The Powerpuff Girls

Smashgoom202

Smashgoom202

Dry Bowser
Retired Wiki Staff
No Powerpuff Girls topic? Weird... For those who DON'T know about the Powerpuff Girls, I'll let the intro explain how it all goes down...


Or, to be more specific, the Powerpuff Girls were made by a man named Professor Utonium, who made them while attempting to create "perfect little girls", before adding the mysterious Chemical X, conveniently locateded right above the concoction. Either way, the three girls, Blossom (the leader), Bubbles (the girly-girl), and Buttercup (the tough gal), were created, and they fight evil. Why? Well, the movie goes into more detail about how the Powerpuff Girls became who they are, but for now lets just say, they're really good little girls.

So the Powerpuff Girls do things little girls normally do, go to Kindergarten (taught by Ms. Keane), draw and color, play with dolls, etc. However, should danger occur in their home, the city of Townsville, the Mayor (usually after being reminded several times by his far more competent secretary, Miss Sarah Bellum) calls the girls via the Powerpuff Hotline, which is connected to his office, the girls' Kindergarten, and the girls' home, to come and save the day.

Say day usually needs saving at the hands of a variety of supervillains, including Mojo Jojo (the girls' arch-nemesis), Fuzzy Lumpkins, Him, Princess Morbucks, the Gangreen Gang, Sedusa, the Rowdyruff Boys, and a number of one-time villains and giant monsters. The Amoeba Boys WOULD be part of this roster, if they were any good at committing crimes.

The show is created by Craig McCracken, and was originally called "The Whoopass Girls", whose original was basically the same, except instead of Chemical X, the concoction included "a can of Whoopass". It also wasn't meant to be a kids show, and you can see that through not only the amount of violence in this show, but also the number of double entedres and references only adults would get. Incidentally, one Lauren Faust, who you may know for showrunning a particularly super-popular TV show based on a toy franchise, also wrote, directed, supervised, and was a storyboard artist for this show, though didn't join the crew until after a few years. She, apparently, was an "ascended fangirl", because she loved the show and always wanted to write for it. And now she's the wife of the show's creator! Imagine that...

The show ran from 1998 to 2005, with 6 seasons, 78 episodes, a theatrical movie, a Christmas special, a 10-year annicersary special in 2008, and is pretty much one of Cartoon Network's most popular and well-remembered series... And they seem to realize this, given that the entire series is available on DVD, and the fact that they even GAVE it a 10th anniversary special... Plus, there's this:


...Ringo Starr is voicing a character. On the Powerpuff Girls... Could it be? NEW EPISODES?!?! Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of fellow CN shows Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, as well as a close collaborator with Craig, seems to reaffirm these assumptions:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10l1an/i_am_genndy_tartakovsky_the_director_of_hotel/

Further confirmations here:

http://www.narutobase.net/forums/showthread.php?t=239481

Well, color me pumped! POWERpumped! XP

Anyone else a fan?
 
I think Mason and '3K made a few MJ Powerpuff Girls threads, but I don't believe we have a serious one yet.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Incidentally, one Lauren Faust, who you may know for showrunning a particularly super-popular TV show based on a toy franchise, also wrote, directed, supervised, and was a storyboard artist for this show, though didn't join the crew until after a few years. She, apparently, was an "ascended fangirl", because she loved the show and always wanted to write for it. And now she's the wife of the show's creator! Imagine that...
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I've seen bigger cases of ascended fanpeople, but that's still pretty neat. Anyways, Powerpuff Girls is one of my all-time nostalgic shows, along with most of CartoonNetwork's old line-up, and it's still an awesome show.

Also, is this a good place to mention the Powerpuff Girls anime?

Powerpuff_Girls_Z_vol_1.jpg
 
Bumping this topic, because of this:


A special celebrating the Powerpuff Girls 20th anniversay!

I recorded this and saw it when I saw the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode, Three's a Crowd, this last Saturday, and as such, I probably don't have the best memory of what I watched as opposed to if I wrote about it then. While I watched it, I tried to keep in mind the tone of the original show more then anything, but also tried to maintain an open mind about it... Honestly? I kind of liked it.

Really, the biggest complaint about the special seems to be the visuals, and honestly, I don't think they're that bad. Yeah, I kind of preferred Craig McCracken's original designs for the characters, but the thing about this special is that it does a nice job blending 2D designs and models in a 3D environment. It's actually quite appealing to look at, I probably would have watched it just to watch the characters in motion. Having said that, I do think there are moments, particularly with the mouth animations, that feel really jerky and work against the special, to the point where it feels really cheap.

Speaking of cheap, I'm tempted to say the writing and jokes are a little cheap. I actually don't want to be too hard on this special because I don't think it's THAT much of a far-cry from the original series, but so many things just feel like pointless padding, and people just throwing random jokes out there without any proper build-up or pay-off. The biggest, most glaring example of this is when Blossom and Buttercup tell Bubbles to stop playing Dance Pants Revolution, and Bubbles keeps saying no to them all night... until she suddenly decides to say yes for absolutely no reason at all. Other jokes, like the PPG's Gummy Bear attack, made no sense, not just in how they turn things into gummy bears (seriously, ice breath plus heat vision plus pummeling equals... gummy bear?), but also why they decided to make THAT a running joke... Also, I feel like this special is way too fast-paced. Fast-paced comedy can be done well; Hell Craig McCracken's new show, Wander Over Yonder, shows that, but this special doesn't feel the need to just let things slow down even a little, it keeps throwing gag after gag, even gags that don't work or don't make sense, like it's got ADD or something. Worst part is, the way the special "flows", as well as the way the gags are delivered? It feels a lot like Teen Titans, Go, and MAD, and Johnny Test, and pretty much all the bad shows on Cartoon Network, though Teen Titans, Go! came to mind specifically... I wouldn't be surprised if the people on that show made this (I need to check the credits again, just to be sure). It' shard to describe, but it all just feels really... "cheeky" is the best word I can use to describe it. It just doesn't take itself seriously, and doesn't seem to care of the jokes they tell are any good. It's like how Dreamworks movies used to be. Know what I'm getting at?

