Courage The Cowardly Dog – Season One (1999/Cartoon Network/Warner Bros. DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Episodes: B
I was a
bit older when Courage the Cowardly Dog
premiered in 1999, but I still found myself fascinated by the odd premise and
creative stylings the series had to offer.
The show essentially follows Courage (who is owned by Muriel and
Eustace) as he gets his owners out of trouble time and time again. Together in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas
Courage, Muriel and Eustace live very unassuming lives; but for whatever reason
are constantly plagued by scary monsters and crazed maniacs. The diabolical plans of those maniacs and
monsters keeps Courage on his feet as he desperately attempts to protect his
naďve owners.
The
series was commissioned by Cartoon Network after creator John R. Dilworth’s
original short “The Chicken from Outer
Space” was nominated for an academy award.
The series ran for 4 hilariously creative seasons and is known for its
many nods to classic television, horror films and pop culture. The series is crisply animated, yet manages
to hold a certain degree of gritty, detailed, depth like The Ren & Stimpy Show and those that it surely later inspired
like The Marvelous Misadventures of Flap
Jack. The series is tons of fun and I often thought that if done correctly,
could have even made a great (dark) live action feature film (imagine something
like Dark Crystal with dark comedy
infused). A truly classic animated
series.
For a
look at a review of Cartoon Networks The
Marvelous Misadventures of Flap Jack, please follow the link below:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9313/The+Marvelous+Misadventures+of+Fla
The technical
features on this first season of Courage
are much like that of the recently released Jonny Bravo. The 1.33
X 1 picture is solid as it has vivid and bright colors with a dark, inky blacks
that nicely frame the image. Courage manages to pull it off a very
crisp, clear and well rounded picture quality. There is a degree of
digital noise throughout the 13 episodes (really 26 as each episode is composed
of 2 parts) that perhaps is from bad source material, but nice
nevertheless. The sound is a bit simpler
in its Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo format, but the mainly dialogue driven series
comes through clean and clear without any softness or distortion.
Sadly
(unlike Johnny Bravo) there are no
extra features in this set. I would have
at least liked to have the original Dilworth short that started it all.
I highly
recommend this series and hope that more seasons are soon to come!
- Michael P. Dougherty II
