Hey look! Something in this countdown that can actually be applicable to this site!
Katz wasn’t a choice I had thought of until recently. like honestly the idea just kinda slapped me in the face while I was coming up with ideas, but it did make me wonder why I hadn’t thought of him before. Courage the Cowardly Dog was one of my favorite shows from Cartoon Network’s golden years, possibly my favorite period and of all the creepy crap that showed up in that show, Katz stood above them all.
You may not understand why I think that. To that I say, “you probably haven’t watched the show, have you?” Okay, so it’s true that there was a plethora of other bizarre things in Nowhere that outright looked way more scary then Katz. Looking at him he’s very unassuming and non-threatening... and that’s precisely WHY he’s so damn scary!
Katz was one of the show’s rare uses of subtlety, well for the most part! Overlooking stuff like him turning people into household appliances, Katz was one of the few things in Courage the Cowardly Dog that wasn’t in your face ridiculously scary, or something dark that was so played up for laughs that it really wasn’t scary at all, instead Katz had a very subtle, sadistic nature to him. The fact that he was so calm and in control of any situation he was in always as opposed to Courage’s frantic, helpless nature made for a wonderful contrast to the protagonist as well as made you question what Katz was going to do and any time that unsettling theme of his played in the background it put me on edge... in a good way!
Another thing that probably helped this was Katz was also one of the few reoccurring villains in the show, instead of a one-shot like many others so you immediately knew what he was capable of when he returned and while the show never out right said it, I loved the implications it gave that Katz was akin to the antagonist from The Most Dangerous Game; an eccentric millionaire who has long since used his wealth to experience every kind of thrill the world has to offer and is now so bored with life that the only thrill he can get now is using said wealth to concoct the most elaborate ways of killing people... or very likely I’m looking WAY too into this and stuff like King Ramses and the freaky “You’re not perfect” demon fetus are all way scarier but hey, this is my opinion.
