I have been rewatching Courage the Cowardly dog on HBOmax for the past few weeks. And if you are here on this journey with me, you know that rewatching kids shows is hit or miss. There were a lot of shows that didn’t hold up to me… and I chalked it up to nostalgia. THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE SHOWS. My sister enjoyed watching the reruns that came on Cartoon Network back in the day. When she commandeered the tv (I am 8 years older than her.) I never felt annoyed about having to watch this particular show. Fast forward 20 years….And now I am able to share old shows with my nieces and nephews. My niece was looking for something a bit scary but not too much… I mean she is 6. (And before I get criticism… I used to Tales from the Crypt… so this is not on that level. Another scared dog that helps his friends/family get to the bottom of things. Sign me up.

There are a few episodes that I really enjoy. I had forgotten that the format that this show took on. There are 52 episodes that span 4 seasons… but each episode contains two separate segments. So for this list… I will be looking at a particular segment. Let’s get to it:

• “A Night at the Katz Motel” – This has to be my favorite Courage segment. I enjoyed anything that included Katz… While on their way home from a trip, Muriel and Eustace Bagge with their dog Courage become caught in a storm, forcing them to stay for the night at the Katz Motel on the side of the highway. It was one of those creepy hotels that no person would want to stay at in the day time… “This looks like a crummy place to end a crummy vacation.” — Eustace. They are welcomed by the proprietor, Katz, who reveals that canines are strictly prohibited. “Welcome to the Katz motel, I’m Katz.” Creepy dude. (First red flag). Courage is forced to sleep outside the motel, while Muriel and Eustace attempt to settle in for the night. The audience is shown that Katz… is the keeper of giant, man eating spiders.  An unseen figure, presumably Katz, unleashes an enormous spider on Courage, before dropping another in Muriel’s bath through the faucet. Courage barely escapes and begins searching for his owners, while Muriel is ambushed by the spider in the bathtub. Muriel instructs Courage to wake Eustace… who has disappeared. Courage discovers Eustace has disappeared and quickly goes to the lobby to get help, only to discover it empty. Upon further inspection, he discovers another room covered in spider webs, with an unconscious Eustace about to be consumed by a larger and deadlier spider. Courage pulls up a loose floorboard and crushes the creature underneath it, before rescuing a still sleeping Eustace. While Courage makes his escape carrying the still sleeping Eustace, Katz appears and blocks the way out, forcing Courage to toss Eustace’s bound and unconscious form on him. Courage hides in the motel’s basement, only to discover it is where Katz stores the spiders. A terrified Courage bursts through the door, knocking it loose from its hinges and onto an awaiting Katz, who quickly recovers. He corners Courage in a part of the basement and forces him to play a game of handball for his freedom. (Funniest turn of events… I was not prepared.) Meanwhile, Muriel is able to knock the spider into the toilet, flushing and drowning the creature. Katz triumphs over Courage in the game and proceeds to smother him with one of his spiders. However, Muriel appears and strikes Katz over the head with a badminton racket, dazing him and rescuing Courage. An irritated Muriel drives her dog and husband away from the motel, complaining about the awful service.
  
  
  
  
  
• “Courage Meets Bigfoot” – This was a cute episode… Things are not always what they seem. Everything that seems scary is not. My niece thought it was funny. Good times. Muriel and Eustace are in the living room watching TV. Courage is in the kitchen having a bedtime snack when he hears a noise outside. He stares at the window and discovers a mysterious creature outside. He warns his owners and Muriel takes a look outside to find trash everywhere. She tells Courage that it was only raccoons. But Courage is not the least bit convinced. (What I also thought was funny… was how the old couple was always in danger…. but even when given a warning by Courage who is never wrong…. they always brush it off.)  While Eustace and Muriel are asleep, Courage stares at the window to discover the mysterious creature again and runs downstairs to the kitchen to find that the creature is attempting to snatch the pie from the windowsill. Courage makes a grab for it and ends up with it all over his face. Muriel wakes up to this and tells Courage that it’s okay and that she’ll make another one tomorrow right before telling him to use a plate next time. The next morning, the Newsman on TV informs that a Bigfoot is on the loose and that a reward is offered if he is found, much to Eustace’s delight. Courage is convinced that it was probably Bigfoot that was at the house last night. He goes outside to find evidence and comes across a massive footprint. He warns Eustace, who is prepared to catch Bigfoot, about this, but to no avail. Suddenly, a knock on the door is heard and an old lady is there looking for her lost boy, to which Eustace responds that he hasn’t seen him right before slamming the door shut. When Muriel invites Courage in the kitchen for dessert, the latter finds Bigfoot by surprise and starts a food fight with the creature. The two then end up dancing together and are interrupted by Eustace, who is scared off by Bigfoot. Courage continues to dance with the creature, but their dance is interrupted again when Bigfoot is hit with a stone thrown through the window. Courage and Bigfoot look outside to find an rather large angry mob ready to take Bigfoot down. Courage tries to convince the mob of the creature’s true nature, but to no avail. The mob are ready to attack (as well as Eustace) and they are interrupted by the old lady that was there earlier. It turns out that Bigfoot was her “lost boy” she was looking for and she is reunited with him. It is also revealed that Bigfoot is named Theodore. The crowd is touched by the display, realizing Bigfoot is not an evil monster. However, the greedy Eustace is not the least bit stirred by this and locks the ankle bracelet on Bigfoot’s ankle, eager for his reward. He is hit on the head with a rolling pin by Muriel, who demands him to remove the ankle bracelet off Bigfoot’s ankle, which the stubborn farmer refuses, and as a result, the mob turns on him and chases him away. 
  
