I watched Cartoon Network religiously when I was a kid, and one of the programs I remember watching on the channel was "What a Cartoon", which was a 30-minute block of one-off cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that also served as a way for Turner Broadcasting, CN's parent company, to acquire new intellectual properties, or IPs, for the channel. 1996's "The Chicken from Outer Space", which was created, written, produced, and directed by indie filmmaker John R. Dilworth, would be one of those shorts that would spin-off into one of those acquired IPs.
The short focuses on an old farmer, his wife, and more importantly, their pink dog named Courage, who live on a remote farm out in the middle of a desert (this would later be known as Nowhere, Kansas). A UFO lands in front of the home, and out comes its only occupant: a chicken with red eyes with malicious intent of taking over the world. Courage, who is coined as the "cowardly dog" in the opening credits, tries to explain to the farmer and wife (with no words) that an invader from outer space has landed, but they don't believe him. In fact, the farmer constantly scares the hell out of Courage with a mask in response. So it's up to Courage alone to defend his home from the chicken.
If you've seen some of his other works, including his commissioned work for Viacom, or more famously, his independent short "The Dirdy Birdy" (1994), you can see that this is exactly the kind of film one would expect from Dilworth. It is wacky, funny, and "out-of-this-world" (pun most certainly intended), especially during the scenes where Courage duels against the chicken while a "horrific" scene involving the farmer takes place. The way Courage also communicates with his owners, the chicken, and himself without any dialogue is also clever and unique, in that it took notes from the silent film era (think Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, or Buster Keaton) while also giving it a cartoon twist. Courage morphing into various creatures while explaining to his owners that an alien invader has landed would be an example of this in action.
Not only was Dilworth's idea picked up for a now much-beloved television series for Cartoon Network, but it was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. While it lost to Nick Park's "A Close Shave" (one of the "Wallace & Gromit" shorts), this was still a huge success for Dilworth, and three years later, he would be able to continue the wacky adventures of Courage for 52 half-hour episodes.
While it is rough around the edges compared to the series it would later take off from, this is a short I highly recommend giving another look at if you are itching for nostalgia. However, if you're in the more younger crowd and have seen some episodes of the series "Courage the Cowardly Dog" beforehand, this is also definitely worth a look if you are interested to see where it all began.
