Line #29 WesternAnimation/TheChickenFromOuterSpace


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_chicken_from_outer_space_8140.PNG]]
2	->''"This shouldn't happen to a dog."''
3	--> -- '''Courage'''
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5	''The Chicken from Outer Space'' was an 11-minute cartoon created by John R. Dilworth for ''WesternAnimation/WhatACartoon''. Released on December 31, 1995, the short eventually got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film (losing to ''WesternAnimation/ACloseShave''). It later served as the pilot for the Cartoon Network series ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog''.
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7	Enjoying a nice and peaceful day in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas, Courage is scared out of the house by Eustace and, shortly after, sees a UFO land in the front yard. Horrified, Courage gets his masters, but when they arrive at the scene, the space craft had gone, as well as its captain, a [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyed]] chicken.
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9	Throughout the course of ''Courage'', two sequel episodes were made. In one, the chicken returns as a headless, fried chicken, and in the other, the chicken’s three-headed son comes down to Earth to finish the job.
10	----
11	!! This short provides examples of the following tropes:
12	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The very first shot of the flying saucer is rendered in computer animation.
13	* AlienAnimals: The Chicken, though it’s not a friendly one.
14	* AssholeVictim: Chicken!Eustace gets vaporized by Courage in the end. It becomes a RunningGag in the following series where the majority of his appearances has him suffering a nasty fate. Somehow though, [[UnexplainedRecovery he always manages to come back]].
15	* CreatorCameo: That's John Dilworth's live-action photo on the wall of the farmhouse, as well as on the Drink Silly-Pop billboard.
16	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [[DownplayedTrope Surprisingly little]]. For a standalone DomesticOnlyCartoon short, it has more in common with [[WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog the show it was spun off into]] than most actual pilots do for their shows. The only major differences are Courage having a bigger snout, significantly more MediumBlending (all of the photos are real photographs), Eustace and Muriel being slightly less on-model, and a couple of interiors in the Bagges' house that were never seen again. It also lacks some of the show's trademark comically oversized props, and Eustace and Muriel have no spoken dialogue (as a result, we don't even learn their names until the credits roll -- even then, Eustace ''has'' no name, listed instead as "Farmer"). Otherwise, the show would follow the short's aesthetic to a tee.
17	* EekAMouse: How Courage makes the audience think that he doesn't live up to his name.
18	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Eustace is only referred to as "the Farmer" in the credits. Muriel, meanwhile, keeps her name.
19	* {{Hammerspace}}: Courage is famous for it.
20	* HereWeGoAgain: After the worst seems to be over, a mouse eats Eustace's ashes and gets glowing red eyes.
21	* HeroicDog: Courage, of course.
22	* LaughingMad: Eustace starts laughing maniacally when he turns into a chicken after eating the space chicken's eggs.
23	* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Implied--when Eustace completes his transformation into a chicken, he ends up as little more than a cackling nightmare with little semblance to his former self.
24	* NarrativeShapeshifting: After seeing the UFO, Courage runs inside and turns into a FlyingSaucer and a robot to warn Muriel and Eustace.
25	* NeckSnap: How the Chicken kills the other chickens.
26	* NoDialogueEpisode: Except for the end of the episode where Courage speaks once, this short has no one speaking.
27	* PainfulTransformation: Eustace, immediately after eating the eggs laid by the chicken from outer space, appears to suffer from a very bad stomachache and then goes through a long and slow process of transforming into a chicken one limb at a time.
28	* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Chicken has red eyes. As does Eustace after eating its egg. And after [[spoiler:the mouse nibbles some of Eustace’s ashes, its eyes become red as well]].
29	* ShoutOut: The ending where Courage opens the iris and says, "This shouldn't happen to a dog" and then having the iris close on his nose with him saying "Ouch!" is a reference to the ending of the 1944 Bugs Bunny Robert Clampett cartoon ''Hare Ribbin'''.
30	* SoreLoser: The Chicken, after losing his duel to Courage and is told to go home, pulls out a RayGun in response. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard It ends up frying him]].
31	* VocalEvolution: Compare Courage's screams and his dialogue at the end of the short to his voice in the actual show. Helps that his original voice actor, Howard Hoffman, was replaced by Marty Grabstein for the series.
32	* TheVoiceless: The only vocalizations in the pilot are screams, laughs, grunts, and scoffs, save for when Eustace yells OOGA BOOGA BOOGA, and when Courage speaks at the end.

Context WesternAnimation / TheChickenFromOuterSpace