Line #5 WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/couragelogo2.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''The things he does for love.'']]
3	->''"[[WeInterruptThisProgram We interrupt this program to bring you]]... [[TitleDrop ''Courage the Cowardly Dog Show'']], starring [[NervousWreck Courage, the cowardly dog]]! [[ParentalAbandonment Abandoned as a pup]], he was found by [[CoolOldLady Muriel]], who [[MiddleOfNowhereStreet lives in the middle of Nowhere]] with her husband, [[GrumpyOldMan Eustace Bagge]]! [[WeirdnessMagnet But creepy stuff happens]] in [[EldritchLocation Nowhere]]. [[HeroicDog It's up to Courage to save his new home!]]"''
4	-->-- '''Intro'''
5
6	From the twisted mind of animator Creator/JohnRDilworth came this Creator/CartoonNetwork [[Creator/CartoonCartoons original series]] in 1999, spun off from Dilworth's animated short ''WesternAnimation/TheChickenFromOuterSpace''.
7
8	Courage (Marty Grabstein), a high-strung and inexplicably pink canine, is the beloved pet of Eustace (Lionel G. Wilson in seasons 1-3, Arthur Anderson in seasons 3-4) and Muriel Bagge (Thea White), an elderly couple who live together on a dusty old farm in the middle of nowhere (literally; they live in a town called Nowhere). Well, he's the beloved pet of the sweet-hearted Muriel, anyway - the mean and crotchety Eustace thinks he's just a "stupid dog", and torments Courage whenever he thinks he can get away with it (and even when he knows he can't).
9
10	OnceAnEpisode, Courage and his family find themselves caught up in some form of supernatural weirdness, and [[FaceYourFears Courage has to steel his frazzled nerves and save his owners from it]]. A refreshing change of pace from many cartoons of the day was that Courage seldom used force; more often, he relied on his wits (and [[ThePowerOfFriendship a bit of kindness]] now and then) to deal with aliens, ghosts, monsters, criminals, the military, science gone wrong, or whatever sort of freaky happenings life threw at him.
11
12	''Courage the Cowardly Dog'' stands to this day as one of Cartoon Network's most beloved and successful shows, with praise going towards its dark, surreal atmosphere, often emotional stories, skilled use of MediumBlending (its distinct visual style can be best summed up as Creator/TexAvery meets Creator/DavidLynch), willingness to tackle mature, dark subject matter (usually through metaphor, but occasionally just bluntly), and, perhaps most infamously, [[NightmareFuel/CourageTheCowardlyDog scaring the crap out of most people watching.]] It stands as perhaps one of the most popular and praised examples of the DefangedHorrors genre.
13
14	The 2001 online game ''VideoGame/CreepTV'' has its own page.
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16	A 7 minute CGI short based on the series was released in 2014, titled "The Fog of Courage." A preview can be seen [[http://www.acmefilmworks.com/work/spot/courage-the-cowardly-dog/ here]].
17
18	The protagonist Courage himself is voiced by Marty Grabstein, who claimed that the reason why this show is so light on dialogue and that Courage screams or whimpers in gibberish more so than speaking genuine English is that the producers felt a talking dog wouldn't suit well with a horror-oriented cartoon. Er, [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo okay then,]] [[OlderThanTheyThink if they say so.]]
19
20	In October 2018, Dilworth announced on his Facebook account that he's working with Creator/{{Boomerang}} on a prequel called ''Before Courage'', though in June 2021 [[https://twitter.com/DillyDilworth/status/1407128908852518917 he stated]] that the project is 'in turnaround'.
21
22	In June 2021, the crossover film ''WesternAnimation/StraightOuttaNowhereScoobyDooMeetsCourageTheCowardlyDog'' was announced. [[https://twitter.com/DillyDilworth/status/1407129164919062532 Dilworth was not involved in its production.]] The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/_yku_UyiPE8 here.]]
23	----
24	!!Stupid tropes! You make me look bad!
25	[[index]]
26	* CourageTheCowardlyDog/TropesAToM
27	* CourageTheCowardlyDog/TropesNToZ
28	[[/index]]
29	----
30
31	-->''Iris out, but Courage holds it open.''\
32	'''"I said it twice, and I'll say it again, the stuff on those pages''' '''''still''''' '''shouldn't happen to a dog!"'''\
33	''Iris out (for real) that closes on Courage's nose''\
34	'''"Owch!"'''

Context WesternAnimation / CourageTheCowardlyDog