The Powerpuff Girls is an Emmy-winning American animated television series about three little girls in kindergarten who have superpowers. Created by animator Craig McCracken, the program was produced by Hanna-Barbera until 2001 when Cartoon Network Studios took over production for Cartoon Network. The series is a spoof on American superheroes as well as Japanese Tokusatsu heroes like Super Sentai. As is typical in McCracken's work, the show also makes heavy use of references to older pop culture, particularly the famous English musical group The Beatles.

The animation director is Genndy Tartakovsky, of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack fame, who also directed many of the show's episodes himself.

The Powerpuff Girls revolves around the adventures of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, three cute little girls with super powers. The plot of a typical episode is some humorous variation of standard superhero and/or tokusatsu fare, with the girls using their powers to defend their town from various villains, such as bank robbers, mad scientists, aliens, or giant monsters. In addition, the girls also have to deal with normal issues young children face, such as bed wetting or dependence on a security blanket. The series is one in a long line of cartoons that derives a great deal of humor from pop culture references and parody. There is often a particular emphasis on cultural phenomenons and art styles from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. For instance, the characters' dialogue often contain allusions to various classic rock and pop songs from these eras; there was even an entire episode whose dialogue consisted almost solely of lyrics from Beatles songs, while the episode's plot was a loose retelling of the Beatles career (featuring the show's villains in roles alluding to the original band members).

The show has a highly stylized, minimalistic visual look, reminiscent of 1950s and 60s pop art. Movie critic Bob Longino of the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution praised the style in his review of The Powerpuff Girls Movie by saying that "the intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizazz like a David Hockney scenescape", and that The Powerpuff Girls is "one of the few American creations that is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art".^[1]

The show has been hailed for showing young girls as active and capable heroines. However, it has also come under criticism for its rather excessive violence (including images of characters gushing blood from their mouths when hit), and for what have been perceived as morally questionable actions on part of the main characters, such as sometimes using more brutal force than necessary. ^[2]

Craig McCracken, a student of California Institute of the Arts, created The Whoopass Girls in 1992 in his short film The Whoopass Girls in A Sticky Situation. Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation selected the short in 1994; McCracken submitted it to Hanna-Barbera's innovative What A Cartoon! shorts program (eventually to be produced for Cartoon Network as "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins" as part of World Premiere Toons) while working on Dexter's Laboratory.^[3] As the word "whoopass" was deemed inappropriate for younger audiences, the word was replaced by "powerpuff."

The Powerpuff Girls TV debut in 1998 was the highest rated premiere in Cartoon Network's history. For several seasons, the series consistently scored the highest rating each week for the network across a wide range of demographics -- from young children to adults.^[4] In October 2000, Cartoon Network credited the Powerpuff Girls for its Friday night prime time ratings win among cable networks.^[5] By 2001, merchandising based on The Powerpuff Girls encompassed everything from T-shirts, toys and video games to lunchboxes and dishware. There was also a CD entitled Heroes and Villains, featuring original songs about the Powerpuff Girls characters by a number of artists, including the New Wave group Devo.^[4] Concerning the Powerpuff Girls success, Craig McCracken has stated "I thought it would get on Cartoon Network and college kids would watch it and there would be a few random T-shirts out there in the rave scene or in record shops. But I had no idea that it would take off to this extent." ^[4]

In April 2005, plans for an anime version, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z were announced and the series premiered in Japan the following year. The series deviates highly from its American predecessor in terms of style, storyline, and characterization. Cartoon Network in the US currently has no plans to air this show.

The Show mainly takes place in fictional the City of Townsville, USA. Townsville is depicted as a major American city, with an impressive cityscape consisting of several major skyscrapers. The physical location of Townsville has never been determined, but the city does have a Financial District, Museum, City Hall, Police station, Fire Department, Seaport, Retirement home, Little Tokyo District, a Times Square themed district, Suburbs, Observation tower, Schools, Nuclear Power Plant, and a Volcano in the middle of a large Park.

Cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo have been shown throughout the series.

James L. Venable composed the opening theme of the series and Scottish band Bis performed the ending theme song, as played during the credits. Tom Kenny narrated the introduction, and also acted as narrator through the series era. Veteran announcer Ernie Anderson (more well known as "The Voice of ABC" in the 1970s and 80's) was the narrator of the pilot episode and would have likely continued to narrate. However, Anderson passed away in 1997, before the show became a series.

The opening narration reads as follows: "Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girl. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: Chemical X! Thus the Powerpuff girls were born! Using their ultra super powers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil!"

As the narration reveals, Professor Utonium created the girls out of sugar, spice, and everything nice, a reference to the nursery rhyme "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", plus the accidental addition of Chemical X. The opening of the series pays homage to the animated beginning of 1960s live-action television series, Batman, as both shows feature a pan across a gallery of villains, with the animated heroes running toward the viewer while striking the villains, who are tossed away in slow motion.

In the Japanese dub version, the first Opening Song, It's Up To You, was performed by The Brilliant Green, while the second Opening Song, Cream Puff Shuffle, performed by P.P.S. (Power Puff Soul).

78 episodes (one of which was never shown in the U.S.A.) spanning six seasons and one self-titled movie have been made. There was also an episode that was in production entitled "Deja View" that was never finished.

In an interview with The Big Spoon on March 20, 2008, Tara Strong announced that a "Powerpuff Girls" TV movie is in the works.[5]^[6] According to "C" Raggio's blog it will use Flash animation.^[7] Nothing is known about the plot of the movie or its air date yet.

The show has been nominated for an Emmy five times in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 & 2005 for "Outstanding Achievement in Animation". In 1999 the show won the Emmy for episode 1.09 - "Bubblevicious & The Bare Facts". In 2000 & 2005 the show also won Emmys, both juried for non-nominated selections.^[8]

The show has also been nominated for an Annie award nine times, winning it twice.^[8]

The entire first season of the show was released in America on a 2-disc set on June 19, 2007.^[9] Bonus features include the original pilot pitch and never before seen footage^{[citation needed]}. Was released in Australia April 16, 2007.^[10]

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• The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a feature-length film
• Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z, an anime spin-off

• Official site
• The Powerpuff Girls at the Big Cartoon DataBase

Template:Cartoon Network Original Series