The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series about three kindergarten-aged girls 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 show has been nominated for an Emmy Award five times, in the category Outstanding Achievement in Animation.

The series premiered in 1998 and ended production run episodes in 2005. Reruns continued to air on the network until 2006. On Monday December 6, 2010, The Powerpuff Girls returned to Cartoon Network in reruns after four years of being off-air. It has been continuously rerun in Australia since 1998 and it started airing on Boomerang in late-2008.

The Powerpuff Girls revolves around the adventures of Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles. The plot of a typical episode is some humorous variation of standard superhero and tokusatsu fare, with the girls using their powers to defend their town from villains and giant monsters. In addition, the girls also have to deal with normal issues young children face, such as sibling rivalries, loose teeth, personal hygiene, going to school, bed wetting, or dependence on a security blanket. Episodes often contain more or less hidden references to older (circa 1950s to 1980s) pop culture.^{[citation needed]}

The show mainly takes place in the City of Townsville, USA. Townsville is depicted as a major American city, with a cityscape consisting of several major skyscrapers. The physical location of Townsville has never been determined. While a number of episodes (such as in the episode "Catastrophe," which starts with a monster near an Interstate 405 sign, and "Knock It Off," where the Professor mentions "the 101, the 210, [and] Harbor Freeway") appear to depict Los Angeles, cities like New York City, Seattle, Paris, London, and Tokyo also have been shown throughout the series. Also in an episode a "spit wad" went through a baseball stadium and when it came out it was wearing New York Yankees apparel.^{[citation needed]} There is also a real city in Queensland, Australia called Townsville, as well as a small town in Vance County, North Carolina.

The show has a highly stylized, minimalistic visual look, reminiscent of Hanna-Barbera's previous limited animation including The Huckleberry Hound Show, Yogi Bear, and The Flintstones. In his review of The Powerpuff Girls Movie, movie critic Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that "the intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizazz like a David Hockney scenescape", and that the show is "one of the few American creations that is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art".^[1]

The original 79 episodes were hand-drawn and produced at Rough Draft Studios in South Korea,^[2] but the 2009 special episode The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! was animated with Adobe Flash at Cartoon Network Studios.^[3] The show's animation director was Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack), who also directed many episodes himself.^{[citation needed]}

James L. Venable composed the opening theme of the series and Scottish band Bis performed the ending theme song, as played during the credits. The opening theme is based on the Clyde Stubblefield performed Funky drummer drum break sample.^{[citation needed]}

Craig McCracken, a student of the California Institute of the Arts, created The Whoopass Girls in 1992 in his short film Whoopass Stew: 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! Show shorts program (eventually to be produced for Cartoon Network as "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins" as part of World Premiere Toons) while working on Dexter's Laboratory.^[4] Announcer Ernie Anderson, the narrator of the pilot episode, died in 1997, the year before the show became a series. "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins" first aired in 1995, followed by a second short, "Crime 101", a year later.

The Powerpuff Girls TV debut on November 18, 1998 was at the time the highest rated premiere in Cartoon Network's history. The series consistently scored the highest rating each week for the network across a wide range of demographics—from young children to adults.^[5] In October 2000, Cartoon Network credited the Powerpuff Girls for its Friday night prime time ratings win among cable networks.^[6] By 2001, merchandising based on The Powerpuff Girls encompassed everything from T-shirts, toys, and video games to lunchboxes and dishware.^[5] 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."^[5]

In April 2005, plans for a Japanese anime version, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z were announced, and the series premiered in Japan the following year with 52 half-hour episodes, airing each Saturday from 1 July to 23 December 2006 and 6 January to 30 June 2007. The series deviated considerably from its American predecessor in terms of style, storyline, and characterization. Although an English version has since been produced, Cartoon Network in the United States currently has no plans to air the adaptation.

In August 2008, McCracken revealed on his DeviantArt account [2], as had been announced in that year's Comic Con, that he was working with Cartoon Network on a new half-hour Powerpuff Girls special to celebrate the series' 10th-year anniversary. The special aired on the Pan-Euro version of Cartoon Network on November 29, 2008 on the Powerpuff Girls Birthday Marathon, and in the US on January 19, 2009 on North America Cartoon Network, part of its PPG 10th Anniversary marathon.

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 girl" using a mixture of "sugar... spice... and everything nice" (shown in respective fields of baby blue, light green, and pink). However, he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called "Chemical X" into the mixture, creating instead of one "perfect little girl" three girls (each possessing one of the above elements dominating her personality), and granting all three superpowers commonly including flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, x-ray vision, super senses, heat vision, and energy projection. However, it is never revealed what exactly Chemical X is. The three girls all have oval-shaped heads, abnormally large eyes (inspired by Margaret Keane's art), stubby arms and legs, and lack noses, ears, fingers, necks, and flat feet with toes. They wear dresses with black stripes that match the colors of their eyes, as well as white pantyhose and black Mary Janes. The closing theme to the cartoon offers a nutshell description of the three Powerpuff girls' personalities. Performed by Bis, it includes the lyrics

Blossom, commander and the leader;

Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter;

Buttercup, she is the toughest fighter.

