Courage the Cowardly Dog: An Intro to Horror

[@ThrottleKitty]

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to act in spite of it" - IDK anymore

[@willowleaves2008]

I think it's Seneca the Elder

[@K.Marie119]

A whole bunch of people have said it with various different phrasing. This particular wording is from Nelson Mandela.

[@ThrottleKitty]

@@K.Marie119 I think that's correct

[@RealBradMiller]

Agh! Stupid dog!! -Eustace

[@yokokurama5174]

Gildarts

[@clary3430]

this show was truly something else, i can’t explain it but i’ve never watched a show with the same vibe and scenery as this one

[@Erika-xm2mi]

I think this is the case for most Cartoon Network originals from the early to mid 2000s. Every cartoon they had was something that we hadn't seen before with animation that was unique to it - Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, The Powerpuff Girls, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Cow and Chicken, Billy and Mandy and, especially, Samurai Jack. They all had their own shtick that made them original and stand out to where, nowadays, it feels like cartoons are just about "well, let's see how many random and unfunny jokes we can include in this 20-minute episode". Not to mention the animation style has become somewhat standardized. Take the PPG reboot for example. The color palette and the character design for everyone other than for Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup seemed just so strange and out of place. It made me feel like the animation and characters had come out of Steven Universe rather than PPG because it was just so uncharacteristic of the original version.

[@gregpearson5514]

Agreed. I can’t explain the feeling I got when watching this amazing show, but it felt so different, even from the other cartoons. I have never seen anything like it since.

[@yohannesaklog5936]

right courage is just a show that bring us good memories and a goo warm feelings 👻

[@2opjimmy]

I know I am late. But whenever I surfed the channels and saw the guide say "Courage the Cowardly Dog" and then my gut would always warn me that I could genuinely get spooped from that show.

[@KingofL85]

After this my top fav is Martin mystery in this genre.suspense thriller n comedy.

[@veejaycarlos5067]

The creator of this show seems like the most wholesome creator ive ever seen

[@QualityCulture]

Definitely has a lot of passion for his work!

[@KelpyG.]

I saw a post on some social media platform idk. and a girl posted a pic of a sketch the creator drew for her on a napkin because he was her favorite server at a coffee shop or restaurant I forget

[@beerbung]

it's always the cool, chill guys who make the most bizzare stuff. i mean, like david lynch !

[@Takumi_Did_Nothing_Wrong]

@@beerbung Stephen King and Junji Ito also seem to be pretty chill dudes.

[@Walamonga1313]

HappyConsoleGamer

[@weirdsock3032]

I felt constantly unnerved when watching the show, as if anything was about to go wrong at anytime. This was multiplied when he went outside the house, it was equivalent to the feeling you have that there is something about to touch the back of your neck. And it was so eery how often Muriel's figure would become an enemy (whether it was by her being posessed or a replica of her) , that I ended up feeling safer when Courage was around Eustace, as if his grumpyness made him more trustworthy. It was super entertaining, what a masterpiece!

[@Igotboredatwork]

That quote of his towards the end when the interviewer was like "So, you think it's better to leave it open to interpretation" And then the creator, full of emotion, was just like "Art is that!" I just absolutely love that passion and conviction

[@QualityCulture]

I love that too, you can tell he puts a lot of heart into his craft

[@OttrPopAnimations]

same

[@AStrangeTree]

My thoughts on kids horror: kids horror is an important variety to expose kids too. Kids usually shouldn’t watch conventional horror, because their brains haven’t developed enough to distinguish concrete reality from abstract fantasy likes adults can. A kid might watch nightmare on Elm street and legitimately be concerned some psycho will kill them in their sleep, they don’t have the cognitive development or the lifetime experience to easily see the ridiculousness of that premise. Courage presented kids what some of them craved - horror - in a medium their brain could digest. The cartoonish disposition of the show and the slapstick tone made it easy for even a child’s brain to process it as fiction, and they were able to enjoy it the way an adult would enjoy a conventional horror story.

[@QualityCulture]

Absolutely! There should be more shows like this for kids who are fascinated by horror but probably aren’t ready for the heavy stuff yet

[@yasmeen_kh]

i used to hate this show so much every time it would come on cartoon network I'd get disappointed it didn't scare me per see it just gave me very uncomfortable vibe but I still kept watching it cause I didn't have anything to do. Till this day it still gives me the creeps

[@LainaLdn]

This is an amazing/interesting analysis, really gave me something else to digest after watching the video

[@jensenkansas567]

@@yasmeen_kh That was I think the point tho, as was mentioned in this video "liminal" relating to transition. You weren't scared YET, you were creeped out which is *when something COULD cause you fear*, and what the show did was sometimes jumpscares which sometimes worked for some kids and be frightened by that creepy thing. For some of us, we're stuck on that creepiness and just uncomfortable.

