Benton Tarantella (Courage the Cowardly Dog)
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Benton Tarantella is a villain in Courage the Cowardly Dog. He is a zombie who poses as a film director. He has terrorized Courage a couple of times.
He first appeared in the season one episode Everyone Wants to Direct. In this episode he disguised himself with a fake nose and glasses. Courage noticed his zombie-like characteristic early on and his suspicions were confirmed when the Computer confirmed that it was true. He discovered that both Tarantella and his partner Von Volkien died long ago. Von Volkien was buried beneath the farmhouse, and Tarantella was plotting to use Eustace and Muriel to help him resurrect his dead partner, so they could then devour Muriel. Courage managed to alter the script, enraging Von Volkien, sending both zombies back to the crypt.
Benton reappeared in season 3's episode Angry Nasty People. In this he had changed a lot; he no longer wore the nose and glasses to disguise his face. The fact that he was a zombie wasn't acknowledged at all other than his appearance. As with several of the other villains, none of the main cast recognized him. He had become more of an evil movie director rather than a zombie posing as one, plotting to make his film entitled Angry Nasty People a major success by mistreating the actors and using them to create an exact replica of Eustace, Mr. Nasty, who would be the star of the show. He wanted this to be a success so that his agent Lazzo(not seen onscreen)would give him a lot of luxuries. Tarantella was defeated when distracted from Mr. Nasty by Courage, who was pretending to be in the process of throwing Muriel into a pool of quicksand. Tarantella, excited, stood on a rocking chair, filming this, and Courage took this opportunity to hit the rocking chair, throwing Tarantella into the quicksand. Tarantella watched himself drown on the television, and as he sank he complimented Courage for his nastiness.
Tarantella had not reappeared since then, and was not amongst the villains in Ball of Revenge, although many fans feel he should have been, since he had good reason to return, unlike villains like the Weremole, Black Puddle Queen or the Clutching Foot.
