Day 7: The Things I Do For Love-My Favorite Courage Episodes

Courage the Cowardly Dog is a rare cartoon, one that we likely won't have again. Its blend of grotesque, funny, terrifying, heartfelt, and downright weird was to me a cutting edge animated show when it started way back in Cartoon Network's Golden Age in 1999. The show concluded in 2002, though its had a small handful of newer work like the CGI special not yet aired in the US, and the Scooby Doo crossover this year.

I fell in love with the creepy, odd, and downright sometimes scary show. It was just so damn charming, with Courage's namesake trait being tempered with immense fear yet borne of love and loyalty; Muriel's hilariously oblivious nature, and Eustace's endearing abuse and crankiness. The firs season has a lot of my top favorites yet, a few other seasons bore some real gemes. This is by no mean a top list, and a lot of my choices are ones that are generally agreed on as being some of the best from the show, but I also want to weigh in on why; a lot of these stand outs have something memorable or something important, and I've had to really trim the list down to cover key points.

In somewhat airdate order, here are some of my favorite episodes of Courage. Strap in, grab your yo-yo, and cuddle up with your lap of choice.

A Night at Katz Motel

Its the first episode of the series proper (the pilot "The Chicken from Outer Space" premiered on What a Cartoon! way back in 1996), and it sets the tone for the series. Nowhere being a desolate wasteland that makes Fallout 76 look cheery and populated, shady AF establishments that serve to give the pink pup conniption fits, an unusually chatty Courage, cantankerous Eustace, and oblivious Muriel, and our boi Katz. A lot of villainous characters end up having a "theme song" as it will, and Katz's low-fi evil percussion theme is an instant favorite.

But besides Courage's sharp wit, the jump screams, and sultry Katz slinking around with his spider minions, the highlight of this episode to me was the HANDBALL MATCH OF DEATH that occurs at the climax of the episode, and its RAVE ASS ROCKIN THEME SONG. That is literally why I love this epsiode so much, and its down to the absurd handball match, intercut with Muriel taking care of business, and ending the struggle for his life with a righteous whack to the head. That whiplash of creepy, epic, and hilarious was my jam.

King Ramses' Curse

This is another one that tickles my music tastes, and I might be in the minority but the 2 themes in this episode are my jam but or 2 different reasons. The first, "main theme" of Ramses just standing there....MEANACINGLY is a subtle tune that gives me flashbacks of the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver soundtrack. Seeng as how the LoK series was my obsession back in high school, you can hardly blame me. Definitely Melchiah or Rahab vibes.

But "The Man in Gauze" is just pure fuckin fire. I don't care what anyone says. Its hilarious and catchy all at once. Besides the music, the episode has some creative visuals with him being a flat 3d looking animation with a much higher framerate than the normal animation. Eustace being Eustace is also hilarious, with his "What's your offer?" becoming a household catchphrase for the week. God I love King Ramses.

Courage in the Big Stinkin' City

THIS. THIS IS WAY PEOPLE REMEMBER THIS SERIES. JUST THIS.

If you like her original, check out these covers which really are nice.

Also, my other favorite scene i where the cockroach and Eustace are arguing over various tings like boxers vs briefs, culminating with them stripping down to their skivvies, and Muriel's catcalling whistle. Cracks me up every time. XD

Family Business

I think it was just the absurdity of the theif and his heist in addition to everyone getting beat by a fish, the family names like Mama Mashed Potatoes and Uncle Twinkletoes, Courage using semaphore flag signs to communicae the theif's favorite food, and the hilarious send up of The Fugitive make this one a memorable one for me. Its a 11.0 on my Absurd-o-Meter, and has a happy ending, which while rare, are usually some of the best ones in the show.

The Tower of Dr Zalost

I recall this one being a little longer than most and it was a season ender, which would explain the gravity of the episode. Dr. Zalost is miserable, so he makes all of Nowhere miserable, and thus Courage has to save the day after Muriel falls victim to the canobals that cause people to become depressed. I remember it best for HAPPY PLUMS, which obviously also stuck with people because someone made a video for the recipe of happy plums!

I like to liken that miserable fuck Zalost (whose name means "sorrowfulness" in Croatian) to most people who can't stand people being happy (like critics and journalists), and the solution being a homecooked recipe is so heartening and wholesome. And wholesome is one of Courage's biggest strengths in its nostalgia.

The Mask

This one is one of the more infamous episodes of the bunch, not undue to the undertones of the story. A mystery woman comes to Courage's farm and starts beating him senseless, but because Bless Her Skirt Muriel takes it as familiar interaction, lets her stay with them. You find out her name is Kitty, and she's a cat, and her best friend Bunny is being held by a bunch of vicious gangster dogs, with Mad Dog as the leader. They embark on a daring raid to rescue her, so they can be together again.

A lot of people read this episode as Kitty and Bunny being in a relationship, and certainly I read it so as a teen; Kitty's hatred of dogs--including the demure Courage--is seen as a man-hater taking her anger out on someone unrelated to her problems, and when they board that final train away from Mad Dog (with Kitty admitting hat not all dogs are bad), it definitely feels a little more than a Thelma and Louise friendship. A "lesbian" couple portrayed in a children's cartoon was pretty refreshing back then, and certainly in my opinion handled a lot better than in later shows on the network.

It was also seen as portraying a dark subject in a cartoon as well whn it also included the fact that Mad Dog seemed like a domestic abuser. With the lesbian undertones, and overt portrayal of an abusive relationship, its no wonder "The Mask" is considered one of the best episodes of the series. Tackling that way back then was a bold and brave move, subtle and overt in all the right ways.

The Last of the Starmakers

Oh yeah. Like I would leave this episode out. Considered probably the most heartbreaking and sad episodes of the entire series, and the most beautiful. A mother space squid has to protect her eggs when he goverment tries to take her away from the farm after she loses her husband to a space whale and she crash lands onto earth. The opening is played with a minimal piano tune, and if you've seen the opening to movies like Finding Nemo and Up, you know how successful a kick to the feels is in the beginning of your story. I'd argue this is where they may have gotten the idea.

It is impossible to even watch parts of this episode without weeping, and my new keyboard is flooding as I remember this episode fondly. The mother's desperation to protect her eggs, the only thing she has left of her family, is especially heart-rending, and her return to the earth as flowers to start another kind of life anew is touching.

In short, if you didn't cry like a bitch watching this episode, then you are a monster.

"The Last of the Starmakers" is probably one of the most beloved moments in a modern cartoon, years later, and shows a lot of heart and soul that many shows today may seem lacking. It definitely has some Ultraman vibes going on, and believe you and me, I wouldn't be surprised if a similar premise wasn't in an episode.

--Dio (10/25/21)