[@rtybn456]

I was around 10 years old when I started to watch this show, so I wasn’t that young, but I always thought it would be too scary for kids younger than me (at the time). And overall I just thought it was an ugly / disgusting and stupid show. Really hated it.

[@MAGE0327]

No lie, the mummy and the blue “you are not perfect” fetus scared the shit out of me even till this day

[@Erika-xm2mi]

Even though, at the end of the day, the mummy was by far the least menacing of the monsters featured on the show as he was so easily talked out of his revenge. Then again, Carmen was also one of the scarier monsters to me and yet she was probably the least harmful in the entire series since all she wanted was to have someone listen to her sing.

[@jedediahcoulbourne1791]

I remember watching this in my great grandma's old stone house, hearing Ramses demanding 'Return the slab' still freaks me out

[@Erika-xm2mi]

@@jedediahcoulbourne1791 I think that was the very first episode I saw. Every now and then "return the slaaab. Or suffer my cuuurse" still pops up in my head randomly. It's been about two decades since I saw that episode and it still freaks me out.

[@johnb.8687]

@@Erika-xm2mi For some reason that’s the first episode everyone saw

[@johnb.8687]

@@Erika-xm2mi return the slabbb…or suffer my curse

[@starandfox601]

I think kids like it cuase it helps them become emotionally healthy.since they are allowed to experience "negative" emotions which they aren't normally allowed to do in their normal lives cuase of adults wanting them to shield them.they are also allowed to experience complex topics in a safe way. Courage is a gentle pat saying it's ok to be scared and sad.which is diffrent from most kids media which punches you in the face saying you must be happy.

[@McKaRm3L]

👏🏽👏🏽

[@lunamiku4166]

That's a nice message but I don't think kids think that way... more or less young kids just have a simple mindset about cartoons and they don't really think too deep about the message heck in fact I bet some doesn't even know that there's a valuable message in the show and they just watched it because it's entertaining I'm speaking all from personal experience since god knows I'm not woke or that enlightened when I was a kid and just watch shows for fun like a normal kid

[@starandfox601]

@@lunamiku4166 just cause they don't think to deep about it doesn't mean they aren't seeking something from shows or they aren't learning good life lessons.

[@lunamiku4166]

@@starandfox601 They are mostly seeking entertainment from shows since cartoons doesn't need you to think deep Entertainment and the Plot is the only reason why kids watch shows Life lessons are just a plus but more or less kids don't really think too much about them and that statement can be proven over and over again since if they learned those good life lessons from watching cartoon shows then why do they still do bad deeds and be mischievous from time to time!? Most kids are simple minded and who doesn't really think very deep Take the backstory of Frozen 2 as an example The people who work behind Frozen 2 had to rewrite the story/plot over again because the kids that they have over to review the wip film had a hard time digesting the plot saying that they didn't understand what's exactly happening in the story but is aware that there is Anna, Elsa and Olaf Kid's don't think too deep unless they are gifted with high IQ or they experience trauma

[@Daikibby143]

@@lunamiku4166 that’s not necessarily true. Kids watch things that are entertaining, but most by the time they’re 5 can start to grasp concepts in regards to morality. I remember feeling empathy for the ugly hunchback guy when I was about 6 and trying to treat the kids at my school better. Sometimes cartoons are better at teaching these complex moral concepts than adults because it’s structured in a way that’s easily digestible and can deliver a subconscious message at the same time.

[@shadowphantom2]

I guess The Owl House, and Gravity Falls have been the most recent shows that feature horror for a younger audience. However, they are different from shows like Courage or Are you Afraid of the Dark by putting more focus on the show's central plot and character developments.

[@QualityCulture]

A M Yes that’s true, though I’m sure they’re good in their own ways too, I should check them out soon. Thanks :)

[@shadowphantom2]

@@QualityCulture No problem! : )

[@bachpham6862]

I think Gravity Falls is written with your typical TV shows formula: you have a linear progression of plot with the build up and pay off with consistent tone and art style. Courage is more experimental with its uses of different art styles like 3D, motion capture, ... while pushing plots in unknown direction: one episode could have the house destroyed, another could kill off a character, heck season 1 ending is literally having 2 main characters turning into puppets. Since there is no repercussion for killing off characters, Courage got away with a lot of weird episodes with disturbing endings.

