The Utterly Deranged Weirdness of Courage the Cowardly Dog

[Nerdstar]

The episode with the red eyed chicken used to scare the shit out of me, especially when the old man starting turning into a giant chicken. Yeah looking back I think the guys making the show kind of forget that the show was meant for kids sometimes

this this times a thousand wen I was a wee lad it scared the ever-loving shit out of me and still creeps me out to this day

 

[RJ 17]

I don't know who came up with the concepts for that show, but I want to try out whatever the hell he/she was on. Every show was like the writers just ate a bunch of magic mushrooms and then recorded their trains of thought.

"Ok...there's....a house....and...it's really pissed off....because it's all run down and broken up. So...it actually lashes out....and attacks any other house near it...to completely destroy it...and kill everyone inside it. The only way to calm the house down....is....to fix it up....and paint it........pink."

"Ok....there's.....a mad scientist....who lives in a tower...that's on giant tank-treads. The scientist....shoots out cannon balls...with the help of his....pet fat rat. Whoever the cannonballs hit....become...hopelessly depressed....because the scientist is hopelessly depressed. The only thing....that can cure his depression...iiiiiiiissss......plumbs."

I mean seriously, there's "being imaginative" and "holy shit, what the hell have you been smoking?" I believe the writers of the show fall under the latter category.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Hey, did my mention of Courage in the childhood scary things thread spark this topic, I knew someone was tracking my movements!

Anyway, I loved the show as a kid, definitely one of my favorites. It was a really ambitious show the more I think about it, and boy was it messed up, but in a good way of course.

 

[Fijiman]

I love Courage the Cowardly Dog! It's one of my all time favorite shows. Upon reflection I suppose some of the things in it were kind of creepy, but generally speaking I never cared because I loved the show because of its weirdness. My favorite thing about the show was the villains in each episode because they were always awesome.

 

[karma9308]

Courage was awesome. I couldn't wait for Courage to come on and had to have watched just about all of the episodes, and at least the first season 3 times over. I was honestly never really scared except by that one part where Courage is in the roach motel and he looks at a girl who you see from the back and is all calm and pretty...then she turns around.

 

[HoneyVision]

Very twisted kind of cartoon isn't it? There's a lot of underlying anxiety there.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I barely remember anything other than:
King Ramses, for reasons already explained.
Return the slab or suffer my curse
Anyway.
Freaky Fred, because I like is poeticism.

And Katz.
Because he was so gosh darn cool.
And had the best theme song.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

King Raaaaamseeees.... I still love the theory that its all in the dog's head, perception-based reality and all, and the farmer and his wife are just two normal yokels who live out in the back-end of beyond with an insane dog.
Best. Show. Ever.
At least until Harvey Birdman and Venture Bros. came along to complete the destruction of my childhood. Favorite cartoons are as follows, in no specific order:

1. Harvey Birdman
2. Sealab 2021
3. Futurama
4. ATHF
5. Venture Bros.
6. Dexter's Laboratory
7. Samurai Jack
8. Courage the Cowardly Dog
9. Freakazoid
10. Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain

 

[Vegosiux]

Courage in the Big Stinkin' City.

"See that door? Wanna know what's behnid that door? You don't wanna know what's behind that door. See those bones? Wanna know what made those bones? You don't wanna know what made those bones."

"Name's Bushwick. But call me Shwick, just Shwick, don't ever call me Bushwick, just Shwick."
"Where are you from?"
"Bushwick. Yea, you can call that Bushwick, but me, you call Shwick, just Shwick."

And of course, the violin girl scene.

 

[lacktheknack]

Y̹̖̼͍̟͜OU͏'͓̭͇͖̖̬̟R͏Ẹ͖ ̡͉̱N͓Ọ̡̱̲̥͇̗T P̐ͣ̾ͫ̃͛̐͛҉̟̹Ę̵̉̋́ͬ̂̄҉̺̖̱̞Ṟ̞̯̞͖̰̎̒͐ͤͧ̚Fͥ̿̚͏̢̪̻̹͟E͙͉̻͕͉̙͍͙̹̽̆ͨͬC̨̨͙̩̱ͦ͋̑ͩ͒̏́̌̚͜ͅT̍͗̓ͮͪ̔̓̇̅҉̧͔͕͍̙͘

I only watched it as a teen, and it STILL scared the ever-loving poo out of me.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I liked this show when I was a kid, but man was it creepy. The thing I remember the most was in the episode with Ramses, with the car of the thieves being set upon by locusts, only for the camera to pan away... and when it pans back, there's nothing there! Shudder...

 

[Victim of Progress]

It was creepy, but I never found it crazy scary like many find it, I found it hilarious!

*finds tree cut down and goes to top of rock and screams so loudly that it causes the moon to shatter like glass*

Yeah. It never was really that creepy or scary unless you read into it. Except for the harvest god. That shit scared me shitless as a kid.

Make that three. When I was young, I didn't really speak English, so the dialogue never touched me. And I didn't find it deranged or anything, just kind of amusing.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

I was never terrified to the point of crying due to Courage. As a child, I was pretty much scared all the time anyways (parents watched csi and crime stories around me), so having courage was very calming. It was showing me adult things in a safe way. It was a comforting sort of fear, if that makes any sense. It spurred my imagination. My favourite episode as a child was the one with the giant cockroach and the crappy motel. Im not sure if kids would like it today. Depends on the kid. I would probably introduce a child to different shows around that time, like samurai jack. They have a similar feeling. They both have a lot of love for cinematography and quietness.

I thought the same thing, that I wasn't sure kids today (mainly my little brother) would like Courage and all the shows I watched when I was a kid. Now that a lot of them are on Netflix that's almost all he watches.

OT: My favorite episode is the one with the Giving Tree. Eustace is such a dick.

 

[game-lover]

I loved Courage the Cowardly Dog. Still do.

Can't honestly say I ever felt real fear. I mean, I got it was supposed to be about him going through scary things but it was mostly... meh. It's like, I think I was disaffected by it. Totally.

It wasn't until later as I got older when it really clicked just how creepy the show was. And how dark some of the episodes were.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think it would be very popular nowadays. Randomness seems to be very fashionable. Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, Regular Show...

I loved that show. Sometimes it seemed like censorship wasn't even a thing with it. Anything could happen...