  
  
  
• “The Demon in the Mattress” – My sister and I laughed so hard at this one mostly because we are older adults and understand the need for a great mattress. After many sleepless nights, Muriel orders a new mattress. Muriel pays no mind to the grotesque-looking deliverymen (who hiss at Courage) that arrive on a sinister horse-drawn carriage, or the demonic face that appears on the mattress, and gladly accepts it. There is really something scary about how Muriel seems oblivious to danger… and this seemed pretty straightforwardly a bad idea. Muriel heads upstairs and lies down on the new mattress, locking Courage out of the room. Courage peeks through the bedroom window on a ladder and witnesses strange green vapors being emitted from the bed and possessing Muriel. She suddenly levitates above the bed, and as Courage watches in horror, he falls off the ladder. Courage tries to explain his fear to Eustace, who of course fails to pay attention. Courage takes Eustace upstairs where they see Muriel transformed into a demon with fangs and wild, constantly flowing red hair. The other funny thing…. Courage has to work with Eustace to save Muriel. Courage engages in a thumb war with the demon and loses, then flees from the room. Courage looks up on the computer how to get rid of the demon. It prints out an incantation for the demon. After Eustace’s failed attempt, he gets vomited on by the demon, Courage then performs the exorcism from the computer and the demon deposseses Muriel. Then, Eustace comes in wearing a hazmat suit, and tries to perform the exorcism, but the demon possesses him instead. Muriel whacks him with the rolling pin, then she and Courage roll him up in the mattress and put a lock around it, and the mattress gets taken away by the evil deliverymen. Incantation to exorcise a demon: “Hullabaloo and howdy doo! Musty prawns and Timbuktu! Yeltzy bye and hippity hoo! Kick ’em in the dishpan! Hoo hoo hoo!”
  
  
  
• “Freaky Fred” – This by far is the funniest episode of the bunch. The fact that is narrated in this rhyme…. makes it even better…Fred says “naughty” 14 times. And it never fits into the rhyme. It has also become a popular Internet meme. This is one of the few episodes in which neither Eustace nor Muriel fell victim to the antagonist. Fred is Eustace and Muriel’s nephew who visits. He is known as one of the most memorable antagonists on the show. Though Muriel seems quite fond of him, Courage is terrified of him. Eustace calls him “Freak” and said in reference to him: “The freak’s a barber, a freaky barber, with his own freaky barber shop, where freaky things happen, freaky barber things.” Muriel’s seemingly odd nephew Fred is coming for a visit, much to Courage and Eustace’s chagrin. Fred begins the episode introducing himself to the viewers in the form of a poem, while riding on a bus to the middle of Nowhere. He tells us that “the words (we) hear are in (his) head” and that he’s been very “naughty.” Fred then arrives at their farmhouse and is waiting at the door while Courage imagines all sorts of horrible things that he could be. Instead of all the things Courage fears, there stands a polite, yet strange man with a British accent, which scares him more than any monster he imagined. Courage notices a wristband on Fred’s wrist for a “Home for Freaky Barbers” with a contact phone number, he tries to call Muriel’s attention to it. Instead, Muriel has Courage show Fred to the bathroom so he can freshen up after his long trip. While Courage nervously waits outside the bathroom door, Eustace deliberately throws him inside and slams the door, locking both Fred and Courage in. Eustace leaves, and instead of going to the hardware store like he said he would, he goes to various other places (such as the beach and the movies) during the rest of the episode to stay away from Fred. As Courage cowers, Fred begins to tell Courage of how he first realized his compulsion to cut hair. Which started with the story of his pet hamster. He then starts preparing to shave Courage. Desperate, Courage hides in the toilet, but Fred finds him anyway and pulls him out. During his reminiscing he’s already used his trimmer to give Courage a Mohawk. This prompts another memory, this time of his former girlfriend, Barbara. Trimming more fur from Courage, Fred reveals they eventually broke up due to him shaving her bald. He continues to psychotically shave Courage. He goes on to say how he tried to control himself, but inevitably gave in. Once again, Courage tries to escape, this time by going down the sink drain, but is only half-way there (and half-way shaved) before Fred pulls him out. However, before another flashback, Courage grabs the wristband free. When a long bearded man arrived at his barber shop one day, Fred once again gave into his compulsion after the man saying asking only for a small trim . Afterward, it’s assumed he was admitted into the Home for Freaky Barbers. He proceeds to shave Courage bald except for his tail. Taking an opportunity, Courage manages to dial the number. Sirens are heard in the background and Fred gets up to look out the window. Then he sighs, realizing he’ll have to go back to the mental home. Orderlies break down the door. Restraining Fred in a straitjacket, they then escort him into padded van. This episode is a parody of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, about another crazed barber. However, while Fred does display a rather bizarre obsession, he shows no other psychotic tendencies, unlike Todd, who sought to punish the wicked or be “merciful” to the innocent by killing them.
  
