Courage the Cowardly Dog

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Courage the Cowardly Dog is an American animated television series about a dog named Courage and his owners Muriel Bagge, a kindly old Scottish woman, and Eustace Bagge, a grumpy old farmer, living together in a farmhouse in the middle of the town of Nowhere, Kansas (often described as The Middle of Nowhere).

Originally, Courage started out as a Canadian, one-episode cartoon, which was featured in the Cartoon Network special "The Fifty Greatest Cartoons of All Time." In the original cartoon, there was no dialogue, except for a line spoken by Courage (who was voiced by a different, authoritative voice in this short). An alien chicken was the villain in this short, and it would come back for its revenge in the American series.

Courage the Cowardly Dog was created by John R. Dilworth, who directed each episode, and is produced and aired by Cartoon Network. The show stopped airing on November 22, 2002, until 2005, when Courage the Cowardly Dog began reruns on Cartoon Network's block, "Cartoon Cartoons". In Britain, the show is currently broadcast on the "Cartoon Cartoons" hour block as well as in half-hour compilations on the UK-only Cartoon Network Too.

Contents

1 Plot
2 Characters
3 Production
4 Recurring Gags
5 References
6 External links

Plot

Courage the Cowardly Dog centers on the exploits of Courage, a small fuchsia dog who is afraid of the most mundane things. However, his fear is usually warranted: Eustace, Muriel and Courage are constantly attacked or run into various monsters, aliens, curses, natural disasters, and other forms of evil Courage must face.

In the series, when Courage wants to save his family, he sometimes faces off the villain in a game (such as dodgeball or a staring contest), convinces the villain to leave the life of crime, or tricks the villain.

The opening of the show documents Courage's past: Abandoned as a puppy, Courage was living in a box until he was found by Muriel, who lives in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas with her husband Eustace. Eustace always resented Courage's presence in the home and continually attempts to scare the living daylights out of Courage by whipping out a giant green mask, screaming "Ooga! Booga! Booga!" Afterwards, Eustace laughs at Courage's expense, until Muriel comically bludgeons him over the head with a rolling pin. This changes with the chapters in different variations (i.e. jumping eyeballs, giant teeth etc).

Characters

The characters include Courage, his owners Muriel Bagge and Eustace Bagge, and his large assortment of friends and foes. Courage is the main character of the show. He was abandoned as a puppy, left in the cold, and found by Muriel Bagge, who took him in and gave him affection. His origins and the fate of his parents are further detailed in the final episode "Remembrance of Courage Past".

Though he is tagged as a "cowardly dog" he lives up to his name in each episode acting as the reluctant hero at great risk to himself. He overcomes his fear of the evil presented in each episode unenthusiastically sighing and saying, "The things I do for love;" and he always protects Eustace and Muriel, even if scared witless in the process. His signature is his scream of complete and utter terror in the face of a monster or villain. The scream actually saved his life once. One of Courage's best qualities is that he never gives up. Courage also has a compassionate side, often showing understanding and friendship to monsters and creatures shunned by most other people.

Courage speaks in regular English to the viewer, but when he wants to convey a message to the other characters on the show, usually he acts out the message while blabbering high-pitched incomprehensible gibberish. For example, to tell the Bagges that they are in danger of running into a given monster, he will himself temporarily morph into the monster and roar like it. This may possibly be a reference to the Scooby Doo cartoons, where Scooby would act like the monster or apparition he has just seen. (Actually, Courage may have spoken in English to Muriel a few times-- but this is almost always how he communicates.) Courage is not the most attractive of dogs. Among other physical flaws, he has an odd laugh and a tooth with a significant cavity (i.e. a hole completely through it). Courage first appeared on the What a Cartoon! show in an animated short named "The Chicken from Outer Space".

Muriel

Muriel Bagge is Courage's sweet, innocent Scottish-accented grandmother-like owner. She loves to be hospitable, cook and clean, and to sit in her rocking chair, but the one thing she loves the most is Courage, and the feeling is very mutual. She's so sweet and unassuming she has a difficult time telling when danger is approaching, and occasionally invites evil into the house, even as Courage frantically warns her. Muriel is also a good cook, whose secret ingredient is vinegar. When anything goes wrong, she settles it down with a cup of tea.

In nearly every episode Muriel is captured or threatened in some way, and Courage is the only one who can save her. Once saved, she is usually always none-the-wiser of the risks Courage took. In the episode "Freaky Fred", Muriel was visited by her nephew Fred, a character based on Edgar Allen Poe's poems, who turned out to be a maniacal barber. Before being caught by medicals, he managed to cut off Courage's hair with an exception, the phrase "With Love, Fred" located on his back. Muriel also plays the sitar.

Eustace

Eustace Harold Bagge is Muriel's husband, the farmer. Eustace doesn't like Courage much at all, and for the most part calls him a "stupid dog," and enjoys constantly teasing him and kicking him when he's down. He only shows concern for his money and his property, and greed drives many of his actions. This results in many of the problems Courage must resolve in the show.

In some episodes Eustace plays the part of the antagonist. Usually at the end of an episode something bad happens to Eustace, such as being blasted to the moon, eaten, zapped, mummified, transformed, possessed, and other misfortunes. While these things would usually kill him, he appears fine by the next episode. Lionel Wilson, the original voice of Eustace, died in a transition from the show's seasons. Lionel had retired from the show after a lengthy illness, and was replaced as Eustace's voice by Arthur Anderson. He seems to say stupid and then a person/place/thing frequently. He also tends to grumble in every situation, unless money is given to him.

