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Created by John Dilworth, Cartoon Network launched its newest series, "Courage the Cowardly Dog" into its fall programming of 1999. While the network made humorous promotional featuring the established 'cowardly dog', Scooby Doo, with Courage. This dog didn't need a snack to take action. Courage the Cowardly Dog had its humble beginnings like many of the Cartoon Cartoons, as a short for the "What A Cartoon!" show for Hanna Barbera. In 1995, the first Courage short aired, titled "Chicken from Outerspace". In the cartoon, Courage foils the plans of an alien chicken, bent on world domination. Abandoned as a puppy, Courage was taken in by an old lady named Muriel. Her and her grumpy husband, Eustace, live in the middle of Nowhere. Strange things happen in nowhere. Ghosts, monsters, aliens, bugs, demons, freaks, and insurance salesmen make their way to their home, where both Muriel and Eustace are oblivious to the lurking doom. Its up to Courage to save the day. With the endless knowledge of his sassy computer in the attic, he searches for ways to stop the evil before it harms his owners. Although Courage is barely tolerated by Eustace, he still manages to save him with no gratitude. Despite the oxymoron his name presents, Courage is a brave dog with a big heart. In 2001, the cast suffered great loss as the voices of Eustace (Lionel Wilson) and Eustace's mother (Billie Lu Watt), passed away. Eustace was voiced by Arthur Anderson for the last season of the series. The series finished in 2002, after a successful run of four seasons.

jony bravo

Jungle Boy

Jungle Boy began as a short Van Partible submitted into the "What A Cartoon!" show in 1996, and made at Hanna Barbera Studios. The short, titled "Mr. Monkeyman," acted somewhat as a crossover between the "Bravo" universe and a new jungle environment with talking animals.

Jungle Boy is the story of a little boy raised in the jungle, that always seems to be in peril. Not unlike any boy raised by apes, Jungle Boy is always willing to help others in need and right all wrongs. Leading the animals of the jungle is King Raymond, a jealous and egotistical ape, that yearns to be as well-liked as Jungle Boy. In efforts to tarnish Jungle Boy's reputation, King Raymond is often setting up obstacles or challenges for Jungle Boy to overcome. Somehow Jungle Boy always seems to outwit Raymond, which only leaves the king more angry.

The short became segments in the Johnny Bravo series during the first season.

texter lab

When a team of robots from the future bursts into Dexter's Laboratory with the intention of destroying "the one who saves the future," Dexter assumes they are referring to himself. His curiosity ends up getting the best of him as Dexter uses his time machine and visits himself at different stages of his life to piece together exactly how he saves the future. At each trip, Dexter goes face to face with his arch enemy, Mandark. Towards the end of the journey, Dexter must help Dexter, Dexter, and Dexter from the the evil Mandark and save the future.

Dexter finds himself in a post-apocalyptic future, and running it is a power hungry, now obese Mandark! Dexter (with pimply teen Dexter, buff hero Dexter, and senile old Dexter) must face the original Mandark (with Mad Scientist Mandark, Fat Mandark, and Disembodied Brain Mandark) to save the future. Ah, what a fine day, for science!

The film premiered as part of Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theater on December 10th, 1999, a nice way to kick off the millennium. It served as the last time the original cast would assemble to create Dexter's Laboratory. Ego Trip was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator, and featured the voices of Christine Cavanaugh as Dexter, Kathryn Cressida as Dee Dee, and Eddie Deezen as Mandark. The art direction was even done by the now infamous Craig McCracken of The Powerpuff Girls fame. Currently Cartoon Network still airs this film as part of its Cartoon Theater features. It is also available on video from Warner Bros. Home Video.

I LIKE CARTOONS

Courage is an ugly little pink dog abandoned at birth and adopted by Muriel, a plump, sweet old lady who lives in the middle of nowhere with her cold, selfish, redneck husband Eustice.

