Cartoon Network has always been one of the more experimental of the cartoon channels.
Their darkest show, and one of their more unique shows, was Courage The Cowardly Dog.
About a dog trying to protect his farmer owners from the terrors of the monsters of the week,
it stands to reason that the show itself can be unnerving at times, or even flat out scary
to kids, and even adults.
Needless to say, there is more than enough material here to explore some of the darkest
moments...
I’m Brad with WickedBinge.
And today, we’re counting down The Top 10 Most Disturbing Courage The Cowardly Dog episodes.
Let’s get started!
It’s saying something when Freaky Fred ranks at number 10 on our list...
This episode is all about Muriel’s nephew, the titular Fred.
He drops by his aunt's house for a visit, and through a faulty lock and Eustace being
cruel to Courage, Courage and Fred are both locked in the bathroom.
While being locked up, Fred decides to give Courage a shave, as in literally trimming
the poor dog down to just his tail, alongside with a thank you message from Fred.
Courage, not that happy with getting a haircut this close, is not cooperative at all.
He goes as far as to hide in the toilet and even the sink; both places are so odd that
even Fred drops his eternal smile in sheer surprise at what Courage is doing.
Eventually, Courage manages to call the Home For Freaky Barbers, and rightfully gets Fred
locked up again.
Now, it’s pretty clear as to why this episode is disturbing; Fred himself.
The guy is actually an escaped mental patient, or rather, a mental barber, and speaks in
rhymes throughout the whole episode.
He is distant from the world around him, and thinks that everything is going great, and
that everyone loves him.
Even as Courage is cowering in fear and he’s being dragged off.
However, there is one big reason he isn’t any higher.
Despite how unnerving he is, he really doesn’t do anything truly disturbing.
Sure, shaving all the hair off of an animal is creepy, but compared to the other crimes
and heinous acts on this list, that’s a small price to pay, even if it is...NAUUUUGHTYYYY...
For one entry that isn’t immediately obvious, we have Human Habitrail coming in at number
9.
The appearance of Doc Gerbil, he is introduced here as a vacuum cleaner seller, only to shrink
Muriel and Eustace down and kidnap them.
His reason for doing so is that he knows about how humans experiment on animals, and wants
Courage to be a free animal as well.
Of course, Courage being who he is, decides to instead follow suit, and we discover that
Doc Gerbil is more than ok with experimenting on humans as revenge for the science animals.
Of course, the Bagges (pronounce: “bags”) aren’t like those scientists, and he doesn’t
seem to understand why Courage would save them, believing he is doing a good thing.
Now, like with Fred, Gerbil does believe he is being a good person.
However, unlike with Fred, the stuff Gerbil does is undoubtedly much more disturbing,
with literally experimenting on poor unsuspecting humans who haven’t even done anything wrong…
Like with the Lint Lady and turning her hands and feet into suction cups.
This eventually escalates into a boat chase with no music or sounds; at least till the
waterfall and Courage screaming.
It’s a very surreal finale to say the least.
Despite very much claiming to be a good person, he definitely isn’t; at least by our standards.
He’s certainly an egotist, if that unsettling ride based off of “It’s A Small World”
is any indication.
It’s Doc Gerbil’s world here at the ninth slot on this list.
In eighth place, we have Curtain Of Cruelty.
This is one of those episodes where it has both humor and darkness mashed into it.
During a trip downtown, a giant curtain falls over the town, and it causes the townsfolk
to become crude and mean.
They even hate the idea of people being nice so much that they throw Muriel out just for
saying thanks, and arrest her for apologizing for hitting a girl with her truck door.
Meanwhile, Muriel seems to be resistant to the curtain’s effects, along with Courage,
and as Muriel is forced to a video telling her to kill a hamster, Courage is looking
for the culprit of this curtain, only to find the recurring antagonist Floyd.
Using Muriel’s homemade fabric softener, the same fabric that kept him nice, Courage
was able to turn the machine that Floyd was using into a machine that makes people nice.
At first glance, this is a bit like The Tower Of Zalost, but however, while that one focuses
more on the creator of what was making others unhappy, this focused more on the townsfolk
affected by him.
While the town folks end up becoming overly cruel and dark, they end up passing that fine
line from so mean it’s hard to watch, to so mean it’s kind of hilarious.
Heck, it’s so nasty now that Eustace is elected the mayor of the city.
And while they try to force Muriel to prove her worth by killing a hamster, it’s the
kind of cartoonish cruelty that helps keep this show both funny and disturbing.
It’s a disturbing episode due to how everyone acts, sure, but we can’t help but chuckle
a bit as well.
It’s a good blend of horror and humor; just the reason why this show managed to be so
loved for so long.
For the normally lucky seventh place, we have the original series finale, The Great Fusilli.