[@charliesnark6535]

Over The Garden Wall also has some dark themes and an eerie feeling to it, made for kids but an amazing show

[@pythonjava6228]

The owl house doesn't seem like horror to me. But Infinity Train and Over The Garden Wall are kids horror I think

[@od3910]

The courage creator is as weird as I thought he would be. Makes me happy.

[@SpacemanOutbound]

This video essay was amazing! I can't wait for more videos. Courage the cowardly dog was a cartoon that was ahead of its time!

[@EllaStone]

i wanna squeeze a thought into what you just said. i see a lot of comments of the "ahead of its time" variety, especially around visual media and music. and, maybe those seem like they're ahead of their time, but the probability is that we've experienced a cultural and social regression over the past decades with the arrival of new media types, platforms and propaganda strategies. i feel like everything really went to shit in the 2000s. which is sad, because i never got to see the world before it went to shit

[@bialynia]

@@EllaStone Nah, there is no regression, it's just the further into the past you go, the more curated the content is, and the closer to the present you are the more everything is just dumped on you as is, without any filters. I mean a lot of bad things did happen and many trends are harmful to culture. But it always had its challenges. My point is, people tend to underestimate just how hard it really is to get to the good things while they're still happening.

[@hardubs]

Over the Garden Wall is a great example of modern children's horror. I don't know if you've seen it but it's definitely worth checking out!

[@Window4503]

Best spoopy moment: the highway man

[@littlelady9801]

It doesn't really read as horror, it's actually comforting in a weird way. For me at least

[@no_soy_briana]

Another great children's show that has horror elements is Infinity Train

[@catc2938]

Yes!!!! I have the beast tattooed on my arm

[@beeclan50]

Omg yes!

[@tehawsumninja]

When I tell you that I would wake up in the middle of the night and look outside my farmhouse here in Texas, the landscape very similar in my 5 yr old brain to Courage's, and be desperately afraid that I might see that fucking "return the slab" guy...I hope you know I am dead serious and, to this day, when I go back to visit my family I still have to sleep with a light on in the room. While I'm sure Courage freaked everyone out to some degree, I have a feeling it hit different for those like me who lived on a mostly isolated farm.

[@QualityCulture]

Oh most definitely, can't imagine how much scarier that would be!

[@sjor3569]

To be fair that return the slab guy was creepy af

[@Sundyman]

dilworth looks exactly how i expected him to look lmao. an episode that really stuck with me was when muriel was deaged back into a girl and courage had to take care of it. it really scared me because it made me wonder what i would do, as a kid, if i was given the sudden responsibility of guardianship without anyone to take care of me in turn. i really love your defense of children's horror because i think that being exposed to these kinds of things as a child help make them confront and process things they might experience later on as well. great video!!

[@Raeannabanana00]

Hi I’m Muriel I’m only 3 and a half years old. Who are yoooouuh? I still quote that line to this day and I’m 27 😂

[@ArieELLE]

I hate macaroni! My sister and I quote this at least once a week 🤣

[@sammysweet4154]

This show terrified me as a kid. It was less the plot but more so the *images* . Like you said, it felt...wrong

[@hannahhardin3014]

!!

[@mariamart_0]

yeah i know right…

[@mariamart_0]

this show scared the actual heck out of me when i was 6…and it’s been almost a decade..

[@jeseenthaannejoji9582]

visually unsettling

[@FranciscoQuinonez-tb7wv]

They borrowed a lot from the horror genre. From the Hunchback of Notre Dame, to Psycho, to the Exorcist, to Indiana Jones, almost every episode is a nod to something scary that came before while putting its own spin on it. 👍🏽

[@deathmetallongsleeve]

Growing up with a ton of insecurities Bathtub Barracuda telling Courage he is perfect as he is was honestly one of the most influential moments of my childhood

[@joselocalau123]

i used to watch this show in the afternoon at my grandparent's house when i was little. it was very creepy since i was mostly alone and a little bit sleepy after being in school all day, but i loved how creepy it was and i've never understood why (i've always been a timorous child). there was something comforting in feeling uncomfortable, if that even makes sense

[@gingerft.honeybees4097]

I used to watch it after school too. I remember feeling like switching channels, but I would never end up doing it. I think that, being a deeply anxious and scared kid Courage felt relatable to me. If he was always scared but dealt with everything then I could too. Also he always ended up safe and happy, so hopefully I would too.

