Stretch Films

Background

Stretch Films is a production company that was founded in 1991 by John R. Dilworth. It was best known for Courage the Cowardly Dog on Cartoon Network.

Contents

1st Logo (January 30, 1994)	2nd Logo (October 1994)	3rd Logo (July 1, 1995)	4th Logo (1996)	5th Logo (August 22, 1998-)	6th Logo (November 23, 2001)	7th Logo (December 8, 2009)

1st Logo (January 30, 1994)

Visuals: Against a black background, there's a mouth smiling. Above and below the mouth respectively, there is "STRETCH FILMS" in an ugly, grungy font. The trademark symbol appears next to "FILMS". The logo is still.

Technique: A still graphic made with traditional ink and paint.

Audio: The ending theme of the short.

Availability: Seen only on Smart Talk with Raisin, which was shown on Liquid Television on MTV. The short is included on the out of print Wet-Shorts: The Best of Liquid Television DVD.

2nd Logo (October 1994)

Visuals: There is a smiling mouth that shows snaggly teeth. Each tooth contains "Stretch Films" letter-by-letter. Above the mouth, there is a nose, and hair beards on the left and right of it respectively. Under the logo, there is "Presents". The logo is fully colored in blue/teal green/purple tones. Again, the logo is still.

Technique: Hand-drawn graphic.

Audio: The opening music to The Dirdy Birdy.

Availability: Seen on The Dirdy Birdy.

3rd Logo (July 1, 1995)

Visuals: Against a black background, there is a smiling mouth sticking its tongue out, with "Stretch Films" in a similar font from before, on each tooth letter-by-letter. Once again, the logo is still.

Technique: Hand-drawn graphic.

Audio: The sounds of the windmill.

Availability: Seen only on the Courage the Cowardly Dog pilot, The Chicken from Outer Space, which is gone on What A Cartoon! Show reruns.

4th Logo (1996)

Visuals: Against a black background, there is the smiling mouth from before once again, except it doesn't stick its tongue out. "Stretch Films" is on each tooth letter-by-letter in a similar font from before, along with a dark blue outline. Under the logo, there is "Presents." Like before, the logo is still

Technique: Hand-drawn graphic.

Audio: The opening theme of the short.

Availability: Seen on Noodles and Nedd.

5th Logo (August 22, 1998-)

Visuals: On a black background, there's a very crudely drawn smiling mouth with a white outline around it to make it visible against the background, with hair beards and "INC." below it in the same color. A few seconds later, the mouth laughs, revealing several misshapen teeth with black letters etched on each tooth; the letters "S", "t", "r", "e", "t", "c", and "h" are on the top row while "F", "i", "L", "m", and "s", are on the bottom row; altogether, they read "Stretch Films". The mouth grins as it finishes laughing. A TM bug appears on the right side of the mouth, and the screen then cuts to black. The whole thing looks very similar to the previous logos.

Trivia: The "Banana Man" variant (without the logo) was seen on Catch of the Day! and was also seen in black and white on the Courage the Cowardly Dog episodes "Little Muriel" and "Courage the Fly". The footage appeared on the 2021 crossover movie Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog as well.

Variants:

For the last three seasons of Courage the Cowardly Dog, the mouth starts laughing a bit earlier when the logo appears. As a result, the frame of it that is briefly seen before its laughing animation is taken out.
On the 1998 short Hector the Get Over Cat, the logo is still and takes place on a white background. Plus, the "INC." is bigger.
On some episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog, there is a variant where it shows John R. Dilworth in a spacesuit with a banana in his ears on a blue background with orange-yellow radial gradient polka dots dancing for a bit, before putting on a creepy look on his face and the banana rotating a couple of times. In the top left corner is the Stretch Films logo. The mouth isn't seen laughing, but can still be heard.
On the 2011 short Bunny Bashing, a URL address appears at the bottom of the screen after the mouth finishes laughing.
On the 2014 Courage the Cowardly Dog short "The Fog of Courage", the logo is zoomed out farther than usual.

Technique: Traditional animation transferred on digital ink. For the "Banana Man" variant, live action with a choppy filter with stop-motion for the banana.

Audio: The mouth laughing (in a high-pitched British-esque accent; provided by none other than John R. Dilworth himself). For the white background variant, it's silent.

Audio Variants:

On the 1999 short Catch of the Day!, the ending theme plays over the logo, with the laugh.
On the 2014 short The Fog of Courage, Eustace yells "Stupid dog!" (the voice clip of which is recycled from the Courage the Cowardly Dog intro) before the laugh is heard.

Availability:

The white background version is seen on the 1998 short Hector the Get Over Cat, which was seen on the Nickelodeon TV special The Toons From Planet Orange.
The standard version was found on Catch of the Day! and was seen on reruns of Courage the Cowardly Dog on Cartoon Network and Boomerang. However, split-screen airings of said show replace the Stretch Films logo with the Cartoon Network logo, although both logos appear on iTunes prints of said show.
The "Banana Man" variant can be seen on the Courage The Cowardly Dog episodes "Demon In The Mattress/Freaky Fred" (although Netflix's print uses the standard logo) and the out of print Cartoon Network: Halloween DVD.
It also showed up on the 2011 short Bunny Bashing and the 2014 short The Fog of Courage.

Legacy: In spite of its somewhat creepy nature, it's well known among fans of Courage the Cowardly Dog. The "Banana Man" variant was a "holy grail" among logo enthusiasts due to its rarity, not popping up on the internet until then.

6th Logo (November 23, 2001)

Visuals: Against a white background, there is the same logo from before, except the teeth on the mouth are colored with purple and pink on the top and bottom rows respectively. Under the logo, there is a copyright notice, which is a little off-centered to the left. The logo is still.

Technique: Digital graphic.

Audio: The ending theme of the short, interrupted by popping (from the mouse).

Availability: Seen on The Mousochist.

7th Logo (December 8, 2009)

Visuals: Against a black background, there is a light blue budgie holding a pencil on its mouth. The budgie snaps the pencil in two with its beak. Then a pumpkin (with a face drawn on it) falls on the budgie. A speech bubble (representing the budgie talking) appears next to the pumpkin that says "OW!" During the entire animation, there is a URL address for the company and a copyright notice under the URL address, which are both centered.

Technique: Adobe Flash animation.

Audio: The ending theme of the short, with a snapping sound for when the pencil breaks, and a thump sound for when the pumpkin falls on the budgie.

Availability: Seen on the 2009 short Rinky Dink.