Couldn't find the Dr. Gerbil chase scene in high quality on RU-vid so I thought I'd upload my own footage. The music always hit me in the feels every time I watched this episode.
Yeah, the music in this case, really makes me think that last shot would've been left out if they had their way. Or maybe that's just part of the joke. Super dramatic buildup to a cartoon gerbil getting moderately hurt.
You know, not only was the music memorable, but I think it was a pretty interesting choice to remove all sound effects as well (except for Courage's screaming and the waterfall as the piece ends). It allows the music to stand out so much more and gives the scene a much more ethereal and otherworldly vibe to it.
I always felt it was very surreal. If you think about it, they come out of this pipe, onto a river, which is surrounded by mountains and what appears to be a forest (or just some trees). The strange thing is, everywhere that Courage has been has not had mountains or a forest. He has always lived in the middle of nowhere, which is flat, and devoid of life. So seeing him come out of that pipe for the first time onto a river, and then a giant waterfall is something we the viewers feel is beyond comprehension because we have never seen this landscape anywhere else in the series. In my opinion, Doc Gerbil’s lab is somewhere obviously, very far from Courage’s home, which gives off a very terrifying feeling since this other place (Doc Gerbil’s Lab) is so far from anywhere else in the world. But even a lab in the middle of nowhere where no one goes is even more surreal and terrifying to think about. This place could be even further from society than where Courage lives for all we know. That combined with the possibility of Courage being unable to rescue them makes me wonder if a scenario such as that were to happen, how would Courage get home? There is nothing, but mountains, a river, a waterfall, and some trees… Then finally, the music (which is so different from any other piece of music in the series) to complete that entire feeling of surrealism and fear.
@@00FIt's no wonder why Gerbil is Psychotic, he probably spent way too much in isolated in a faraway place that his kindly doctor persona is just a mask. Why else would he be laughing when he went into the room with the electric sparks and after he fell down the Waterfall? Because he's insane in the membrane, like CooCoo!
I'll never forget the first time I watched this. I legitimately thought the TV gliched out. Maybe I accidentally turned on my step-dad's sound system or something lol It just never occured to me the music was an actual part of the show. It freaked me the fuck out.
This song makes me feel like I'm remembering how I died in a past reincarnation in the arms of loved ones I no longer recognize during the bittersweet ending of an adventure through a magical realm, and yet it's playing over a scene in which a gerbil chases a screaming pink dog out of his theme park ride/secret skin care experiment laboratory. Deep fried my brain as a kid
It’s so funny how Courage unfairly gets labeled a cowardly dog when he’s demonstrated such awesome proficiency at driving, hostage rescue, hand to hand combat and survival skills. But I guess “Courage the tier 1 operator who occasionally screams in fear” doesn’t have the same ring
I find that Courage the Cowardly Dog is a show where most people regard it as shock horror to kids and families for the time. But then... there are many MANY scenes like this in the show, where it shows emotion, stress, and even terror to the audience without going overboard, while also being entertaining to both those audiences in several ways. This scene is one of the reasons why I will always love this show.
Bro this scene demands all your emotional faculties to be engaged. This show really dropped banger after banger and did it like it was nothing. But geez whoever is on the vocals here really needs her props
They ruined the mood honestly. It ending on the waterfall was perfect. If anything they should’ve had him quietly get up and walk off screen instead of the stupid laugh.
I wasn't ever super huge on Courage as a show growing up, but I'll NEVER EVER forget this scene. that music completely took me off guard when I was younger. and while it took me eons to find this again, I never once forgot about this.
Dude, growing up to these kind of cartoons has been an honor. I see what's out there now and it's almost sad. If you've watched all the episodes, than you know there are some episodes that him home pretty hard. And wait until you hear about the theories, and then you'll really begin to wonder.
imagine if the scene ended on the gerbil falling down the waterfall, without the network censors forcing them to add a shot of the gerbil alive because god forbid a character dies on screen
That music just traumatized me so much. It made me theorized that those kids singing "It's doc Gerbil's world" are kids who he kidnapped experiment on them but turns out they're rejects and those choirs singing at the chase scene are doc Gerbil's successful experiments which is what really creeped me out. And that green atmosphere just makes it look ghostly ask if they are spirits singing the song. I was expecting to see some ghosts that blends in the background. I mean think of it, you just heard one of the "worst" and most "annoying" song followed by this wonderful opera. Which is what made it unsettling.
