I have been
meaning to write a short post about one of my favorite American animation
series—’Courage, the Cowardly Dog’, a brilliant effort by John R. Dilworth and
team, which originally ran on Cartoon Network from November 1999 until November
2002 (four seasons), with a total of 52 episodes produced. At present, it is
running on Cartoon Network here in Oslo each night at around 8:15 pm and again shortly
after midnight (on weeknights). I’ve seen most of the episodes, some of them
several times, especially my favorites. I really cannot find enough
superlatives to describe the show. I love everything about it—from the clever
storylines, excellent animation, attention to detail, interesting backgrounds
and overall creepiness at times. It is not really suitable for small children,
since it is a fairly graphic horror cartoon of sorts, although there are a few
sweet episodes as well. The star of the show, the pink dog Courage, must deal
with all sorts of challenges in the form of freaky people, were-moles, dragons,
murderous vegetables, mysterious CIA types, evil snowmen, evil magicians—the
list goes on and on. He overcomes his initial fear and cowardice and protects
his family—Muriel and Eustace Bagge—from all of the monsters and assorted creatures
who want to do them harm. They all live out in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas in
a farmhouse. Eustace, a cranky old man, is supposed to be a farmer, but nothing
grows for him and the land around the house is pretty barren. Muriel, a
housewife, is his direct opposite, a cheerful, helpful, sprightly older woman.
Eustace is greedy and always looking to make a quick buck; Muriel keeps him in
line and is definitely Courage’s supporter and protector. Courage loves Muriel,
not Eustace. Whenever she gets into trouble, he loses his cool completely and
freaks out, but he always comes around to ‘I’ll save you, Muriel’. And then he
goes about the business of saving her. I’m including a list of some of my
favorite episodes here.
The Last of
the Starmakers
The Magic
Tree of Nowhere
Food of the
Dragon
Dome of
Doom
The Snowman
Cometh
Snowman’s Revenge
The Sandman
Sleeps
The Night
of the Weremoles and Mother’s Day
The Quilt
Club
A Beaver’s
Tale
