courage. I love the wierd backgrounds, the sparse dialouge, the ridiculous gags... It's one of our favorite shows right up there with Zim, Fairly Oddparents and SpongeBob ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Man, I wish it was on right now.
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Ravenshoe
IE # 186
Member # 783
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posted
I saw the first Courage cartoon at The Toronto Short Film Festival a number of years ago. I really liked it and my kids enjoy the series. I think that when you fall into a creative rut (Been there - done that) you have to re-invent the show.
Someone gave me that advice a long time ago and it never really clicked until I saw that "Archie's Mysteries" show. They did a brilliant job of taking familiar, "beloved", though somewhat "Ho-Hum" characters and putting them into new and interesting situations. You might love it or hate it, but they breathed new life into a very old franchise.
Kinda like "Gilligan's Island in Space..."
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Printer-friendly view of this topic
Nice shorts with entertaining animation and some cool characters. Very funny. smart sound fx/no dialogue. That was a great show. Wish there were more like this.
