The Powerpuff Girls (1998, Seasons 5 & 6)

The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated superhero television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network and the fifth of the Cartoon Cartoons. It aired on Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2005 with a total of 78 episodes across six seasons. During the show’s run, it had an awesome theatrical film release, a Christmas special, and a series finale special.

However, after the departure of Craig McCracken and the original crew following the movie’s release, the show had a revival in late 2003 with a fifth and sixth season. Craig McCracken wanted to put Chris Savino in charge before heading off to make mh:besttvshows:Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. With a new crew, Savino took over the show as executive producer and showrunner.

The first four seasons were well received for their creative, action-packed stories and brutal, intense humor as well as some heartwarming moments. But during the last two seasons, a more pedantic side of the show was revealed and it’s not a good one.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Both seasons were very unnecessary and suffer from various problems. However, Cartoon Network insisted that the show was going to continue no matter what.
 * 2) *This also happened when Genndy Tartakovsky put Chris Savino in charge of the last two seasons of Dexter's Laboratory, which suffer as many problems as these seasons.
 * 3) Some of the art styles have been downgraded. Most notably, the Townsville City skyline has been simplified to a bleach, cold blue-looking color palette in comparison to its well-detailed, warmer, brighter, colorful palette in the previous four seasons.
 * 4) Some of the characters have been flanderized:
 * 5) *Professor Utonium went from a lovable, intelligent, and responsible father to a mh:loathsomecharacters:Butt-Monkey-type character, even if he still has his old persona.
 * 6) *Mojo Jojo went from an evil genius bent on destroying the Powerpuff Girls and ruling the world to a bland and generic villain who is used for little more than to provide filler or comic relief.
 * 7) **Additionally, many of Professor Utonium's experiments weren't creative or inventive. Neither was Mojo Jojo's for that matter.
 * 8) *The Mayor went from a petulant and dimwitted man with a heart of gold to a literal man child who rarely acts his age.
 * 9) *The newly revived version of The Rowdyruff Boys by HIM have been reduced into carbon copies of the Gangreen Gang unlike their debut appearance in the season 1 episode "The Rowdyruff Boys" where they had their distinguishing personalities, and as far as personalities go, Brick is an egotistical hothead, Butch is a crazier and unfunny version of Daffy Duck, and Boomer is a punching bag to his brothers with the brain of a bug.
 * 10) The Powerpuff Girls themselves have been flanderized as well, albeit marginally:
 * 11) *Blossom is much bossier and arrogant, as evident when she talks a lot faster over and over again in "What's the Big Idea?".
 * 12) *Bubbles is much whinier and emotional, as evident when she cries and wails loudly in "The City of Frownsville", "Little Miss Interprets" and "Octi Gone".
 * 13) *Buttercup is much meaner and short-tempered, as evident when she made fun of her sister Bubbles for having squirrels in her throat in "City of Nutsville", and brutally attacking Fuzzy Lumkins in "Makes Zen To Me".
 * 14) Has loads of bad episodes due to lazier plots that revolved around trivial nonsense such as:
 * 15) *"City of Clipsville"
 * 16) *"Girls Gone Mild"
 * 17) *"Sweet N' Sour"
 * 18) *"Sun Scream"
 * 19) *"The City of Frownsville"
 * 20) *"Toast of The Town"
 * 21) *"Shut the Pup Up"
 * 22) *"Monstra-City"
 * 23) *"Night Mayor"
 * 24) *"Oops, I Did It Again"
 * 25) *"Pee Pee G's"
 * 26) *"Reeking Havoc"
 * 27) *"Save Mojo"
 * 28) *"Live and Let Dynamo"
 * 29) *"Mo' Linguish"
 * 30) *"Say Uncle"
 * 31) *"Crazy Mixed-Up Puffs"
 * 32) *"Roughing It Up"
 * 33) *"Octi Gone" (which ended the series on a sour note, in broadcast order)
 * 34) Overuse of gross-out and toilet humor, which was not too common in the first four seasons.
 * 35) *In "Reeking Havoc", the Professor wins the 2nd Annual Townsville Chili Cook-Off with the Chemical X chili, and everyone who did eat the chili in Townsville (including the Utonium family) fart up an entire methane monster.
 * 36) *Other examples include Buttercup farting in "Crazy Mixed Up Puffs" and Mojo peeing on the girls' bed in "Pee Pee G's".
 * 37) Much like Seasons 3-4 of Dexter's Laboratory, the jokes in many of the episodes drag on longer than a cutaway gag in Family Guy, resulting in slower pacing. A notable example is in "Shut the Pup Up", where the Powerpuff Girls are looking after the Talking Dog while they try to get information from him on a crime in which he was a victim, but all he does is passively insult them throughout the entire episode.
 * 38) A few episodes tend to have the characters stare at each other for a few seconds before they do something, such as "Oops, I Did It Again" and "City of Clipsville".
 * 39) The citizens of Townsville, besides the Mayor himself, are (sometimes) portrayed as incompetent idiots, even more so than in the first four seasons.
 * 40) Many of the new villains are useless and idiotic, notably Lou Gubrious in "The City of Frownsville".
 * 41) There were some episodes where the Powerpuff Girls themselves don't show up until much later in the episode (e.g. "Mo' Linguish" and "Toast of the Town").
 * 42) Many of the endings are rushed or confusing, like the ending of "Mo' Linguish".

