Dog City

I had the chance to watch Jim Henson's Dog City recently, and it proved to be quite an exciting experience. The concept of a city entirely inhabited by dogs was unique and charming, and the animation was impressive for its time. The attention to detail was apparent in every frame, and the fluidity of the animation was quite remarkable. However, the plot was lacking in some areas, and some jokes didn't quite hit the mark. While I enjoyed it overall, it isn't a must-watch. The characters, while fun and engaging, had little depth, and the story lacked the emotional weight that could have made it a more memorable experience. It's a decent animated movie worth watching if you're interested in the genre, but it's not something I would highly recommend.

An extremely bizarre set-up that worked more often than not. Eliot Shag, a Muppet, was the sole animator (and, one would assume, did all the voices?) for an animated noir series starring Ace Hart, Private Eye Dog. Ace functioned as Eliot's alter ego - suave where Eliot was unsure - and would occasionally stop the action of the cartoon to argue plot points with his creator. This provided the show with its best moments: Ace wanting to use a .45 despite Eliot's steadfast rule against guns, Ace's refusal to do anything "science-fiction-y", and of course Ace's frustration of never getting together with police-dog Rosie.

Some excellent characters in this show. I for one hate the ubiquitous "cutesy" kids that these shows always have, but Artie (and his animated counterpart Eddie) managed to be fun and endearing rather than annoying. Replacing the rather innocuous Colleen with the more headstrong Terri was a good move. The writers apparently tried to "up the hip quotient" on Eliot in the second season, ditching his sweater and giving him a Hawaiian shirt. I actually preferred him more as the awkward loner, but that was fine. Like many shows of its ilk, it did run out of steam at the end, padding itself out with pointless bits like "Madog's Poetry Corner" and "Terri & Dot". Still, a definite cut above most of the other animated/children's programs of the day. Cool-as-heck theme song, too.

Superior mix of muppetry and traditional animation. I'm only familiar with Dog City from the four episodes available on VHS, but these were enough to make me wish someone had released the whole series on tape. The characters are good, the dialog often sophisticated and should appeal to adults as well as kids (especially adults with an interest in the animation industry. The scenes where Ace Heart (the main animated character) converses from his storyboard with Elliot (the main muppet character, his animator) are great. Ditto the way events oin the animator's 'real world' seque into plot arcs in the animation series-within-a-series. Very clever and appealing all round.

I'm not a huge muppet/Henson fan, but this one was cool. Shame it never got the recognition it deserved.

8 out of 10 for an animated TV series.

A great show that has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. It was an effective mix of Jim Henson's Muppets, for the "real" segments, and traditional cell animation for the "cartoon".

It focused alternately on the life of animator Elliot Shag and the adventures of his creation, the Marlowe-esc Ace Hart "Private Eye... Dog". Elements of Elliot's real life often seeped into the plots of his cartoons. For example most characters were based on people he knows, though the Muppet characters seemed unaware of this. Likewise, the "Ace" characters were unaware of anything outside their world, with the exception of Ace himself who served as Elliot's more confident alter ego and was fully aware of the situation. Though there were frequent problems, most situations were eventually resolved in both spheres.

Sometimes it's debatable exactly who was creating the cartoon as Ace, his friends, and his enemies were very distinct characters going confidently, if unaware, through the situations set for them. The frequent "fourth wall" interactions between Ace and Elliot, often literally stopping the show, were some of the best parts of Dog City. Sometimes neither of them knew how it was going to end and the usual debates over plot points gave both their own views.

The cartoon plots were light hearted parodies of the noir genre, usually focusing on Ace's efforts against "senseless" crime boss Bugsy (based on Elliot's grouchy landlord Bruno) with the help of his strong willed love interest Police Chief Rosie O'Gravy (inspired by the animator's feelings for his neighbor Colleen) and plucky newsboy Eddie (who resembled the young delivery boy Arnie).

Though the writing was sometimes patchy it was usually funny and kept interesting by the characters. The show jumped the shark later in the run and started including more filler material but still retained some of its sparkle. Voice acting was a cut above the norm and the memorable saxophone based theme song rounded out a solid and sometimes great show. Like most reviewers I wish it would be released as a set.

I know, I know. A dog that solves mysteries. Of course Scooby Doo is going to pop into your mind when you hear that and you probably think this show is not original. Well it is. As the plot describes the show, Ace Hart is the creation of Elliot Shag (a muppet) and the two often talk with each other. This was a funny program but it has since dropped off the face of the Earth, never to be seen again. Too bad.