Dog City

Dog City
Jim Henson's Dog City title screen
Format	Animated
Voices of	Live-Action: Lisa Buckley Fran Brill Kevin Clash Joey Mazzarino Brian Muehl David Rudman Animated: Ron White Elizabeth Hanna Stuart Stone John Stocker James Rankin Stephen Ouimette Howard Jerome Tabitha St. Germain (as Paulina Gillis)
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	31
Production
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Production company(s)	Nelvana Limited Jim Henson Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	USA: FOX (Fox Kids) Canada: Global Television Network
Original run	September 26, 1992 – November 26, 1994

Dog City is a television series that was produced by Nelvana Limited and Jim Henson Productions and aired on FOX from September 26, 1992 to January 28, 1995, and in Canada on Global in 1993, then on Teletoon until 2000. The show contained both animation by Nelvana, and puppetry by Jim Henson Productions. This was the first Jim Henson animated series since Muppet Babies and the animated Fraggle Rock.

Plot

The animated portions of the show focused on a canine private detective named Ace Hart. The Muppet portions of the show focused on the interactions between Ace Hart and his animator Eliot Shag (who, like Ace, is a German Shepherd Dog). Eliot would illustrate the stories while Ace would go traverse through it, occasionally breaking the fourth wall to speak with Eliot about the various troubles with the story. In one episode, Eliot even enters Dog City himself to join Ace in solving a mystery.

A recurring gag was that many of the characters in the cartoon were seemingly based on the residents of Eliot's apartment building. The bulldog crime-boss Bugsy Vile was inspired by the building's grouchy bulldog superintendent Bruno. Ace's love interest Rosie was based on Eliot's unrequited feelings for his neighbor Colleen, and so on. The Muppet characters were unaware of this. In the first episode, Bruno asks Eliot how a loser like him could have created a great character like Bugsy. Eliot replies "Sometimes it's just staring you in the face".

Later series included segments from other shows Eliot worked on, including skits featuring the main Dog City characters and a superhero series starring the Batman parody Watchdog.

Characters

Animated

• Ace Hart (voiced by Ron White) - The main protagonist of the series. He is a private-eye detective.
• Chief Rosie O'Gravy (voiced by Elizabeth Hanna) - The chief of detectives.
• Eddie (voiced by Stuart Stone) - A newspup who often tags along on Ace Hart's cases.
• Bugsy Vile (voiced by John Stocker) - The primary antagonist of the series. Bugsy Vile is the Dogfather of Crime.
  • Frisky (voiced by James Rankin) - Bugsy Vile's excitable henchman.
  • Mad Dog (voiced by Stephen Ouimette) - Bugsy Vile's psychotic henchman.
  • Bruiser (voiced by Howard Jerome) - Bruiser is Bugsy Vile's tough nephew and henchman.
  • Kitty (voiced by Paulina Gillis) - A female cat who serves as Bugsy's moll.
• Baron Von Rottweiler (voiced by Stephen Ouimette) - The secondary antagonist of the series.
  • Leon Burger - The valet/henchman of Baron Von Rottweiler.
• Mayor Kickbark (voiced by Stephen Ouimette) - The mayor of Dog City. He is always undermining Rosie O'Gravy.
  • Spunky the Flunky (voiced by John Stocker) - Mayor Kickbark's aide.
• Dot (voiced by Tara Strong) - Rosie O'Gravy's niece. She often appears with Rosie in "The Adventures of Rosie and Dot" segments.
• Steven (voiced by George Buza) - Steven was a canine watchman who was often seen in the animated segment with Yves.
• Yves (voiced by Rino Romano) - A cat burglar who debuted in the third season. He would try to steal something only to get thwarted comically by Steven.
• Watchdog - Watchdog is a superhero who is a parody of Batman. He had his own short on this show. He is also a member of the superhero group called the Woof Pack.

Muppets

• Eliot Shag (performed by Kevin Clash) - The animator of Ace Hart's adventures. He often communicates with Ace Hart. Seeing as Eliot is a Live-Hand Muppet, Kevin Clash is assisted in operating Eliot by Don Reardon who operates Eliot's right hand.
• Colleen Barker (performed by Fran Brill) - She was Eliot's on-and-off girlfriend. She moved away from the apartment when the character was dropped by Season Two.
• Terri Springer (performed by Fran Brill) - Terri Springer is Eliot's neighbor and Artie's mother who debuts in Season Two. She served as the inspiration for Rosie O'Gravy.
• Artie Springer (performed by Joey Mazzarino) - Artie Springer is Eliot's young friend and son of Terri Springer. His puppet was previously seen as a background character in the original special. He served as the inspiration for Eddie.
• Bruno (performed by Brian Muehl) - Bruno is the surly superintendent of the apartment that Eliot lives in. He served as the inspiration for Bugsy Vile.
• Bowser (performed by David Rudman) - Bowser is the hulking slow-witted handyman who is Bruno's assistant. He served as the inspiration for Bruiser.
• Ms. Fluffé (performed by Lisa Buckley) - The feline landlady of the apartment that Eliot lives in. She served as the inspiration for Kitty.

