Cartoon Network Originals from the 90's

     In my previous blog article, I focussed on Hanna Barbara cartoons that made our childhood lively and memorable as 90's kids here in India. Cartoon Network later started making its own cartoon shows which were broadcast alongside Hanna Barbara cartoons towards the late 90's and in today's article I am going to focus specifically on those shows that Cartoon Network made just ahead of its fall from glory as the most watched kids' channel in India, a place that was later taken by a few worthy ones like Animax while the rest were a bunch of useless channels mostly showcasing indianised cartoons for an Indian audience which they thought would click with the children of the subcontinent but in fact, did quite the contrary with boring cartoons like "Chota Bheem". Coming back to today's topic, here are the cartoons that I have chosen to talk about and I hope that you enjoy it as you read through my article.

i) Dexter's laboratory (1996):
                                    Dexter is a smart young kid born to parents in a city and his sibling is his elder sister Deedee who is very mischievous. While Dexter is depicted as this super-brilliant kid who built his own laboratory in his bed room from scratch bustling with very advanced supercomputers, experiments to research science at a quantum level as well as equipment that enable him to provide solutions as an inventor for issues that he faced in his daily life and tried to help out Deedee as well, Deedee his sibling is a very simple-minded, pea-brained, happy-go-lucky but extremely mischievous elder sister with a fad for ballet who runs amock in his lab and ruins his experiments to Dexter's great anger which usually lands him in trouble with his friends, family and causes heartbreak, grief and anguish especially if he spent too much time working on those equipment or experiments to find solutions to humanity's problems.  
                             

Values that children can imbibe from Dexter's laboratory:

a) Curiosity about the world around us and science in general.

b) A desire to find solutions to humanity's problems including scenarios of great hazard like asteroid strikes from space or cures to diseases

c) A desire to innovate and find technological breakthroughs no matter how simple they are or appear to be while seeking to improve the overall efficiency of the inventions to maximise the output for the general service and well-being of humanity.

ii) Johnny Bravo:

                             Johnny Bravo is a stylish guy with a broad, bulky, muscular chest and small legs, his dark sunglasses with a blond hair-do which is reminiscent of a fountain pen's nib-something he does with hair gel and other methods to obtain and gives meticulous attention to besides using perfumes. His Mom is the only woman in his life who truly loves and cares for him and he is a Mama's boy which kind of reminds me of myself. The whole series revolves around Johnny Bravo doing everything under the sun to please girls whom he likes around him only to get turned off in the harshest ways possible including being beaten down, electrocuted and the list goes on after striking stylish poses in front of them with his catchphrase "Whoa Mama" followed by a pick-up line and a wink. While his approach towards the objects of his love - the women whom he is attracted to is anything but refined or chivalrous, he is the kind of tragic hero in this story - one of his own making.

 

There are 2 morals that adolescent boys and men in general can draw from this series :

a) Your Mom will be the only woman in your entire life who loves you and accepts you dearly and  unconditionally for who you are no matter how many girls or women you see in life or to whom you are drawn.

b) It is not worth trying to change yourself to please others because even if you succeed in your attempts, you will become someone you originally are not and will feel unfulfilled in the end.

iii) Powerpuff girls:

                                 In the suburbs of an imaginary city called Townsville (fun fact - there is actually a city by that name in Queensland, Australia), a professor makes a concoction with various ingredients which are actually everyday items - "sugar, spice and everything nice" used by girls and he adds a bit of a chemical X leading to the creation of 3 girls of different colours - pink (blossom), blue (bubbles) and green (buttercup), all 3 are endowed with superhuman strength and powers which they use to fight crime in Townsville. Their main villains include a chimpanzee with superpowers and a big brain enclosed in a glass case above his head - Mojo Jojo but also a list of other villains like gangreen gang, HIM, sedusa, Fuzzy Lumpkins and Princess Morbucks. The personality of each of the girls also differs based on the ingredients used to create them - Blossom (has the nature of "sugar" and is mostly balanced mentally but also intelligent), Buttercup (has the nature of "spice" and has a temper which cannot stand injustice which is less feminine and more masculine compared to Blossom and Bubbles), Bubbles (has the nature of "everything nice" and is very bubbly and nice as her name implies but can be tough nonetheless).