[@defgmx]

I felt this so much! I would watch this at Grandma's house but I would watch it late at night (11 or 11:30) & most of the time alone while my Grandma got ready for bed. I also felt creeped out but I felt this comfort. I still feel like that & classic monster movies make me feel this way now

[@Dred0n]

True I don't know why it was scary yes but something was just making me watched it over and over again.

[@sandrakm3728]

A weird dream state watching this after school as a kid

[@dearines]

I also relate to this feeling. Like I enjoyed that rush of adrenaline xD

[@johnnycashrules157]

Courage the cowardly dog gives me a sense of the most amazing aesthetics of a Bosch meets Dali painting. I fell in love with it as a 5 year old, and I still love it to this day

[@cinthiaMP]

what i see happen is that adults, specially the most traditional ones, don't understand/realize that kids are just like them in the sense that they can also have different tastes and personalities. adults often treat children as if they're an amalgamation of the same things and that's shown in the example you picked of the mother who asked neil gailman if her 6 year old should watch the show. she preferred to ask another adult about her own kid, instead of asking her child if they enjoyed that kind of thing. when I was a kid myself, me and my group of friends would often invent horror and ghost stories and pretend that we could see supernatural beings at school. those were OUR tastes, OUR personalities, other kids were indifferent towards the concepts. children's media should reflect these differences and have variety for everyone. action shows for kids who like action, fantastical shows for kids who like fantasy and horror shows for kids who like creepy stuff. children are human beings like adults, they are not alll molded from the same cookie cutter and that mistake is a big part of why children media today is the way it is. anyway, sorry for the rant, thanks for the great video and showing more about courage's creator (i didnt know much abt him)!

[@charleenfabe4672]

Neil Gaiman touching on people asking about whether a 6 year old can watch Coraline is so true! I remember reading reviews about it saying that people didn’t know it would be so scary for their child and that it was marketed as a kids movie. People don’t seem to want to research things and/or know their own children. My son watched Coraline when he was 3 or 4 and loved it, I know he would love Courage also! But I realize not all children would enjoy it.

[@mechajay3358]

As someone who really isn't a fan of horror, Courage was a show who's tone that really mesmerized me, Dilworth did an excellent job of balancing horror with comedy.

[@HisameArtwork]

I love liminal spaces. while we lived 5 years in an american village, we would do our shopping at midnight so we'd run into even less people. the chinese and bangladeshi there hated it because it was too unsettling how empty it was compared to their native metropolas. Now we live in a town near a capital, too crowded for my taste, especially during a pandemic and our hypermarkets don't run 24/7 because we're in EU and workers are considered human here.

[@slurples149]

American Village? There's no villages in America if thats what you mean?

[@nunally]

I'm 25 years old and my parents have never been happy with my fascination for horror media; they probably don't remember they shaped this fascination by themselves, my mom would turn on the TV for me while she cleaned since my dad used to leave for long periods of time for work, I watched _Goosebumps_ and _Are you afraid of the dark?_ and _Courage_ when I was around 4 or 5 years old; the first book I got when I started to read was a Frankenstein version for kids and in the coming years my dad would buy horror books with monsters and ghost stories for me to practice, they even had activities at the end. Stories about the unusual always seemed more interesting. This show was one of my top favorites while growing up, to this day I still love it and if I find a random episode on Facebook or sth, I watch it, this essay was amazing. A nostalgic ride, thank you so much.

[@nikkiew_]

Courage never scared me but the Star Makers was the first thing I watched that made me cry.

[@chopotronichappiness8917]

As a hardcore Courage the Cowardly Dog fan, I thoroughly enjoyed your video and it felt really good to discover people are similarly interested to this cartoon, almost for the same reason I was. Love your presentation and insights about the show. Kudos!!

[@Faris-gp3ed]

I love misterious vibes in cartoons such as Courage, Gravity falls, Coraline, Paranorman or Halloween themed cartoons and has such a creepy surrounding and yet enjoyable!

[@villalba874]

Eustace will be cursed forever, while Courage and Muriel continue down their daily lives. Yeah, that's the normal.

