Courage the Cowardly Dog
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Courage the Cowardly Dog

The Sand Whale Strikes is part two of the twelfth episode in Season two and twenty-fifth airing of Courage the Cowardly Dog. It is the fiftieth episode overall and first aired November 9, 2001, following "The House of Discontent".

Synopsis[]

Eustace is hunted by an angry whale seeking revenge on his father. Courage must turn to Ma for help in reconciling so he can save his owners.

Plot[]

Early in the morning at the Bagge Farm, Muriel, Eustace, and Courage are woken up by something big hitting the house. They go outside to investigate and discover a giant brown whale. The whale demands the return of his accordion from the family and mistakes Eustace for his father, Ickett. Muriel tries to explain that Ickett is dead, but the whale does not believe her. Eustace does mention that Ickett owned an accordion, but Ma currently has it. The whale gets angry and chases the Bagges around their house, destroying and swallowing objects in his path. Eustace tries one more time to reason with the whale, but the whale swallows Eustace and Muriel and refuses to let them go until he gets his accordion.

Courage runs to Ma’s house and explains the situation. She gets the accordion and says that Ickett and the sand whale were mortal enemies. She also shows Courage a small rowboat that Ickett used to chase the whale across the dunes. She forces Courage to row the boat and chase the whale so they can catch him.

Eventually, they catch up to the whale. He is still carrying Eustace and Muriel in his mouth. Courage starts playing the accordion to attract the whale, but Ma orders him to stop. She tells the dog that the whale is worth a fortune, and she doesn’t care what happens to her son or daughter-in-law. Ma prepares to catch the whale in a net. Courage rows closer to the whale, trying to use the accordion to lure the whale over.

The whale hears the accordion and heads towards the little rowboat. Courage tosses Ma overboard (onto the dirt) and throws the accordion to the whale. The whale catches the accordion in his mouth and shoots Muriel and Eustace out of his blowhole. While the whale is on the surface, Ma walks over and tries catching him, but Courage has cut a hole in the net. The whale angrily swallows Ma and leaves.

Muriel is happy that she and Eustace are safe (and that the whale took Ma), but she wonders what a whale needed with an accordion in the first place.

As the episode ends, an entire troupe of accordion-playing sand whales is giving a concert. The last sand whale arrives just before it ends to play the last few notes of the song. He shoots Ma out of his blowhole to the applause of the audience.

Characters[]

Main Characters:[]

Minor Characters:[]

Quotes[]

Sand Whale: Ickett! Ickett Bagge!
Eustace: (to Sand Whale): I ain't Ickett, I ain't got no accordion, and I don't wanna be talking to no whale.
Sand Whale: Okay, Ickett, if you don't give me my accordion, I'm gonna have to shake you up until you do!
(Scene):
Muriel: Well, I'm glad that all worked out.
Eustace: But the whale got me Ma.
Muriel: I'm glad that all worked out. I just wonder one thing: What does a whale want with an accordion anyway?

Trivia[]

Courage portrait

The portrait of Courage that is seen near a staircase

  • First and only appearances of the Sand Whale and Ickett Bagge.
  • Returning appearance of Ma Bagge.
  • After the Sand Whale chased the Bagge family throughout their house, he forces the trio to run up two flights of stairs. As the family is running up the staircase leading to the attic, a portrait of Courage is seen hanging on the nearby wall.
  • The episode was dedicated to John R. Dilworth's brother, Jim P. Dilworth, who died in March 2001. It was seen after the Sand Whale flying into the camera between the episode's "The End" and "Dedicated to Jim P. Dilworth" scene.
  • This was one of a handful of episodes in the series where Ma Bagge was at least partially portrayed as one of the antagonists, or is at odds with Courage in some way or another. In this episode, she called him "stupid accordion giving dog" for attempting to resolve the conflict by returning the accordion to the Sand Whale. Another episode in which Courage proved to be a hindrance to one of Ma's greedy schemes was "Scuba Scuba Doo".
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