  
  
  
• “The Duck Brothers” – Courage, Muriel and Eustace are asleep in bed when a bright green light shines from the outside. Courage wakes up thinking that it’s already morning, then Muriel starts floating from the bed and into the sky. Courage attempts to wake Eustace and carries him outside to try and show him what happened but he doesn’t see anything. The audience is shown two alien duck brothers arguing about waking up Muriel. They attach a weird green helmet to her head and use a remote control to move her around the space craft. (It seems… you can’t even sleep in the middle of nowhere in peace.) As Courage is inspecting the helmet, the antenna glows and makes Muriel get out of bed, go outside and get into the truck. Courage jumps into the truck bed and Muriel drives to a military compound. The guard lets her in because she is a “sweet old lady” and she drives to the back and walks into the building. Courage is about to follow her when he sees a golden egg roll from under the truck. The alien ducks show up with another controller, but the person they’re controlling is a helmet-clad Eustace instead. Courage makes Muriel break through the wall and Eustace and Muriel begin to fight (similar to bop em sock em robot toys). As they are fighting it’s neck and neck, ending up in a tie. The duck brothers begin arguing and then start crying…. poor duck brothers….  Courage asks what’s wrong, with the duck brothers responding that their brother is inside the building and that he will be cooked if they don’t get him out of there. Courage gives them a plan to get their brother out of the kitchen. The ducks are reunited and thank Courage for helping them. They float back to their spaceship (arguing of course) and everything is back to normal. The next day Eustace still has his helmet on and is serving Muriel and Courage breakfast in bed. Courage finishes the episode revealing the controlling device under the comforter, showing that he’s controlling Eustace. I never feel sorry for Eustace. He is a turd. But this was hella funny.
  
  
  
  
• “Shirley the Medium” – A locked box left behind by Eustace’s late brother, Horst, defies the every attempt to open it. While digging in the yard, Courage discovers a locked box that belonged to Eustace’s dead brother, Horst. The box contains money that Horst never shared with his brother. Courage peeks inside, only to hear strange growling. Desperate, Courage attempts to stop Eustace from opening the box. When they are unable to open the box, the Bagges hire a psychic to help find the key after seeing an ad on television. (Funny conversations ensued on this episode… both my sister and my niece thought Shirley was a cat. I can see where they got it. I think it is a dog, chihuahua.) A local psychic, Shirley the Medium, contacts Horst and Eustace asks for the key. Oddly, it is like a phone ringing from her body. Horst warns Eustace about the box but stubborn as Eustace is, he continues to ask for the location of the key. Shirley warns Eustace as well but he dismisses her. (I would have to say that he was warned about 10 times.) Horst tells Eustace that the key is in the lining of his hat and Eustace opens the box, much to Courage’s horror. Two large monstrous hands protrude from the box and grab Eustace and Muriel, trying to take them into the box. Courage runs and finds Shirley and brings her back, where she scolds Eustace for opening the box. Simply, she slams the lid of the box down with her foot, crushing the hands and forcing them to retreat back into the box, freeing Eustace and Muriel. A hundred-dollar bill floats out, which Shirley takes as payment, and Eustace opens the box again only to get sucked into the box. Inside, he finds himself in huge piles of money, but nowhere to spend it. ( there is a great bit about a missing yoyo… and how Shirley helps Courage find it. Courage speaks well… but when he choses to and when he doesn’t is always hilarious.
  
  
• “King Ramses’ Curse” – We love this one in the Twitterverse. In the dead of the night, after stealing an Egyptian stone slab from the tomb of King Ramses, two feline grave robbers are fleeing from the scene of the crime in their car. Pursued by the police, the duo decides that the best course of action is to hide the slab, and return to its location once the authorities have given up the chase in order to retrieve it (for the sake of concealing any incriminating evidence). They pull over to bury the slab at the nearest landmark in sight, which is the Bagge’s water-pump.  As they re-enter their vehicle in order to escape, they are confronted by King Ramses himself, who demands that his slab be returned lest the thieves suffer his curse. The confused thieves, unaware of the curse, do not have a chance to react before they are surrounded by a swarm of locusts, which quickly devour both them and the car. Courage unearths the slab the next day. The slab contains symbols of Ramses, water, a record player, and locusts. Courage shows it to his owners, but Eustace dismisses the slab as “garbage” and tosses it out the window. But when the story on Nowhere News runs about the slab being worth one million dollars… he starts singing a different tune. Courage notices that the first symbol, the Ramses, disappears from the slab and wails in dismay. Eustace contacts the Nowhere Newspaper to place an ad for the slab, despite Muriel’s condemnation of his behavior. Professor Frith arrives and tries to reclaim the slab, but Eustace refuses to give it up for free. That night, the ghost of Ramses returns, and this time threatens the Bagges. He orders Eustace to return the slab or he would be visited by three “plagues”, each worse than the last. Eustace, believing that the ghost is the professor in disguise, asks “What’s your offer?” (I used to wonder what he needed to spend money on… but whatevs.) The ghost unleashes the first plague. The second representative symbol on the slab, the water, disappears, and the house subsequently begins to fill up with water. While Muriel is drowning, Eustace uses his snorkel gear. Courage swims to the basement and pulls a drain stopper and all the water drains out from the house thus defeating the first plague much to the ghost’s annoyance. Unfazed by the ordeal, Eustace again refuses the ghost’s request asking for an offer, initiating the second plague. Again, the representative symbol on the stone slab, the record player, disappears. A skipping record that repeatedly blares “King Ramses, the man in gauze,” permeates the air, causing the family audible pain. Eustace alleviates the noise by plugging his ears using cotton, but leaves Muriel suffering. (I used to wonder why Muriel remained with Eustace… he is not great and especially not great to her.) Courage finds the source of the noise behind a boulder, destroying the phonograph with a baseball bat to stop the racket. King Ramses once again demands the return of his slab. Muriel insists that Eustace return the slab, but Eustace still refuses to do so without getting paid. The ghost then unleashes his third and final plague: the locusts. The final symbol disappears from the slab, and the insects begin to devour the house starting from the roof. As the house is devoured by the locusts, Muriel prepares food as a stress relief tactic. Courage and Eustace wrestle over the slab. Eustace finally gives in once he realizes how close they are to being devoured, allowing Courage to toss the artifact toward Ramses, which ends the curse. However, Eustace reclaims the slab after the locusts had left and taunts Ramses, thinking that he, since he used three different plagues, is now powerless. Annoyed, Ramses simply reuses the third plague by summoning the locusts again, and Eustace is devoured. (Talk about not feeling a damn thing. I usually care not about what happens to Eustace.)
  
