Courage the Cowardly Dog
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Courage the Cowardly Dog

The Shadow of Courage is part one of the second episode of Season One, which aired November 19, 1999 preceding "Dr. Le Quack, Amnesia Specialist".

Synopsis[]

A wealthy miser dies alone in his observatory, releasing his playful shadow, who plays tricks and pranks aplenty on the denizens of Nowhere.

Plot[]

The shadow of courage

Courage with his flashlight

A bitter scientist with a lunar fascination fires his assistant one night. Right after doing so, he dies, much to the assistant's joy. His Shadow is unleashed onto Nowhere, where he haunts the local residents, but when a lightning strike frightens him, the ghostly being flees town. Coincidentally, the same storm awakens Courage, and as a result of his fright, he gets booted out of bed by Eustace.

The Shadow visits the farm, scaring Courage, who frantically tries to tell his owners there's a burglar in the house. Eustace and Muriel rush downstairs, but see nothing. Angered, Eustace locks Courage in the attic, where he is scared by the shadow again. He tries to tell his owners, but just like before, they only find nothing. Eustace uses fake eyes to scare Courage, which he thinks is funny, but Muriel comes in and whacks Eustace with a rolling pin, apparently having been tricked by the Shadow into thinking Eustace was strangling Courage. She then shuts Eustace in the attic.

The Shadow antagonizes Eustace and mocks him by pretending to be Courage, at which Eustace runs into the bedroom and actually strangles the dog. Muriel again whacks Eustace with the rolling pin, but Eustace doesn't care as he chases Courage to the kitchen, where the pup hides under the sink. While Eustace is looking for him, the shadow transforms into a snake and jumps out at Courage, scaring him. Courage screams, only to get strangled by Eustace; however Muriel saves the day by whacking Eustace yet again with the rolling pin.

Muriel takes Courage upstairs and leaves Eustace to sleep in the kitchen. The shadow transforms into a monster, scaring Eustace. When Courage goes to investigate, he doesn't find Eustace, so he goes back to the bedroom and sees Muriel is missing. Eustace comes out of his hiding place, thinking he's losing his mind and finds his hat, only to have the shadow transform into an octopus and scare him.

Courage goes on Computer, and as Computer often gives Courage advice, he tells him to look up evil shadows. Computer tells Courage in order to get rid of the evil shadow, he must either have a pleasant conversation with the shadow, or move out of the house; however, it doesn't know how to talk to it. Reluctantly, Courage equips a flashlight goes to find the shadow in the basement. Shadow appears and tries to scare Courage by transforming into a vision of Muriel being decapitated; but alas, he finally breaks down after the flashlight is repeatedly shined on him. He confesses to Courage that he didn't harm anyone and revealed Muriel was just in the bathroom. He soon admits that while he originates from a horrible rich person, that he is not evil and he doesn't want to scare people anymore and that he always wanted to be the shadow of a person in showbiz, which gives Courage an idea. Courage decides to make Shadow a real star in the sky, and he starts to ponder on it. Before he can give an answer, Courage asks about Eustace and the Shadow explains he was simply hiding in his pick-up truck and laughs at how he was more scared than Courage. Shadow waves goodbye to him as he flies up into the sky and has lots of fun.

Eustace and Courage go back to bed, when suddenly a horrible shadow monster appears in the hallway, scaring them both. However, the monster turns out to be Muriel with curlers in her hair. Drawing the episode to a close, Courage states "Now that's what I call scary, know what I mean?"

Characters[]

Antagonist[]

  • Shadow (formerly, first and last appearance)

Watch Episode[]

Quotes[]

  • "But I don't wanna sleep in the attic. I'm telling you someone's here, or my name's Shirley, and it's not." — Courage
  • (Jumps out of hiding place onto Eustace) “Uh-oh, I'm going to get strangled!” —Courage
  • (shines flashlight) “Okay, Shadow! Where's Muriel?” — Courage
  • "OH!!!" — Courage

Trivia[]

  • This is the first appearance of the farmhouse in the series. The actual first appearance of the farmhouse was in the pilot "The Chicken from Outer Space".
  • Basil, who would later debut in "Family Business", appears in Courage's thought bubble. However, this is likely a normal bank robber that just so happened to use Basil's model.
  • The fake eyes Eustace uses to scare Courage are similar to the real eyes of the Cajun Fox. Coincidentally, this episode finished production right after "Cajun Granny Stew" Also, the second time Eustace uses them was in "The Hunchback of Nowhere", thus both these episodes were the only times Eustace doesn't use his mask to scare Courage.
  • This episode features the most actual sentences Courage has ever spoken in the entire series.
  • This episode marks the debut of the Computer, who here seems less sarcastic.
  • Courage says his name isn't Shirley; Shirley wouldn't appear until her self-titled debut episode.
    • Additionally, it could be a reference to the 1980 film Airplane: "And don't call me Shirley!"
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