|
| “ | The things I do for love. | „ |
| ~ Courage's catchphrase |
| “ | Something smells fishy, or my name is (suggest silly name), and it's not. | „ |
| ~ Courage's second catchphrase |
| “ | What do I do?! What do I do?! | „ |
| ~ Courage's third catchphrase |
Courage Bagge the Cowardly Dog is the titular main protagonist of Cartoon Network’s animated series of the same name and one of the two titular main protagonists (alongside Scooby-Doo) of the 2021 crossover direct-to-video film Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog.
He is the pet dog of Muriel Bagge, who found him by a dumpster as a pup. Although Courage is easily scared and regularly abused by Muriel's grouchy husband, Eustace, Courage is genuinely brave and still goes to absurd lengths to protect his owners.
He was voiced by Howard Hoffman in the 1995 short and Marty Grabstein in all subsequent appearances.
History[]
Backstory[]
A pink puppy was born to Henry and his wife Teresa into a large, trash can. He was raised through example and was quick to learn a lesson. Though his parents had an aristocratic fascination in canine objects, his wellbeing was always of the utmost concern. While learning to catch a ball, he accidentally got his head stuck in between the bars of the fence, and was taken to the Pets of Tomorrow veterinary office. Here, he was freed by a seemingly good-hearted doctor, who gave him a lollipop and ushered him out of the room so he could speak to his parents alone. His tongue got stuck to the surface of the sucker and then turn off, so the baby dog rushed back to be nurtured by his parents.
When he returned, the three were gone and screams pleading for assistance could be heard from the hallway. He abandoned his candy and rushed in to find the vet carrying his parents away in a net. They begged not to be separated from their son. He rushed after them into a room of caged dogs, past which he discovered his parents being forced into a rocket ship. He tried to help them before its launch but failed, as his fear drove him to flee into a garbage chute which led to a back alley. From there he watched as his family was sent away into space while waving a tearful goodbye to them.
Crying alone, he was found by a young red-haired Scottish woman who offered to take him home. Later to be known as Muriel. She named him Courage. He's been living under her care after she found him.
Courage the Cowardly Dog[]
Courage the Cowardly Dog follows a dog named Courage, an easily frightened canine who lives in a farmhouse with Muriel and Eustace Bagge near the fictional town of Nowhere, Kansas. Abandoned as a puppy, Courage was found in an alleyway by Muriel, a sweet-natured Scottish woman, who fell in love with the pink puppy, and her husband Eustace, a grouchy, selfish, greedy farmer who constantly harasses Courage.
Courage, Muriel, and Eustace frequently run into monsters, aliens, demons, mad scientists, zombies, and other supernatural perils from myths and legends that Courage must fend off to save his owners, unbeknownst to them. Although most of the creatures that the three faces are frightening or disturbing, some turn out to be sweet and simple in distress. The plot generally uses horror conventions, common to horror films.
Although episodic, there are a handful of recurring characters in the show's cast, including Courage's sarcastic, sentient computer, the family physician Dr. Vindaloo, the Gypsy fortune-telling chihuahua Shirley the Medium, Eustace's mother 'Ma', and recurring villains, such as Katz and Le Quack.
In the finale episode "Remembrance of Courage Past", Muriel and Eustace took him to the same vet that kidnapped and launched his parents, after recognizing him from the past, talking to them about speaking to him alone, which was just a façade as he tries to do the same actions to Courage. Courage runs away and is chased through the hospital, trying to open the door to the lab, but the Cruel Veterinarian kidnaps him and takes him to the same rocket ship that launched the latter into space.
When Muriel and Eustace attempt to rescue Courage, as well as discover his experiment, he decides that he can't allow his operation and research to be discovered and exposed to the public. He briefly explains the short details of his insane secret experiment to turn earth dogs into superspace dogs to Muriel and Eustace before throwing them into the rocket to be sent into space to prevent them from interfering with his plan.