  
  
  
• “The Clutching Foot” – This episode is both gross and hilarious. Eustace wakes up with an itchy foot fungus that has taken over his entire foot. Muriel tries some home remedies to heal his foot, but nothing works. (These are some extreme home remedies btw. My niece said… these would never work. Very observant 6 year old.) When Eustace refuses to go to the doctor, he insists all he needs is a nap. (What is it that people have against going to the doctor? Rhetorical people.) When Eustace wakes from his nap, he is horrified to see that the fungus has enlarged and has covered most of his body. Eustace is then swallowed by the fungus and all that is left is a giant talking purple foot, personified as five gangsters complete with New York Accents. The foot proceeds to take Muriel hostage, much to Courage’s dismay. The gangsters then force Courage to help them rob a bank, but Courage proceeds to blow up the entire bank instead. (An interesting and hilarious turn of events.) Then they plan to rob a train but that plan backfires as well (the foot slips on a banana peel Courage left and destroys the train.) They return to the farmhouse where the foot begins planning to knock over Florida (hahahaha), and Courage retreats upstairs to search for answers on the computer. The computer is usually a jerk but does prove to be helpful. At first, it asks him if he considered taking daily baths, but when told that it’s Eustace’s foot, it doesn’t seem surprised. The computer then tells Courage to get it a sample in order to analyze the fungal strain. After which, it spits out the sample in revulsion, and to Courage’s disgust, tells Courage the only cure for the fungus is dog saliva. (Insert the gagging sound of my niece. It is pretty gross but her reaction had me cracking up.) Courage goes downstairs and starts licking the foot everywhere, and it starts shrinking back to regular form and Eustace appears dazed and confused. Things seem to return to normal, Courage is brushing his teeth and is flossing then he hears the foot talking to him from inside his mouth and he discovers that his tongue is now infected with the fungus (which also has a face) and the episode ends.
  
  
  
• “Everyone Wants to Direct” – This one was a bit more fun for me now that I am a bit older. The Bagge family is sitting at home one night when they get a knock at the door. Standing at the door is a man who claims he is is Benton Tarantella, the world-famous film director. (For some reason that was too funny to me.) He tells Muriel and Eustace that he has been scouting locations for his next movie “The Return of the Zombies from Beneath the Farm” and he thinks their farmhouse would be the perfect location to film the movie. Benton asks to film on the farm and Muriel is enthused, but Eustace isn’t interested. But when Tarantella offers a large sum of money, Eustace immediately changes his mind and agrees to the deal. (Eustace being useless as usual.) Courage isn’t the least bit excited, and grows increasingly worried that Tarantella might be a zombie, when he witnesses his body parts falling off on several occasions, then Tarantella picks them up and pops them back into place. Courage keeps trying to warn his owners, but Benton thwarts his efforts each time. Tarantella, Eustace and Muriel get ready for the movie in the basement, and Tarantella even asks Muriel to star in the movie as the victim of the zombie sacrifice. Eustace is then asked to dig the hole that the zombies rise from. After Courage tries to stop the making of the movie, he is locked out of the basement by Eustace. Computer to the rescue. Courage goes to the computer and makes a search of Benton Tarantella as a movie director, and nothing comes up. But when he does another search, a newspaper article comes up about a man named Benton Tarantella and his partner, Errol Von Volkheim, who masqueraded as film directors to lure unsuspecting people into their clutches to murder them. After murdering 12 people, they were sent to jail. Volkheim was released for good behavior, and Tarantella was left to die in prison. This confirmed Courage’s suspicions of Tarantella being a zombie. Courage then looks up Volkheim and discovers he is dead and buried in the cemetery…underneath the Bagge farmhouse. Courage discovers Tarantella’s plan and why he wanted to use the basement. He plans to resurrect his dead partner and then go back to their murderous ways, and Muriel and Eustace are his first new victims. Tarantella then asks Eustace to tie Muriel up. Courage finds his way into the basement and takes a look at the script. As Eustace films, the planets align and Volkheim rises from the grave. During the confusion, Courage had gotten his hands on the script again and manages to rewrite and change Tarantella’s plans. Volkheim and Tarantella reunite and then prepare to eat Muriel. Courage finishes changing the script, and as Eustace reads the script to the zombies, the plans are now written for the big zombie to let the dog out of the box and for both zombies to get back in the hole, and then the dog buries them. Tarantella explains that it is not his work, but Volkheim scolds him for being a bad scriptwriter, and amongst the arguing they climb in the hole and Courage buries them. Once again, saves his owners without Muriel or Eustace even knowing the danger they were in. (Courage is one precious pup. They don’t deserve him.) Eustace still looks at the contract wondering when he will get paid.
  
