Nickelodeon cartoons and shows have a special place in the hearts of many. You have your breakout successes (SpongeBob) and your undiscovered classics (Doug), or rather 'those shows that tanked the first time around and then became slightly more popular. The thing is, Nickelodeon created hundreds of shows and movies, and every now and then they took their eye off the ball. For example, sometimes a truly unsettling episode of Dora The Explorer pops up to scare everyone who watches it. Just joking, Dora never got too weird. But other shows did, and they did with gusto. Some of the items on this list are genuinely disturbing.

When you realize that children watch this bizarre entertainment, it makes you wonder why they were allowed out of the production gate. Parents got angry too, especially over some of the more damaging episodes on this list. Seriously, we've got episodes of some very famous shows on this rundown, but each one crossed a line somewhere. And 'Nick' didn't think to stop it from happening. Join us, as we wander down Nickelodeon's weirder paths.

23 Fred: The Show And That Fly Episode

You may have missed this one. It flew under the radar for a lot of people and it didn't seem to catch on like producers hoped it would. The show was... different.

And different, as we all know, doesn't always mean good. The fact that the show was cancelled after just one season surely can't be a quality mark of any kind. It wasn't liked, and that was mainly due to the sheer oddness of it. There are hundreds of examples of weirdness here (which is a lot for one season) but the fly episode is extra strange, where Fred's pet fly goes missing and he offers a reward for its safe return.

22 The Entire Run Of Catdog

Via: Shout! Factory

There are plenty of weird shows in the history of Nickelodeon and there are weirder shows than this one. But Catdog pushed the envelope consistently. There were odd questions concerning Catdog's anatomy and even many of the side characters felt like a fever dream.

If you haven't seen it, it's a story of two conjoined brothers, with one being a cat and the other a dog. It featured a lot of themes pertaining to the likes and dislikes of each animal and while there were many wholesome moments sprinkled throughout the series, many episodes featured off-the-rails concepts and downright weird plots.

21 Rocko's Modern Life And Chokey Chicken

via: complex.com

Remember people, these shows are fundamentally developed for the purpose of entertaining children. Someone should really have highlighted that idea for the creators of this show. In fact, it should have been highlighted in the brightest red pen in history, because these guys got it seriously wrong.

We know that there is at least a high proportion of young children who don't understand the joke hidden in this name, but we really don't expect it to be used in a kid's show. Chokey Chicken was a restaurant in the show. By the fourth season, the restaurant was re-named Chewy Chicken.

20 SpongeBob And The Treatment Of Squidward

via: youtube.com

Squidward's life is rough He's underappreciated, even by the audience, and at times the way he is treated on the show is downright depressing. We're not here to defend him (he can be pretty mean) but we do think that making him suffer pain every episode (physical and emotional) is just scary.

The worst? The episode Squid Baby, where he has an accident that gives him significant head trauma. He regresses to infanthood, is dressed in a diaper, and then repeatedly beaten up by various characters.

19 Rugrats And The Space Vixens

via pinterest

Nope, that isn't the title of a YouTube spoof. That's an actual event in a show. And the show was pretty out there to start with. Many parents thought it was way too 'clear' about quite weighty adult concerns. A number of episodes didn't sit well with some parents, who thought the cartoon was supposed to be for young children.

Grandpa rents some videos and one of them is called Lonely Space Vixens. And he tells the kids that the tape is for when they go to bed.

18 That Machine That Made Puppets

via: youtube.com

This show never really jumped into the zeitgeist like some of the others on this list did. In fact, it isn't actually that well known. And that is most definitely a good thing, because there is one aspect of the show that continues to haunt the dreams of many a viewer. It all involves a piece of machinery, and what 'feeds' it.

The 'Weinerizer' was a special machine that created puppets out of children. While it may have been (possibly) invented by the late, great Gepetto, it was still horrible to think that Mr. Weiner would place children in at one end, and wait to have puppets 'made' from them.