The middle of nowhere!	Courage wants nothing more than to lie on Muriel's lap while she pets him. He's also a complete coward who can be reduced to hysteria by a Halloween mask, a torment Eustice loves to inflict. But the middle of nowhere is a strange and dangerous place and various villains threaten, kidnap, or try to kill Muriel and Eustice. Muriel doesn't have a lot of survival instinct and Eustice's motto is "I ain't getting out of this chair!" so it's always up to Courage to overcome his fear. As he trembles and shakes or screams and cries, he sets out to save Muriel, saying, "The things I do for love!"
	Muriel and Eustice aren't very interesting. Even Courage is kinda two-dimensional, but the villains are the most imaginative I have ever seen.

My favorite is Dr. Zalost. He lives in a tower that walks around on spider legs and he shoots magical cannonballs that turn people unhappy, lethargic and green. He turns his evil cannonballs on the citizens of Nowhere and demands 33 1/3 billion dollars to reverse the condition. He is paid and, as his assistant, the scarred, obese and hunchbacked RAT counts the money, decides not to honor the deal because the 33 1/3 billion dollars made him no happier than before and he wants everyone to be as miserable as he is.. All he really wants is for Rat to come to bed with him to hug and cuddle and Rat, being a willing minion, is willing but also clearly reluctant. Rat wants to count the money and make evil cannonballs not cuddle. Eustice encounters Dr. Zalost's tower while going into Nowhere for the paper and it follows him back to Muriel and Courage. Muriel is stuck with one of the dark cannonballs and becomes bent and green and miserable. The nasty Eustice is struck repeatedly but since he doesn't feel much anyway he is unaffected. He tells Courage to feed Muriel since "she likes you best anyway." Courage tries to get Muriel to eat some of her Happy Plums, which would make anyone happy, but can't get the poor lady to open her mouth. He saves Muriel with Happy Plums which make Rat into a crying baby who wants to be cuddled and Dr. Zalost into a happy man cuddling his baby Rat.

Evil Eggplant People want to kidnap and eat Muriel: Courage saves her by disguising himself as "The Great Eggplant." In Banana Republic banana people are being fooled into sacrificing themselves to a banana-eating gorilla. Muriel and Eustice are wearing banana disguises and in danger of being eaten. Courage rescues them by exposing the charade.

A mold turns Eustice's foot into a monster foot that engulfs him and grows a criminal head from each toe, all under the direction of the Boss Big Toe, which demands that Courage rob a bank or "The Old Lady gets it!!" Finally Courage learns from his snide computer that the only cure for the mold is dog drool, that to cure Eustice and save Muriel he must lick the foot clean. First it's Eustice's foot, and there's no love lost there. Second it's a foot. Third it's covered with nasty mold.

But Courage overcomes his aversion and cleans it with his tongue. The mold is destroyed and the foot returns to its normal size, Eustice reappears, and Muriel is saved. But Courage is left with a mold infestation on his tongue. As Courage would say, "The things I do for love."

Eustice's Ma

Another great villain is the Sand Whale, who is a combination of Moby Dick and the sand worms of Dune. The Sand Whale surfaces at Muriel and Eustice's door and demands the return of his accordion which he says Eustice cheated him out of. It turns out Eustice's father, Icket Bagge, did the cheating but Eustice knows nothing about it and so the Sand Whale swallows both Eustice and Muriel, forcing Courage tot enlist Eustice's Ma, a nasty selfish, bald, wig-wearing old harridan, to help rescue them.

Eustice's Ma is only interested in capturing and selling the sand whale while Courage only wants to save Muriel. So off Ma and Courage go in a little row-boat, which Courage laboriously rows across the sand while trying to snatch the accordion from the net welding Ma so he can trade it for his beloved Muriel and her nasty husband. He finally suceeds and returns the accordian to the sand whale, Muriel is rescued and the episode ends with the sand whale, on stage, with his famous group of accordian playng sand whales.

Almost every episode is full of this kind of originality. There seems to be no end to the surprising characters found in the middle of Nowhere as the cowardly Courage overcomes his fear to save the woman he loves. The animation is okay, a combination of photographics and traditional animation, the music has won awards but it's the villains that really rock.