I find it ironic that the advertisements said they wouldn't "mess with the formula", when they messed with the formula on so many levels. Not just with the visuals and the style of the humor, but even with the continuity of the show itself! The characters... well, they're not out-of-character, but they just don't act like how you expect them to act. They're not even "Flanderized" or have their specific character traits exaggerated, they just act like however the plot says they should act like. Bubbles is not that much of a girly-girl, Buttercup only seems to act tough and disagreeable half the time, I couldn't even get appropriate gauge on Blossom and Professor Utonium's personalities in this special, same goes for Miss Bellum, who hardly speaks in this special to begin with... which is fair enough, considering that I think it's a different voice actor this time around. Same goes for Buttercup, and... I THINK Mojo Jojo, I'm NOT sure. Ah well, at least Tom Kenny, Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, and Tom Kane reprised their respective roles for this special.

Then there's the continuity errors in this special! For Heaven's Gate, BLOSSOM is supposed to be the one with Ice Breath, not Bubbles! Not to mention, Professor Utonium has lived in Townsville since he was a child, and was inspired to create the Powerpuff Girls after they went back in time and saved him from Mojo Jojo; this special makes it out to seem that Utonium was a dancer at heart, and only turned to science AFTER people laughed at his dancing. Failed gags are one thing, but gags (failed or no) that fly in the face of previously established continuity is just insulting. Again, so much for not "messing with the formula"!

...But despite all that, I still enjoyed it. Like I said, the animation is really intriguing and worth watching for that alone. While the gags are hit-or-miss, some of them do hit home, and some aren't even THAT out of place from how the show used to be. Specifics in my mind are when Miss Bellum tries to tell the Mayor there's a robot attacking, but he's too distracted by pickles and the robot keeps moving outside of his sight whenever Bellum tells him it's there, that mathematical guy voiced by Ringo Starr, with all the math jokes and his "Octopus's Garden", and of course, Mojo Jojo.

Oh Mojo, he made this entire special worth it for me! Mojo Jojo was probably my favorite character from the original series, and every moment he has in this episode was pure gold! They pretty much nailed the way he talks perfectly in this special; most people just go immediately for the repetitiveness and redundancy of his speech, but that only comes out every once and a while, as he's just as capable of talking coherently as anyone else. His monologues are always just such a joy, and in addition to his speech patterns, I think, out of all the characters in this special, he's perfectly characterized to the point where he legitimately feels exactly like his old self! Yeah, his ultimate plan is stupid, but come on, don't act like Mojo Jojo never came up with stupid and/or convoluted plans back in the old days; that was pretty much one of his defining traits! Another one of his defining traits was how much of a card-carrying bad guy he was, to the point where he left signs and notes that he's responsible for what's going down at the scene of the crime. Like literally, I can't say enough good things about Mojo in this special, he literally is the best part of this whole thing! In fact, I'd willingly watch the special again just for him!

In fact... I wouldn't mind seeing this show come back. Like I said, the new art style isn't that bad, and I wouldn't mind seeing what other characters looked like with this new style. The pacing, characterization, jokes, and respect for continuity needs work, but I think they could pull it off, if they really put their minds to it. All and all, it was a good watch, though I can understand why some would be put off by it.
 
Farkles14 said:
I thought the writing was OK, but dear god what were they thinking in the art department.
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Like I said, I find the art fascinating to look at. It has a sketchy 2D look to it, but is animated in 3D. It's hard to explain or describe, but I don't think it's as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
 
Considering how dreadfully turning 2D characters into 3D designs works out sometimes, I was pleasantly surprised by the animation: I hated how the hair looked on Utonium and Mojo, but other than that, the redesigns didn't bother me much. (Although I still prefer the original looks.)

It's been years since I saw PPG, so I didn't notice the continuity errors, but even so, I thought it was unwise to go with a mucking-about-with-the-backstory angle. That aside, I thought it was enjoyable: there were a number of jokes that made me lol or at least smile, and it makes me want to go back and watch the original show again, which is always a good thing.
 
Sucks i never liked this show.

Although if they are redoing it, maybe ill watch it again. My tastes do seem to change from time to time.
 
Ah, I remember the days where I used to watch this show.

This pleases me, though the art direction they seem to be taking makes me think it'll be a battle to adjust to.
 
they fucked with professor utonium's back story i'm so fucking mad you have no idea

HE GREW UP IN TOWNSVILLE. HE CREATED THE POWERPUFF GIRLS BECAUSE THEY WENT BACK IN TIME AND SAVED HIS LIFE (lol grandfather paradox) AND THAT'S HOW HE BECAME OBSESSED WITH CREATING THREE PERFECT LITTLE GIRLS (otherwise a man trying to create perfect little girls in his basement would be kinda creepy)

in this """SPECIAL""" they fucking FUCKED it and made it to where he moved to townsville as a young adult. it was like the writers of this didn't even watch the original show.
 
I loved the cartoon series. If I watched it again, it would bring me back so much memories
 
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