The Movie

Dog City was originally a thirty nine minute long TV movie, broadcast in 1989 as an episode of The Jim Henson Hour, featuring the characters as puppets. In Dog City The Movie Ace is harassed for protection money by crime syndicate boss Bugsy. Refusing to pay or fight him, Bugsy kidnaps Ace's love interest, Colleen. There are car chases and shoot-em-ups and rubber duckies involved in the action. In the end, Ace defeats Bugsy and gets the girl.

• Ace Yu (voiced by Kevin Clash) -
• Frisky (voiced by Dave Goelz) -
• Mad Dog (voiced by Steve Whitmire) -
• Bugsy Them (voiced by Jim Henson) -
• Colleen (voiced by Fran Brill) -
• Rowlf the Dog (voiced by Jim Henson) -

The Muppets of Ace and his associates would make cameos in The Muppets at Walt Disney World and would later go on to become Eliot Shag and the other "real world" counterparts to the animated characters.

Dog City: The Movie (sans the framing sequences) was released to regions 1 and 2.

List of episodes

Season 1 (1992-1993)

Ep#	Title	Airdate	Synopsis
1	The Big Squeak	September 26, 1992
2	Taming of the Screw	October 3, 1992
3	Meat the Butcher	October 10, 1992
4	Disobedience School	October 17, 1992
5	The Dog Pound	October 31, 1992
6	Radio Dazed	November 14, 1992
7	The Bloodhound	November 21, 1992
8	Adventures in Puppysitting	November 28, 1992
9	Ya Gotta Have Hart	December 19, 1992
10	In Your Dreams	January 9, 1993
11	Rocketship K-9	January 16, 1993
12	Cats 'n' Dogs	January 23, 1993
13	Is It Arf?	January 30, 1993

Season 2 (1993)

Ep#	Title	Airdate	Synopsis
14	Boss Bruiser	September 18, 1993
15	Springer Fever	September 25, 1993
16	Much Ado About Mad Dog	October 2, 1993
17	Of Mutts and Mayors	October 9, 1993
18	Who Watches the Watchdog?	October 16, 1993
19	The Great Dane Curse	October 23, 1993
20	Out of the Mouths of Pups	October 30, 1993
21	Farewell, My Rosie	November 6, 1993
22	Old Dogs, New Tricks	November 13, 1993
23	Sick as a Dog	November 20, 1993

Season 3 (1994)

Ep#	Title	Airdate	Synopsis
24	The New Litter	September 17, 1994
25	Doggy See, Doggy Do	September 24, 1994
26	Comedy of Horrors	October 1, 1994
27	Howl the Conquering Hero	October 8, 1994
28	Reduce, Re-Use, Retrieve	November 5, 1994
29	Future Schlock	November 12, 1994
30	No Pain, No Brain	November 19, 1994
31	Dog Days of Summer Vacation	November 26, 1994

Credits

Season One

• Executive Producers: Michael K. Frith, Brian Henson, Patrick Loubert, Michael Hirsch, Clive A. Smith
• Produced by: Stephen Hodgins
• Coordinating Producer: Patricia R. Burns
• Line Producer: Hasmi Giakoumis
• Associate Producer: Neil Court
• Directed by: John Van Bruggen
• Assistant Directors: Dave Pemberton, Steve Whitehouse
• Story Editors: J.D. Smith, Peter Sauder
• Casting and Voice Director: Jessie Thomson
• Vocal Coach: Kathryn Mullen
• Unit Director: Brad Goodchild
• Unit Manager: Kokila Jeffrey
• Production Manager: Ruta Cube
• Production Supervisor: Steve Chadwick
• Coordinators: Jocelyn Hamilton (production), Erik Strobel (script), Shelly Theaker (storyboard), Tyler Baylis (design), Shelley Morrow (layout)
• Storyboard Artists: Frank Lintzen, John Flagg, Arna Selznick, Andrew Tan, Vincenzo Natali, Bob Smith, Robert Rivard
• Storyboard Cleanup Supervisor: Dave Quensnelle
• Background Artist: Clive Powsey
• Paint Supervisor: Mary Bertoia
• Layout Artists: Dermot Walshe, Kevin Klis, Glenn Chadwick, Daniel Poitras, Gord McBride, Steve Remen, John Lei, Paul Bouchard, Brad Graham, Mike Halley
• Layout Supervisor: Lyndon Ruddy
• Color Designer: Jo-Anne Merrill
• Designers: Charles E. Bastien, Jens Pindal, Leif Norheim, Kevin Fraser, Scott Bennett
• Key Animators: Niall Johnston, Gerry Fournier, John De Klein, Paul Riley, Mike Tweedle, Scott Glynn, Dave Boudreau, Bill Zeats, Alan Knappett, Brad Goodchild, Lynn Reist, Dennis Gonzales
• Post Production Supervisor: Rob Kirkpatrick
• Post Production Manager: Lan Lamon
• Supervising Sound Editor: Steve Cole
• Picture Editor: Algis Magiulis
• Supervising Pre-Production Editor: Darrell MacDonald
• Supervising Breakdown Editor: Rick Dubiel
• Recording and Transfer Technician: Mike Reid
• Muppet Segments
  • Production Coordinator: Jennie Lupinacci
  • Puppeteer: Kevin Clash
  • Additional Puppeteer: Don Reardon
  • Executives in Charge of Production: Jim Lewis, Ritamarie Peruggi, David Gumpel, Pat Nugent
  • Production Designer: Lyndon Mosse
• Theme by: Philip Balsam
• Score Composed by: Acrobat Music
• Additional Production Facility: Hanho Heung Up Co. Ltd
• Negative Cutting Services: Catherine Rankin Productions
• Laboratories: Magnetic North, The Filmhouse Group, Access Post Production Audio Inc., Studio 306