  
  
• “The Snowman Cometh” – Who vacations in the artic? Not me. Courage, Eustace, and Muriel go to the Arctic for a vacation and find themselves on the freezing tundra in an igloo. While Muriel attempts to make soup, Courage goes out to get firewood, and finds a Snowman out in the middle of the barren land. Knowing he didn’t make it himself, he wonders how it got there. Nevertheless, the snowman has two sticks for arms and when Courage takes one for firewood, the snowman comes to life and demands for Courage to give it back. Courage does and runs back to the igloo screaming. He warns his owners about the snowman, but they dismiss it as usual. . Courage sees the snowman again outside the window and tries to tell his owners. When Eustace and Muriel go outside to investigate, they find nothing. Courage finds the snowman’s tracks and follows them reluctantly. He arrives at a snow cave where he overhears the snowman’s plans. The snowman is the last of its kind. He is determined not to fall victim to heat as his friends had done. The only way to keep from melting is to extract an anti-melting gene from a human and he plans to do so on Eustace and Muriel. Courage runs back to the igloo, but falls into a pond on the way and freezes. He manages to escape, but due to his problems, the snowman has already beaten him to the igloo and taken Muriel and Eustace. Courage finds a sled and races back to the cave to save his owners. (They really need to pay him for his protection.)  the snowman traps Courage and extracts the gene from Eustace. Before he can do the same to Muriel, Courage escapes and slams a glass pitcher down on the snowman’s head. With the snowman distracted trying to pull the pitcher off of his head, Courage, Muriel and Eustace escapes and hop into the sled. They sled down a hill, with the snowman in hot pursuit, onto a frozen lake and are trapped with the snowman not far behind. Courage quickly begins chopping at the ice, and it manages to break, sending the snowman into the water, and Courage, Muriel and Eustace safely float away on a chunk of ice. But due to the gene being extracted from him, Eustace melts into a puddle right as a ship appears to save the trio. At home, Muriel and Courage go back to the same-old, same old, but Eustace is now in liquid form in a glass pitcher.
  
  
  
  
• “The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Loveable Duckling” – When Eustace cracks open an egg to cook for breakfast, a little duckling pops out and instantly claims the farmer as his mother. It soon becomes clear, however, that the sweet little duckling wants Eustace all to himself and is plotting to get rid of Muriel and Courage. Outside the farm, Courage comes across a nest of eggs and finds all but one egg hatched. Courage decides to give the unhatched egg a nice, warm home and takes it with him. As soon as he gets inside the house to nourish it, Eustace snatches it from him and uses it for his breakfast. He puts a pan on the stove, melts the butter in it, and cracks open the egg, only for a black duckling to fall out and onto the hot pan, causing it to hop out and onto Eustace’s face. The farmer slams the duckling on the ground and accuses Courage of trying to poison him. The duckling pulls out a boot from nowhere and whacks Courage in the leg with it. The duckling turns to Eustace and hugs him, believing that the farmer is his mother. (Of all the people in that house to choose as a mother…. this duckling picks the worst one. Muriel offers Eustace a blanket while he sleeps in his chair and relaxes in her rocking chair. Courage comes in and catches the duckling trying to saw the leg of Muriel’s rocking chair. Courage merely stops him and snatches the saw from him. The duckling calls “Mama!” and Eustace wakes up all of a sudden. Courage tries to explain to Eustace what happened, but as usual, the farmer promptly tosses the dog outside. A furious Courage manages to make it back inside just in time to catch the duckling dumping a bag of dry cement in Muriel’s bath water while she is taking a bath inside the bathroom. Courage stops him and once again, the duckling calls “Mama!” and Eustace appears inside the bathroom, accusing Courage. Muriel wakes up from her bath and runs out of the bathroom. The duckling, upset that his plan to get rid of Muriel has failed again thanks to Courage, promptly tosses the dog into the bath water of wet cement. While Eustace is sitting in his armchair listening to music, Muriel is strapped to a rocket ship about to fly to outer space by the duckling inside the attic. The duckling finishes screwing the ship and closes the hood, only to get his wing caught in it. Courage makes it inside the attic and frees Muriel out of the rocket. With no way to get his wing out of the hood latch, the duckling calls “Mama!”, which Eustace is able to hear through his headphones. Courage attempts to free him out of the hood latch. Eustace enters the attic and grabs him, only for the ship to fire off to space after the countdown. As the rocket lands onto the moon, the duckling is seen giving Eustace a foot massage, saying “This didn’t work out so badly after all, did it?”
  
  
  
• “Heads of Beef” – Muriel is sick and unable to make dinner for Eustace and Courage. Eustace decides to go out for a bite to eat after asking Muriel for dinner and getting no response. Muriel asks Eustace to go to the bakery on his way and get her scones, then asks Courage to join him so he won’t forget. (2 things… Again… how could Muriel be married to him? Like what does she see in him? Also… you know that Eustace is mean to Courage. Why are you sending the dog with him?)  On the way there Eustace discovers a restaurant that serves burgers for a cheap price (called “Burgers, Really Cheap!”). Inside the restaurant, Courage and Eustace see a lone gentleman eating a burger whereupon the owner, Jean Bon appears to greet the duo and take their order. The lone gentleman asks to go to the bathroom and Jean Bon directs him to a door. Courage gets suspicious when he sees that the gentleman doesn’t return after using the restroom and Jean Bon grabs the belongings of the gentleman from the counter. Courage grows even more paranoid when he sees the face of the gentleman molded onto his own burger.  When Courage attempts to warn Eustace, Eustace merely rebuts his warnings. Courage then heads into the door where the gentleman entered in order to investigate. Further adding to Courage’s paranoia he overhears the conversation of Jean Bon and his wife where they discuss Courage and Eustace. Upon hearing this conversation Courage runs away and attempts to warn Eustace again who rebuffs his efforts. Jean Bon then appears attempting to talk to Courage, which causes Courage to run and fall into the basement which was behind the door. Courage sees the shadow of Jean Bon’s wife eat what appears to be the head of the lone gentleman, which causes Courage to finally try and escape from the restaurant. After knocking out Jean Bon, Courage runs and tries one final time to beg Eustace to take him home. After failing Courage then escapes the building all the while being chased by the Jean Bon’s Wife. At home Courage is sitting next to Muriel frightened who tells him not to worry about Eustace. At the restaurant a shadow of Eustace’s head is cast onto the wall. It is then revealed that the lone gentleman is alive and well, is the curator of a gallery of culinary wonders, and that the head of Eustace is merely a bust of Eustace made of hamburger meat. Eustace is shown healthy as well, and that the whole ordeal was merely a product of Courage’s paranoia.
  