17 Ren, Stimpy, And The Baby

Ren & Stimpy was the poster child for the new breed of TV cartoons, riding the same wave The Simpsons, Futurama, and King of the Hill (not to mention Beavis and Butthead) came in on. It's meant to be surreal. Every now and then, though, it tipped the scales a little. In one episode, a character gives birth to what is, essentially, a little cloud of flatulence.

The show dug deep here, including showing the "delivery" of the baby. It was definitely one of the strangest episodes the series produced.

16 A Really Dark Rugrats Joke

Yep, these guys again. It's almost as if they wanted to be controversial. While this selection doesn't involve grown-up movies, it does manage to be even more alarming because it taps into deep-seated concerns that everyone has at some point. We're talking about demise, and that topic certainly doesn't have a guaranteed spot in any kid's show script meeting.

In one episode, Grandpa becomes sick of watching Stu's slideshow. So he jokingly "calls" Dr. Kevorkian. This was definitely a joke aimed at grown-ups because many kids would have no idea who the controversial figure was.

15 Dora The Explorer And Blasphemy

via: doratheexplorer.wikia.com

Aah, Dora the Explorer. This is a children's entertainment giant, no mistaking that. The little wonder has been entertaining kiddies for generations. There have been oodles of opponents as well. The complaints have focused on a number of issues, such as how each episode is structurally the same.

Oh, and how she worships the Devil. Dora the Explorer: Dance to the Rescue is a part of the Dora canon. But on the Christians Against Cartoons site (now suspiciously absent from the Web) she is accused of being led by a goat.

14 Pete And Pete And Spandex Guy

via: birthmoviesdeath.com

The Adventures of Pete and Pete was a mainly cute and funny little show. It hasn't made a huge impression in the years since, but many people still look back on it fondly. It is best-remembered for being eccentric (which in kid's TV means pretty much a show without any structure), and the show had an absolute ton of guest stars, from Steve Buscemi to Michael Stipe.

And it also had Artie. The only problem is that Artie wore spandex and a bit over-the-top. Artie was hyped, and although entertaining to most of us, there were some that felt he was very "out of place."

13 The Rugrats And Boppo

via: rugrats.wikia.com

Rugrats definitely had its share of controversy and strangeness. But to be fair, it was pretty clear from the outset that the show's creators wanted to entertain adults as well as kids. This proved to work pretty well. There were nine seasons of the Rugrats. That's a heck of a lot of growing up to be done.

In one episode, Chuckie enjoys playing with his Mr. Boppo toy. It's a life-size doll that looks like a clown. He becomes so obsessed that Phil says, "A kid his age should be outside playing with his friends, not sitting alone in his room bopping his Boppo."

12 iCarly And 50 Shades

via: icarly.wikia.com

No matter how incredibly weird these shows can get (and they can) you can at least rest safe in the knowledge that they never go too blue. These are children's shows and they should be about fun and growing up. The odd teenage crush episode is perfectly acceptable, as long as there is a suitable distance between each actor.

In iCarly, they wanted to push the envelope. When the fantastically popular (Harry Potter popular) Fifty Shades of Grey novel came out, grown-ups everywhere enjoyed reading it. iCarly's creators snuck in a joke about the popular release, showcasing one of the actors reading "Nifty Shades of Beige." Surely a funny joke to most grown-ups but a bit off for a kids show.

11 Breadwinners, The Pumpers Episode

via: mlpforums.com

This show only lasted for two seasons, and if you ever had a chance to watch it, it's easy to understand why it didn't go farther than that.

The characters in Breadwinners twerked like their lives depended on it. It was a recurring theme that filled a lot of the episodes. And then we get to the Pumpers episode. This episode is almost entirely offensive. But then we see one of the characters effectively break wind with an obnoxious look on his face. All to advertise the Pumper's restaurant. It's weird that they let this show happen!

