The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated superhero television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. The show centers on Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers. They live in the fictional city of Townsville with their father and creator, a scientist named Professor Utonium, and are frequently called upon by the city's mayor to help fight nearby criminals and other enemies using their powers.

McCracken created a short film, Whoopass Stew!, about a trio of child superheroes known as the Whoopass Girls, which was only shown at festivals. Following his hiring by Hanna-Barbera, McCracken changed its name to The Powerpuff Girls and produced the series' pilot for their What a Cartoon! series, which premiered during the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "1st Annual World Premiere Toon-In" on February 20, 1995.

The Powerpuff Girls premiered on November 18, 1998, on Cartoon Network. It aired for six seasons, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. Along with two pilots, a feature-length film, and three specials, a total of 78 episodes were produced. It was nominated for six Emmy Awards, nine Annie Awards, and a Kids' Choice Award during its run.

Various spin-off media include an anime series, three soundtracks, various video games, a 2016 reboot series, and an upcoming reboot series, as well as various licensed merchandise. A planned live-action television series was cancelled.

Premise

Characters

thumb|left|alt=Three cartoon girls|The Powerpuff Girls (from left to right: [[Bubbles (The Powerpuff Girls)|Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup)]]The show revolves around the adventures of three five-year-old girls with an array of various superpowers: Blossom (pink), Bubbles (blue), and Buttercup (green). As depicted in the opening sequence of each episode, the Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt to create the "perfect little girl" using a mixture of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Blossom is the red-haired "commander and leader" of the trio, who is known for her intelligence, assuming responsibility of their public persona. Bubbles is an innocent blonde girl who is the most sensitive and emotional of the trio. She produces a high-pitched voice and tends to cry a lot. Buttercup is a black-haired tough tomboy who is known for her fighting abilities. The Mayor of Townsville regularly calls them on the "Powerpuff" hotline for emergencies. Sara Bellum is the Mayor's dependable secretary whose face isn't shown on screen.

Episodes

Production

Development

left|thumb|256x256px|The Powerpuff Girls creator [[Craig McCracken in January 2012.]]

In 1991, Craig McCracken made a small drawing of three young girls—a blonde, a redhead, and a brunette—while attending the character animation program in the California Institute of the Arts. Wanting to create a superhero short film for his sophomore year, he incorporated superpowers into the girls and used them instead of a Mexican wrestler character he had previously created, named El Fuego. McCracken missed classes and assignments while working on four separate short films of his Whoopass Stew! series, starring the three characters as the "Whoopass Girls". The concept was a superhero parody inspired by the television series Batman (1966). two of his friends came up separatedly with the name "Powerpuff", thus the title was changed from The Whoopass Girls to The Powerpuff Girls. The second and final Powerpuff Girls short "Crime 101" aired on World Premiere Toons in January 1996. Cartoon Network tested the shorts in various locations, receiving mixed responses from children. During a focus testing in Los Angeles with the producers and Seibert, a group of 11-year-old boys reacted that young girls should not be superheroes and that the creator "should be fired." Trying to understand their dislike of the short, McCracken attempted to redesign the Powerpuff Girls to appear more realistic. However, Cartoon Network executive Mike Lazzo convinced him to stay true to his original vision. While working on that show, McCracken attempted to pitch The Powerpuff Girls to other entities, but they showed no interest. Simensky, who joined to serve as senior vice president of Cartoon Network Studios, enjoyed McCracken's work as a storyboard artist on Dexter's Laboratory, persuading Lazzo to let McCracken pitch The Powerpuff Girls again.

thumb|The Powerpuff Girls in the 2014 special.|left|269x269px

The Powerpuff Girls debuted on November 18, 1998, and concluded on March 25, 2005, with a total of six seasons. Cartoon Network aired a half-hour special titled "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!" in the United States on January 19, 2009, as part of the series' tenth anniversary marathon. Unlike the original series, the special was animated with Adobe Flash.

Character conception

When McCracken was rehired to work on the concept of The Powerpuff Girls, he realized that he was focusing on concepts more than on characters in the World Premiere Toons shorts. To fix that mistake, he came up with distinctive personalities and a backstory for the main characters, which is presented in the main title sequence for each episode. With Simensky's encouragement, he assembled a bible for the series by writing twenty questions and answering them from the characters' perspective, denoting their individual personalities.

McCracken conceived Mojo Jojo as a "a green-faced evil monkey being beaten up by three little kindergarten-age girls", an image that he found interesting, later developing him as a "generic science fictiony, evil mastermind." He gave the character a redundant way of speaking, which was inspired by reading DC Comics' The Superdictionary as a child. The timing was influenced by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett's shorts; its action sequences were inspired by anime. Initially, McCracken wanted to continue the traditional cel method, feeling that computer animation still lacked the "visceral feeling" of traditional cel animation.