However, Courage escapes and is chased around the lab. Courage knocks over a bucket of bolts and screws, causing the Cruel Veterinarian to slip. 30 seconds to launch, Courage tries to open the door to the rocket, but no avail. As the vet nabs him again, Courage screams as loud as he can into the vet's stethoscope, causing him to scream from the pain. While he's distracted by the pain, Courage then grabs the key, unlocks the door and rescues his owners, throwing them to a nearby bin. as he takes off his stethoscope. 8 seconds to launch, the Cruel Veterinarian tries to nab Courage yet again but bangs the rocket's door causing him to almost become unconscious, laughing weakly as Courage locks the Cruel Veterinarian inside the rocket.
5 seconds to launch, Courage runs a few feet away to his owners. As it reaches T-0, the rocket engines under it ignite and the rocket launches sending the vet into space instead. At the end of the episode, his rocket already crash-landed on a planet, as he opens the door and is then petrified, finding out that all the dogs have survived, including Courage's parents, which meant that his breeding experiment to see that they would turn into super dogs has failed. Out of pure anger by the dogs, he is dragged off in a net and attacked by the vengeful dogs off-screen for his actions. He is heard screaming in pain during the attack.
Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog[]
Courage hears a weird sound out of nowhere and until he gets outside, he met Scooby Doo. Scooby, Courage, and his friends are staying at Courage’s place until they found who’s the person that are using the Cicada Monsters. The only way to stop it if they got the Weird Dancing Disco Ball.
Personality[]
Usually in normal situations, Courage is scared, mostly from Eustace's voodoo mask, that Eustace uses to scare Courage. But in situations where Muriel's and Eustace's life is in danger, Courage becomes very brave as he casts his fears aside to save his owners.
Besides Courage's bravery, he is also very intelligent and very quick to find solutions to defeat various villains like Katz, Le Quack, and other monsters. Courage has a computer that he uses for solving problems and finding answers to his problems.
Courage is a very kind-hearted dog and he will try to come up with any solutions that might aid others besides his owners, such as the Duck Brothers, Bunny, and the Hunchback. Another good quality about Courage is that Muriel's undying love for him is the major source of his strength.
Courage also never takes his anger out on other people. Courage can also be emotional at times, as when Eustace gives Mecha courage praise and Muriel lets the robo-dog sit on her lap, Courage sadly walks out of the house and when he lost his parents when he was a puppy, he just cried near a garbage can.
Trivia[]
- Funnily enough, despite the show's title and his multiple fears and anxiety, Courage is the bravest character on the show given how he faces any situation despite his fear. This ironically fits the name Muriel gave to him when he was a toddler, as he would later become that character.
- Courage spoke English quite often in the first season, but from the second season onward, his dialogue became increasingly limited to gibberish, mumbling, and screams, only speaking occasionally or when he had something to say. According to Marty Gerbstein, this move was deliberate.[1]
- Courage has many sounds that he's known for, such as his strange laugh at the end of some episodes.
- Courage is the only character (aside from Katz and Le Quack) whoever speaks directly to the audience. The frequency with which he does so (nearly every episode) makes this one of his trademark characteristics.
- During Courage's first flashback in Remembrance of Courage Past, his mother reveals his father's name is Henry when she calls him as he was playing with Courage.
- Courage and Muriel are the only characters to be seen in every episode.
- Courage's favorite food is dumplings.
- Courage is good at making shadow puppets as shown in The Hunchback of Nowhere.
- Courage makes a cameo in Crossover Nexus as one of the Cartoon Network heroes to be defeated & turned to stone by Strike.
External Links[]
- Courage the Cowardly Dog at the Heroes Wiki
- Courage the Cowardly Dog at the Pure Good Wiki
- Courage the Cowardly Dog at the Guile Heroes Wiki
- Courage the Cowardly Dog at the Love Exalted Wiki
- Courage the Cowardly Dog at the Courage the Cowardly Dog Wiki
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