Now, everyone knows of the terrifying ending here, Fusilli, a talking alligator, travels
to the little farmhouse in Nowhere to offer Courage, Eustace and Muriel the chance at
stardom.
The act is them performing on a stage as an invisible crowd cheers them on.
This is already creepy enough, but it gets worse as magic strings turn them into actual
puppets.
Courage is able to get his now puppet formed owners back, but isn’t able to turn them
back to normal.
Meanwhile, Fusilli ends up succumbing to his own magic, being transformed into a puppet
himself.
As unnerving as this episode is, the scariest thing about it is that it was originally meant
to be the series finale.
This meant that the last scene of the show was just Courage dripping further and further
into insanity as he re-enacts his daily life with his now puppet owners.
Of course, what ultimately puts this episode lower than the rest is that it wasn’t the
end, and the series continued, letting this episode just vanish into the air.
However, the fact this could have been the end is something that shouldn’t be understated,
and thus, gets a slot here.
Obviously, if it was the actual finale it would be much higher, but as it is, it’s
still creepy, even if the show still goes on.
Our sixth most terrifying episode here is The Demon In The Mattress.
Due to not being able to sleep well, Muriel orders a new bed.
However, this bed is cursed, with a scary face on it, the delivery men being weasels
and scaring Courage, and possessing Muriel.
What follows is Courage having to find a way to get the demon out of Muriel, who is currently
trapped inside the demon, screaming for Courage to help her.
Even Eustace recognizes the severity of the situation and helps out in his own way, only
to get possessed by the mattress himself.
After knocking him out, Muriel calls the mattress to be returned for the next day.
This is a plot of something that crawled out of The Exorcist, with green smoke rising from
the bed, Muriel levitating, and even puking and turning her head around 360 degrees and
falling off.
These references were so disturbing that some of them don’t even appear in other countries.
However, this is balanced out by the titular Mattress Demon being voiced by Jim Cummings,
the same voice actor as Winnie The Pooh, so expect a bit of brevity, like with the Mattress
Demon playing a round of Thumb War with Courage.
Overall, this may be an earlier episode, but definitely a dark episode regardless; one
perfect to watch with a cup, of...TEA!
Past the halfway mark, up next is Remembrance Of Courage’s Past.
Over the course of the years, many have wondered just what keeps Courage going, and just where
his actual parents are.
Well this episode offers a depressing yet horrifying answer.
After getting traumatized by a carton of milk with missing dogs on it, Courage is taken
to a vet to be checked out.
However, this same vet was the reason Courage is so scared, and perhaps, why he is so nervous
and startled by everything.
Back when he was a pup, this nightmarish vet launched his own parents into space in an
attempt to create a super space animal.
How he got to that conclusion from just two posters is beyond us, but what isn’t beyond
us is realizing just how tragic and nerve wrecking this whole experience is, with Courage
about to lose his owners thanks to the vets.
Thankfully, the doctor ends up in his own rocket, only to realize that the experiments
didn’t work, as all the dogs are there on the same planet his stranded asteroid is on,
Courage’s parents included.
What’s more, they all want to beat him up now, and rightfully so.
Normally, Courage’s conflicts aren’t this personal.
Usually it’s just a random monster stumbling upon their house, scaring Courage and his
folks before eventually leaving.
Here however is much more serious and personal with Courage.
Upon first seeing that milk carton, instead of his usual screams of comedic degrees, he’s
just silent.
Nothing, not even Eustace with his usual mask charade scaring the dog would get him to move
a inch.
Of course, considering just how vile and cruel this doctor is, and just how he was the reason
Courage is an orphan, we really can’t blame the poor dog.
Overall, this is just a hard to watch episode about how one man manages to break families
apart all in the name of science.
Outside the top 3, The House Of Discontent.
This is where we get our first look with The Spirit Of The Harvest Moon, and he certainly
isn’t a pretty sight to look at.
Due to just how pathetic their farmland is, The Spirit Of The Harvest Moon decides to
give the Bagges and their dog an ultimatum.
Grow something; anything, or leave the farm.
Despite Courage’s best efforts, they failed to meet their goal at first and get locked
in the basement.
To make matters worse, it’s also getting hotter thanks to the Harvest Moon Spirit.
However, thanks to Eustace literally sweating during this time, Courage was able to get
a plant to grow and appease the spirit, earning the freedom for him and his owners.
The thing that really puts this episode up so high is how unsettling the spirit itself
is.
He’s a floating white head with black eyes that are angry with how poor the farmland
is.
He shows this anger by attacking Muriel with living food while it takes its anger out on
Eustace by blasting his tub’s pipes open, and when they fail, literally tries to melt
the both of them.
His low toned yet obviously angry voice certainly doesn’t help matters.
