It's been a while since I last done a top ten list, so to compensate I shall be showing my top 10 worst Cartoon Network Characters.
Same rules as the mini-guides, only Cartoon Network made shows, so as much as I hate Johnny Test, it wasn't made by Cartoon Network.
10. Little Costume Buddy from Fat Dog Mendoza
Rated fairly low as it's not been subjected to American audiences thank god, (I'd hate to unleash such a horrible show from my own country onto the States)
As for the character, he barely has a name, looks horribly out of place and is pathetic looking.
9. Eliot from Eliot Kid
Another low grade idea from Europe, this kid annoys me through the sheer fact that he's ruining everyone's lives and never once apologizes for it.
8. Abigail Lincoln (Numbuh 5) from Codename: Kids Next Door
I'm sure Cree Summer is a great voice actress but I can't stand acting performances where all you hear is the voice actress and not the character, it doesn't help that Numbuh 5's sister is named after the voice actress.
7. Dr Wasabi from Chop Socky Chooks
Out of all the villains from every mutated fighting animal cartoon ever made, this is not only the worst designed villain but the worst villain period. What do you expect from a show about Kung Fu Chickens?
6. Bloo from Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
For a cartoon that's meant to show creative design as a major part of the plot, they went with an obnoxious rejected blue Pac-Man Ghost as a lead character.
5. Sheep from Sheep in the Big City
Speaking of creative design, Sheep doesn't really fair any better; it's just a Sheep. 26 episodes of watching a Sheep, for a series that should've been 2 episodes long at most.
4. Johnny 2X4 from Ed, Edd & Eddy
He's that weird kid from down your street that your parents & teachers insisted you play with so he doesn't feel lonely and the first thing he does is talk to a plank of wood and makes disgusting cracking noises from his hands. (That was a real episode)
3. Lucien Cramp from The Cramp Twins
I hate preaching little kids like Lucien, especially when they are so called Eco Warriors. It's not that I don't care about the environment, I just don't want my cartoons to do the preaching. Captain Planet was charming in a so bad it's good kind of way, Lucien Cramp is Lisa Simpson level annoying.
2. Ben Tennyson from Ben 10
Half of my hate for Ben 10 comes from the fact that this cartoon came ten years too late for me, the other is they can't seem to decide what character he should be, the cocky brat or a maturing teenager. The show has got to an uncomfortable level of decay these days and seems to throw Ben's characterization away in favor of more aliens voiced by Futurama's Bender.
1. Flapjack from the Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
This was Cartoon Network getting desperate, Flapjack represents everything that's wrong with modern Cartoon Network, they ran out of original ideas so they ripped off Spongebob, and succeeded in making a character dumber than Spongebob, how do you sleep at night? Between this, Johnny Test and the dreaded summer of 2009, I'm surprised the channel even bounced back.
Not that long ago Cartoon Network introduced a block called DC Nation containing a number of new shows created by the famous comic book company, among the block we saw a number of shorts from different names from within the DC Universe but the one short which caught everyone's eyes is Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, which existed as an 80s comic series.
In this version, a geek teenage girl named Amy Winston gets sucked into the video game she's playing and is transformed into Princess Amethyst through the power of Anime Magical Girl shows.
The geek part is worth noting, as far as I know this is the first ever geek girl in western animation to become the lead in a magical action girls cartoon, with many of her predecessors being either too pink, too girly or Sabrina the Teenage Witch. To use an anime example, Amethyst is like Cecily Campbell from Sacred Blacksmith, a very capable action girl who doesn't suit the role of a refined lady or princess as defined by her title.
DC Nation only ran 7 shorts of Amethyst making a full short cartoon episode length, the story is a reenactment of Amy's video game as she goes through many challenges shes already beaten with the game's original hero, before over coming the big boss Dark Opal which she had trouble with previously when playing the game.
Whether DC takes notice of this or not remains to be seen, but it would be a huge disappointment if this cartoon never saw a full series; from the footage we did get we saw something which could be on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic levels of awesome and acceptance, something which all girls cartoon shows should aim for instead of trying to be Winx Club all the time.
As part of Cartoon Network month I'll be introducing mini-guides to all of Cartoon Network's home made shows starting with the ones made from Europe.
With all these lists I'll only be showing cartoons made by Cartoon Network and not any other company. I'll be giving a brief summary of the show and what I thought of that show whether it be good or bad. To start with I'll be talking about 9 shows made by Cartoon Network Europe in order of air date.
1. Fat Dog Mendoza - 1998
Show about a ball shaped, smart mouthed dog and his owner who is a crime fighting superhero along with a city of other Superheroes.
Verdict: Lousy story, they couldn't be bothered to properly name the lead human character and poor humor, animation isn't too bad.
Fact: UK made (Ashamed to admit) never released in US.
2. Spaced Out - 2002
Show about a family who ends up living on a space station as part of an experiment by a big business man.
Verdict: Entirely forgettable, not the best animation.
Fact: French-Canadian made, never released in US
3. The Cramp Twins - 2002
Show about twins that look nothing alike causing mischief in a city obsessed with hygiene using the same skin color scheme as "Doug"
Verdict: It's okay, voice work grates on the ears a bit, but passable as a series; animation is basic, enjoys playing the eco-warrior a bit too much.
