Hello my name is Evan A.K.A. The Animated Critic. I've been reliving a lot of nostalgia this Toon-O-Ween. We covered a classic Spongebob episode and next time we're gonna be looking at an episode of Pokémon. And now we have Courage the Cowardly Dog. I use to love this show. I didn't watch it as religiously as other shows at the time, but when it was on I would happily watch. It had a perfect blend of scares and humour. I will admit as a kid I was a major wuss. Heck admittedly I still am. I get scared easily. Heck, the movie Monster House use to scare me. But I still watched Courage despite being a whimpering little pansy. It was a fun show and I was excited to re-watch it. Unfortunately I only got to re-watch a few episodes. And because I'm behind on Toon-O-Ween I didn't have enough time to watch more for this review. So we're just gonna go with the episode Perfect. Which is really only known for one thing. I know many of you would've liked me to go with a more horror eccentric episode, but whatever. I'll talk about why I feel this episode could still count as horror. So let's dig into Perfect.
The episode starts with Courage screwing various things up. Fixing the car, making food, etc. Anyway Courage begins to feel really down about all his mistakes. I think this is something most of us can relate too. We all screw up occasionally and when those screw ups stack up you just get more and more depressed, and you start beating yourself up. Even when it's a mistake that nobody is really angry at you about. Sure Eustace gets angry at Courage, but he's a douche. When he screws up the cooking though Muriel is completely understanding, yet courage is still saddened by the screw ups. Anyway out of the blue comes some snobby teacher who tries to teach Courage how to be perfect. By the way it's heavily implied that only Courage can see her. That it's all on his head. So Courage gets lessons on being perfect, but because he isn't perfect he begins to fail the class and make the teacher angry. The teacher tells him class is over and to get some sleep as tomorrow's the final exam.....even though tomorrow's only the second day of class, but whatever. Anyway Courage tries to sleep. However it seems he can't even sleep perfectly. Man, doesn't that just make you wanna give him a hug. He is plagued with nonstop nightmares. Including a creepy blue thing (see title card) that whispers "You're not perfect." That seems to be the only reason people actually remember this episode. To be honest that is really the closest thing this episode has to any scares. But Courage was more than just scares. It had emotion, it had comedy. It was more than whatever twisted creation they could think of for that week. Which I guess is one of the main reasons I choose this episode. That and there's a bit of a fear factor here so it still kind of works for Toon-O-Ween. That fear? A fear of yourself. Think about it. In this episode Courage creates a harsh teacher like hallucination to punish himself for not being perfect. Your worst fear really isn't anything else that's been covered during Toon-O-Ween. It's not evil animatronics, it's not ghost, it's not demons. Well...actually it may be. But my worst fear, and I'm sure plenty can agree with this, is myself. I know how to hurt myself, I know how to make myself feel depressed, and most of all I know how to hurt myself. I can really relate to Courage. I too feel down when I screw things up, even if no one is mad at me. I constantly feel pathetic or useless. It's an awful feeling that I'm sure plenty, unfortunately, know too well. So what do I have to say about this? Well I could just say don't worry about it, but that's easier said than done. Just know that everybody messes up, also know that nobody's worthless. We all have our place on this earth for a reason. Try your best to just live life, and if you screw up learn from those mistakes and move on. Anyway sorry for the melodrama. Just something I had to get off my chest. I've seen a rise in people complaining about how much life sucks, and how much they feel awful about themselves. Heck I've recently kind of fallen into the same rut myself. I talk a lot about the past don't I? Well, it's only because the past is where the most regrets are found. Anyway sorry. But man for a children's cartoon this show got me into a rather deep topic didn't it. And yet there's still people out there saying animation is just for young kids. Back to the episode though. Eustace gets annoyed at Courage and throws him out of the room. The next day Courage is tired and has his final exam. He's allowed time before the exam though to brush his teeth. While in there the fish he tried to cook earlier in the episode comes to talk to him. Saying he isn't perfect. But in a way so that it sounds like an OK thing to be. So what is Courage's final exam. Drawing a perfect 6. He of course doesn't draw a perfect six, but does something really neat and creative. And so our episode ends with the teacher melting, because......uh......she's evil.
This episode is pretty good. Especially the moral. Don't try to be perfect. You'll only end up hurting yourself even worse. Just get over the fear you have of yourself and love yourself. Of course that is easier said than done. There are people in such a rut that it could take months, even years to pull themselves out of it and get better. And that's just extremely unfortunate. Hopefully anyone in that state will get to felling better soon. Just know, if you are one of those people, you can't give up.
Other than that this episode has some pretty funny moments here and there and some good looking animation. Don't forget relateable and likeable characters. My one complaint is kind of odd, but it's Courage's scream. He does it way too much and it gets a bit grading. Especially during that nightmare scene. Anyway I think this is a great episode through and through. No doubt about it. This show still holds up. Now I just need to re-watch a bunch if other episodes. Maybe instead of Powerpuff Month I could do a Courage Month in 2017. Hmm....I'll think about it.
Overall good episode. A check in every area except for sound, which got a -. Mostly because of Courage's constant screaming, but also because the soundtrack in this episode isn't the most memorable. So that's that. Well we only have one Toon-O-Ween left. This one was rather serious so I think next time we'll have some fun. Next time let's watch some Pokémon. I'll see you guys then.
Kevin: "So you have to return to school today?"
Evan: "Yep, and on Halloween no less. It ticks me off."
Kevin: "I didn't think you were even trick-or-treating."
Evan: "I'm not, but I still just want to enjoy the spirit of the holiday without having to stress about how to factor complex numbers, or what the definition of Papillon is."
Kevin: "A Papillon is a dog breed. There, one less thing you have to worry about."
Evan: "Jeez, thanks Kevin."
Kevin: "Always happy to help."
Evan: "Oh, while you're here I have something to ask you."
Kevin: "What is it?"
Evan: "It's about Daniel."
Kevin: "The ghost?"
Evan: "Yeah. I want to ask if you know his brother. Like if he's a fellow Guardian Angel or something."
Kevin: "He could be, but I don't know. I could always find out. The divine spirits keep a record of all the Guardian Angels."
Evan: "Cool. But if he's not a Guardian Angel then what else could he be."
Kevin: "He could also just choose to live the rest of his life in the spirit realm without the responsibility of watching over someone for their entire life. In which case there's a record on those guys as well. "
Evan: "And if not that?"
Kevin: "Then he's either facing eternal punishment or he decided to live out his spirit days on Earth. In either case he's gonna be almost impossible to find."
Evan: "Dang. Well let's hope it's not either of those two options. Well, I have to go to school now. See ya."
Kevin: "See Ya."
TO BE CONTINUED
No comments:
Post a Comment