Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These are the things that the Powerpuff Girls are made of. Professor Utonium and his accidental super kids were a cultural force at the turn of the millennia. They closed out a decade of envelope-pushing programming that is looked on fondly by 90s kids everywhere.
The Powerpuff Girls was an odd show. It was an anomaly that managed to cater to nearly every demographic using wit, sleek design, and references out the hoo-hah. A show about preschool girls with superpowers managed to grab every audience with action and colorful villains. The endless jokes, references, and homages to classic animation kept the parents laughing alongside their oblivious kids. Like other superhero series born in the 90s, the Powerpuff Girls felt familiar and fresh at the same time.
The show became so popular that it spawned spinoff comics, a movie, a reboot, and even an anime. Can you remember an original superhero intellectual property even to approach that kind of popularity that wasn’t a reboot or sequel? That era of creativity is over now, unfortunately, but we still have the reruns (and the reboot, such as it is). Luckily there’s a lot of content from that time to sift through. With such an iconic franchise and a creative team apparently obsessed with jokes in a kid’s show, there’s a whole lot of surprising and lesser-known details and tidbits out there. So pick up the flashing phone and let's head into Townsville to check out some awesome Powerpuff stuff.
17 His Speech Has Famous Origins
Main bad guy Mojo Jojo is one of the Powerpuff Girls’ most colorful foes. A talking monkey based off of an old Japanese superhero show who actually had a hand in the girls’ creation. His speech patterns are also very distinct, repeating himself in slightly different forms of sentences. The origin of this kind of speech was rather obscure. That is, until memes came along.
Let's run this one down quick because like all memes, it’s beginnings are complicated. The Lex Luthor “forty keks” meme is a slight reference to World of Warcraft, but at its core, it is taken from an entry in a book called the DC Superdictionary. In the entry, Luthor steals 40 cakes, and that is very bad. The Superdictionary was an old book from the 70’s that taught kids new words by repeating them over and over in different sentence forms. Powerpuff Girls creator had this book as a kid and hence, Mojo’s odd speech.
16 A Universe Of Stars
With all the callbacks and references, it should come as no surprise that the show-runners were huge comic book and cartoon fans. Those are the kids who end up growing up to be animators after all. They loved animation so much, they crammed a bunch of their favorite characters into their show’s universe and populated Townsville with a bevy of cartoon and comics legends and fan favorites.
I'm not just talking about the Avengers rip-offs of Valhallen and Major Glory. George Jetson, Birdman, Space Ghost, and even Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory make cameos throughout the series’ run. The show is full of such appearances from all kinds of characters, making Townsville either a cartoon nexus or just full of cosplayers.
15 It's Sad We Didn't See This
Who doesn't love a good crossover? No one, that's who. What's better than your favorite thing? Two of your favorite things at the same time. Just ask any man. The Powerpuff Girls had a seriously sweet crossover planned with none other than the Dark Knight himself.
And not just any Batman, we're talking Batman The Animated Series, Timmverse Batman and the Joker. The plan was to have the Joker, animated and designed in his DCAU style, running amok in Townsville. Before the girls can stop him, the Mayor protests and stops them because an A-list villain is finally putting Townsville on the map. The complexity of the episode proved too great, however, and it sadly never saw the light of day.
14 Gotta Beat ‘Em All
It isn't exactly news that the Powerpuff Girls episode titled Meet the Beatalls was one enormous homage/avalanche of references to The Beatles. Craig McCracken loves The Beatles and he wanted to use his cartoon powers to craft a fitting tribute. But the scope of the thing is truly mind-boggling.
Over the course of the episode, in which the villains of Townsville band together into a supergroup, there are no less than 65 Beatles references and parodies. For a less than half an hour episode, it shatters the record for most references in a single episode. There are even a few bonus references, bringing the count to 69 if you count production and airing. Production on the episode finished on the anniversary of John Lennon’s passing, the episode aired on the anniversary of The Beatles’ first televised appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, and an unplanned rerun aired the day after George Harrison passed.
