The Powerpuff Girls

The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It originally aired on Cartoon Network as a pair of pilot shorts on the series What a Cartoon!, with the first premiering on February 20, 1995. With the success of these pilots, The Powerpuff Girls was picked up by Cartoon Network as a full series, which aired from November 18, 1998 to March 25th, 2005, running for six seasons and 78 episodes. Reruns of the series continued to air on the network until February 8, 2014. In December 2021, one time return this show, because Christmas specials.

A reboot of the series officially premiered on April 4, 2016 and ended on June 16th, 2019.

Plot
The plot of the series follows three super powered little girls, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, who were accidentally created by Professor Utonium during a science experiment to create the perfect little girls. The girls are often summoned by the Mayor of Townsville to stop any threats the town faces.

History and Production
During Craig McCracken's first year in the character animation program of CalArts, he created a series of short cartoons based on a character called "No Neck Joe". In June 1991, he created a drawing of three girls on a small sheet of orange construction paper as a birthday card design for his brother.

The following year he included the three girls as the main characters of his short film ''Whoopass Stew! The Whoopass Girls in: A Sticky Situation''. Initially, McCracken wanted to animate four Whoopass Girls shorts, but only one came to be. McCracken's shorts were selected to be shown at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in 1994.

While working on 2 Stupid Dogs in 1993, McCracken's Whoopass Girls short was picked up for a series by Cartoon Network. However, the name Whoopass had to be dropped for the channel to include it as part of its new What a Cartoon! animated shorts showcase mostly because the name Whoopass sounded inappropriate because it was pronounced whoop ass. The Whoopass Girls then became The Powerpuff Girls, and the "can of whoop ass" was renamed "Chemical X". McCracken's new short, entitled

"The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", aired as part the network's World Premiere Toon-In on February 20, 1995.

Characters
As depicted in the opening sequence of each episode, the Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt "to create the perfect little girls" using a mixture of "sugar, spice, and everything nice". However, he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called "Chemical X" into the mixture, creating, instead of the "perfect little girl", 3 girls (each possessing one of the above elements dominating her personality), and granting all three superpowers including flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, x-ray vision, super senses, heat vision, energy projection, invisibility, and control over lightning.


 * Blossom (voiced by Cathy Cavadini) is the tactician and self-proclaimed leader of the Powerpuff Girls. Her personality ingredient is "everything nice", her signature color is pink, and she has long red hair with a red bow and a heart-shaped hairclip that can be seen from behind. She was named for having spoken freely and honestly to the Professor shortly after her creation as shown in the Powerpuff Girls Movie. She is often seen as the most level-headed, and composed member of the group and also strong and determined. Her unique power is freezing objects with her breath as seen in the episode "Ice Sore".
 * Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong in the series and by Kath Soucie in the What a Cartoon! episodes) is the cute and sensitive one. Her personality ingredient is sugar, her signature color is blue, and she has blonde hair in two pigtails. Bubbles is seen as kind and very sweet but she is also capable of extreme rage and can fight monsters just as well as her sisters can. Her best friend is a stuffed octopus doll she calls "Octi", and she also loves animals. She exhibits the ability to both understand multiple languages and communicate with various animals (squirrels, cats, monsters), and her unique power is emitting supersonic waves with her voice.
 * Buttercup (voiced by E. G. Daily) is the toughest of the three. Her personality ingredient is spice, her signature color is green, and she has short black hair in a flip. She is a tomboy who loves to get dirty, fights hard and plays rough; she does not plan and is all action. Buttercup is the only Powerpuff Girl without a unique super power (aside from being able to curl her tongue as shown in the episode "Nuthin' Special"). But often is shown being much stronger than her sisters. For example, she often takes on many monsters her self and defeats them all. McCracken originally wanted to name the character "Bud" until a friend suggested the name Buttercup.

Cameos and references in other Cartoon Network shows
Mojo Jojo has made a cameo in a Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends episode, House of Bloo's.

