Stretch Films: Difference between revisions

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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.

1st Logo (January 30, 1994)

Nicknames: "The Mouth", "The Smiling Mouth"

Logo: Against a black background, we see a mouth smiling. Above and below the mouth respectively is "STRETCH FILMS" in an ugly, grungy font. The trademark symbol appears next to "FILMS".

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the short.

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

2nd Logo (1994)

Nicknames: "The Mouth II", "The Smiling Mouth II"

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

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening music to The Dirdy Birdy.

Availability: Seen on The Dirdy Birdy.

3rd Logo (July 1, 1995)

Nicknames: "The Mouth III", "The Smiling Mouth III"

Logo: Against a black background, we see a smiling mouth sticking its tongue out, with "Stretch Films" in a similar font from before, on each tooth letter-by-letter.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

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)

Nicknames: "The Mouth IV", "The Smiling Mouth IV"

Logo: Against a black background, we see 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 is "Presents."

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the short.

Availability: Seen on Noodles and Nedd.

5th Logo (August 22, 1998- )

Nicknames: "The Mouth V", "The Smiling Mouth V", "The Laughing Mouth", "The Laughing Mouth of Doom", "Wa-hahaha!", "Banana Man" (for the rare variant).

Logo: On a black background, we see a very crudely drawn smiling mouth in white, with "INC." below it in the same color. A few seconds later, the mouth laughs, revealing several ugly-looking teeth with a letter on each one; 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 we then cut to black. The whole thing looks very similar to the previous logos.

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, the mouth is smaller and there is a URL address below it.

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.

FX/SFX: The mouth laughing. For the "Banana Man" variant, the man dancing and the banana in his ear spinning.

Music/Sounds: The mouth laughing (in a high-pitched British-esque accent; provided by John R. Dilworth). For the white background variant, it's silent.

Music/Sounds 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 (voiced by Wallace Shaun in the short) yells "Stupid dog!" before the laugh is heard.

Availability: Common. 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 recently showed up on the 2011 short Bunny Bashing and the 2014 short The Fog of Courage.

Legacy: Many have found this logo creepy due to the dark nature, including the mouth and laugh. But regardless, it is well known thanks to it's usage on Courage the Cowardly Dog, and some may find the logo funny instead. The "Banana Man" variant was a "holy grail" among logo enthusiasts due to its rarity, not popping up on the internet until recently.

6th Logo (2001)

Nicknames: "The Mouth VI", "The Smiling Mouth VI"

Logo: Against a white background, we see 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 is a copyright notice, which is a little off-centered to the left.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the short, interrupted by popping (the mouse popping. Disney SFX)

Availability: Seen on The Mousochist.

7th Logo (December 8, 2009)

Nicknames: "The Pumpkin and The Parrot", "OW"

Logo: Against a black background, we see 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.

FX/SFX: The bird snapping the pencil, the pumpkin crushing the poor birdie, and ouch appearing.

Music/Sounds: 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 bird.

Availability: Seen on the 2009 short Rinky Dink.

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 '''Nicknames:''' "The Mouth V", "The Smiling Mouth V", "The Laughing Mouth", "The Laughing Mouth of Doom", "Wa-hahaha!", "Banana Man" (for the rare variant).
-'''Logo:''' On a black background, we see a very crudely drawn smiling mouth in white, with "INC." below it in the same color. A few seconds later, The mouth laughs, revealing several ugly-looking teeth with a letter on each one; 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. The mouth grins as it finishes laughing. A TM bug appears when the mouth stops laughing, and we then cut to black. The whole thing looks very similar to the previous logos.
+'''Logo:''' On a black background, we see a very crudely drawn smiling mouth in white, with "INC." below it in the same color. A few seconds later, the mouth laughs, revealing several ugly-looking teeth with a letter on each one; 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 we then cut to black. The whole thing looks very similar to the previous logos.
 '''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.