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The Snowman Cometh Courage The Cowardly Dog
In The Snowman Cometh episode of Courage is interesting for the way in which the writers comically represent a part of science which is difficult to understand and even harder to portray on screen. SETTING Most of the Courage episodes are set in the Bagge family home in the middle of Nowhere but by this point in the series the…
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Heads Of Beef Courage The Cowardly Dog
“Heads Of Beef” is an episode of Nickelodeon cartoon show from the late 1990s, Courage The Cowardly Dog. In any horror comedy starring a dog, surely at some point the dog must find himself a hot dog, right? The trope of the surprise in the burger plays on a primal fear we have when visiting cheap food joints — what…
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The Hunchback Of Nowhere Courage The Cowardly Dog
“The Hunchback of Nowhere” is an episode from the first season of Courage The Cowardly Dog. As ever, this modern re-visioning takes inspiration from a wide history of storytelling, including from The Bible. Any adult viewer will know immediately that this is inspired at least partly by The Hunchback of Notre Dame, though the writers can’t expect a young audience to…
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The Clutching Foot Courage The Cowardly Dog
This episode of Courage seems to be a parody of an episode of a TV serial from the 1930s based on a novel by Arthur Reeve. It is called “The Clutching Hand” and is about a detective named Craig Kennedy. This serialised original includes the following elements: A get rich quick scheme Assuming a false identity Criminals The original is slow and…
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King Ramses’ Curse Courage The Cowardly Dog
In the “King Ramses’ Curse” episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog we have three plagues — since storytelling loves The Rule Of Three — and the plagues comprise a mixture of ancient and comically modern curses. This horror comedy for children takes inspiration from ancient holy texts such as found in the Bible and in the Quran. In the Bible we…
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Shirley The Medium Courage The Cowardly Dog
“Shirley The Medium” is an original recomposition of elements from diverse sources: Pandora’s Box, the Ancient Greek Myth A Christmas Carol, Dickens Modern TV psychics STORY STRUCTURE OF SHIRLEY THE MEDIUM SHORTCOMING Courage is unable to tell Eustace not to open the box. He is a dog and can’t speak English. Besides that, the adults don’t listen to him anyway. Also,…
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The Duck Brothers Courage The Cowardly Dog
“The Duck Brothers” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog features opponents who are revealed to be not really bad, which makes for a comical big struggle scene. The big struggle scene is noteworthy for including a wide variety of small big struggles. STORY STRUCTURE OF “THE DUCK BROTHERS” SHORTCOMING Courage is unable to convince Eustace when Muriel is in danger because…
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Mother’s Day Courage The Cowardly Dog
“Mother’s Day” is an episode from season one of Courage The Cowardly Dog. This is where we get some of Eustace’s back story. Until this point in the series, Eustace Bagge has been a singularly unpleasant character. We haven’t see what made him the way he is. In this episode, for the first time, we learn his ‘psychological wound’, or…
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The Demon In The Mattress Courage The Cowardly Dog
In “The Demon In The Mattress” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog we have the full moon, the midnight ‘witching’ hour and a comic horror story about possession. The idea of an evil mattress is of course horror fantasy, but comes from the real world mistrust we have about sleeping on other people’s beds. Here in Australia it’s not even…
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Hot Head Courage The Cowardly Dog
The “Hot Head” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog owes much to the Jekyll & Hyde trope. We can probably go back further than that, to Cain and Abel. For more on twins in literature see here. See also: A History Of Other Selves. STORY STRUCTURE OF “HOT HEAD” This is a story in two distinct parts. Courage sees what happens…
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Big Foot Courage The Cowardly Dog
In the “Big Foot” episode of Courage The Cowardly Dog we have a story which makes use of the legend of Big Foot. The great thing about the horror comedy genre is that writers not only have access to a treasure trove of metaphors and symbols — they also have access to urban legends and conspiracy theories. Bigfoot (also known…
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Courage The Cowardly Dog: Doctor Le Quack
All of the Courage The Cowardly Dog episodes including Doctor Le Quack are set in a place called Nowhere. “Be quiet, Eustace,” says Muriel one morning, “you’ll wake the neighbours!” This setting is perfect for western spoofs. Many of the Courage stories are horror spoofs but in Dr Le Quack we have the cartoon, child-friendly version of a wild western caper…
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The Shadow Of Courage, Courage The Cowardly Dog
At first I wondered if the title “The Shadow Of Courage” were a riff on The Red Badge Of Courage but no — apart from the grammatical structure and perhaps some of the themes (of bravery vs cowardice) this plot line borrows little from the classic American novel. Shadows who disentangle themselves from their bodies are a staple of horror,…
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Cajun Granny Stew Courage The Cowardly Dog
“Cajun Granny Stew” has influences from: STORY STRUCTURE OF CAJUN GRANNY STEW SHORTCOMING Courage is scared of birds. So how is going to possibly deal with a formidable opponent like a shady fox? Quite often in a comic story there is a main opponent and then there are lesser evils. The birds are actually harmless, despite their… teeth. DESIRE When…
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At The Katz Motel (Pilot) Courage The Cowardly Dog: A Night
“The Katz Motel” is the wonderful pilot episode of horror comedy for kids, Courage The Cowardly Dog. If you’re anything like me you can’t stand anything on the Cartoon Network for too long. A lot of those shows seem like ill-conceived, overly chatty, highly-polished but vapid productions designed to sell toys. Courage The Cowardly Dog is an exception. My daughter…