[@pearl_heartsss]

This show is so artistic. I'll never forget it.

[@Gaonaism]

I was watching a Kobe Bryant interview and he mentioned a video essay. I had never heard the term so I typed it in the KZbin search engine and this was the first video that pulled up. Courage the Cowardly Dog was one of my favorite (and my brother's) animated shows when we were growing up. This video instantly captured my attention because of the instrumental in the background and the narrator's soothing tone. I have an obsession with the tropes discussed in this video and anytime I watch a scary and mysterious video the first and main factor that keeps me attentive is the narrator's voice. It takes a special type of voice to add a thick layer of value that carries the audience from beginning to end. The in-depth analysis of the show's themes and the narrator's was spectacular. Subscribed.

[@QualityCulture]

Wow glad we popped up in your search! Courage is one of my childhood favorites as well. Thanks so much for your kind words, hope you enjoy our future content :)

[@JoshKnoxChinnery]

Welcome to the rabbit hole of longform edutainment and analysis on KZbin!

[@m.josena4485]

@@JoshKnoxChinnery love it here

[@kmg1043]

in short: we're scared of what we don't understand. courage uses this and its mood in scenes to create its creepy episodes

[@ana-isabel]

Oh my gosh, I loved this so much. Definitely threw me in for some nostalgia, since Courage was one of my favourite cartoons growing up - and you perfectly described just what made it so fascinatingly creepy. Can't wait to binge more of your content! I do video essays on pop culture stuff myself and I can definitely learn from your style and perspectives. :)

[@QualityCulture]

Ana Isabel Thanks so much! I’ll check out your content too :)

[@melinamortale945]

Courage has always been my favorite show as a child. I don’t know what it was, I’ve always been drawn to horror but something about courage the cowardly dog would engross me so much I couldn’t stop myself from being glued to the tv and taking it all in. I would watch it with my mom who was also a fan on it and it was strange but a lot of the episodes made me cry, not because of the fear but the sensitivity in some of the episodes would always tug at my heart and I’d bawl my eyes out. Even now while I watched the scene of the squids in space (an episode I had never watched) I just started crying in the kitchen by myself. Humanity can be so cruel and it’s clearly expressed in the show, but there’s a lot of good people who are pure of heart that makes life worth living. I guess I always loved courage’s sensitivity and ability to sympathize with everyone, even the villains at times. He would go above and beyond for those he loved; and even though he didn’t care much for Eustace, courage knew Muriel would be sad without him and so he always would try to save Eustace to keep his Muriel happy. It reminds me of how loving and compassionate animals are, especially adopted ones who were just happy to be given a second chance and courage was the most thankful of them all. I think I just went on a tangent but I can’t wait to get my hands on my nephew and binge watch courage with him ❤️

[@QualityCulture]

I love this comment, thanks for sharing 😊

[@froufroudeluxe]

You picked SUCH good episodes to talk about. The windmill and puppet theater episodes were one of the most upsetting episodes in my opinion, but they aren’t talked about as much

[@aixfukumoto]

I'll never forget "Return the slab." in that voice. Ever.

[@MorriganSlayde]

My partner is a children's horror type artist and I keep trying to encourage them in it. I really hope someday they can make the next creepy kids thing.

[@QualityCulture]

Awesome! Definitely keep encouraging them :)

[@janellapalm1687]

As a huge fan of the horror genre, it is sad to see it being bred out of children's media...hope to see it resurge in the future!

[@alexisflowers5069]

The show is still UNMATCHED wished I could watch it all over again for the first time 🤣🤍🤍🤍

[@Sjivje]

When I was a little kid I did learn a lot of life lessons from Courage and his adventures. He was the absolute most non-judgmental being I had ever seen while also being righteous. He wasn't the type of kind that let people hurt the people he loved and cared for. There was so much to learn. I get that when you focus a lot on the comedy and horror (the surface) you miss those messages but I did learn them as a kid and I bet many others did as well. It was and is a masterpiece and I will let my little nephew watch it too when the time comes.

[@iateabagelonce]

Over the Garden Wall is the only other Cartoon Network product I've found that comes close to the horror/creepiness of Courage

[@kittykittybangbang9367]

If you are looking for something else, then go watch Infinity Train

[@JovanLatte]

Over the garden wall was AMAZING. I completely agree. Uh. Great show to.