However, what ultimately puts this episode underneath the Top 3 is that he is willing
to leave and return the farm to normal after seeing a plant grow.
Just goes to show you that if you don’t take care of the land, the land will take
care of you in the worst way possible.
At our third most terrifying episode, you all know this was coming; King Ramses’s
Curse.
“Return the slab, or suffer my curse.”
Those 7 words manage to get under everyone’s skin, for a very good reason.
After finding an old slab that some thieves stole from King Ramses’s tomb, Eustace’s
greed puts the family in jeopardy as King Ramses comes to the farmhouse to reclaim it.
A flood is first sent upon their house, almost drowning them, had it not been for Courage’s
brave act of swimming down to the basement to drain the water.
A more lighthearted plague is soon followed up with a repeating song filling the air until
Courage smashes the record.
Finally, the scariest plague, a swarm of locusts fills the air and devours the house, as well
as Eustace, trapping him in the slab.
Did we mention that this locust can devour literally anything it comes across?
It was capable of even destroying the original thieves and their car.
This episode is infamous for one big reason; the man in gauze, King Ramses.
Like with The Spirit Of The Harvest Moon, he’s done in a completely different art
style, being a CGI animated figure.
His movement is rather slow and sluggish, waving in the wind.
He doesn’t move an inch from his spot however, instead just acting like he’s rooted there.
His own low rumbling voice only just added the mystique and fear he brings forth.
While we do think there are those scarier than him, we don’t blame anyone for getting
creeped out by this monster of the week.
For our second place spookiest episode, we have The Mask.
In comparison to our other episodes here, this one is so scary due to just how realistic
it is.
After being assaulted by a mysterious masked woman called Kitty, Courage ends up thinking
that the mask itself is evil, and tries to turn it into the police.
However, the truth is much darker than that.
In reality, Kitty is more or less locked out of her apartment as her best friend, Bunny,
is stuck there with her abusive boyfriend, Mad Dog.
In comparison to other nightmarish scenarios like curses and demented barbers, this one
is significantly more realistic and down to Earth; just with animals in place of humans.
Mad Dog himself is a scary abusive boyfriend, who is more than ok with putting bunny down
to elevate himself.
With him being run over by a train and killed by it, his death comes off as a relief, as
well as a bit unnerving, to say the least.
There are also heavy themes of misogyny and sexism among here, with Kitty abusing Courage
due to her thinking that all dogs are bad; a stance we can’t blame her for given how
terrible Mad Dog is.
Even Courage seems to be paranoid of Kitty, and like her, with her beating him down and
the only other cat we see being the villainous Katz, it’s hard to blame him as well.
Of course, there is also the potential of Kitty and Bunny actually being gay as shown
in their reunion in the end of the episode.
Overall, this is definitely the most realistic episode of Courage, and with all the heavy
themes it showed or hinted at, it definitely showed real Courage and deserves our silver
trophy.
For our most disturbing and scary episode however, it will have to go to a choice that
isn’t quite obvious at first, but we think deserves the top spot; The Windmill Vandals.
You know that old windmill, the one ever so slowly turning in the background?
Well, it turns out that it’s rather important to the Bagges.
Not only is it their source of power, but the windmill turning was also a magical charm
made to ward off evil spirits, known as the Windmill Vandals.
You see, 250 years ago, the original owner of the house was the only person who used
a stick with a windmill despite the rising love and fondness for water wheels, owned
by the titular vandals.
However, the water eventually dried out, and in anger, they went after the owner of the
windmill, who was able to ward them off thanks to carving magic markings into the windmill,
one on each fin.
Now that the windmill stopped, they came back from the dead, with their undead skeletal
forms riding horses and weaponry, even decapitating everyone’s heads.
This threat is so sincere, that this is one of the few times where Muriel and Eustace
are on the same page as Courage and have to work together to save the day.
They are ruthless and show no signs of slowing down or stopping, and they are only stopped
thanks to the windmill being repaired.
This puts them as one of the few threats that Courage doesn’t necessarily stop, at least
permanently.
Sure, continuity is a fickle thing here, but at any other time when the windmill was destroyed
and stopped throughout the series; they would have been able to return and continue to hound
the Bagge’s down.
They could return anytime, anywhere.
They are beyond death at this point, and only magic symbols scribbled onto a windmill can
put them to rest, as long as it keeps spinning.
For this fact of their ever looming threat, this episode is at the top spot of this list
of the most horrifying Courage episodes.
And with that, the nightmare is over!
Did we miss an episode you thought should have made the cut... or do you think we were
just being a bunch of stupid dogs?
Feel free to scream your opinions at us in the comments below.
If you’re feeling brave still, feel free to check out our other videos, and hit that
notification bell.
But most importantly, stay wicked!