0:23-0:32 (especially the second half) sounds just like "Sonne" by Rammstein. There's a really cool cover of it by Scala and Kolacny Brothers on YT that's just as haunting if not more so... they're the girl's choir who do all the creepy trailer music
I remember every detail about this scene. How strange it was, how out of place the music was, but most vividly I remember the sky. I don't know why, but this teal-green-black combination has marked me. Even before finding this video, this scene would randomly pop up in my mind and the sky was the clearest detail.
This music always made me feel really sad for some reason as a kid (and still does actually). It made me think of death and losing the people closest to me like my parents. I don't know why 9 year old me had these kind of thoughts lol
I remember when I was that age watching this personally thought it was not necessary to use the soundtrack. It’s not even close to scary. It’s just a typical Chase nothing worth adding tense drama.
When I listen to this, I do not know why I feel like a sprinter in a race. Like, I am tired and in pain.but when the music kicks in at 1:00. I muster the strength in all of my body to run. Then a hit a speed that was untapped before finishing the race.
I remember adding the audio of the ending from Warcraft 3, the one where Archimonde exploded by those wisps, synching it to the part where Dr Gerbil jumps and swept away to the Waterfall. Holy Hell it acutally made this even more epic
This show… reminiscent of when our childhoods had quality content that was purely original. There was no reason this song was so serious but it did it’s job PERFECTLY. They really just have ran out of ideas nowadays :/
Putting the epic-ness of this scene aside: I love how this is clearly a broadcast (maybe it’s original broadcast?) from CN itself. It’s not a bad recording either! Pretty amazing, and not far from how I remember early 2000’s Cartoon Network!
I’ve thought of this episode more times than I can count just for this music alone and I’ve finally found a song similar to it by accident. Had to come to RU-vid to listen to it to make sure I was remembering right. Thank you for putting this up. I tried looking this up sometime ago and couldn’t find anything. So glad it’s here now. The song btw I found that I think sounds similar is Heart of nowhere by Kevin MacLeod.
This was a total mindf@@@. The score is beautiful but the fact that there are limited sound effects is genius. Plus that last chord is like perfect resolution
Doc Gerbil can be possibly considered either an anti-villain or a tragic villain as he wrongly assumed that Courage was being oppressed, since he says after abducting Muriel and Eustace "You're free now!",even though it's clear that Courage loves his family and is also loved by Muriel and sometimes Eustace-though would it kill him to show more respect to Courage? But I think it's implied that Doc Gerbil may have been a former lab animal and may have been abused himself, and in that case, you can't say you blame him for disliking humans. Problem is, he's generalizing and assuming all humans are evil and taking out his anger on innocent people instead of those who may have tested on him. I vaguely saw this episode as a kid and didn't understand the concept of animal testing at the time and it's sad that it still is done till this day. I wish Doc Gerbil would realize the error of his ways, see the Courage is,in fact in a good home and would become an ally to Courage
This was a very surprising scene. The music is epic and hits hard and theres very little sound from the environment. The tone just hits hard and I love it.
This song is frequently identified as "Ode to the Beloved" by Rusty Crutcher; but that's not actually true. This was actually the show's composer arranging sounds from the same choral audio library which was used in Ode to the Beloved. This isn't technically a song so much as it is sounds from that library overlayed with the action; which is why it can't be found on the soundtrack.
I remember being very confused watching this episode on TV. I'd never watched an animated show where it would just bring down all of the other sounds suddenly and only have music playing (beautiful music at that). I remember thinking something strange happened to the TV and kept muting and unmuting. Turns out that just the kind of show Courage was: Willing to do the unexpected thing. Classic show, truly don't think anything will ever feel like Courage did.