Eustace is also extremely embarrassed by his baldness. During a name-calling game, repeatedly calling him "bald" will win the argument. Part of his shame comes from the fact his mother is bald as well (and hides it with a wig.) For some reason, Eustace seems immune to anything that alter the person's emotions. He was unaffected by the Curtain of Cruelty (and his clothes were not treated by the fabric softener that protected Murial and Courage) nor he was affected by the Curtain of Kindness that was released later on. He also took multiple shots from Zalost's Unhappy cannonballs, without changing (though later one thrown at him by Zalost turned him into stone).

Production

There is an obscure Dilworth animated short, Smart Talk with Raisin - Pulling a Malade out of a Hat, that appeared on MTV's Liquid Television in Season 3, episode 1. It features a proto-Courage character named Hamilton as well as what can be considered a proto-Muriel, the titular Raisin, and a proto-Eustace, named Malcolm (who in this case is Raisin's misanthropic brother).

The premise of the short is that a young girl named Raisin has her own primetime show the format of which is unspecified but the implication is that it is a variety show. In the short, Raisin is encouraging her dog Hamilton to perform a magic trick for the show that involves him pulling a Malade from a hat. It is not explained until the end that the term 'Malade' refers to a teacher from Raisin and Malcolm's school whose surname is Malade.

The majority of the short involves Malcolm verbally abusing Hamilton and Raisin. Several stylistic features are seen in this short that mark it as Dilworth's work, and several characteristics of Courage are seen in Hamilton. For example, Hamilton does not speak, and is timid and non-confrontational in the face of Malcolm's overt hostility. Their appearance is also similar although a key difference is that Hamilton's left eye is drawn elongated in a style similar to some secondary characters in the Courage series. This short does not appear on any official Liquid Television DVD, and is not listed in Dilworth's filmography on IMDB. However, it is currently viewable on Dilworth's Stretch Films site and at YouTube (see external links).

A fifth season was considered on this show but was never made. Eustace Bagge is derived from Useless Bag (Indeed, his deceased brother Horace, during one of Eustace's flashbacks calls him "Useless") because he treats Muriel like a slave and only thinks of himself, in a similar manner to an abusive husband, and also bears a similarity to Gaston. Bad Hair Day (Season 2, Episode 8) is mainly a spoof of Michael Crichton's 1978 mystery film Coma. Many of the episodes have classical music playing in the background when certain situations occur. There is a song "Courage the Cowardly Dog" by They Might Be Giants. Notable people have guest-starred, such as Ringo Starr, Tim Curry, and Jim Cummings. In one of the older Cartoon Network Fridays, Muriel is shown hosting the Fridays. Muriel is the daughter of a pig-farmer (Craig Bartlett) and a poor old tailor who eats cows (Unseen Characters) In The Shadow of Courage, Courage takes the form of a burglar, trying to tell Eustace and Muriel that somebody is there, that same burglar was a character in Family Business, a second season episode. The beginning of The Magic Tree of Nowhere is a spoof on the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. The tree growing scene at the beginning is also a reference to the beanstalk growing scene in Mickey and the Beanstalk. At one point, there were plans to be a movie based upon the series when it ended, but the concept was eventually dropped. At one point, there was a featuring Courage on Cartoon Network that was sung by They Might Be Giants. In one episode featuring a zombie antagonist named Tarantello, a reference is probably made to Mike Lazzo. Tarantello is said to be a criminal partnered with another zombie named Lazzo. In a plot to kill the Bagges, Tarantello pretends to be shooting a show about the lives of them, much like reality television. Near the end of the episode, Tarantello is saying to Lazzo on his cell phone, "It will be a huge hit, Lazzo!" In this same episode, in the end, you see the Courage and Muriel watching the movie they made (with the changes Courage made). You can see a the end of it, when you see Courage hitting the ground where he buried the zombies. If you look closely, you can see that this scene is actually taken from a later episode named "feast of the bullfrogs".

Recurring Gags

Courage is seen sometimes laughing at the end of an episode, marking his triumph.
Courage cackles broadly after crashing into a wall or being a victim of some other painful incident.
In many, if not most episodes, the name "Dilworth", or some variation of it (e.g. The Dil-Vac) appears in the background.
Courage often mutters phrases such as "The things I do for love," and "[action here] or my name isn't [ridiculous name here], and it's not."
Eustace pulls out a green swahili-like mask (and sometimes two large rubber eyes that pop out) and cries "Ooga! Booga! Booga!" to scare Courage, making Courage scream. Occasionally after, Eustace laughs at Courage and Muriel pulls out a rolling pin and smacks him on the head. Eustace then says dizzily, "What did I do?"
Eustace pulls out a mallet to "solve problems".
Courage often babbles to someone when trying to explain a situation, and also imitates objects when explaining. (A parody of Scooby-Doo)
An exaggerated cavity is often revealed in one of Courage's teeth during his more spectacular screams.
Muriel looses her boot in several episodes.
There's a background song that plays when Courage is using the computer to get facts or information. It is also played when he is getting information besides using the computer.
Many episodes end with Muriel in her rocking chair with Courage on her lap with accordion music playing over the radio in their living room, despite how destroyed it may have become during the course of the show.
Episodes from season 3 on end with a CGI rendition of Courage bowing -- often accompanied by a sound bite from that particular episode.
Characters often will pull abnormally large objects, such as rolling pins and ladels, seemingly out of nowhere. There is also a recurring theme of inanimate objects being disproportionally large as compared to their real-life counterparts.
when ever courage is running when danger there is the same music playing each time
If something frustrates Eustace, he frequently leaves the house. Muriel catches him and asks where he is going. He responds,"I'm going to the picture show." However, he can't get there because of the antagonist coming and scaring them.

References

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External links

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