Both Ends of the Spectrum: 'Courage the Cowardly Dog'

By David Eng

            My article this week will be about the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog. I am sure that many of the people reading this know what show this is, but I want to explain that it is a better show than many people remember. From talking with my peers, I have learned that many of them did not watch this show based on the show being too scary. I admit that some scenes were grotesque and creepy with all the “return the slab” and “you're not perfect” horror imagery. However, these extremities of horror ended up being the representation of the show for many people. I want to show people reading this that a lot of heart went into this show and once we can see through the horror elements, it can be recognized for being a great cartoon. I will not talk about the “return the slab” episode because everyone remembers it and truth be told, it was not one of the best episode. Rather, I will talk about the episodes; Last of the Star Makers, Remembrance of Courage Past, and Perfect.

Last of the Star Makers is a very good episode with many redeeming qualities and few negative qualities. Since this cartoon is not a movie or a coherent series, I will be spoiling these episodes. Last of the Star Makers is about a giant space squid which apparently is creator of the stars in the skies. She comes to earth after being saved by her husband squid and tries to keep her squid eggs out of harm’s way. The creators of this show are more than creative and every episode has some new creation or monster that is truly awe inspiring. In this case, it would be the star making giant space squids if you could not tell. Eustace calls the government to cash in a reward and the secret department of space squids shows up. The show is also rather funny and while being able to build a heartfelt story in the space of eleven minutes, also leaves time for small bits of comedy. The government traps the squid and does experiments on it then Courage saves the day. He takes the babies then puts them under the mother so they can hatch, which allows the race of the Star Makers to continue. The episode has all the qualities that I mentioned briefly while also allowing for a moral message in the end. Many can be derived from this episode, but instead of me telling you what to get out of an episode, you can watch it yourself and take your own interpretation. The real enjoyment from this episode comes from when you can appreciate the creativity along with the ability to tell a very good story in such a short space of time.

            The next episode is Remembrance of Courage Past, another more heart felt story. The story revolves around Courage's past as a child where his parents were abducted by a veterinarian and they were sent to space because apparently space dogs are better than earth dogs. Again, the writers and animators are very creative people. The story is half flashback and half real time, in the real time Courage is stuck in his own thoughts of the flashback so Muriel and Eustace take him to the vet. Lo and behold, it is the same vet. Courage could not save his real parents when he was a child, but he is able to save Muriel and Eustace, his pseudo parents, when he is older. The reason this story is so interesting is because of the way the story is told and the originality of the story. The story telling is fantastic as they do not want to have Courage's parents being taken away a random event, rather they make it into a cause and effect. Courage as a child gets his head caught in a fence which causes his parents to take him to the corrupt vet. The events that transpire here after are nothing but a freak incident, but in some inkling of Courage's mind, it is Courage's fault. This is why it haunts Courage more than if it were a freak accident. That combined with the fact that he had the opportunity to save them, but his ineptness caused him to fail. It is not Courage's fault, but the story allows Courage to feel like it might be. Once Muriel and Eustace are saved by courage, the feeling of Courage reliving his past and performing better is cathartic in a sense and makes this a great episode. More lessons also learned, you can find them yourself and learn from watching the episodes.

            The last episode I will be covering is Perfect. I wanted to do this one specifically because while it has horror elements, the episode is one of the more memorable. For all of you that do not know what scene I am talking about, you can find the bit here. The episode is based around Courage going to perfection school because Eustace reprimands him about not being able to do anything right. Courage has a teacher who is very strict and demands perfection. The key element of this episode is the teacher actually. Eustace nor Muriel ever address the teacher, there even is a scene where Muriel should have seen her. The teacher is actually purely psychological. They are Courage's own insecurities about being perfect that have manifested into a form, which only Courage can see. They show this not tell this, making it a more nuanced and interesting approach to this technique. The episode is resolved when Courage talks to a fish in the bathtub that tells him that no one is perfect. However, I prefer to think that Courage figures this out the scene after where Muriel failed in her baking and Eustace cannot fix his horn. Both of them remain optimistic about the situation where Muriel says her baklava makes great gum and Eustace wants to start a new band of broken horns. The final exam the teacher gives Courage is to draw a perfect six, so Courage finds an extremely artistic way of doing so. This causes the teacher to melt, showing that Courage's insecurities about being imperfect have essentially melted. I could not talk about the episode's excellence without mentioning the message because it is the reason why the episode is so good. Hopefully you can watch the other episodes and find their meaning and if not, at least enjoy the creativity of them. Almost all the episodes are magical in their creativity and contain some moral message for people to learn from.