  
  
• “Klub Katz” – After reading an ad for a cruise line, Muriel decides the family should go on vacation. While Courage is enthused by the idea, Eustace refuses to leave his chair, so he takes it with him. (I really would have left him in Nowhere.) On the boat, Courage gets sea sick and vomits into a pipe that leads directly to the engines. This happens to clog them just as the ship ends up en route to an iceberg.  The passengers panic, but the ship sustains no damage. However, the incident is immediately followed by a massive tidal wave that overtakes the vessel, sending it underwater. The Bagges find themselves shipwrecked on a tropical island. Eustace is angered by the loss of his chair in the crash, but Muriel thoroughly enjoys the atmosphere of the beach. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure watches them from the bushes. Unable to sleep due to horrific mechanical noises coming from the jungle, Courage stays up all night carving coconuts. The next morning, Katz, revealed to be the mysterious figure from the night before, shows up on the shore and introduces himself to the Bagges as the owner of a five star resort, “Klub Katz.” The couple falls for the charade, but Courage is suspicious. (It blows my mind that they seem not to remember Katz from his last fiasco.) Falsely sympathetic of their accident, Katz offers to bring the family to his spa to relax. On the way to the spa, Courage stops at a soda machine that turns out to be the Captain of their wrecked cruise boat, who warns the dog to leave the island. Courage attempts to convey the warning he just heard to Muriel as she and Eustace approach Katz’s spa, but of course they don’t listen. (“They never listen.” – My niece, Age 6.)Courage is denied entry to the spa by a reminiscent “No Dogs Allowed” policy, Eustace ties him to a tree outside, and the two enter. Within seconds, screams are heard from the inside. The dog frees himself, but only in time to see Eustace, in the form of a wrecking ball, and Muriel, in the form of a washing machine, being taken away by Katz to a colosseum. He follows, and witnesses his two now-mechanized owners being pitted against each other for Katz’s amusement. Courage then rushes back to the spa and transforms himself into a helicopter. He intrudes on the brawl and rescues Muriel. Seeing that Katz is in his chair, Eustace sweeps his ball at Katz destroys his beloved seat as Katz dives out of the way. As Muriel and Courage escape, Eustace chases Katz and wrecks his Klub, along with the entire island, in a heated rage. 
  
  
  
• “The Magic Tree of Nowhere” – Eustace is usually a turd. In this episode he takes it up 10 fold. A company called Farm and House has delivered Muriel’s kitchen curtains, as well as a complimentary packet of seeds. Eustace claims that nothing has grown at the farm in 50 years, and throws the seeds out the window, where it destroys Courage’s sand castle. While upset over the destruction of his sand castle, Courage plants the seeds anyway. A rain cloud appears out of nowhere, and showers Courage and the soil. Just the area where he planted the seeds. A flower blooms, then rapidly evolves into a big tree, complete with beautiful flowers. Muriel is amazed, but Eustace is angered that Courage could grow something and he never could. (I discovered that Eustace is jealous. Jealous of having to share Muriel with Courage… ) Muriel’s pie is burned in the kitchen oven, and she wishes for a new oven. Courage, while wearing a gas mask, notices that a new oven has appeared next to the tree. Muriel’s pie is burned in the kitchen oven, and she wishes for a new oven. Courage, while wearing a gas mask, notices that a new oven has appeared next to the tree. Courage is playing with his toy construction vehicle, but it breaks. He wishes for a real construction vehicle, which spawns next to the tree. Courage and Muriel are then shown having great fun in the vehicle, digging up dirt and dumping it elsewhere on the farm. This wakes up Eustace, who comes out of the window and exclaims that he is trying to take a nap. Frightened, Courage accidentally dumps the dirt on Eustace, who is heard muttering “Stupid dog.” Later, while Muriel and Courage are sitting outside next to the tree, Eustace intends to go to the picture show, claiming that he isn’t wanted around the farm. Muriel wishes that she and Courage could see a movie, and this causes a projector to form out of the branches, which starts playing a horror movie. Eustace notices this from the truck and tries to ram it into the tree. Muriel stops him, and explains that the tree is providing for them, which Eustace says is his job. when Muriel and Courage have gone to bed, Eustace comes back out to take the rocking chair inside, insults the tree, and wishes that Muriel had a bigger head so that “she’d know better.” The next day, Muriel is laying on the couch with an extremely engorged head. Worried (not because of Muriel but because he is hungry), Eustace calls Dr. Vindaloo. The doctor explains that it is the worst case of “boli-boli” he has ever seen. He does “everything known to medical science”, which involves a rubber glove, a mallet, a huge pair of scissors, and a wrench. The doctor tells them that there is nothing to worry about, but there is nothing he can do about it and exits the house, while Courage and Eustace look at him, dumbfounded. Courage howls in desperation, but Eustace says that it is all his fault for bringing the tree, and now he has to get takeout for breakfast. Courage starts saying “help” to the tree, and this causes the tree to start speaking to him, which scares Courage to the point that his skin flies off his skeleton. The tree tells him to not be afraid and that it has the cure for Muriel. It will take 3 days, but by then, the tree predicts it will be cut down, much to Courage’s dismay. Courage learns that Eustace plans to chop down the tree with an axe. Courage uses the vehicle he obtained earlier to dig a moat around to defend the tree. He obtains a packet that makes a singing eel appear, then finishes by building a giant sand castle around the tree. Courage spends the day fighting off Eustace… and his attempts to cut down the tree. It is pretty funny to see Eustace in pain. Courage is exhausted, but then gets a call from the doctor, saying that he has the cure. Courage drives to the office, where Dr. Vindaloo gives him a cure that “will cure your broken leg”. Meanwhile, back at the farm, Eustace confronts the tree, who asks if cutting him down will make Eustace feel more important around the farm. Eustace thinks about it for a second, then says “Yes!” A skeptical Courage races back to the farm, where he discovers that Eustace has chopped down the tree.  the tree comes back to life one last time to tell him that the actual cure for Muriel is composed of the flowers from its branches mixed with pure hornets honey. With those final words, the tree dies. Courage gets the cure to Muriel, whose head returns to normal. Sometime later, a flower is shown to be growing from the stump of the old tree and it will regrow, while Muriel pats Courage on the head. Eustace is then shown lying on the couch, also with an engorged head as revenge for chopping down the tree. He closes the episode asking “Is the tree growing back yet?”
  
