CliqueClack (for the older) Kids: The Powerpuff Girls

The early days of Cartoon Network were an interesting time. Looking for ways to stretch their current lineup of older, yet classic, cartoons the cable channel launched an initiative to not only find new material but to also give creative control back to animators and directors who had certain visions. The result of this initiative was World Premiere Toons, later to be called the What a Cartoon! Show.

The new showcase introduced a number of cartoons that eventually became regular series on the network. This included Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken and a small cartoon that featured three adorable preschool girls who could wipe the floor with you while eating their graham crackers and milk. The young ladies I speak about are The Powerpuff Girls and, for several years, they and their creator were the darlings of the network.

The origin of TPPG is fairly well known by now. Creator Craig McCracken was struck with the idea for the characters while he was still a student at Cal Arts. Putting his ideas down onto animation cells he created a student film entitled The Whoopass Girls! in 1992. Eventually, it made it’s way through the industry (without YouTube? How shocking!) and ended up as one of the entries at the 1994 Festival of Animation.

Somewhere between Cal Arts and the Festival, McCracken got himself a job at Hanna-Barbera as the art director for another Cartoon Network show — Dexter’s Laboratory. While he was performing that task,  Craig decided to present The Whoopass Girls to network executives. They liked what they saw and, with a few tweaks and a name change to The Powerpuff Girls, a pilot episode was placed on the What a Cartoon! Show in 1995. It generated enough notice to begat a second episode on What a Cartoon! a year later and, soon enough, a series pickup.

The Powerpuff Girls premiered as a regular series in November of 1998. Like many other cartoons of that era (and today), McCracken featured a minimalist style of animation that was similar to that of the ’50s and early ’60s. Yet, unlike cartoons of those days, TPPG focused much more on the characters and the writing. By making Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup totally adorable and tough at the same time, McCracken reached a balance that appealed to a large audience.

A large and diverse audience. TPPG became one of those cartoons that appealed to almost everyone. For the kids it was the empowerment of these little girls. For fans of animation it was the minimalist, yet slightly anime, style in which the girls were animated. For others it was the writing of McCracken and others that brought them back to the show week after week (and eventually day after day and hour after hour).

For many more it was the villains and secondary characters of the city of Townsville that made the series enjoyable. In fact, some of these characters became more famous in time than the actual trio of super-powered girls. One example of that was the Girls arch-enemy Mojo Jojo, who was previously the lab assistant of Professor Utonium (the man who created the Powerpuff Girls). With his pseudo Japanese accent and his mad scientist attitude, JoJo became one of those characters who stood out from the crowd. Others in this group included the hillbilly monster Fuzzy Lumpkins and the androgenous villain known simply as Him.

The Powerpuff Girls was Cartoon Network’s highest rated premiere and it continued to increase in popularity as the years went on. As we entered a new century, the show became a Friday night primetime ratings winner amongst the cable networks. Eventually, anything and everything Powerpuff Girls was showing up on retail store shelves. The show was nominated for an Emmy five times and won three.

It became so popular that, by 2002, Warner Brothers and Cartoon Network decided to release a Powerpuff Girls theatrical film. Simply called The Powerpuff Girls Movie, the McCracken written and directed release told the story of how the girls came about and how they ended up becoming the defenders of Townsville. The movie eventually grossed over 16 million dollars. In 2005, The Powerpuff Girls were really treated to the anime style when TV Tokyo began airing its version of the franchise — Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z.

After 79 episodes The Powerpuff Girls ended its first-run era on Cartoon Network in 2005. Three years later the show moved over to Cartoon Network’s sister station Boomerang. This was not the end of the series, though. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show’s launch, Craig McCracken has worked on a new Powerpuff Girls special, which will air January 19th on the Cartoon Network. One day after the special airs the complete series, as well as the pilot episodes, will be released in a 6-DVD box set. Perhaps the combination of the special and the box set will spur on a newer group of fans to the series and, perhaps, bring it to the forefront once again.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Jan 12, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT