Sunday mornings throughout the '90s were dominated by cartoons and pyjamas. In 1998, The Powerpuff Girls debuted and rocked our little socks off. The show was by far one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network and kept consistently high ratings throughout it's six seasons.
The premise of the show was simple; three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers are tasked with defending their hometown from bad guys. Kids everywhere were immediately addicted to these three little girls who could kick some serious butt -- even the boys loved it.
The Powerpuff Girls has remained intensely popular even after the show stopped airing. As recently as last year, a makeup line launched that was inspired by our three beloved girls and the series was even rebooted in 2016. Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup reminded us all to brush our teeth, helped us overcome our fears of bedwetting, and they even encouraged us to cuddle our teddy bears and blankets. It's no wonder that a generation of kids was obsessed with them. However, there are still plenty of things that the average fan might not know about the crime-fighting trio.
Here are the 16 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The Powerpuff Girls.
16. Their Foreign Names
Although most people know them as Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom the girls have different names depending on where the show aired. In Britain and North America they were known by the names that we're familiar with, but in Latin America, the girls were called Bubble, Chocolate, and Acorn.
Meanwhile in Italy, they went by Dolly, Lolly, and Molly, and in Poland they were referred to as Bójka, Bajka, and Brawurka. also had their own names for them, as Belle, Bulle, and Rebelle were the ones to save the day.
Although their names were changed, everything else about the characters was the same, including how they work together and the respective colour they wear. The reason for the name change is likely attributed to cultural differences.
15. The inspiration behind Mojo Jojo
Originally the lab assistant to Professor Utonium, Mojo Jojo is the Powerpuff Girls' arch nemesis. His only goal in life is to take over the world and destroy the Powerpuff Girls.
Although he has never totally succeeded, he has defeated the girls on numerous occasions. Mojo Jojo's design is actually based off of another ape villain -- Dr.Gori from Spectreman. Dr.Gori was also a mad scientist who was banished from his peaceful simian planet. He then travels to Earth and attempts to take it over and wipe out humanity.
This is pretty similar to Mojo Jojo's plans of world domination. Additionally,Dr. Gori isn't the only one that Jojo is based off. His iconic hat was inspired by the protaganist from The Kagestar.
14. Their Controversial Original Name
During his first year in character animation at CalArts, creator Craig McCracken originally came up with the idea of the three girls when he drew them on a birthday card for his brother.
Then in 1992, he included the three girls in a short animation he made called "Whoopa** Stew: A Sticky Situation." Later that year, it was picked up by Cartoon Network as part of their What A Cartoon! showcase.
The network informed McCracken that he would have to change the name of the series, since it was highly unlikely anyone was going to make kids' toys with that word in the label. Thus, The Powerpuff Girls were born. The can of whoopa** that Professor Utonium accidentally added was renamed to Chemical X and the rest, as they say, is history.
13. The Highest Debut In Cartoon Network History
When the series premiered on November 18 of 1998, it was the best debut in Cartoon Network's history at the time and is credited for the network's primetime ratings. Throughout it's run, the show maintained high ratings with all demographics and it was also the stepping stone for the tons of merchandise that would follow.
The show consistently had higher ratings than shows like Dexter's Laboratory, which had already been on the air since 1996. The show was watched all over the UK, North America, and more, making it a full-fledged global phenomenon.
Its success would soon lead to CDs, a movie, t-shirts, plates, toys, everything and anything you can think of. It was a sad day when the show finally ended in 2005 and the 2016 reboot couldn't quite make the same splash.
12. Finale of 2005
After being on the air for seven years, the show finally ended once the creators felt they took it as far as it could go. On March 25, 2005 Cartoon Network aired the final Powerpuff Girls episode entitled, "I See A Funny Cartoon In Your Future". It was the one-hundred and thirty-ninth episode of the show.
The name of the episode was supposed to be a joke in case the show ever came back, which it did in 2016. The episode revolves around a fortune teller and her goose wreaking havoc in Townsville after stealing the key to the city.
It ends with the bad guys being grilled on a barbecue, which is a little dark in retrospect. The episode was also the only one to have the narrator have more lines than the characters and even featured a line from the Looney Tunes.
11. It Won Multiple Awards
The show has been nominated for various Primetime Emmy's and Annie Awards. Back in 2005, the background designer won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on the episode "West in Pieces".
The show won the same award back in 2000, this time going to the art director, Don Shank, for his work on the "Twisted Sister" episode. In total, it has been nominated for around 18 awards and has won 4 of them.
It has been nominated for Favourite TV show, A Kids Choice Award, Best Animated Series and Best Voice Over Acting. Additionally, it won for it's music, art direction, animation and individual achievement. The original cartoon remains extremely popular to this day.
10. Margaret Keane Eyes
The Powerpuff Girls' large eyes have always been a talking point, seeing as they basically take up their whole head. You may have seen the 2014 film, Big Eyes, starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz and thought that paintings looked familiar. Thats because our little superhero trio's eyes were inspired by Margaret Keane, who the aforementioned movie is based on.
Margaret Keane was an American painter who's work was stolen by her husband. At one point, she was painting non-stop for about 16 hours a day while her husband took credit for her work and sold her paintings. He became one of the most revered painters at the time even though none of it was his own work.
After leaving her husband, Keane finally revealed on a radio broadcast that it was her who had made the paintings and she even won a defamation case in federal court.
9. Tara Strong Voices Bubbles
If you've ever played Batman: Arkham City or watched Batman:The Killing Joke, you might recognize the voices of Harley Quinn and Barbara Gordon. It may surprise you, but that's due to that fact that the voices are provided by Tara Strong, who is also the voice of Bubbles.
It seems fitting, as both characters are sweet, pigtailed blondes who have quite a dangerous streak of rage. Strong had voiced Bubbles from the show's beginning to its end and when the reboot happened in 2016, she claimed it felt like she had been stabbed in the heart when someone else was cast to voice Bubbles.
Strong has also voiced Ingrid in Filmore!, Timmy Turner from The Fairly Odd Parents, and Paz from Metal Gear Solid.
8. From Townsville To Foster's Home
While Cartoon Network asked Craig McCracken for a seventh season, he had felt that six was enough and the series was in danger of becoming a cash cow. Instead of waiting around to be pressured for more, McCracken left the show completely to work on another project -- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
After adopting two dogs from an animal shelter, McCracken thought of applying the same idea to imaginary friends. The show revolves around Mac, who is being pressured by his mother to forget his imaginary friend, Bloo. When he hears about a home where imaginary friends can stay, he s Bloo and visits him daily.
This often gets him into some interesting predicaments. The show began airing a year before the end of The Powerpuff Girls and similarly, Foster's Home was incredibly popular until it ended in 2009.
7. The Secretary's Face
Throughout the entire series, the Mayor's secretary only showed her face once. This was a pretty big deal, considering it was the mission of every child to catch a glimpse of Ms. Bellum's face. In fact in Britain, Tesco released a toy set that included the mysterious secretary, although she was turned around in the packaging so you had to buy it to see her face.
The statuesque assistant was considered by many to be the real mayor of Townsville, seeing as she was the brains behind everything that the naive mayor did. Every time she is on screen an object just happens to be covering her face, but we get to hear her talk a lot.
She comes up with most of the mayors ideas and it was speculated she was even in love with him, since she showed an obsessive attachment to his hat in the episode "Speed Demon".