  
  
• “Courage in the Big Stinkin’ City” – The Bagge Family arrives in New York City, as Muriel has won a sitar contest and her prize is to perform at Radio City Music Hall. At the theatre, the family is welcomed by a giant cockroach who calls himself Schwick. his real name is Buschwick, where he’s from, but not under any circumstance may anyone call him that. He poses as a stage hand and promises Muriel her own rehearsal room and Eustace hot dogs. Schwick shows them to the “rehearsal room,” a scary, musty room littered with shackles and human remains. There is an unseen threat living in a mouse hole in the room that is responsible for the demise of previous of the theatre’s stars. The argumentative Schwick sends Courage out to get a package and orders him to hurry up and to keep the police out of the picture, otherwise “It’s curtains for the sitar lady.” Courage tries to find the house where the package is waiting, and eventually finds his way to the block of an condemned apartment. The building’s inhabited by several monsters and unseen residents behind sealed doors screaming to be released. After retrieving the package, Courage flees the scary abandoned apartment building and jumps on a subway train. A policeman, who is searching for the “evil” package, has followed Courage and asks him to show his license. The railroad engineer is so terrified by the sight of the evil package, he flees the train. Courage tries to take control, but unfortunately steers the train into the theatre’s rehearsal room, where Muriel is still practicing. Schwick takes the evil package, which contains nothing more than a window squeegee that Schwick needs to wipe away the cry for help written on the grimy window. However, the train collision has broken the squeegee. The bug is infuriated, yells “Nobody double-crosses Schwick!” and now opts to unleash the rehearsal room monster. Courage panics and carries Muriel as Schwick chases them; They run up through the crashed train. They eventually make it up to the Radio City stage, where Muriel performs. The police officer from the train has called for backup, disguised as dancing women in the performance, and Schwick is kicked into a trombone. Schwick turns out to be a wanted fugitive and not a real stage hand, and gets arrested. Muriel finishes her masterpiece to massive applause, and Eustace, having been eaten and reduced to nothing but a skeleton by the unseen monster, is seen watching his wife on TV in the rehearsal room, while complaining about the channels. 
  
  
  
• “Courage Meets the Mummy” – This episode shows that Eustace as been a loser in past lives as well. While helping with the laundry, Courage answers a knock at the door to greet Professor Frith, who discovered a Mayan pyramid on his own. While there, he accidentally awakened and was attacked by the mummy of a long dead Mayan Baker. The mummy was the baker for a Mayan princess who loved cookies. The Poohbah, a royal adviser of the princess, would occasionally take the cookies to the princess, but would take some for his own greed. The baker catches the Poohbah and is about to tell the princess, but the adviser got to her first. When asked, the Poohbah told the princess that the Royal Baker was the one at fault. The princess ordered that the Royal Baker would have his “mouth sewn shut, his eyebrows plucked, and his body mummified.” After the professor finishes his tale, Courage goes to the Computer for help. It surmises that Muriel and Eustace were the princess and Pooh-bah in past lives, and the solution to warding off the mummy would be hypnotizing them into thinking that they were the Mayan Princess and the Pooh-bah. The Baker flies to Nowhere in a plane, where the Parachute Lady drives him crazy with random chatter, and he steals her parachute and jumps off the plane. He is then seen just outside of Nowhere, hitching a ride with Di Lung to get to the Bagge Farmhouse. When the mummy came, Eustace told a lie to the princess that it was the Royal Baker’s fault that the cookies were gone. Putting a sign on the mummy’s back, saying that he did it, the Mayan Princess/Muriel orders the same thing that had happened to the Mummy many years ago. Thinking quickly before the Mummy could kill the Mayan Princess/Muriel, Courage asks Eustace for something to eat for some money. In agreement, the Poohbah starts digging in his clothing. Courage moves him, so everybody could see the cookies that the Poohbah had stealing it. The princess demands that his mouth be sewn shut, his eyebrows plucked, and rest of his body mummified as punishment. Just as the mummy picks Muriel up, she apologizes and exonerates him, so he goes back to his pyramid, and the others sit down for some cookies.
  