13 Fandom Runs Deep
So much was Craig McCracken’s adoration for the Fab Four, he drew inspiration from them when designing key characters. Remember him? No, not him. Yeah, Him. The devilishly evil and unsettlingly effete Him was a fan-favorite villain throughout the show’s run. He was inspired by characters from the famed Yellow Submarine Beatles animation.
The antagonists of this feature were called the Blue Meanies. The leader of the gang of silly knaves spoke in a high pitched falsetto that was full-on frightening. The Chief Blue Meanie also wore high heels and a sadistic smile that Him also shares. The smile is always on his (its?) face unless it’s during one of his sudden fits of rage. Him also happens to share his source of inspiration with the Gromble, the grotesque and unnerving headmaster from AAAHH!!! Real Monsters.
12 The Devil Inside Him
Speaking of the red menace, he wasn’t always going to be Him. It’s hard to imagine the force of evil with a dramatic name to go by any other moniker, but McCracken’s original plan was different. Him started out as being more, traditionally old school evil.
Simply put, he was just going to be straight up, the Devil. Like actually the devil. Despite all of the grown-up humor, The Powerpuff Girls was still a kid’s show, and the network didn't want to deal with the reference. They switched the name to the more ominous name of “Him,” and the rest is history.
11 A Rather Intense Episode
One episode of the preeminent beat ‘em up show was titled See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey. It is a rock opera in which a magical gnome erases free will to eliminate evil so the girls must fight to restore liberty to the minds of Townsville. Sounds pretty cool, right? All the more reason heads turned when this episode got banned from American Cartoon Network.
The network didn't immediately give a reason for the ban, which quickly generated rumors and speculation. Was it the allusions to the cult-like mentality in the free will moral? The flashing strobes that may be able to cause seizures? Nope, it was some wreckage in a scene that sorta looked like a crucifix So, the network banned the episode.
10 Love Animatedly
The oft-mentioned in this list Craig McCracken, creator of the Fabulous and Fingerless girls, got his first big break with The Powerpuff Girls. It was his life’s passion, and he poured his heart and soul into it. Fate would have it, though, that Craig would get some passion and heart in return.
On the show’s creative team was a storyboard artist named Lauren Faust. The two hit it off. Once they revealed that they had drawn each other as Beatles-inspired characters with no hands or fingers, they knew it was true love. The pair wedded at what we hope was a Townsville-themed wedding dressed as Professor Utonium and Ms. Keane.
9 Adorably Brutal
The Powerpuff Girls was one of the only animated, much less kid-friendly shows that featured permanent demise. Sure, The Simpsons did it, but this was kid’s programming, and the eliminations were sometimes brutal. For example, the fourth Powerpuff girl, named Bunny, was a flawed creation that exploded trying to help her sisters who berated her for her genetic shortcomings. Professor Utonium’s college roommate Dick Hardly burns in a factory while being attacked by Powerpuff clones. Man the show-runners did anything to keep the number of Powerpuffs at three.
8 I’m Not Your Buddy, Guy
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are tools of weaponized cuteness. Just look at their names. It really hammers the juxtaposition and absurdity when a five-year-old named Buttercup is shattering your orbital bone and backhanding your molars out of your mouth. But the rough and masculine Buttercup didn't always have such a sweet name. She used to be much deeper in the tomboy camp.
She was initially going to be named, drum roll please... Bud. Yep, that's it. Blossom, Bubbles, and... Bud. A friend of McCracken’s thankfully foresaw Bud to be a dud and suggested a name change. To get a set of names that evoked the adorable imagery they wanted, they turned to a classic cartoon for inspiration.
7 Two, Two, Three
The creative team knew they wanted a set of names that rolled off the tongue and still brought to mind sugar, spice, and everything nice. So they looked back at the classic animation of yore and tore a page out of Walt Disney’s playbook. Specifically, Sleeping Beauty’s playbook.
In the movie about a sleepy princess, the titular drowsy girl is aided by three fairy godmothers. You know, those deus ex machinas that writers used back before they invented “eagles out of freaking nowhere” and “the power of friendship” to solve all their problems. Those fairies were named Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Kind of a blatant name convention rip-off, but at least they didn't steal their color sche- oh... wait.