Blossom (voiced by Cathy Cavadini) is "the smart one" and the self-proclaimed "Commander and the Leader" of the Powerpuff Girls. Her personality is "everything nice," her signature color is pink, and she has long red hair with a red bow.^[7] She was named for having spoken freely and honestly to the Professor shortly after her creation. She is often seen as the most mature, level-headed, and composed member of the group; although she can at times be fussy, overbearing, petty, and too analytical. She tends to "parent" Bubbles and Buttercup, and often tries to play peacemaker between the two if they fight (though she is very quick to argue with Buttercup). In the episode "Ice Sore," she showed the ability to blow ice. However, even though Blossom said her ice breath was "all used up", she has been seen using it frequently in later episodes.

Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong in the series and by Kath Soucie in the What a Cartoon! episodes) is "the cute one," "The Joy and the Laughter." Her personality is "sugar," her signature color is baby blue, and she has short blond hair in two pigtails. She was named for her cute and bubbly personality. She tends to act like the baby of the group, despite being the same age, but sometimes she can get extremly mad. Her best friend is a stuffed octopus doll she calls "Octi". She exhibits the ability to both understand foreign languages (Spanish, Japanese) and communicate with various animals (squirrels, cats, monsters). She will always stand up for (and cuddle with) animals except cockroaches which she (along with her sisters) finds "icky". She displays and is defined by innocence, playfulness, and a gentle demeanor, having a tendency to be naïve, ditsy, submissive, shy, and sensitive. She is also more loving to her father figure, Professor Utonium.

Buttercup (voiced by Elizabeth Daily) is "The Toughest Fighter." Her personality is "spice," her signature color is light green, and she has short black hair in a flip. She was named because "Buttercup" begins with the letter "B" like her sisters, much to her chagrin. She is the boyish one in the group, and she has a very short temper. Sometimes her aggression gets the better of her, making her reckless and stubborn. She possesses a mean and somewhat vindictive streak not shared by her sisters. She has, however shown a softer side in several episodes. For example, in the episode "Cover Up", she had a soft green blanket that she was obsessed with that she would hug that gave her the confidence to be a better fighter, and she is quite protective over her sisters. Buttercup hates baths and loves getting dirty, and while she is the only Powerpuff Girl without a unique power (aside from curling her tongue), she is the toughest and often shown to be stronger than the other two, despite their already superhuman strength.

A total of 79 half-hour broadcasts have been made, one of which has never been shown in the USA and one which aired during the 10th Anniversary special in 2009. Most broadcasts consist of two episodes, while others contain a single episode that spans the entire half hour. The show spanned six seasons. In addition, a self-titled feature film was released in 2002, and an hour-long Christmas special was released on DVD in 2003. One episode in production, "Deja View," was never finished. A special titled The Powerpuff Girls Rule!! aired during the 10th Anniversary special on Cartoon Network on January 19, 2009 (although it aired before in Europe and Asia).

The show has come under criticism for its rather excessive violence, destruction, and "animal" cruelty and for what have been perceived as morally questionable actions on part of the main characters.^[8]

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 was nominated for the award for episode 1.09 - "Bubblevicious" & "The Bare Facts". In 2000 & 2005 the show also won Emmys, both juried for non-nominated selections.^[9] The show has also been nominated for an Annie Award nine times, winning it twice.^[9] In 2001, the show was nominated for the Blimp Award for Favorite Cartoon at the 2001 Kids' Choice Awards.^[9]

In January 2009 The Powerpuff Girls was named the 42nd best animated series by IGN citing the animation, humor and storytelling style both for children and adults.^[10]

There have also been three officially released CD soundtracks, one entitled Heroes and Villains, featuring original songs about the Powerpuff Girls characters by a number of artists, including the New Wave group Devo. Another entitled City of Soundsville featured Electronica style character themes and a third CD entitled Power Pop, borrows heavily from Heroes and Villains.

The entire first season of the show was released in America on a 2-disc DVD set on June 19, 2007.^[11] Bonus features include the original pilot pitch and never before seen animatics. French and Spanish language tracks are also included. It was released in Australia April 16, 2007.^[12]

The complete series of The Powerpuff Girls was released on January 20, 2009 for the series' 10 year anniversary.

Prior to the seasonal DVD release sets, and complete series set, the series was previously released on DVD in episode highlights, as well as on VHS.

• List of female action heroes
• The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a feature-length film
• The Powerpuff Girls Z, an anime re-imagining

• Official website
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• The Powerpuff Girls at IMDb
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