[@awkwardpotato1495]

Loved this show growing up and I used to watch it with my grandma. Interestingly, she let me watch the show unlike my mom who found it plain weird. For me, I found Courage as a reflection of myself. And I found some strange comfort watching Courage figure things out despite being scared. I think the show also presented some tough, complex emotions not commonly tackled in kids cartoons which looking back now helped my younger self understand them better. This show is a gem!

[@xiaox3293]

This show definitely shaped me into the person I am today. I was surprised at how much of the show I still remember as an adult; many of these scenes evoked extremely strong emotions in my younger self that no other kids' show could. Truly a work of art.

[@warriorpoet667]

I grew up watching this show. The thing that terrified me the most about it was the sort of subconscious fear of being separated and isolated from my parents. There was nowhere to run. The owners of Courage came across as artificial and there was never a protector of the home. Courage turned into that protector, but he was a “coward” so he never put me at ease. In fact his personality made me more anxious. This loneliness was also brought out through the colors and stylistic choice of animation and cinematography. Also, the “uncanny valley” and “a terror that is just out of reach” seemed to trigger fears that I had from my dreams and of the dark and unknown places like my basement and closet.

[@Crayolapup]

I love John Dilworth. Hes a very down to earth, intelligent, art historian, and inspired man.

[@Chadward_]

Why do I remember that scene of eustis trying to put thread in that needle so vividly 😂

[@igirly123]

John Dilworth seemed so cool lol

[@QualityCulture]

• Miu Yeah he’s like a cartoon character himself haha

[@sarahwright7076]

He reminds me of Tim Burton.

[@m.josena4485]

@@sarahwright7076 hopefully minus the lowkey racism

[@kingexplosionmurderfuckoff9376]

@@m.josena4485 Tim burton isn't rascist

[@m.josena4485]

@@kingexplosionmurderfuckoff9376 um yes he is😭

[@pinkmazohyst]

I definitely watched this show as a child, loved it because it was such a specific brand of dark comedy that I liked, reminiscent of Billy and Mandy or Invader Zim, but it wasn’t scary enough for me to truly process what I was watching. Now as an adult I can’t really watch horror, given my anxiety. Life is already stressful enough given the everyday horrors of being an adult, but I’m still thankful that I grew up with Courage, and loved it nonetheless

[@oliviagreen8853]

I watched this show all the time growing up, i loved it and my mom loved watching it with me. Honestly I didnt understand this was 'horror', I just liked the story and vibe it gave me plus everything always ends up fine after every episode which gave me comfort

[@sonifyoudontandtheywereroo7142]

I cannot express how much I love this cartoon as a child. Literally, one of my comfort shows.

[@michael-dg7ii]

this channel is incredible. congratulations on blowing up recently, i hope to see much more content from y'all.

[@Crayolapup]

Honestly, I want more background information about the “Return the Slab” episode. Lol The random kooky singing makes me wonder. Did Dilworth and his friends just record themselves messing around?! Lol

[@issysamazinglife2476]

I feel like courage is scarier to older audiences than younger ones. I used to watch this religiously when I was like 4 and 5 and now I'm in middle school and I can't imagine making it through even one episode. It's so chilling.

[@hanniep1e]

that squid episode DESTROYED me and my sister when we were younger

[@Dawggo]

When I was like 5 or 6 this show came out and I was at my grandma's watching it, this show quickly became one of my top 5 favorites up there with bugs bunny and other old cartoons I was also a fan of ed edd and eddy. Cartoons are way different now that adults are pretty much choking the industry, it's sad because the best stuff back then was them types of cartoons.

[@SapphireNeutron]

The UK had a creepy children's series called Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids that was from 2000 onwards. Made me uneasy as a kid, which is why I loved it. I would recommend checking it out. It also has an unpleasant style and each episode is a tale usually with a lesson to be learned, in a twisted way. Although I will add I can't remember any of its episodes having a pleasant outcome or a sense of safety like Courage. This series was more of a "this is what happens to children who are bad" 😂

[@beeclan50]

I just watched an episode of it and I have no words.

[@milou870]

As a kid I used to love watching Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids. It was the right amount of scary and weird. I never saw Courage the Cowardly Dog but I bet I would have enjoyed that as well, as I feel those two are very similar in some aspects.

[@bewd4310]

Grizzly tales was brilliant!

[@beeclan50]

I'm the opposite. I just watched an episode of Grizzly Tales for Grusome kids and I have no words

[@HHHHEEELLLLOOOO1]

I don’t know why but the episode about bunny being taken by her abusive boyfriend and her friend coming to save her made me wanna cry as a kid.

