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Steve Arino
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2019
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Hello Everyone,
I'd like to start a general discussion about one of my all-time favorite Saturday-morning cartoons growing up: "Dog City," one of the last programs Jim Henson ever made before he died.
Created by Jim Henson, "Dog City" originally aired on FOX from September 26, 1992 - January 28, 1995, with the series serving as a spin-off of "The Jim Henson Hour," which aired an episode on NBC on May 5, 1989 titled "Dog City."
In the cartoon, Ace Hart (Ron White) served as the creation of Eliot Shag (Kevin Clash), a live-action Puppet animator who worked for an unnamed Animation company, assisted by love interest Terri Springer (Fran Brill) and her son, Artie (Joey Mazzarino), with Eliot often making tight deadlines for his unseen boss.
After FOX ended "Dog City," 4 episodes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder (folded into Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as of 2017) on loan from Jim Henson Productions (at the time a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company).
On a personal note, I'm happy to report that last week, I got from eBay a VHS Tape of "Dog City" that should be at my house no later than Saturday as of this writing, consisting of 2 episodes: the series debut, "The Big Squeak," and the Season 2 debut "Boss Bruiser," as issued on VHS Tape by Sony Wonder.
Once the tape arrives, I'm planning on Digitizing it on Day One in the highest quality possible and then converting the VHS to DVD, just for Entertainment.
Not to get TOO off-topic, but I remember back in the day when I was a youngun, just after Jim Henson died, when The Walt Disney Company owned Jim Henson Productions in the 1990s, not just Muppet titles which Disney re-purchased in February 2004, but every Jim Henson series up to that point, including "Fraggle Rock, "The Storyteller" and "The Dark Crystal" among them.
Eventually, Disney sold Henson back to Jim's family around 1997 before his family sold the company to Germany-based EM.TV in the year 2000 before buying back the company outright in 2003; during Disney's ownership of Jim Henson Productions in the '90s, Jim's son Brian retained his role as Chairman of Jim Henson Productions (officially The Jim Henson Company since 1999).
As with Sony Wonder's VHS release of "Dog City," it wasn't uncommon (in fact, moreso now than back then) for major studios a la Disney to partner with minor independent studios e.g. SHOUT! Factory and Rhino Records to name 2 examples to rescue programs and films that otherwise never would have seen the light of day on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray and more forms of Home Entertainment.
But back to "Dog City": I personally remember as a youngun watching this show every chance I got when it originally aired on FOX, and thankfully in recent weeks in preparation for my impending VHS got to revisit the show via Tubi TV.
As with the short-lived flop "Little Muppet Monsters," each episode of "Dog City" combined live-action Puppetry with traditional Animation; the series was produced by Nelvana Animation in association with Jim Henson Productions.
I'd like to start a general discussion about one of my all-time favorite Saturday-morning cartoons growing up: "Dog City," one of the last programs Jim Henson ever made before he died.
Created by Jim Henson, "Dog City" originally aired on FOX from September 26, 1992 - January 28, 1995, with the series serving as a spin-off of "The Jim Henson Hour," which aired an episode on NBC on May 5, 1989 titled "Dog City."
In the cartoon, Ace Hart (Ron White) served as the creation of Eliot Shag (Kevin Clash), a live-action Puppet animator who worked for an unnamed Animation company, assisted by love interest Terri Springer (Fran Brill) and her son, Artie (Joey Mazzarino), with Eliot often making tight deadlines for his unseen boss.
After FOX ended "Dog City," 4 episodes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder (folded into Sony Pictures Home Entertainment as of 2017) on loan from Jim Henson Productions (at the time a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company).
On a personal note, I'm happy to report that last week, I got from eBay a VHS Tape of "Dog City" that should be at my house no later than Saturday as of this writing, consisting of 2 episodes: the series debut, "The Big Squeak," and the Season 2 debut "Boss Bruiser," as issued on VHS Tape by Sony Wonder.
Once the tape arrives, I'm planning on Digitizing it on Day One in the highest quality possible and then converting the VHS to DVD, just for Entertainment.
Not to get TOO off-topic, but I remember back in the day when I was a youngun, just after Jim Henson died, when The Walt Disney Company owned Jim Henson Productions in the 1990s, not just Muppet titles which Disney re-purchased in February 2004, but every Jim Henson series up to that point, including "Fraggle Rock, "The Storyteller" and "The Dark Crystal" among them.
Eventually, Disney sold Henson back to Jim's family around 1997 before his family sold the company to Germany-based EM.TV in the year 2000 before buying back the company outright in 2003; during Disney's ownership of Jim Henson Productions in the '90s, Jim's son Brian retained his role as Chairman of Jim Henson Productions (officially The Jim Henson Company since 1999).
As with Sony Wonder's VHS release of "Dog City," it wasn't uncommon (in fact, moreso now than back then) for major studios a la Disney to partner with minor independent studios e.g. SHOUT! Factory and Rhino Records to name 2 examples to rescue programs and films that otherwise never would have seen the light of day on VHS, DVD, Blu Ray and more forms of Home Entertainment.
But back to "Dog City": I personally remember as a youngun watching this show every chance I got when it originally aired on FOX, and thankfully in recent weeks in preparation for my impending VHS got to revisit the show via Tubi TV.
As with the short-lived flop "Little Muppet Monsters," each episode of "Dog City" combined live-action Puppetry with traditional Animation; the series was produced by Nelvana Animation in association with Jim Henson Productions.
