The Tower of Dr. Zalost
Original air date: 01/11/2002
Production code: CCD-213
Dr. Zalost, an extremely depressed and misunderstood professor, is incapable of dealing with his sorrowful condition by himself. Overcome by his jealousy of other people's happiness, he lashes out at Nowhere, firing unhappy cannonballs out of his walking tower and plummets the entire town into a state of depression. To gain happiness, he seeks economic elements from the representatives of Nowhere, but when he does not experience relief, he refuses to undo what he has inflicted. With Muriel befalling the effects of the unhappy cannon balls, Courage ventures into the tower of Dr. Zalost to undo the sorrow of Nowhere and the malevolent professor.
Tropes displayed in this story include:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The tower is a CGI element.
- Collapsing Lair: After Courage mixes Muriel's happy plums into Dr. Zalost's cannonball formula, the resulting overload causes the tower to come crashing down and return everyone to normal.
- The Dragon: Rat is this to Dr. Zalost.
- Green Around the Gills: The victims of the unhappy cannon balls turn green.
- Heartbreak And Icecream: A depressed Dr.Zalost is shown eating ice cream while watching TV.
- Heel–Face Turn: Both Dr. Zalost and Rat undergo this after they eat Muriel's happy plums.
- Heroic BSoD: This is what pretty much happens to someone whenever they're hit by the unhappy cannonballs.
- Hulking Out: Getting hit with an unhappy cannonball causes Rat to become bigger and more muscular, as well as angrier.
- The Immune: The cannon balls have no immediate effect on Eustace, which Zalost thinks it’s because he’s immune to emotions. Once he gets hit too many times, however, he turns to stone.
- Mistaken for Apocalypse: Upon seeing Zalost’s tower collapsing, Eustace thinks it’s the end of the world and hides in the closet.
- Save the Villain: As he runs out of Dr. Zalost's collapsing tower, Courage manages to save Rat who has become a baby after eating one of Muriel's happy plums.
- Skewed Priorities: Both Courage and Zalost get a bit too invested with the doctor's game of hangman, despite the cannon aimed right at Courage. Both even pause the game, with Courage untying himself and Zalost dousing the cannon, just to discuss how paying for vowels works before Courage willingly returns to his bindings.
- They Called Me Mad!: Dr. Zalost was laughed at when he asked the mayor of Nowhere for funding for his unhappiness cannonballs, so he attacks the town as revenge.
- You Dirty Rat!: Dr. Zalost has a hunchbacked rat who serves as his assistant in robbing everyone of their happiness. Once he eats one of Muriel's happy plums, he is transformed into a baby and becomes less evil.