[@Ovidio-Lopez]

Got to say, you make some great video essays. Very clean. I look forward to more in the future and I hope your base grows much larger. 😁

[@QualityCulture]

Ovidio Lopez Thanks! 😊

[@Double00P]

I’m so glad this channel exists! Keep ‘em coming this video essays are awesome

[@aboutashow]

I made a video about this show feeling isolated when I was like 15. I'm so glad I found a video that feels the same because no one I've talked to seems to understand

[@becauseingridsaidso]

i loved this video. this show used to scare me so much as a kid. i didn’t really know english so i didn’t really know what was going on but that music and those images... scary!!

[@onlywangs69420]

What an excellent video. I hope that you do a follow up regarding how the government/military is often the antagonist!

[@Haunted_Dreams98]

this is the show that got me into horror and I really like it I guess the reason why is because the uncanny valley of creepy but on an edge of your sit I hope the creator can reboot this show I would watch it and many cartoon shows now are scared of doing the horror from courage.

[@ncisabbyfan14]

I always watched this show while on vacation in Spain, it was in Spanish, and I didn’t understand a word, but I loved it. It also creeped me out a bit.

[@Junkdogray5807]

Honestly I never been scared by horror media. I've watched all the movie and read all the books but nothing scares me more then courage and Caroline.

[@kikikrazed]

Wow-this is such a well-crafted video essay. I’m so glad I found this channel! Well done, seriously.

[@sunlightcakebatter]

I used to live somewhere like courage did. This was my favorite show growing up.. Edit: I am a severely anxious and worrisome person.

[@WaggilyTale]

What cracks me up, is that people forget how much "horror" was made for children throughout the years. I am a child from the 70's and 80's we had alot of scary stuff slapped our way. We even had the over flow from the 60's and 50's in our childhood. I think there is a pocket of people that want to fight the fun of this action. They are the ones that don't understand the fun that comes with this quality. They just want to hide from the fun and reality. They just want cut and past. because their lives are that boring.

[@spyrothetimelord]

return the slab guy haunted me for years, especially because i could see his face in the wood grains of a post in the house i lived in at the time. now it doesn't scare me anymore because i know he just wanted his stuff back, but the 3D rendering of his model made me think he was actually real

[@davidjohnson5675]

I couldn’t wait for you to post again! Your hey Arnold video is a work of art !!

[@QualityCulture]

David Johnson Thank you 😊

[@Ian-qh7le]

Baby step? That dude in the fog freaks me the fuck out and I've seen it a hundred times. Adult horror needs to learn from this

[@user-sf4fy8bq1h]

God damn it, now I remember why my parents banned _Courage_ from our house. It was the fucking squid episode. They loved calamari and I wouldn't stop crying over them eating the starmakers.

[@worldofmango1409]

Gave me nightmares but I loved it! I got a tattoo of Katz the red cat, my favorite character on the show!

[@redacted2003]

i loved childrens horror growing up! i watched and read scary stories all the time and that led to me being interested in real horror, i read book after book about real ghost accounts or life after death and i was obsessed. my childhood felt really strange at times, things werent ever set in stone the people around me were different day after day and i felt good watching a world where the strange was normal! i think growing up and even now i always felt horror was a place i was allowed to feel scared, confused, bad and weird. i felt like bad and odd emotions were shunned elsewhere like if someone were to ask how my summer was as a kid i wasnt supposed to bring up funerals or divorces or anything of that way but in horror, i was allowed if that makes sense. thats what i got out of it and thats one of the reasons i think it should be a staple in childrens development, its so unfortunate there arent weird shows like courage, invader zim or goosebumps around today! where are kids gonna be weird?

[@JogaBonitoCFTV]

Great video!! I was always freaked out by this program even as a teenager, even now as a 30 year old there is something very unsettling about it but I do love it!! You've earned yourself a sub, keep up the good work

[@speedy]

I like your commentary style! Very soothing. Great vid!

[@diegodesigns3976]

*”hm...I don’t like this but I’ll keep watching”* - All of us

[@monkeygoesbananas]

I absolutely adored this show when I was a kid and never understood why my parents hated it so much. It's strange because I tried to re-watch this show for the sake of nostalgia recently and it made me so uncomfortable that you literally couldn't pay me to watch this show. I'm just...no longer in the right headspace for it.