A poster of The Powerpuff Girls appeared in the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, The Ride of the Valkyrise.

The billboard with the Talking Dog appeared in the second episode of Samurai Jack.

The three girls made a cameo appearance in the Evil Con Carne episode, Ultimate Evil.

Professor Utonium appeared in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode, My Fair Mandy when the characters ends in the world of The Powerpuff Girls.

The three girls made a brief cameo in the Codename: Kids Next Door and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy crossover special, The Grim Adventures of the KND where the three of them were popping out of the Delightful Reaper.

Miss Bellum appeared in the Chowder episode, The Hot Date. Bubbles' head appeared in the episode, The Heist.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's names were listed on a list in the Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa crossover episode, Say Uncle.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup also appeared in the Uncle Grandpa episode "Pizza Eve" in the Grampies and their 2016 designs.

Buttercup and the Talking Dog appeared in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, Crossover Nexus. Buttercup appeared as one of Ben Tennyson's transformations into different Cartoon Network characters while the Talking Dog appeared as one of the Cartoon Network heroes that were summoned and defeated by Strike.

Home Media
VHS volumes:


 * Bubblevicious (May 30, 2000)
 * Monkey See, Doggie Go (May 30, 2000)
 * Birthday Bash (November 7, 2000)
 * Dream Scheme (November 7, 2000)
 * Twisted Sister (April 3, 2001)
 * Boogie Frights (April 3, 2001)
 * Meet the Beat-Alls (October 23, 2001)
 * The Powerpuff Girls Movie (November 5, 2002)
 * 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (October 7, 2003)

DVD volumes:


 * Powerpuff Bluff (November 7, 2000)
 * Down 'n' Dirty (November 7, 2000)
 * The Mane Event (April 3, 2001)
 * Meet the Beat-Alls (October 23, 2001)
 * The Powerpuff Girls Movie (November 5, 2002)
 * 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (October 7, 2003)
 * The Powerpuff Girls and Friends (May 6, 2014)

Season DVDS:

 * The Complete 1st Season (June 19, 2007)
 * The Complete Series - 10th Anniversary Collection (January 20, 2009)

Digital media:
All six seasons are available on iTunes and Amazon Prime.

The PowerPuff Girls is available on Hulu along with other CN shows.

The series is available to watch on HBO Max.

Trivia

 * The creator of this show would later create another series for Cartoon Network, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, whose characters make cameo appearances in The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!
 * The Powerpuff Girls was the last Animated Series to be produced at Hanna-Barbera Productions, 3 years before it's closure in 2001.
 * One episode, "Feel Me, See Me, Gnome Me", was omitted from US broadcasting due to a sequence containing flickering strobe effects shown in a background, as Cartoon Network feared this would induce in some audiences. However, it did manage on the Complete Series DVD in 2009.

Related series

 * Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi - A Webcomic Anime-styled crossover created by Bleedman (Vinson Ngo).
 * PPGZ or simple Demashitta! Powerpuff Girls Z - A Rebooted Anime version of The Powerpuff Girls set in Japan. The anime is co-produced by Cartoon Network Japan and Aniplex with a Twist of Magic and was animated and produced by Toei Animation, featuring character design by Miho Shimogasa (Cutie Honey Flash, Ultra Maniac). As production occurred in Japan, Craig McCracken, the original creator of The Powerpuff Girls, was not directly involved with the project. This is the only incarnation of the franchise that seldom received an official release in North America.
 * The Powerpuff Girls (2016) - The reboot series, which ran from 2016 to 2019, and received a negative reception.

Live action adaptation
On August 24th, 2020, it was announced that a live action adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls was in development at The CW. It would feature Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup being "disillusioned twenty somethings" who lost their childhood to crime fighting.

On February 9th, 2021 a pilot of the series was greenlit.

On May 24th, 2021, The CW announced that the pilot would be re-worked off-cycle. The script was leaked on the internet and received negative feedback, it was later confirmed that the script would be rewritten.