One of the most well-known cartoons ever is American horror comedy, Courage The Cowardly Dog. Courage The Cowardly Dog is no stranger to bending the lines between comedy and horror, despite the fact that cartoons are a medium that caters to children and enjoys funny elements. The people who grew up in the late 1990s are the best people to understand this.
For Cartoon Network, John R. Dilworth produced the series, which premiered in 1999. Thanks to its bizarre humor and terrifying villain cast, it enjoyed a lucrative four-season run.
The central idea centers on Courage, a dog, and the misadventures he has with the family who have taken him in. We shall explain how Courage came to live with his family in this film, along with the spooky adventures that ensued.
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Courage: Origin
Courage is a small, pink, anthropomorphic dog who lives in a fictional town known as Nowhere in Kansas. He had been abandoned as a puppy but was later taken in by Muriel Bagge and her husband Eustace Bagge.
They lived in a farmhouse in the ‘Middle of Nowhere’. While Muriel was a sweet and friendly Scottish woman, her American husband Eustace was quite the opposite as a grumpy and greedy old man who used to farm. Despite being called Courage, this pink dog did not live up to his name at all, which is why the show plays on these words in its title ‘Courage The Cowardly Dog’.
It is revealed that Courage’s original parents were forcibly sent to outer space by a vet, which led to Courage’s abandonment. In his new home with the Bagges, Courage became the object of Muriel’s affection which also led to Eustace getting jealous of him. Due to the man’s already ill-tempered nature, he treated Courage unkindly and often took advantage of his cowardly nature to scare him.
However, life was far from being simple for Courage, who was often thrown into bizarre adventures with his family. As a horror, the show never shied away from adding paranormal twists to its plot lines as it brought out zombies, demons, monsters, and aliens for its episodes. Despite being cowardly, Courage always went against these villains to protect his family, especially Muriel who seemed to be the target of the bad guys and their kidnappings.
Several of these villains have motivations that are quite dark for a children’s show. For example, in an episode known as ‘The Quilt Club’, a pair of conjoined twins (who took after Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family) had created a front to get women into their quilting club. However, their main agenda was to use those women and stitch their bodies to create quilts with souls trapped within them. Of course, Muriel was a target.
In another episode called ‘Heads of Beef’, Eustace had taken Courage to a diner. The diner was run by anthropomorphic pigs even though according to the world in Courage the Cowardly Dog, the place should have been run by humans. Somehow no one found it suspicious. Another man who was present in the diner had seemingly gone to the restroom and not returned.
Later, Courage spotted the wife of the pig devouring a meal that had the head of the man who had not returned from the restroom. Ultimately, it was proven to be false even though the pig still spoke about wanting to sink her teeth into Courage.
The show does a lot of jump scares, takes inspiration from cult classic horror movies such as The Exorcist, and often presents terrifying villains. However, sometimes, the bad guys turn out to be distressed or nice individuals who are just acting out of desperation.
Courage goes against these villains throughout the course of the series and mostly, Muriel and Eustace are oblivious to the extent of the little dog’s efforts.
Is The Show Based On A True Story?
It’s not uncommon for cartoons and cartoon characters to be based on real stories. Of course, the show will add its twists and flairs to the plot. Courage the Cowardly Dog is possibly one of them, but we say possibly because a lot of the buzz around it happens to be a result of theories that have been circulated on the web.
One theory pinpointed the house where Courage lived and drew a parallel with a similar house and backdrop in New Mexico. A double kidnapping and murder had taken place there but that just sounds too spicy to be true.
In another instance, we got to know about an elderly couple in El Paso, Texas, living in a house that looked very similar to that of Courage’s. The dynamic of the couple mirrored that of Muriel and Eustace with the woman, Margaret, being caring, warm, and friendly while her husband William was not the best to have friendly banter with. Of course, the couple had a dog as well.
However, the couple disappeared one day, the mystery surrounding which was something the El Paso Police Department could never crack. Different people came up with different explanations. Some believed that they had been murdered and buried near the house while others believes that they were spies. Their friends confirmed the couple did not have any travel plans so something suspicious might have definitely brewed underneath the surface.
In 1964, they were officially declared to be dead. Unfortunately, there was barely any mention of the dog, especially with some talking about how they had a cat instead. So, we really cannot tell whether Courage the Cowardly Dog was based on a real-life event or not. A couple with a kind woman and a grumpy man definitely cannot be exclusive to one family.
Courage the Cowardly Dog specialized in drama, and supernatural horror. As a revisitor, the series might not scare you but it definitely had its terrifying moments back when we were kids. Eustace getting consumed by his foot fungus or a zombified version of Quentin Tarantino casting Muriel and Eustace in a film to make them act out a ritual that resurrects his partner. That’s the stuff of a kid’s nightmare.