Courage the Cowardly Dog/Trivia

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Trivia about Courage the Cowardly Dog includes:

  • Shout-Out:
    • To, of all things, Sweeney Todd, in the form of Muriel's "crazy barber" nephew Fred. The horror is negated somewhat by his cheerful rhyming and the fact that in the end, he's mostly harmless.
    • Also, stock footage of King Ghidorah, a recurring nemesis of Godzilla, appears several times throughout the series.
    • The ending to the original short features Courage holding open the iris out to comment "This shouldn't happen to a dog!". The iris then closes on Courage's nose, causing him to yelp in pain. This gag is a reference to the classic Bugs Bunny short "Hare Ribbin'". Which is further played with in the sequels. "This still shouldn't happen to a dog!"
    • Also, there are figurines of Dilworth's Dirty Birdy short in the house.
    • The twin raccoons from "Campsite of Terror" have the same design as Avery, a character from Ace & Avery, a segment on Big Bag which Dilworth worked on prior.
    • Nedd from "Noodles & Nedd" (a series of Sesame Street segments by Dilworth) often appears, most commonly as a framed picture in the Bagge house lounge room.
    • The word "Dil" often appears, this is referring to Dilworth.
    • The episode "The Mask" contains a few overall elements and themes of gritty exploitation and noir, especially the violently abusive gangleader boyfriend.
    • Mad Dog's defeat is rather similar to that of Sykes from Oliver and Company, being too caught up in his fight with The Hero to realize his car is heading right into an oncoming train until its too late, the crash itself happening offscreen.
    • Benton Tarantella.
    • An episode where Courage, Muriel and Eustace are brought 1000 years into the future, where everyone is a banana, as a kind of inverted Shout-Out.
    • "Wait! I sense a disturbance in the Force!"
    • In "The Ride Of The Valkyries", a rather dim-witted bird is called the Norwegian Blue.
    • The entire episode "The Demon In The Mattress" was one to The Exorcist.
    • A lot of things the Snowman has said or done are a Shout-Out to Sean Connery and James Bond.
    • Muriel picking up playing the sitar after an early episode may be a shout-out to Star Trek: The Next Generation, and how Captain Picard picked up playing an alien flute after "The Inner Light".
    • The episode "Serpent of Evil River" features a serpent named Carmen who loves opera music. Guess what opera music they used to attract the serpent?...
    • One episode is titled "Courage vs. Mecha-Courage". Just take a guess what that's a shout-out to.
    • In "The Duck Brothers" they have a pretty blatant shout-out to The Three Stooges.
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