Season Two

• Executive Producers: Michael K. Frith, Brian Henson, Patrick Loubert, Michael Hirsch, Clive A. Smith
• Supervising Producer: Stephen Hodgins
• Coordinating Producer: Patrica R. Burns
• Producer: Merle-Anne Ridley
• Director: John Van Bruggen
• Assistant Director: Dave Pemberton
• Story Editor: J.D. Smith
• Casting and Voice Director: Jessie Thomson
• Production Supervisor: Steve Chadwick
• Production Manager: Ruta Cube
• Unit Director: Brad Goodchild
• Coordinators: Asha Daniere (production), Erika Strobel (script), Laurie Towata (storyboard), Aidan Closs (layout), Patty Beausoleil (design)
• Storyboard Artists: John Flagg, Frank Lintzen, Vincenzo Natali, Dave Pemberton, Robert Rivard, Arna Selznick, Bob Smith, Doug Thoms
• Storyboard Cleanup Supervisor: Dave Thomas
• Layout Supervisor: Tony Tarantini
• Layout Artists: Dale Desrochers, Chad Hicks, Brian Lee, John Lei, Jeff Lyons, Mary Lyons, Chris Minz, Brian Poehlman, Affee Yepp
• Color Design: Jo-Anne Merrill
• Background Design: Clive Powsey
• Design Supervisor: Doug Thoms
• Designers: Dave Boudreau, Trevor Davies, Kevin Fraser, Stephanie Gignac, Steve Manning, Robert Walton, Richard Weston
• Key Animators: Dave Boudreau, Robin Budd, Shane Doyle, Gerry Fournier, Brad Goodchild, John Hill, Niall Johnston, Rick Marshall, Lynn Reist, Cynthia Ward, Jamie Whitney, Steve Whitehouse
• Paint Supervisor: Mary Bertoia
• Supervising Editor: Rob Kirkpatrick
• Post Production Managers: Marianne Culbert, Lan Lamon
• Supervising Sound Editor: Steven Cole
• Picture Editors: Algis Maciulis, Karen Lawrie
• Supervising Pre-Production Editor: Darrell MacDonald
• Supervising Breakdown Editor: Rick Dubiel
• Recording/Transfer Technician: Mike Reid
• Re-Recording Engineer: Tony Van den Akker
• Muppet Segments
  • For Jim Henson Productions: David Gumpel, Pat Nugent, Jim Lewis, Kathleen Davis
  • Production Designer: Lyndon Mosse
  • Muppet Workshop: Rollin Krewson
  • Production Coordinator: Jennie Lupinacci
  • Puppet Coordinator: Kevin Clash
• Theme Music by: Phil Balsam
• Score Produced by: Acrobat Music
• Additional Production Facilities: Hanho Heung Up Co. Ltd, Bardel Animation
• Negative Cutting Services: Catherine Rankin Productions
• Laboratories: Magnetic North, The Filmhouse Group, Access Post Production Audio, Inc., Studio 306
• A Nelvana Production in association with Jim Henson Productions.
• The Global Television Network, a member of the CanWest Global System.
• The Autonomous Stations of Spain and Canal (Spain).

Video releases

Two VHS tapes with two episodes each were released by Sony Wonder. Much Ado About Mad Dog contains the episodes Much Ado About Mad Dog and Old Dogs, New Tricks. The Big Squeak contains the episodes The Big Squeak and Boss Bruiser. Another tape, Disobedience School was released in the UK through Channel 4 and contains the episodes Disobedience School, The Dog Pound, and Radio Daze.

Dog City: The Movie was released to UK exclusive region 2 DVD, and a Region 1 DVD will be released on June 8, 2010, though the series has not had any DVD release. Most episodes of all three seasons are available from Amazon Video on Demand.

International Broadcast

• Chile
  • Canal 13
  • TVN (Chile) (2003–2006)

References

External links

• Dog City on Muppet Wiki, an external wiki
• Episode list
• TV.com: Dog City
• All Things Animated: Dog City
• Nelvana's Page on Dog City
• Dog City at the Internet Movie Database