Music

McCracken wanted the music score to combine the orchestra with electronica and techno music to define its characters, energy, and speed. According to one of the series' composers James L. Venable, the electronica themes were incorporated into the action scenes while the orchestra varied its size in dramatic scenes. McCracken rejected Mothersbaugh as he feared that Mothersbaugh could quit to score for feature-length films and cause production delays.

Reception

When The Powerpuff Girls premiered on Cartoon Network, it became the highest-rated premiere of a Cartoon Network animated series at the time.

In August 1999, The Powerpuff Girls received a 6.9 Nielsen rating in the 6-to-11 age group and totaled 987,000 children in the age group, becoming Cartoon Network's highest rating in the age group at the time. It was viewed by over one million viewers during the third season, including "two-thirds" of children and "one-third" of adults, and viewers aged 12 to 17 increased by nearly 120 percent.

Critical reception

In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly review, Marc Bernardin complimented the show on its "spot-on pop-culture acumen" and "unparalleled sense of fun", giving it a warm welcome from earlier "lame" superhero cartoons that he grew up with. Peter Marks of The New York Times noted the show's use of adult humor and pop culture references, declaring it "the sort of playful satire that can appeal as much to a viewer of 37 as 7." Joly Herman of Common Sense Media described the show as a "cute, highly stylized series [that] thrills the senses with its strange characters, funny situations, and lots of lowbrow humor". She went on to say, however, that the show does go from innocent to violent in no time and that there is not much protecting young viewers against the violent undertones. Robert Lloyd of the LA Times praised the series, calling it "perfectly drawn, perfectly written and perfectly voiced."

The show began airing at the height of the "Girl power" trend in entertainment media. The Powerpuff Girls were often compared to the likes of Sailor Moon, Lara Croft, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who are also strong and heroic female leads. However, he did believe that it gained momentum from being considered a "girl power" cartoon, and that it became successful among boys and girls for the inclusion of action scenes.

In an issue of the online newsletter The Big Blue Dot Trend Update published in 1999, The Powerpuff Girls was voted as the best animated series on television by teenagers, surpassing The Simpsons and Pokémon. IGN ranked the series 18th in its "Top 25 Primetime Animated Series of All Time" list in 2006. The Powerpuff Girls peaked at the top spot in Entertainment Weekly<nowiki/>'s list of "10 Best Cartoon Network Shows" in 2012.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Year !! Award !! Category !! Recipient(s) !! Result

|-

| rowspan="4" |1999 || rowspan="3" |Annie Awards || Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television Production || Craig Kellman ||

|-

| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production || Craig McCracken, John McIntyre, Amy Keating Rogers, Jason Butler Rote, and Genndy Tartakovsky ||

|-

| rowspan="3" |2000 || Annie Awards || Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production || Chris Savino ||

|-

| rowspan="2" |Primetime Emmy Awards || Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation || Don Shank ||

|-

| Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) || Robert Alvarez, Craig McCracken, John McIntyre, Randy Myers, Amy Keating Rogers, and Genndy Tartakovsky ||

|-

| rowspan="4" |2001 || rowspan="2" |Annie Awards || Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music Score an Animated Television Production || James L. Venable, Thomas Chase, and Steve Rucker ||

|-

| Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television Production || Robert Alvarez, Lauren Faust, Craig McCracken, John McIntyre, Amy Rogers, and Genndy Tartakovsky ||

|-

| || Favorite Cartoon || The Powerpuff Girls ||

|-

| 2002 || Annie Awards || Outstanding Character Design in an Animated Television Production || Paul Rudish ||

|-

| 2003 || Annie Awards || Outstanding Character Design in an Animated Television Production || Andy Bialk ||

|-

| rowspan="2" |2004 || Annie Awards || Character Design in an Animated Television Production || Chris Reccardi ||

|-

| Primetime Emmy Awards || Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More) || Robert Alvarez, Lauren Faust, Juli Hashiguchi, Craig Lewis, Craig McCracken, John McIntyre, Brian A. Miller, Randy Myers, Amy Keating Rogers, Chris Savino, James Tim Walker ||

|-

| 2005 || Primetime Emmy Awards || Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation

|Cartoon Network Studios

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |2015

| rowspan="2" |Annie Awards

|Outstanding Achievement, Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production

|Dave Tennant, David P. Smith, Chris Mitchell, and Will Mata

|

|-

|Outstanding Achievement, Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production A prequel to the series, the film follows the story of how the Powerpuff Girls were created, and how Mojo Jojo became a supervillain. The film received a rating of 63% at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as well as some criticism for its violence. The movie grossed $16 million worldwide with an $11 million budget.

