Courage the Cowardly Dog returning?

[Schfifty]

So, we know that Sesame/Muppet writer (and Stephanie D'Abruzzo's husband), Craig Shemin, was also a writer for Courage, but I just found out that a writer from the last two seasons, Lory Lazarus, was also previous both a script and song writer for a certain irritating purple dinosaur.

You're sure it's not this purple dinosaur?

But yeah, that's kind of surprising, especially since Courage's tone is more darker and edgier than the other by a mile.

 

[D'Snowth]

It's amazing how small the world really is when you realize there are these bizarre connections. I'm sure Craig Shemin came to write for Courage because maybe he and Dilly crossed paths when Dilly was doing Noodles and Nedd for SST and Ace and Avery for Big Bad. As for David Steven Cohen writing for Arthur now, heh, like Drtooth said, if we could only get an episode where one of the Elwood kids is taken over by an Al Capone-esque talking foot.

 

[D'Snowth]

Dilly finally posted a teaser from his upcoming short GOOSE WITH HIGH HEELS:

While this isn't his first time using Flash, this is his first all-Flash short, and just looking at this brief teaser makes me wonder: if one independent animator, with little experience with Flash, can churn out something this fluid smooth, how is it actual Flash studios with actual budgets that produce animated shows for TV still have cold, stiff, and robot animation? Well, I guess it's like Drtooth has said: it's clear these studios, like 9 Story, rely way too heavy on library models and poses and such, and if you've seen Dilly's WIP videos, you can see he's animating this short as if he was drawing/animating by hand.

 

[Moonslayer]

It seems to me that quite a bit of library production music went into the soundtrack of the show because I've heard some of it in different sources. For example: that fiddle tune that plays when Eustace chases after Courage in "The Shadow of Courage" and during their Kangaroo Monster battle in "The Transplant" was also played on an episode of RECESS where T.J. got his shiner at a hoedown; likewise I hear Di Lung's leitmotif in other cartoons that have scenes that take place in a Chinese restaurant, or even in China itself; I think I've even heard Doc Gerbil's leitmotif in other cartoons as well. And hey, you know that sick guitar riff from "Heads of Beef"? I found it in a piece of music I used in a film I produced earlier this year (it was slowed down to sound more menacing and nightmarish).

Do you have the name/link for the "Heads of Beef" music? I've been looking all over for it.

 

[D'Snowth]

So we finally get to see what the Dirdy Birdy sequel would have been like:

Dilly's child-like excitement and enthusiam as he tells the story just cracks me up.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Sometimes I worry about what goes on in John Dilworth's head.

BTW, this should really get animated. It looks even more hilarious than the first one.

 

[D'Snowth]

Sometimes I worry about what goes on in John Dilworth's head.

 

[D'Snowth]

Finally got the Season Three DVD, and I'm reminded how lazy Warner Bros. is about DVD releases: once again, they didn't even bother to do any kind of menus, it looks beyond unprofessional - even my commercial DVD recorder can do better-looking menus.

I expressed my wish for special features for the Season Four set on Stretch Films' Facebook page, and even Dilly seems interested, and suggests writing into Cartoon Network to let them know . . . though, knowing CN, I doubt they'd go for that. After all, the Johnny Bravo set only had special features because of Seth MacFarlane.

 

[D'Snowth]

Here's the animatic for a new pilot Dilly recently did for CN:

Now, here's how much working with networks today sucks: first of all, this wasn't even Dilly's original concept - the network forced him to make a ton of changes (including radically redesigning the title character from being slightly overweight), and after all was said and done, they still decided not to pick up and air the pilot because they said it was "too weird."

"Too weird"? I'm sorry, have these network people even seen Courage?

 

[Drtooth]

And you hate when things go to Netflix.

Thing is, it was always like that, but with that new edge of "kids don't watch TV anymore." I don't see why this couldn't be internet content (not so much netflix, but more like CN's Mighty Magiswords), other than budget reasons. CN clearly has no desire to have more than a few shows in production at a time, and something tells me they'll use every excuse in the book to not get another series picked up until several of them end. Given the fact they screwed over Uncle Grandpa so badly, not to mention their Scooby-Doo and Wabbit cartoons they fell over themselves to promote.

Now CN has had a lot of trouble when it was revealed that they refuse to make cartoons that girls would like because girls don't watch cartoons (no thanks to everyone still thinking it was 2005 Disney Channel...seriously, *&^% those shows), and that's why every DC comics based cartoon besides TTG was dropped like a rock (and the fact the toy lines, if any, Suh-diddley-ucked). I wouldn't be surprised if that was the only reason PPG got the "reboot" (it's a freaking continuation and we all know it). To try and mend fences with girls, but using something recognized and established. Something new would probably scare away viewers (bullcrap, since by all logic every cartoon they greenlit is "too weird," Cow and Chicken especially) and probably not generate a crapload of merchandise they couldn't get a toy company to produce.

Yet, toyetic shows like Transformers and Sonic Boom are shoved off into death slots. Guess if they don't get a slice of the merchandising pie, they don't give a crap.

And I reiterate...this is why more cartoons are going to netflix and the like. I don't think any of the small amount of kid's networks (there are more ESPNs...and they're all losing Disney money) would touch any Dreamworks cartoon series, especially Voltron. And given how Nick treated DW's shows (Penguins and Kung Fu Panda yet have episodes to air despite being wrapped for years), I very much doubt they'd want to screw with network interference again.