[@-XStream237-]

the violin girl scene, gave me nightmares for weeks

[@rickc2102]

My childhood horrors that I loved were The Dark Crystal and The Secret of NIMH.

[@TehFlush]

I really loved your explanation of the appeal to the series. I felt/feel the same way. I love folklore, I love that eerie feeling if something just not being right, of something out there. CS Lewis has a great quip about this sort of feeling, he calls it the numinous. There's a video on KZbin with the narration and I believe some visus from Carl Jung that really get that otherworldly creepiness in

[@katelyndesantis4146]

viewing Courage as an art piece rather than a normal children's cartoon really just elevated it

[@anvisriva1824]

I remember watching the episode about Courage's parents as a kid, where they get blasted to the moon or something and leave Courage behind. That episode made me cry so hard and for some reason stuck with me and became more memorable than the scariest episodes. The other one that I remember was the puppet one because it didn't give you that closure of everything is fine in the end. I think the lack of a happy ending is why the backstory episode affected me a lot.

[@juliaantontseva6312]

The only moment in this show that scared me shitless was a moment when Eustace get folded in the shape of his ironed shirt. I remember that feeling of unease to this day! Still watched it tho 😁

[@MovedbyTruth]

I was in high school when this show came out. Even at that age I found it pretty scary. It used a lot of genuinely scary horror concepts used by horror authors and directors. Many of the episodes being straight-up nightmare fuel.

[@PlayCONtent]

this is the exact brand of spoopy i'm drawn to, I never watched courage nearly as religiously as i should've but I'm glad I missed the 'you're not perfect' episode, i found that slightly scary even as an adult

[@QualityCulture]

PlayCONtent Yeah that part is pretty unnerving haha, it’s from the very last episode tho so I still wish I saw it when it first premiered

[@findponyo]

this is absolutely a great discussion. I am currently looking backwards in hopes to figure out a lot of my "now". Looking deep into the content I oversaturated myself as a child and piecing it all together as an adult has been mind blowing. What a time to be alive. And just like that- it's over. There's not another Courage. There will only be one. This show was the shit.

[@ganja_bb4203]

i loved this show as a kid i was never really scared more intrigued

[@upclosebyilhaan2946]

thank you for summing up all of my feeling surrounding october and halloween, i've never been able to fully articulate it but you nailed it

[@throwingoftheshade]

This was such an interesting and well-made video essay. And for some recommendations for newer spooky animated series, I can recommend Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall, The Hollow, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and Infinity Train.

[@TealWolf26]

Courage the Cowardly Dog hits harder than the much of the traditional horror genre to me. It does unsettling subtlety so good. It makes me uncomfortable but in the most pleasant way possible. Like a Halloween haunted house is suppose to: a safe place to be scared.

[@whatever96]

That show was so weird and made me feel so uncomfortable yet I could never not a finish an episode. I loved being weirded out by it.

[@may.k_me]

I started rewatching Courage a couple of months back because I was feeling nostalgic. I still love it a lot

[@ayabaheera]

I love Courage. The image of the ghost of Ramses saying "Return the Slab" haunted me for YEARS.

[@christian14525]

Great video! This was my favorite childhood cartoon

[@dannin1278]

Fun Salvador Dali fact: he designed the Chupa Chups logo and how it should be on the top of the lollipop

[@---qu9uf]

When I was a kid I love watching this. It doesn’t look too scary watching this when I was a kid.

[@vegetarblessb]

Why say “this book in particular” ? I like to listen to video essays like this without having to rewind and look at the screen to see what was mentioned

[@3d_Prophecies]

Your voice and script made me wait for your next video and I was not disappointed. The back tracks glued it all together. Could you continue with all of our childhood cartoons?

[@QualityCulture]

Thank you! And yes I’ll keep doing videos like these every now and then :)

[@CynderSpirit]

The thing I loved about the 90s and early 2000s was that we as kids had a variety of cartoons from all kinds of genres from comedy, horror, action adventure, science fiction, with romance and drama mixed in. I don't know why people today think kids can't handle the stuff that our and past generations grew up with? But today everything needs to be censored and filled with PC culture stuff in order to satisfy audiences.

[@ChincerDante]

Courage is a show that I hold dear to my heart. Courage help you understand that not everything is what it seem, as many monstrous characters in the show weren't bad and some of the worse threats didn't look like it. It teach you to both be careful and not be instantly scare if you don't understand something