| “ | You stupid dog! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Zalost's angered villainous breakdown to Courage before threatening to kill Courage and Muriel for restoring Nowhere to happiness and the destruction of his tower holding the last Unhappy Cannonball. |
Dr. Zalost is the main antagonist of the episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost", the Season 2 finale of the Cartoon Network show Courage the Cowardly Dog.
He was voiced by Paul Schoeffler.
Personality[]
| “ | What's the good of having all the money in the world if it doesn't bring any happiness? And if I'm not happy, no one deserves to be happy! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Zalost’s misanthropy |
Dr. Zalost is a deep, tragic character whose personality was carved out by the depths of his melancholy and poor, misbegotten efforts at self-cure. Deep down, Dr. Zalost is deeply depressed and lonely. He has a very grim tone that permeates his entire presence and into the physical appearance of his being, including the dark foreboding tower in which he resides. It is a profound sadness that has been leading his actions, finding any way possible to alleviate his suffering.
Despite his melancholy, Dr. Zalost is highly intelligent and scientifically oriented. He tries to find happiness in a very systematic, albeit warped, scientific process. This is evident in the creation of the "Unhappy Cannonballs"-a clear manifestation of his technical capability and innovative thinking, even if misapplied.
There is a bit of selfishness in the character of Dr. Zalost. In his quest for happiness, he has little consideration for the rest of the world. He would spread misery throughout the town to prove his theory and cure his own personal unhappiness. This rather self-centered philosophy seems to be deeply rooted in the belief that his suffering is great enough to justify extreme measures.
There is an underlying bitterness and resentment in Dr. Zalost's personality. It is as if he can't be happy, and neither should anybody else. Such spitefulness might be understood as one of his protective mechanisms against the bitter inability to find at least something joyful in this world.
Dr. Zalost also displays childlike vulnerability. His reaction to the happy plums is one of giggling and real delight; this shows that inside that gloomy exterior, there still can be happiness and innocence. This moment humanizes him and suggests that his villainous actions stem more from misguided desperation than innate evil. He does have some redeeming qualities. His eventual transformation after eating Muriel’s happy plums indicates that a capacity for change and growth was present. That suggests that under the grim exterior, there's a person with warmth and positive emotions inside, just waiting for a catalyst.
The creation of Rat as his only friend shows how much he deeply needs communication and contact with another living being. This is probably contributing to his depression and extreme actions; he has tried to find his place in the world he feels disconnected from.
Biography[]
Dr. Zalost is a depressed scientist whose goal in life was to make everyone as miserable as he was. In order for this to happen, he created the Unhappy Cannonballs that, when a person or animal is hit, they would instantly become unhappy. When he demanded $33,333,333,333 (33 and ⅓ billion US dollars) to fund his (already self-funded) Unhappy Cannonball project, however, his proposal for his plan was laughed at, and he threatened the mayor and his assistant that he'll use Nowhere as research for his Unhappy Cannonballs, which will make the people very unhappy, yet, this only got him kicked out.
When he started firing his Unhappy Cannonballs at the citizens of the American town of Nowhere, Kansas, he was given the money in order for him to stop his attack upon Nowhere, but he said that the money did not make him feel any better, so he rudely turned off the TV in his room. Still not satisfied, he continued his attack on the citizens. This even affected Muriel, but Eustace is just fine, with Zalost clarifying that Eustace is immune to emotions. Zalost had an assistant, an anthropomorphic rat named Rat, who is also his henceman, pet and son. Their relationship was rather complicated, and it's shown that Zalost is the more abusive one in their relationship. For example, he was angry with him for not giving him a proper hug.
When Courage discovered that the antidote to the Unhappy Cannonballs was Muriel's Happy Plums, he sneaked into Zalost's tower, with the help from Eustace who disguised himself as a pizza deliveryman, which also resulted in Rat being easily fooled into paying Eustace $20 for the pizza, being unaware that Courage is inside (even Eustace is very pleased that Courage is right that being a pizza deliveryman is the easiest $20.) After Courage entered the tower, Rat and Courage fought briefly, when one of the Unhappy Cannonballs hit Rat, mutating him into a monstrous version that bears a striking resemblance to Warooey. At the end, Courage used one of the Happy Plums to turn Rat into a crying baby. Courage managed to get to the top, but not before being hogtied by Dr. Zalost and having a cannon pointing at Courage. Zalost then informs Courage that if he can win a game of Hangman before the cannon goes off, Zalost will cure Muriel. After several wrong guesses, and a fiasco of buying vowels, Courage guesses BOOM correctly, but without guessing the consonants, which upsets Zalost, who falsely accuses Courage of cheating. After Zalost grabs Courage and threatens to end Courage's life, Courage threw a cup of Happy Plums on Zalost's head, which is then added to the Unhappy Cannonball mix, and it created new cannonballs that cured everyone. The result of the new Happy Cannonballs being created destroyed Zalost's Tower, however, with Zalost moaning and escaping.
Dr. Zalost's villainous breakdown as he calls Courage a stupid dog for having his tower destroyed and happiness restored while threatening to kill Courage and Muriel while holding the last Unhappy Cannonball.
After Courage took the baby Rat and a Happy Cannonball back home, Dr. Zalost, now charred, withered and angry, calls Courage a stupid dog, which Eustace calls all the time. Courage uses his Happy Cannonball to return Muriel to normal while Dr. Zalost uses the last Unhappy Cannonball, simply now known as the Killer Unhappy Cannonball, at Eustace, petrifying him. After some zombie-esque moans and kicking Baby Rat out of his way, Zalost made it to the kitchen and saw the Happy Plums on the table. He ate them, coughed, and was converted into a more happier and now more human scientist; his eyes are normal white and his skin is normal colored, and he then immediately reconciled with Rat by hugging him. Because Dr. Zalost is Serbian due to his name, coincidentally or not, he refers to plums as his favorite meal - Serbia is the world's second largest producer of plums.
Gallery[]
Images[]
.jpg "Straight Outta Nowhere Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (942).jpg (124 KB)")
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- The name "Zalost" comes from the words, Zalost, Žalost and Жалост, meaning "Sorrow" and "Sadness" in Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian/Slovene, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Herzegovinian and the other former Yugoslavian languages. The series' creator, John R. Dilworth, developed Zalost's character while being in Zagreb, Croatia, even though Zalost is obviously of Serbian origin.
- For some reason, Dr. Zalost has green skin, red-violet hair, red eyes, purple eye-bags, a swollen cranium, a bald spot on the back of his head with three tiny hairs, and wears pink high heels. But in his normal form, Dr. Zalost has normal skin, white eyes, and has brown eye-bags.
- Dr. Zalost is one of the many villains, which is 100, in Courage the Cowardly Dog to reform.
- He talks using a Serbian accent, and his nationality is Serbian.
- Dr. Zalost's name is a reference to Zoloft, a famous and powerful antidepressant drug and is a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor. It is used to treat depression and Muriel's Happy Plums is a reference to the drug.
- Before attempting to kill Courage, Muriel and Eustace (albeit mistakenly), Dr. Zalost maniacally laughs in the same manner as Count Dracula. This, along with making all the people and animals of Nowhere depressed by robbing their happiness and being Serbian, indicates that Zalost is a vampire, but not the usual bloodsucking type, but a rare, non-vampiric happiness-destroying vampire.
- Dr. Zomboss might be based off Dr. Zalost