Anime adaptation

A Japanese anime series based on the series Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z premiered in Japan in 2006 and aired with 52 half-hour episodes. Powerpuff Girls Z deviates from the original series in terms of genre and animation style.

Cancelled live-action adaptation

On August 24, 2020, a live-action television series based on the original animated series was announced to be in development at The CW.

A pilot was ordered on February 9, 2021, and Maggie Kiley was hired as the director. On March 9, Variety reported that Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron and Yana Perrault were cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. On March 30, following the title change to Powerpuff, Donald Faison was cast as Professor "Drake" Utonium. On April 1, Nicholas Podany was cast as Joseph "Jojo" Mondel Jr., the son of Mojo Jojo. On April 7, the series began production. Two days later, it was reported that Robyn Lively was cast as Sara Bellum. On May 24, The CW announced that the pilot would be reworked off-cycle, with the cast and crew remaining on board. A day later, Mark Pedowitz, president of The CW, stated that the script would be largely rewritten due to negative reviews. On August 11, Bennet dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts.

In May 2022, it was said to be in "some stage" of redevelopment. However, on May 18, 2023, The CW announced that the series had been cancelled by Nexstar Media Group. On July 5, it was reported that the series was no longer in development at Warner Bros. Television. On March 6, 2025, a full-length trailer of the series' pilot was leaked by Lost Media Busters on YouTube. It was later removed by Warner Bros. Entertainment that same day.

Music

The first album Heroes & Villains was conceived by McCracken, choosing bands who influence him and the series. Additionally, it peaked at number 181 on the week of August 12, 2000, and charted for two weeks on Billboard 200. The music video for the Apples in Stereo song "Signal in the Sky (Let's Go)" premiered in November 2000 during the six-hour "Powerpuff Girls Music Marathon" on Cartoon Network. The third and final album Power Pop was considered a "big disappointment" and was not received as well as the previous albums. The British girl group Sugababes also released "Angels with Dirty Faces" to promote The Powerpuff Girls Movie. The song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart.

Video games

Several video games were created to promote the series. The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo, released on November 14, 2000, follows Blossom as she tries to beat Mojo Jojo. The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green, released in December 2000, follows Buttercup as she fights crime. The Powerpuff Girls: Battle HIM follows Bubbles in her fight against HIM and was released in January 2001. The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-traction, released in October 2001, follows the girls battling enemies in a variety of settings in order to reclaim Chemical X and track down Mojo Jojo, who fed the material to all the villains in Townsville.

The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go centers around the name of the Powerpuff Girls' mission to stop Mojo Jojo and his minions. Released in 2002, The Powerpuff Girls: HIM and Seek follows the girls battling their variety of enemies through Townsville while on a scavenger hunt. PC games were also created for the series, including The Powerpuff Girls: Princess Snorebucks and The Powerpuff Girls: Gamesville.

Merchandise and tie-ins

thumb|right|[[Boeing 737-200|Boeing 737-232 decorated with the Powerpuff Girls]]After the premiere of The Powerpuff Girls, Warner Bros. Consumer Products received calls from licensing and retail companies, as well as consumers, looking for merchandise based on the series. The International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association (LIMA) named it License of the Year at their 2001 awards ceremony. The franchise's retail sales earned $350 million by 2000 and nearly $1 billion by 2002. The array of products was so extensive by then that, according to Janan Sheria of the Dayton Daily News, even people without cable television could recognize the Powerpuff Girls.

Beginning in 1999, Trendmasters manufactured Powerpuff Girls dolls, playsets, and action figures, aimed primarily at girls ages 6–11. McCracken and Genndy Tartakovsky were initially involved in the conception of these toys. By 2000, comics published by DC Comics and books published by Little Golden Books were produced, In February 2000, a Powerpuff-sponsored car raced in the Daytona 500. From August 21 to October 1, 2000, Subway promoted the series with four toys in their kids' meals.

In December 2006, U.S. Toy Company recalled 48,000 necklaces based on the series for high levels of lead; no injuries and incidents were reported. In 2014, IDW Publishing published a variant cover which showed aged-up versions of Powerpuff Girls with breasts and dressed in latex. The cover was designed by an artist working for Cartoon Network who was "thinking of it more along the lines of 'female empowerment' than the kind of thing you guys are talking about". Cartoon Network said in a statement: "We recognize some fans' reaction to the cover and, as such, will no longer be releasing it at comic book shops."

See also

  • Cartoon Cartoons
  • List of female action heroes
  • List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

  • (archive)