Fact: British made, been on several networks in it's broadcast history.
4. V-Birds - 2002
British Cartoon Network's attempt at making an animated pop band to take on major chart toppers of the era.
Verdict: Don't know what they were thinking, even attempting this was stupid.
Fact: British made (Sadly) never released in US, I've covered this show before as a Cartoon Vault entry.
5. Robotboy - 2005
A Japanese sounding scientist through fear of losing his creation to his enemy sends it to a long time fan. Said creation is a Robotboy with human like personality.
Verdict: Characters tend to go in and out of favor frequently and a lot of it Stereotypes the Japanese.
Fact: British made, one of few shows to get away with minor curse words.
6. Skatoony - 2006
A part live-action game show in which kids compete against Cartoon Characters for prizes, presented by Chudd Chudders and The Earl.
Verdict: It's a nice distraction from the normal and the presenters are quite entertaining.
Fact: British made, Chudd Chudders & The Earl served as Cartoon Network UK Presenters for a while before handing duties over to a Welsh Voiceover. Series started as a web game.
7. Eliot Kid - 2008
Show about a kid named Eliot who over exaggerates every situation he's in.
Verdict: Can't stand the show, rated one of my least favorite cartoons.
Fact: British & French made, never released in US.
8. Chop Socky Chooks - 2008
Show about Kung-Fu Chickens......Thats it.
Verdict: The art style is creepy, CGI or not. Voice work is top notch, but doesn't evolve past crappy villain.
Fact: British & Canadian made through Aardman Animations who made Wallace & Gromit. Cancelled halfway through American broadcast.
9. Hero 108 - 2010
Show about a group of humans fighting to make peace with a number of animal tribes who have been tricked by a communist dictator into thinking humans are enemies.
Verdict: Clever design and originality, great characters and story; although it does become a little too childish at times.
Fact: Based on a MMORPG from Taiwan, cartoon had collaborators from the UK, France & US.
Back in the early 00s, Cartoon Network became interested in showing animated movies; most of these are failed straight to video releases but how well are these films known? How well do you remember "The Scarecrow"
Released in 2000 by Richard Rich (no not that one) better known for the Disney films The Rescuers, Fox and the Hound & Disney Princess Clone The Swan Princess; but you'd probably want to forget his other works, The King & I animated movie & The Black Cauldron (Yeah he wrote that as well)
Anyway, the Scarecrow is another Disney knockoff about a Scarecrow who comes to life and disguises himself as a human to help a girl named Polly & a bunch of orphans get out of poverty which is being caused by a selfish count who steals taxes so he can learn how to dance and woo the prettiest girl in the village who happens to be Polly. The villain can be best described as Gaston's snobby older brother trying to essentially do the same thing he did, in fact the plot is very similar to Beauty & the Beast seeing that's the first Disney film you try and copy.
Anyway, the Scarecrow is helped out by a rat called Max voice by Corey Feldman who was the only celebrity available to do this and a witch who sounds like Tenchi Muyo's Princess Ayeka. The whole plot revolves around dancing, musical numbers, corny animated movie songs & typical Disney Happy Ending. In fact the music & dancing doesn't exactly match the scenery as it's set during the Pilgrim years and yet they dance like their from the 50s & 70s and the music features synthesizers & electric guitars.
There really isn't much to cover on this film, in fact Rotten Tomatoes doesn't even have a rating for it, even Freddie FRO7 is more well known than this.
The film is okay, not a master piece, hardly a ground breaker, not something I expect from Cartoon Network's attempt at showing animated films but between this and a few others I'll bring up later, it stands in a much better light.
Allow me to take you back in time to October 1st 1992 when Cartoon Network began it's life; introduced by Droopy Dog the first of Cartoon Network's presenters, we were then treated to Cartoon Networks first broadcast cartoon Bugs Bunny in "Rhapsody Rabbit"
Bugs Bunny is one of the cartoon old guards as this particular cartoon was made in November 1946 in which Bugs Bunny plays Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 at a concert but is constantly interrupted and later upstaged by a mouse, and if that concept sounds familiar then you may have seen Tom & Jerry's "The Cat Concerto" released six months later in April 1947 which won a short film Academy Award (This is back when Cartoons did win Oscars)
This is where this Urban Legend began.
During the era both cartoons were submitted for the short film entry by their respective companies Warner Bros & Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, the plots of both cartoons were the same, both featured the same music and both released round the same time. Both companies accused each other of plagiarism and even accused Color Motion Picture company Technicolor of staging the plagiarism in the first place by sending prints of the cartoons to both rival companies.
In the end, "The Cat Concerto" won the Academy Award while "Rhapsody Rabbit" didn't even get a nomination, 45 years later "Rhapsody Rabbit" earned a title that no one can take away from it as first aired Cartoon Network Cartoon.
To this day the issue has never been resolved with many believing the situation to be coincidental but others point fingers at Tom & Jerry as being the guilty party as their cartoon was rushed to make that years nominations and the fact that Bugs Bunny's cartoon was copyrighted first.
Either way it doesn't change history and gives more work to cartoon historians.
(I so want to do that as a career)