6 Lost In Translation
So now we have the girls’ names we all know and love, and fans the world over rejoice when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup grace the screen. You know what’s coming. Say it with us: Well, not quite. As catchy as the names are in English, those names translate rather poorly to other languages because they aren't just names, they are nouns. The translations of these nouns not only don’t fit together, they often conjure up different imagery entirely based on cultural understanding,
For instance, in Latin America they are Bombón, Burbuja, y Bellota (chocolate, bubble, and acorn). In France, they are known as Les Super Nenas, Belle, Bulle, and Rebelle. Over in Poland they are Atomówki: Bójka, Bajka and Brawurka.
5 The City, Of Townsville! Is... Where, Exactly?
Townsville is a vibrant and populous city, despite its name. It’s the stomping grounds for many villains, which is why their faces are the stomping grounds for the Powerpuff Girls. But the city seems so average, what attracts all of these heroes, villains, and cartoon cameo characters? Easy. Magic, or something, maybe technology, I don’t know. All I know is something's off about Townsville.
I know this because, in an episode titled Him Diddle Riddle, the Mayor lets slip a set of coordinates at which an intersection in downtown Townsville is located. These coordinates are 32 degrees north by 212 degrees west. The problem is, it is not possible for latitude to exceed 180 degrees. Let us assume that 212 W exceeds the Prime Meridian and continues to become 148 degrees east. Those coordinates are here, in the Pacific Ocean a ways Southeast of Japan. So the city is either a floating cloud city, underwater domed metropolis, or made of wizards.
4 Stumbling At The Starting Line
Sometimes, people don't start out very strong but end up surprising everyone when they get into the groove and succeed as no one else has. Sometimes, you shouldn't laugh because someone is bad at hacky sack because they might get super good, learn some gnarly tricks and compete in the X-Games someday. The Powerpuff Girls had a terrible reception when they were first screen-tested.
The original cartoon pilots suffered from bad design and artistic direction. They were terrible to the point where a 12-year-old boy who watched the pilots suggested that “Whoever made this cartoon should be fired.” McCracken was devastated, but he went back to the drawing board, practiced his stalls, and came back with a cartoon series so righteous, it blew past the records for highest-rated and most popular series debut on the network.
3 Glad It Got Cut
So how bad could it have been for a preteen to give out downsizing advice? Well, the girls’ designs were reportedly “bug-like” as their proportions were all wrong. McCracken tried to make the girls a little too realistic, and it strayed into uncanny valley territory.
You can see these designs for yourself. In one episode, Professor Utonium laments that all his great inventions are on accident, and dreams what it would have been like to create something on purpose. In that dream, he does not accidentally add in chemical X. The girls that are the result of the experiment are dubbed “The Run of the Mill Girls.”They were bland and dull compared to the other Powerpuffs, and McCracken decided to use the scrapped designs from the early stage of the show's creation to show how far he and the team had come.
2 First Taste Of Failure
The Powerpuff Girls seemed like an unstoppable force for a few years but hit its most significant speed bump when it tried to transition to the big screen. The Powerpuff Girls Movie was a commercial flop, but not because of the quality of the movie. The film was not marketed well by Cartoon Network’s parent company, and it went up against Men In Black II during its release. That sounds dumb now, but 2002 was a different time; sequelitis had yet to kick into top gear. The PPG movie was doomed to failure, and the network got spooked and dialed back its efforts in the feature film department.
Despite casualties like Ed, Edd, and Eddy’s movie getting reduced to a TV release, it wasn't all bad. A silver lining around all if this was Samurai Jack. His planned film got sent into development hell, but it crawled out of the grave and became the recent series reboot. All is not lost.
1 The End Of The Show
So usually at this point in the story, the awesome show has failed for the first time hard, and the suits and bean counters are calling for blood. They cancel the show despite the creator’s protest. But this story happens to be the other way around.
The network still had faith in the show and wanted to order a seventh season. However, McCracken and crew felt that the show had run its course and most of the original team had moved on to other projects. They were satisfied with a job well done and didn't want to jump the shark and start repeating themselves. They chose to perish as heroes, rather than live to become the tired old villains.