The Insane History of Animation, Part 4: The Chaos Era of '90s Cartoons
When creators got the keys and cartoons got gloriously weird.
After decades of rules, lessons and "be nice" cartoons, something snapped. In the 1990s, cable networks needed shows fast, and they handed the keys to young, wild creators. The result was one of the most creative periods in cartoon history.
1. Nickelodeon: the Nicktoons revolution
REAL: on August 11, 1991, Nickelodeon premiered its first three Nicktoons on the same day: Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Each one was made by its creator's own vision, not a toy company's.
What followed: - Rugrats (1991). The world from a baby's point of view. Genius. - Rocko's Modern Life (1993). A wallaby trying to survive grown-up life. REAL: it's famous for sneaking jokes past the censors that only adults would get, some of which would never air today. - Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994). A school for monsters learning to scare people. REAL: one student, Krumm, carries his eyeballs in his hands. - Hey Arnold! (1996). City kids, real feelings and the best football-shaped head in history. - SpongeBob SquarePants (1999). Created by a former marine biologist. It went on to become Nickelodeon's biggest hit ever.
2. Cartoon Network: the creators take over
REAL: in 1995, Cartoon Network launched What a Cartoon!, a showcase of short cartoons by different creators. The best ones became full series, called Cartoon Cartoons.
Dexter's Laboratory (1996). A boy genius with a secret lab and a big sister who keeps wrecking it. REAL: one episode, about a rude clone of Dexter, had so many bleeped bad words that it never aired on TV. It finally appeared online in 2013.
Johnny Bravo (1997). A big-haired muscle guy who's sure he's irresistible. He isn't. He gets rejected every episode, and the joke is always on him.
Cow and Chicken (1997). REAL: the parents are only ever shown from the waist down, just legs walking around.
The Powerpuff Girls (1998). Three super-powered kindergartners saving the town of Townsville before bedtime.
Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999). Three kids, one cul-de-sac, endless schemes for jawbreakers.
Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999). Probably the scariest show ever made for kids. (See our Scariest Episodes post.)
3. Kids' WB: the Warner comeback
REAL: Warner Bros. returned to TV with Animaniacs (1993), Pinky and the Brain (1995) and Batman: The Animated Series, mixing Looney Tunes chaos with smart writing that parents loved too.
Why the '90s went wild
Cable channels needed shows, and lots of them.
Creators got control. Many of these shows came from one artist's strange idea.
Kids were treated as smart. The jokes went fast, the humor was weird, and nobody explained it.
Meanwhile…
Late-night and cable channels also started making animated shows strictly for adults. Those aren't for us here at Animation Anarchy, but they proved animation wasn't just for kids.
What we learned
Nicktoons started with three shows on one day.
Cartoon Network let creators run wild.
Some episodes were too wild to air.
The '90s treated kids like they were smart.
Weird can be wonderful.
Up next
Part 5: The Future of Animation. Is 2D dead? Is AI coming? Are we stuck in reboots forever?
What's the greatest '90s cartoon? Tell us in the comments.
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