   

 
Values for children: 

a) Standing up for what is right and just, 

b) Showing gratitude and love to those who played a role in your birth (parents) and shaping you (parents and teachers),

c) Seeking the good of all of humanity including that of the ones closest to us.

iv) Samurai Jack:

                            Samurai Jack is the story of a medieval Samurai in an imaginary Japan where a Noh-mask-faced dark, dragon-like monster named "Aku" (a Japanese word that means "Evil") which was held captive was released to ravage Japan and capture Jack's father when Jack escapes with his Mom to travel the world and train in various martial arts and skills making him a warrior who eventually faces off and nearly defeats Aku but has a spell cast on him which takes Jack to the future where he defeats and destroys all of Aku's minions with his samurai swordsmanship and other martial skills but he cannot age and looks like in his 20's while he seeks to find a similar portal whereby he would return to his own timeline to defeat Aku, release his Dad the Samurai ruler of Japan and also get reunited with his Mom.

Values for children: 

a) Standing up for good against all odds.
b) Being brave and honing in on skills.

c) Develops a desire in children to know about history as a subject of interest and cultures of other countries e.g.: that of Japan.

v) Courage the cowardly dog:

   Courage is a dog who grows up under the care of an elderly couple in a shack in the middle of nowhere where everything is mostly peaceful and calm till all hell breaks loose ranging from and invasion of alien chickens to paranormal activities, spectres and other ectoplasmic entities that threaten the well-being of Courage and his immediate family especially the elderly lady Muriel Bagge who cares for him and loves him seated on her wooden armchair. Muriel's husband Eustace Bagge does not like Courage and tries to scare Courage with scary masks but Muriel whacks her husband knocking him unconscious at times and reins him in. Courage, albeit a timid dog, eventually develops courage as his name implies and fights off evil with his inherent powers like his superstrength, powerful scream and shape-shifting properties and superelasticity when attacked by evil entities and aliens and uses these abilities to protect both Muriel and Eustace. His signature catchphrase is "The things I do for love".

Values for children:

a) Stand up for those closest to you in their defense against evil.
b) Even if you are scared, you can make a choice to become resistant to fear which is the definition of "courage".
c) If you have pets, love them and take good care of them because they are family and they would do whatever they can to protect you in times of danger and uncertainty even to the point of laying down their lives.

vi) Ed, Edd and Eddy:

                                      These are 3 funny guys who run around chasing what is known as a Jawbreaker - a huge ball of candy that they love to bits yelling "Jawbreaker" when they find it, usually running long distances after it. The whole series revolves around these 3 characters who provide comic relief because of their low IQ and stick together as friends as they go in search of Jawbreakers and all the funny things that happen to them as they scheme to get money to buy Jawbreakers.

Values for children:

a) None, it is just a slapstick comedy series

vii) Mike, Lu and Og:

                                     Mike, Lu and Og are 3 kids, Mike is an exchange student from New York whereas Lu and Og are natives, Og being the brightest and most intelligent of the 3 because he has a penchant for coming up with all kinds of cool inventions whereas Lu is a self-proclaimed princess character for the island that they 3 kids find themselves in where they live alongside a group of native tribals. The series revolves around the obvious idea that life in such a remote island so far away from civilisation is very simple as lived by the natives there and as such - boring to the kids who interact with the natives and come up with inventions and other things to spice up their lives on the remote island and the adventures that they find themselves in as they do so. There is also a funny turtle character featuring in the show alongside a hunter with a bow and arrows.

.Values for children

i) Friendship 

ii) Teamwork

iii) Innovation

    Of all of the above cartoons made by Cartoon Network and aired from the mid to the late 90's, the one that I loved the most and still think is the coolest of the bunch is Dexter's laboratory because I have a love for science, perhaps you may like one of the other cartoons or agree with me on Dexter's Lab being closest to your heart as it was the 1st cartoon made exclusively by Cartoon Network and aired in India. Yes, although Cartoon Network made a lot or all of the above cartoons in collaboration with other studios, they are all still considered Cartoon Network originals. There may be a few others that I have most probably left out in this list because this is as much as I can recall and find even in my online searches and on Copilot AI. I hope that you have enjoyed going through this blog article that bears a hint of nostalgia from our childhood, one well spent watching these and so many other mind-blowing cartoons from the  90's on Cartoon Network - the best age of Cartoon Network ever and the best age of online entertainment for children in India. Sadly, the heyday of cartoons on cartoon network ended just after the late 90's when Cartoon Network changed its logo from "Cartoon Network" to "CN" and thoroughly wiped out all of these amazing cartoons and ones we discussed about in my previous articles only to replace them with cheap and boring Indian cartoons starting with Chota Bheem. If there is a petition online among people of our time to bring back these and other classic cartoons that we all watched and enjoyed back in those days, I would definitely want to sign it to bring the standards of Cartoon Network back to how they were as described in this blog article and others before it.