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Courage the Cowardly Dog.

MacabreCharade

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I came upon the thought of that cartoon when I replied to a thread earlier about the sleeping positions. And then I actually started mulling over the nostalgic memories of this cartoon and I had the urge to look some of it up.

At the same time I was talking to an INtP female friend of mine. When I brought it up as a topic, she said that she downright loathes the cartoon. She hates all of the characters in that cartoon and she said that she somehow felt similar to Courage. The routine life and everything about it, she claimed she hated. She'd only watched quite a bit of it when she was little because her brother did and she didn't know how to control the remote back then. She has this unexplainable hate towards the cartoon and she always gets depressed when she sees it.

The cartoon does have this depressing/melancholic aura to it. Like this feeling of imperfection, it's rather difficult to explain. I really like some of the music there. I also find all the characters there pretty interesting. If I had to put this in a genre, I'd call it something like 'adventurous black comedy horror'. Supposedly plenty of classic horror films have also been spoofed through this cartoon.

I actually watched a few episodes today and I sort of stumbled on the question, how was this shown on Cartoon Network? I mean, it's probably made for children, but the general feel and everything of the cartoon is just...It really is difficult to explain. And if it wouldn't fit for children, who would it work for? I've never seen anything quite like this show. This actually used to be my favourite show when I was little and I'd watch it every time it was on.

Just thought that it would be an interesting cartoon to bring up and people could express their thoughts/memories of this cartoon if they actually saw this enough to remember it. Also putting some links up in case the ones who haven't are curious and if anyone would like to remember.

Some episodes:

YouTube - Courage The Cowardly Dog- Freaky Fred (Fred gave me a strong INFJ vibe.)
YouTube - Season 2, Episode 14, Part 1 of 2
YouTube - Courage The Cowardly Dog-Night Of The Scarecrow (Part 1)
YouTube - Courage the Cowardly Dog: Perfect (final episode pt. 2)
YouTube - Courage the Cowardly Dog - King Ramses Curse (The King Ramses song is hilarious.)
YouTube - Courage the Cowardly Dog - Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog - LiveVideo.com.flv
YouTube - Courage the Cowardly Dog - Doc Gerbil's Boat Scene - I can remember getting chills when this soundtrack was on. (Ripped right from the cartoon, so Courage's screams are in there. Just a warning.)
 
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Phantonym

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:rofl1: Oh, this is priceless. Thanks for posting these. I've never seen the cartoon.

There are plenty of comments on YouTube how it scared people when they were kids. I can see why. I would have loved to see the show when I was a kid. :devil:

Anyway, most of the cartoons are questionable in my opinion. Some are outright idiotic. They might be directed at kids on paper but they're probably made with the intention of catering to as wide of an audience as possible. Money, money, mooooneyyy...

:rofl1: @ Naughty....
 

Jeffster

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Yeah, it's one of the worst shows I've ever seen. It was on my list of shows I forbid my son to watch when he was little. I honestly think that show had the potential to teach kids to be animal abusers, among other things.
 

Craft

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^^^^

Are you F'ing kidding me? I loved and still love that show. The interesting morphy and ethereal physical world they live in is true interesting. The "mystery" and the "mood" it sets gives me enough motivation to infer meaning from.

It's peaceful and yet events occur: dark or not. Overall, I think the mood is melancholic and serene. Isolation, hermitage, simplicity and lots of strange occurrences is an interesting conclusion.

I watched it when I was about 12 ...no harm done.
 

BlackCat

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I used to love this show! I also loved The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. I'd watch Courage and Grim every time it was on.

When I look back on the cartoons from this time there are a lot of really questionable cartoons. Like Ren and Stimpy is a classic example. But a lot of them on Cartoon Network seem to be worse than what was on before... I swear some of the cartoon makers must be on some kind of drug (Ed, Edd n Eddy come to mind here). All of the stuff is just so strange that's on, it's hard to watch. I'm wondering what that's gonna do to kids! :laugh:

EDIT: Just watched the scarecrow episode. I remember that one as a kid. I felt sorry for the scarecrow until I saw the ending. I'm glad it's good.
 

MacabreCharade

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I used to love this show! I also loved The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. I'd watch Courage and Grim every time it was on.

When I look back on the cartoons from this time there are a lot of really questionable cartoons. Like Ren and Stimpy is a classic example. But a lot of them on Cartoon Network seem to be worse than what was on before... I swear some of the cartoon makers must be on some kind of drug (Ed, Edd n Eddy come to mind here). All of the stuff is just so strange that's on, it's hard to watch. I'm wondering what that's gonna do to kids! :laugh:

EDIT: Just watched the scarecrow episode. I remember that one as a kid. I felt sorry for the scarecrow until I saw the ending. I'm glad it's good.

I too was quite fond of Billy & Mandy. I found Ed, Edd n' Eddy to be highly amusing. Some of the subtle jokes I've managed to understand only at recent years. The show Megas XLR also had me laughing out loud years ago at particular moments when it was shown, but the humour there was probably targeted for the older audience and seems more of an extrovert show.(YouTube - Megas XLR - 103 All I Wanted Was A Slushie part 1). Lately, shows like Flapjack and Chowder have rather peculiar comedy.

But the reason I brought up Courage from all of these, is because it stands out from all the others to me. Most of the other cartoons have strange/stupid comedy, as said by quite many.

While Courage definitely has some heart-warming episodes, moments and some kids might even get something from it in a moral sense, it also has the unusual horror elements, which in some episodes, even leave the older audience somewhat baffled.

I haven't seen any newer cartoons on that channel being like that. I believe that Cartoon Network probably got a lot of complaints from parents. Could be why the production for the show was stopped.
 

MacabreCharade

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Thought I'd up a few more that I've recently rewatched.

YouTube - The Tower Of Dr. Zalost(part1) (Again, I find the music amazing. Dr. Zalost seems like a cross between Dr. Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot and Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.)
YouTube - Courage the Cowardly Dog:The Last of the Starmakers (A more heart-warming episode. Sorry, couldn't find a full one, but I thought that this would be a good example.)
YouTube - sad courage the cowardly dog music (A soundtrack that plays at certain parts in the show.)
 

Magic Poriferan

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I watched that show a lot. I was a big fan.

How about the gerbil world episode? That was the one I saw that finally made me realize what a uniquely brilliant show it was.
 

MacabreCharade

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I watched that show a lot. I was a big fan.

How about the gerbil world episode? That was the one I saw that finally made me realize what a uniquely brilliant show it was.

I couldn't find the episode, would've put that one here too. There is, however, the tunnel song, which played there. Also, I have the gerbil's boat scene soundtrack in the first post.

YouTube - IT'S DOC GERBILS WORLD (The tunnel scene soundtrack, that someone has looped for 10 minutes. For trolling purposes, I assume.)
 

MacabreCharade

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Here it is. The whole Gerbil Episode.

Human Habitrail

Thanks. I'd forgotten the title of that episode.

I remembered that while watching this a long time ago, that tunnel part very much reminded me of Worms. And oddly enough, the Worms levels and music seem to have a similar approach. Haven't really played many Worms games, though. But the general set up in Worms Armageddon popped in my head.
 
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