Thoughtnami Classics | Whatever Happened To Donovan Cook?

Originally Posted 07/16/04 by Jeff Harris

For some reason today, I wondered whatever happened to Donovan Cook. Back in the day, I really, really enjoyed his two big shows, 2 Stupid Dogs and Nightmare Ned.

Now, a lot of people dismissed 2 Stupid Dogs as a strange ripoff of The Ren and Stimpy show, but those people are idiots. Yeah, Big Dog and Little Dog were a big and small duo not unlike the dopey fat cat and the bruatl asthmatic chihuahua, but that's where the similarities ended. Big Dog and Little Dog were dumb and dumber long before Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels took on the roles of Lloyd and Harry, going on numerous idiotic adventures where they encountered mundane events, the oafish Hollywood, cats (ahh, cat!! woof. eee!), and the Red trilogy, which totally twisted the Little Red Riding Hood story with a heroine as loud and abrasive as the one in that Bugs Bunny cartoon was. It was silly and stupid, and that's what made it so fun. Well, that and the Super Secret Secret Squirrel shorts which totally changed the dynamics of the classic HB shorts, which put Secret and Murocco Mole in an anthromorphic world. This show was one of the first places to showcase the works of Genndy Tartakofsky and Craig McCracken.

In 1995, Donovan Cook went back to Disney (where he originally worked on The Little Mermaid and The Prince and the Pauper, where he developed and produced “Nightmare Ned,” which chronicled a little kid's vivid imagination and his anxieties about the world we live in. Brilliant show. Shame the studio didn't even give it a real chance to gain an audience.

After that show, I haven't heard from Donovan Cook. While Genndy and Craig got big with Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Powerpuff Girls, Donovan just disappeared. Kind of like the Tremblay Brothers, who created the other big HB show at the time, SWAT Kats, and needless to say I was shocked when I discovered they created the abysmal Mega Babies.

So, what did I find Donovan Cook doing? Co-directing the Peter Pan cheapquel Return to Neverland and directing what may be the last traditionally-drawn Mickey Mouse film, The Three Musketeers, making sure the last great adventure is the best. I'm just glad to see that he hasn't fallen completely off the face of the earth as I had feared.

Now, I'm curious what happened the the Tremblays . . .