Courage the Cowardly Dog

***Courage the Cowardly Dog*** is an American animated comedy horror television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Dilworth's animation studio, Stretch Films, and originally aired from 1999 to 2002. The title character is a dog who lives with an elderly couple in a farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere, a fictional town in Kansas. In each episode, the trio is thrown into bizarre, frequently disturbing, and often paranormal or supernatural adventures. The series is known for its dark, surreal humor and atmosphere.

Dilworth pitched the series to Hanna-Barbera's animated shorts showcase *What a Cartoon!* and a pilot titled "The Chicken from Outer Space" aired on Cartoon Network on February 18, 1996. The segment was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to the Wallace and Gromit short film *A Close Shave*. The short was greenlit to become a series, which premiered on November 12, 1999, and ended on November 22, 2002, with 4 seasons each consisting of 13 episodes. It was nominated for three Golden Reel Awards and won one Annie Award.

## Premise

*Courage the Cowardly Dog* follows Courage (Marty Grabstein), a kind yet easily frightened troublesome dog. He was abandoned as a puppy after his parents were sent into outer space by a crazed veterinarian. Soon after, he was found in an alleyway by Muriel Bagge (Thea White), a friendly and caring Scottish woman who decided to take Courage in as her own, and was inspired by the nature of this first meeting to give him his name. In the present, he lives with the now elderly Muriel and her husband Eustace Bagge (Lionel Wilson in episodes 1–33, Arthur Anderson in episodes 34–52), a cranky and greedy man who is often jealous of Courage and refers to him as "stupid dog", and frequently uses the "Ooga Booga" mask to scare him out of his wits in an isolated farmhouse: the nearest town to the farmhouse is a town called Nowhere.

Courage and his owners frequently encounter monsters, aliens, zombies, and other paranormal or supernatural creatures that are attracted to Nowhere. The plot generally uses conventions common to horror films. Although most of the creatures the three face are hostile, some only appear that way, but are simply suffering from distress, anger, and/or acting in desperation, and sometimes because they are depressed, but they can turn out to be friendly to them.

The task of protecting Muriel and Eustace from such dangers falls on Courage, who endeavors to thwart or reconcile with the monster of the week and remedy or repair any damages done. Although Courage is occasionally aided with that task, the full extent of his efforts is usually performed unbeknownst to Muriel and Eustace. Ironically, given his name, Courage may be considered a genuine hero who often goes to great lengths to protect his owners, and a genuine coward who still expresses much of his distress with over-the-top, piercing shrieks.

Although episodic in nature, there are a handful of recurring characters in the show's cast, including Courage's sarcastic, sentient computer (Simon Prebble); the family physician Dr. Vindaloo (Paul Schoeffler); a fortune-telling chihuahua named Shirley the Medium (Mary Testa); Eustace's mother "Ma" (Billie Lou Watt); villains Katz and Le Quack (both voiced by Schoeffler), and the antagonistic Di Lung (Tim Chi Ly).

## Episodes

Main article: List of Courage the Cowardly Dog episodes

## Reception

John G. Nettles of PopMatters reviewed the show and called it, "a fascinating and textured mixture of cartoon and horror-movie conventions, and a joy to watch."

Alex Mastas of *Lights Out Films* reviewed the show gave it a grade "A−" and described it: "The backgrounds are rich and imaginative—they composite a lot of the show over real photos and occasionally integrate CGI into the cartoon. The look is weird and ethereal, just like the show itself."

KJ Dell Antonia of Common Sense Media gave three stars out of five with the summary, "Cult fave 'toon plays over-the-top violence for laughs." Antonia warned parents that the series contains graphic animated violence, including "exploding organs, growing extra limbs, turning inside out, you name it". Randy Miller III of DVD Talk said that shows aimed at younger audiences "usually don't go for thrills and chills, so it's good to see a genuinely surreal and slanted series develop a decent following."

Jeff Swindoll of *Monsters and Critics* reviewed the first season DVD and felt a bit disappointed about its lack of the original Hanna-Barbera short *The Chicken from Outer Space*, but still praised all the episodes featured in the first season and encouraged fans to buy the season's DVD. In 2023 Indian Entertainment Journal Pinkvilla ranked the show no 1 of their list of top 10 1990s Cartoons and gave special praise to the critically acclaimed Season 2 episode "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City" and stated that the show remains enjoyable till present times.

## Possible revivals

In February 2012, BuzzFeed reported that a CGI special of *Courage the Cowardly Dog* was in development. The special, titled "The Fog of Courage", aired in 2014.

In October 2018, Dilworth commented on a Facebook post that he was in negotiations with Boomerang for a prequel to the series under the working title *Before Courage.* However, in May 2020, when asked about the project, Dilworth responded that it had been "transformed into another thing". In June 2021, Dilworth revealed that the project was on turnaround as Cartoon Network's management is prioritizing their focus on other projects. However, in January 2022, Dilworth revealed that the project has already been dropped and fell through for the same reason.

## Crossover film

On June 22, 2021, Warner Bros. Animation announced an animated direct-to-video crossover film with *Scooby-Doo* called *Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog*. The film follows Scooby-Doo and his friends finding a suspicious object in Nowhere, Kansas where Courage and his owners reside.

Marty Grabstein and Thea White reprise their roles as Courage and Muriel, while Eustace is voiced by Jeff Bergman due to the deaths of the character's former voice casts Lionel Wilson and Arthur Anderson in 2003 and 2016, respectively. The film was released on DVD and digital on September 14, 2021. The film also serves as a posthumous role for Thea White, who died in July 2021, around two months before the film's release date. Series creator John R. Dilworth did not have any involvement in the crossover. According to animator and artist Tracy Mark Lee, the film's original premise was originally pitched as an episode of *Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?*