Powerpuff Qualities

 * 1) The animation is still good and smooth (as done by mh:besttvshows:Rough Draft Studios). Similarly, the art visuals are passable in other aspects, most notably the character designs (with minor exceptions such as the Professor’s eyes constantly pressing flat and Mojo Jojo’s ears designed to be pointy instead of round).
 * 2) *Some of the new background color palette choices used in these seasons, while different from the first four seasons, still look visually appealing on the eyes, probably even more so than Season 4 of Dexter's Laboratory.
 * 3) There are still some likable characters, such as the Powerpuff Girls themselves.
 * 4) The show still has some great moments, such as the Rowdyruff Boys returning, some good villains such as Mask Scara, and heck, we finally get to see the Narrator on-screen (only his hand, not his entire appearance)!
 * 5) There are still some good or decent episodes, such as:
 * 6) *"The Boys Are Back in Town"
 * 7) *"I See A Funny Cartoon In Your Future" (depending on your view)
 * 8) *"Divide and Conquer"
 * 9) *"See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" (although it had some controversial scenes as mentioned below)
 * 10) *"Makes Zen to Me" (despite the beginning)
 * 11) *"Nuthin Special" (despite the messed up ending)
 * 12) *"Silent Treatment"
 * 13) *"A Made Up Story"
 * 14) *"Aspirations"
 * 15) *"Twas the Fight Before Christmas" (the Christmas special)
 * 16) Decent voice acting from the whole cast.
 * 17) Funny moments here and there that are still worth a chuckle.
 * 18) The series finale, "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!", released in 2008 to coincide with the series' 10th anniversary, is a huge improvement over these seasons due to the return of original creator Craig McCracken, and therefore ended the original series on a high note.
 * 19) Craig McCracken was still involved as executive producer and story developer, which is less involvement compared to the first four seasons, but the same can't be said about the 2016 rebooted series.

Trivia

 * In terms of airing order as well as on consumer purchase platforms and home media releases, the episodes "Keen on Keane", "Not So Awesome Blossom", and "Power-Noia" are officially listed as the final three episodes of Season 4, rather than the first three episodes in Season 5, as per production order (they were also the first three episodes to be produced by Cartoon Network Studios excluding The Powerpuff Girls Movie). This is possibly due to these episodes being the final inputs from the show's creator, Craig McCracken himself, as he help direct these episodes before leaving the show to create Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends; the series also went on hiatus for eight months after "Power-Noia" first debuted on December 13, 2002, until September 5, 2003. Similarly, the episodes "Nuthin' Special", "Neighbor Hood", "I See a Funny Cartoon in Your Future", and "Octi-Gone" are officially listed as the final four episodes in Season 6, as per airing order. However, as per production order, "Nuthin' Special" / "Neighbor Hood" and "I See a Funny Cartoon in Your Future" / "Octi-Gone" is Season 5's 3rd and 5th episodes respectively.
 * Mucci Fassett, known for being the director of Bratz (2005 TV series) and The Proud Family, was the writer of the episode "Octi Gone".
 * Although "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" was considered one of the good episodes from these seasons, it was banned in the United States because Cartoon Network claimed that the metal beams in the destroyed buildings looked too much like crosses and that one of the hippies looked like Jesus; it was also speculated that it was banned due to the stroboscopic effects seen in the "Hear Me Fathers" sequence. However, the episode only aired on YTV in Canada on March 18, 2004, followed by Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia on April 19, 2005, and later in Latin America and Brazil on May 20, 2006.

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