While the Firefly revival talks of yesteryear (or yesterday) have given way to today’s worry over Community's potential sixth season, here comes one series return that I’m pretty sure no one saw coming. Unless they had really big eyes, that is. Cartoon Network is set to unleash a whole hell of a lot of girl power on the world when the mega-popular animated series The Powerpuff Girls returns to the airwaves in 2016. I bet Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup look like they haven’t aged a day.
The comeback was announced by Cartoon Network chief content officer Rob Sorcher at the 2014 Licensing Expo currently being held in Las Vegas. Via a press release, he said that they’re “calling these girls back into action based upon an overwhelming demand for sugar, spice and Chemical X.” A monkey with a super big brain will presumably be doing some demanding of his own.
Created in the early 1990s by the awesomely named animator Craig McCracken, The Powerpuff Girls made its Season 1 debut in November 1998 and ran for 78 bright-and-blistering episodes, ending in March 2005. The series showcased the high-flying adventures of the titular trio, who were created by Professor Utonium to be perfect little girls, but were accidentally turned into superpowered heroines when the Prof. spilled some Chemical X into it. In each episode, they have only the slightest trouble taking down villains like the previously described Mojo Jojo and Fuzzy Lumpkins, among others, all while dealing with the lives and problems of female childhood.
Although McCracken also worked on both the 2002 film of the same name and the 2008 tenth anniversary special The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!, the press release made no mention of McCracken being involved with the new season. Sadly, he also wasn’t a part of the animated short The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed, which aired on the network earlier this year, and that doesn’t bode well for him coming back for another season. The voice team remained the same for the special, though, with Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong and Elizabeth Daily returning along with Tom Kenny, Tom Kane and Roger Jackson. In case you missed this fun but slightly off-putting CGI update, take a peek at the preview below.
The Powerpuff Girls are only the most recent in a mini-trend of bringing children’s fiction new life, as The Magic School Bus and The Lion King follow-up The Lion Guard are coming in the next year or two. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing McCracken’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends coming back at some point, but I'm looking forward to another generation of young girls feeding into this frenzy.
Would you guys rather see the show return in its original format, or in the revamped CGI style? Let us know below.
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