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Courage the Cowardly Dog
Genre	Animation; Horror
Created by	John R. Dilworth
Directed by	John R. Dilworth
Voices of	Marty Grabstein; Thea White; Lionel G. Wilson; Arthur Anderson; Simon Prebble; Paul Schoeffler; Billie Lou Watt
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Broadcast
Original channel	Cartoon Network 1999-2009 Boomerang from Cartoon Network 2009-present; produced by Stretch Films and Frederator Studios
Original run	November 12, 1999 – November 22, 2002; (Pilot aired on December 31, 1995)
External links
	Official website

Courage the Cowardly Dog was an animated television series, created by John R. Dilworth, who directed each episode, about a dog named Courage and his owners Muriel Bagge, a kindly old Scottish woman, and Eustace Bagge, a grumpy old farmer, living together in a farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas (often described as The Middle of Nowhere) As of October 2009, the show still reruns on Cartoon Network. It also began running on Boomerang (TV channel).

[edit] Overview

Courage the Cowardly Dog revolves around the exploits of Courage, a small, pink/purple (while in dark) dog who, despite his name, is ironically afraid of the most mundane things. His fears are normally justified, however, as Eustace, Muriel, and Courage are constantly attacked by (or running into) various monsters, aliens, villains, curses, experiments, natural disasters, and other forms of peril that Courage must face and do whatever it takes to keep Muriel, Eustace, and himself safe.

Every opening of the show documents Courage's past: "Abandoned as a pup, he was found by Muriel, who lives in the middle of Nowhere with her husband Eustace Bagge. But creepy stuff happens in Nowhere; it's up to Courage to save his new home."

A typical feature of the show is the spoofing or reference of various classic horror and cult films as the basis for many episodes. This is seen in episodes such as "The Demon in the Mattress", "The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Loveable Duckling", "Heads of Beef", "Klub Katz", "Night of the Weremole", "Journey to the Center of Nowhere", "The Great Fusilli", "Robot Randy", "1000 Years of Courage", "Invisible Muriel", "Human Habitrail", "A Night at the Katz Motel", "Courage the Fly", "Mega Muriel the Magnificent", "The Transplant", "McPhearson Phantom", "The House of Discontent", "Courage vs. Mecha-Courage" and "Hard Drive Courage".

[edit] Production

[edit] Pilot

Originally, Courage started out as a one-episode cartoon, entitled "The Chicken from Outer Space", which was featured in the Cartoon Network, What a Cartoon! Show. In the original cartoon, there was no dialogue, except for a line spoken by Courage, who was voiced by a different, authoritative voice in this short. An alien chicken was the villain in this short, and it would come back for its revenge in the series. Then in a later episode, the single-bodied, triple-headed sons of the alien chicken tries their hand at revenge, but only because their mother won't let them in the house until they kill Courage, who planned with them to fake his death so their mother would let her sons in. "The Chicken from Outer Space" was nominated for an Emmy as well as an Academy Award.

[edit] Series

In 1996, Cartoon Network gave Dilworth the okay to turn the short into a series. It was originally supposed to be created at Hanna-Barbera Studios who financed the short, but Dilworth wanted it at his Stretch Films Studios. The show had run successfully until its cancellation in 1999. It had 4 seasons, with 13 episodes in each, with stories written by the show's head writer, David Steven Cohen, plus Irv Bauer, Craig Shemin, Lory Lazarus, Bill Marsili and Michelle Dilworth. The show stopped airing on November 22, 1999; however, the following year in 2003, when it was said a fifth season for the show was up for consideration, a large number of fans compiled an online petition, aimed directly at Cartoon Network for said possible fifth season, however, the petition was never sent^{[citation needed]} in to the network, and the network decided not to renew the four-year contract for the series, thus marking the abrupt end of the cowardly dog. Also, the production team behind Courage had decided after an exhausting year where two full seasons were produced with no break, that they had finished with Courage for a while^{[citation needed]}. They decided to concentrate their efforts on creating a new cartoon series for Cartoon Network which never went beyond pre-production^{[citation needed]}. That same year, however, there had been talks about two new Courage projects: one of which was a CD soundtrack, produced by the series' composer Jody Gray, consisting of the popular songs, and music scores from the series. The second new Courage project that had been proposed was a possible feature-length movie (whether it would have been a made-for-TV movie, or a theatrical movie hadn't been discussed); though, neither of the two projects saw the light of day.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Current status

On August 26, 2007 and again on October 7, 2007, a Courage marathon occurred in the US that consisted of 14 half hour segments running from 12PM-7PM, under the title of "Courage Monstervision Marathon". The most recent marathon was on August 13, 2009 on Cartoon Network.

In Australia, Courage reruns air on Cartoon Network in multiple timeslots throughout the week.

In India, Courage reruns air on Cartoon Network at 11 AM in the morning.

In the United Kingdom, the show also continues to air in reruns. Episodes are aired without commercials, not even for half-hour breaks; this is the only show on the UK version of this network aired in such a manner.

In Bulgaria, on March 31, 2009 Courage the Cowardly Dog started on Diema Family.

In Italy, Courage the Cowardly Dog is broadcast from 7 August 2009 on the satellite channel Boing. Before, it was also broadcast by La7 and Cartoon Network. Soon, also will air on Boomerang.

In Brazil, the show is broadcast by Tooncast throughout the week at 11:30 AM and PM. The show is also often broadcast by Cartoon Network.

[edit] References to Dilworth

Dilworth often references himself in episodes, putting Dil, a shortened version of his last name on most of the products used, such as tennis rackets, bug zappers, and Courage's computer.

[edit] Characters

Main article: List of characters in Courage the Cowardly Dog

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Courage the Cowardly Dog episodes

[edit] DVD

Courage the Cowardly Dog: Season One, a two-disc DVD set featuring all 13 episodes from the show's first season, was released in Australia (Region 4) on September 12, 2007, by Madman Entertainment.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Courage the Cowardly Dog

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