10 Sanjay, Craig, And Everything They Do

via: thr.com

We couldn't really imagine a show that is more unstructured and wacky (apart from maybe the Pete and Pete extravaganza). These two are odd. And there's no getting around that. We should make it clear that these two characters indulge in behavior that upset a lot of parents.

It's basically inappropriate. The lowest point was when the two guys desperately wanted to watch a "behind transplant." And reading those words should tell you how off this show is. One of them is a snake, by the way. And he pretends to burst out of the other's chest in the same episode.

9 iCarly And The Soap Joke

Nickelodeon's Groundbreaking Hit Comedy iCarly Concludes Its Five-season Run With A Special Hour-long Series Finale Event, Friday, Nov. 23, at 8 P.M. (ET/PT). (PRNewsFoto/Nickelodeon)

There are plenty of ways in which iCarly made viewers feel a little grubby, but this one is a special case. Like Rugrats, the show's creators skirted a line to help them appeal to both kids and grown-ups. This is where iCarly got clever.

In one episode, Spencer picks up a chick (as in small bird) in a shower and says, "I picked him up thinking he was a bar of soap. I stopped before... never mind". There are many levels of offensive here and it's likely only grown-ups really understood the joke.

8 SpongeBob And The Nuclear Wasteland

via: spongebob.wikia.com

It's hard not to like SpongeBob. He's always happy, and he and his friends have a fun-filled life. Even when they're going through some pretty intense stuff, the sponge and his buddies always seem to see the bright side. Indeed, every cloud has a silver lining in Bikini Bottom.

Including the clouds created by a nuclear bomb. The show, according to the creators, is set in Bikini Atoll. Back in 1946, the US tested nuclear bombs there. Look at the Bikini Bottom landscape and the strangeness of all the creatures. There's no way around it. Kids watched a show set in the aftermath of a terrible nuclear experiment. We love SpongeBob, but it'll never be the same again.

7 Dora, And The World's Worst Parents

via: doratheexplorer.wikia.com

Some feel that Dora is a tragic story of an unsupervised child. Her companions? A talking map, a backpack (talking, again), and a monkey that wore boots. Her parents were obviously too busy or too uncaring to give her even an ounce of protection. She faced real peril every day, but mum and dad were too busy to rescue her.

It would have been better if her parents just tried to find her, or at least accompanied her to some of the places she had to go. Every day she returned, lucky to be alive. And the worst thing was, she left her house completely undetected. It's a kid's show!

6 Jimmy Neutron And The Twonkies

Lets face it, kids love weird stuff. It helps make the strange process of growing up a little more bearable. But if you're making a TV show, it helps if you really understand children. When the Jimmy Neutron series decided to introduce The Twonkies, it quickly became apparent that the show's creators were in no way guilty of thinking the thing through.

The Twonkies were creatures clearly based on those in Gremlins, that Joe Dante movie from the 1980s (a great film). The Twonkies weren't cute though, even before they turned into monsters. And the whole thing became super disturbing when they reproduced.

5 SpongeBob Catches Some Serious Rays

SpongeBob is happy and carefree around 99% of the time. But even he and his friend Patrick feel the need to be popular now and then. A popular seal called Craig tells everyone there is an amazing party coming up. All the cool kids are going. But he tells our two heroes that their tan is not sufficient.

SpongeBob asks Patrick to help him tan, and Patrick (being about as intelligent as a... starfish) leaves him under the tanning bed too long. SpongeBob nearly dries out, but Patrick covers him in caramel so they are allowed into the party. It's all pretty strange.

4 Dora Gives Out The Wrong Message

When Dora The Explorer first arrived, it was greeted with almost universal acclaim. Her staggeringly blind levels of trust were ignored. As was the parental neglect. Parents really liked how empowering she is for young girls.

Then the Dora and Friends phase arrived. Dora was a slim girl, with makeup and jewelry. Parents were up in arms. They felt the new Dora was stereotypical. It arguably contributed to unhealthy body image problems for young girls. In just a few years Dora went from empowerment to lip gloss. It didn't work.