  
  
• “Katz Kandy” – Muriel and Courage are making candy apples in preparation for the Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest.  Meanwhile, Katz has developed a living jam monster to kidnap Muriel and coerce her into revealing the secret ingredient in her candy apples. Once the candy apples are finished, Courage answers a knock on the backdoor. The jam monster attacks them and carries the both of them to Katz Kandy, a candy shop run by Katz. Eustace comes home for dinner and notices a trail of purple jam leading out the door, which he starts licking up and following. (He really only notices because he is ready for dinner.)The jam monster throws Courage and Muriel into the basement, where Katz comes to meet them. Katz then shows why he brought them there, revealing that he keeps placing Second in the Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest. Katz tries to force Muriel to reveal her secret ingredient by placing her onto a giant candy cane above a taffy-puller. Meanwhile Courage is bound in bubble-gum to a stone wall. Katz explains that if Muriel doesn’t reveal her secret ingredient, he will pull a lever which will drop Muriel and the candy cane into the taffy-puller, killing her presumably. Courage chews through the bubble-gum and uses it to blow a bubble to float up to Katz. The bubble pops when it hits the ceiling, dropping Courage onto Katz, which prevents him from pulling the lever. Eustace arrives at Katz Kandy where the jam monster attacks him. Down in the basement, Katz allows a “small spot of sport”—a staring contest—before Courage “goes bye-bye”. Courage immediately begins to suffer. (Anytime there is a battle with Katz…. Courage seems to have such a hard time.) Eustace scares away the jam monster with his iconic “OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!” mask and goes down to the basement. Eustace’s arrival startles Courage, causing him to blink and lose the game. Katz throws Courage into a giant jujube maker, turning him into a purple jujube. Eustace complains about dinner and asks Muriel in a confused manner why she is walking around without her boot, but Muriel demands that he get her away from the taffy-puller. Eustace reaches Muriel (He is actually helpful… I am shocked.) and Katz pulls the lever, nearly turning them into taffy. While Katz and Eustace are fighting on the candy canes, Courage rolls up the stairs and rams the lever, which drops Katz into the taffy-puller. Katz, now being pulled into taffy but still being alive, still demands to know Muriel’s secret ingredient, and she reveals that it is vinegar. In the end, Muriel and Courage win 1st place in the 43rd Annual Nowhere Sweet Stuff Contest, while Katz receives his usual 2nd place.
  
  
  
• “Mega Muriel the Magnificent” – The Computer scoffs at Courage’s memoirs that he is writing, calling all living creatures timid and cowardly. During a thunderstorm, lightning strikes The Computer, causing it to come to life. After a short-lived attempt at invading Eustace’s body, it takes over Muriel’s and does death-defying stunts in it, under the moniker of “Mega Muriel the Magnificent,” in order to show how courageous it is. Courage must stop it, or Muriel’s body could be severely harmed if he doesn’t. Courage’s memoirs are retellings of the episodes “The Snowman Cometh”, “Freaky Fred”, and “Queen of the Black Puddle”. Mega Muriel the Magnificent’s death-defying stunts were: 1.Being shot out of a cannon and shot through the moon to Mars. 2. Diving into the San Andreas Fault during an earthquake. 3. Skiing down the side of the Empire State Building and into a sewer.
  
  
  
  
• “Invisible Muriel” – A government facility captures Muriel after Courage gives her a magical gem that turns her invisible. The cure must be found in time to save her. Courage finds a gem while digging in the yard… He gifts it to Muriel who after a while turns invisible. Government agents surround the house and make off with Muriel demanding to know what she did with the gem. Eustace and Courage go to Dr. Vindaloo who has to try and find a cure. Dr. Vindaloo has Eustace become invisible so he can run some tests…. while they send Courage out to find Muriel. After running around a long while… he manages to locate Muriel in the same building as doctor Vindaloo. (Like Right across the hall.) Dr. Vindaloo informs Courage that he has found the cure…. (Muriel’s homemade dog food.) Eustace and Courage have to rescue Muriel from the federal agents… and get her visible again. (Good Times.)
  
  
• “Human Habitrail” – Muriel is cleaning and Eustace is trying to eat dusty soup. No Seriously. Dusty soup.  and just as Muriel gripes about the dust, Dr. Gerbil, a mad scientist posing as a travelling vacuum cleaner salesman, knocks on their door. He offers Muriel one of his products free of charge, but instead of cleaning dust, the vacuum shrinks Muriel and Eustace and contains them inside the dust bag. Dr. Gerbil then takes them to his underground laboratory, where he performs several disturbing experiments on them, so that he can improve his line of products. (His weird products. And Weird is an understatement. Once again, Courage must save his family, but in order to do so, he must endure a seemingly never-ending tour of Dr. Gerbil’s cosmetics line…
  
  
  

That is not even the tip of the iceberg. Courage is a pretty funny show. My sister and my niece approves. We heard about the new animated direct-to-video crossover film with Scooby-Doo called Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog. Check out the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnTvMK3vVc&t=1s And let me tell you there is not one more excited that me and the family. But that is all for now. Let me know your favorite segments below.