THURSDAY THEME SONG: SAM & MAX

Today is Thursday and you know what that means! THURSDAY THEME SONG! This being the first Thursday in October brings us a brand new monthly theme. This month: "Dynamic Duos"

Now, instead of showing the most popular duos (ie. Batman & Robin) I will be presenting some lesser known couples who starred in their very own cartoon series. This week:

Sam & Max

Based on the 80s comicbook of the same name, Sam & Max (also know as The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police) was a short lived series about a dog and a rabbit that fight crime. The series was produced by Canadian company Nelvana and had a total of 22 10-minute episodes and 2 20-minute episodes to make a total of 13 episodes, or one season. Sam & Max was shown on Fox and won a Gemini award for "Best Animated Series" and then Fox, in their usual pattern, cancelled the show.

Sam is a six-foot, anthropomorphic dog. He is level-headed and a great detective and his trench coat always has what is needed to solve the crime in its pocket.

Max is a three-foot "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" who is impusive and a little crazy. The two live in New York but travel the world, and beyond, to solve mysteries and bring criminals to justice.

The character designs are simple and fun to look at which leaves a lot of room for creative animation. Nelvana did a great job keeping the original feel of the comicbook even so far as to create very comicbook-like backgrounds.

The most enjoyable part of the show is the ongoing banter that is shared between the two. The dialogue is just as fast paced as an episode of the Gilmore Girls but the delivery is so much better.

A few of the episodes were released on VHS but are no longer in print and there are no plans for a DVD release. Most of the episodes are on youtube so I would recommend checking them out. Let me know what you think!