Courage the Cowardly Dog was and still is one of my favorite cartoons. There are many things that are great about this series. One thing that allows this series to stand out is the quirky story lines. They were always abstract and unexpected. Also, the use of music for each character and whimsical architecture give this series an appeal that I feel is unparalleled. This said, I feel that it takes a variety of characteristics (music, unique animation, story line) to make a good animation great.
Having just one characteristic will make a good animation but leave the audience wanting more. Courage the Cowardly Dog fills all of the characteristics. First I will start with the whimsical architecture. All of the buildings and door frames are slanted and off kilter. This gives the background visual appeal keeping the viewers interest. Although the backgrounds are interesting, they do not draw too much attention from the foreground, allowing the story to be followed without distraction.
Another aspect of this series that causes it to rise above others is its use of music. For the creepy looking people they get creepy, ominous music. In this episode Fred gets a creepy, slow lullaby to make sure that the viewer knows that he is in fact freaky Fred (the name of the episode). For Eustace, the old man, he gets a country tune with banjos and fiddles, playing up his southern slapstick nature. The music not only plays a role in character development but also plays a role in conveying the mood of the scene. This is shown during the hamster scene. It was meant to be a happy scene with a cute hamster, therefore happy music was playing in the background.
Finally, the one thing that really makes Courage the Cowardly Dog great is its story lines. This story in particular is great. It is about a deranged barber and his compulsory need to shave anything with a lot of hair. Although his needs are not violent, the music and the way he tells his stories make it seem as though he is a murderer. This is due to the fact that the way he tells his stories is very similar to Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was known for his suspenseful writing and ability to captivate the reader. Fred’s narration does all of these things, adding to his deranged obsession.
With great music, creative architecture and phenomenal story telling Courage the Cowardly Dog covers every aspect that makes an animation great. When all of these criteria are met the animation is able to draw the viewer’s attention, keep that attention and have them coming back week after week expecting something great.
I commented on Megan’s Blog and Chuck’s Blog.
I really like courage the cowardly dog. It was one of the few shows that actually scared me as a child. I agree that it has an excellent use of music as well, I partiularly enjoyed Katz’s theme. I found the storylines to be very creative, particularly the one where Eustace goes to a Hamburger restaurant and in a twist ending Courage ends up being afraid over nothing.
Yeah I did get the whole Edgar Allan Poe vibe with the way the story was told. I used to love Courage the Cowardly Dog when I was a kid because of the very unusual plot lines and characters. I mean the show was just creepy when I was a kid, with characters like Freaky Fred and just the way most of the character’s looked. I remember one episode an alien took over the wife’s body and it was just wierd. But that is what is so captivating from this cartoon. Courage is there to save the day.
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This was a fun eerie show to watch on Cartoon Network. The drawings helped the story out even more with its crooked lines, especially the colors. The characters were very unique like Courage. He barely speaks, but his facial expressions, hand gestures, and his one liners made up for it. I do agree that Courage is a non violent character but with the music and the situation makes him out to be a murderer. All in all, this show was awesome to watch!
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This is really random, but I really like the use of teeth in this cartoon. The animators use teeth to make the barber look evil, and the dog in the house has very unique teeth which give the dog a lot of human character. Teeth can be a great way to give animation a lot of personality.