“Double Dragon” Created by Technos Japan; Based on the video game of the same name; Produced by DiC Animation; Directed by Chuck Patton; Starring Jim Byrnes, Garry Chalk, Michael Donovan, Scott McNeil, Wesley Morris, and French Tichner; Originally aired September 12, 1993; Run time 22 minutes.

Playing “Double Dragon” is one of my earliest video game memories. It’s beat-em-up gameplay style made it easily palatable to a kid and best of all, unlike other games I was into at the time, it had the option of a two-player co-op. Nothing beat locking in with a good friend to pummel some bad guys.

Based on my unabashed enjoyment of the game, it’s unusual that I would have made it through childhood, having been the perfect age for the cartoon at its release, without having seen any of it. This week I set out to right that wrong.

My search began where all hunts for antiquated video begin, YouTube. The complete series is available to watch, who knows for how long. I quickly found the first episode, got comfy on the couch, and pressed play.

The Theme Song

A theme song can really make or break your initial impression of a show, it sets the mood and tone for what’s to follow. There are theme songs from the era of eighties and nineties cartoons that still rattle around my head today, despite not having heard them in years. There were songs that were a stroke of genius, they stuck ensuring that every moment of your formative years were spent quietly mediating on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “DuckTales,” or “Rescue Rangers.” Then there are theme songs like “Double Dragon” composed by Clark Gassman. It plays like something written by a thirteen-year-old aspiring songwriter who snuck into his mom’s Bailey’s Irish Cream.

The Pilot

Adapted from the events of the first “Double Dragon” game, the series opens in a flashback, eighteen years in the past, shortly after the birth of twin brothers Billy and Jimmy who bear the mark of the double dragon. Their father, running from the shadow warriors, delivers Billy to an elderly martial arts master known as The Oldest Dragon and leaves the dojo in search of Jimmy. One wonders how this new father was able to lose one of his infant children in the first place but since he never returns, we’ll never be able to ask him.

For the next eighteen years, The Oldest Dragon raises Billy to be the next Dragon Master and to have a full appreciation for the Dragon Code. The code dictates that the only sure way to win a fight is to avoid one and to never harm another person when it can be avoided.

The Oldest Dragon bestows upon Billy the rank of Dragon Master and sends him on his most difficult mission, to stop the Dragon Warriors from wreaking havoc on the city. Through the power of the double dragon and The Dragon Sword, Billy completes his mission handily and returns to the dojo, only to find that The Oldest Dragon has vanished.

Before Billy can recover from the emotional loss, his estranged brother Jimmy arrives at the dojo seeking asylum from The Shadow Warriors. Realizing it is his long lost brother before him, Billy takes Jimmy in, only to be double-crossed by that backstabbing shadow liar when Jimmy reveals that he is The Shadow Boss, second in command to The Shadow Master. During a firefight, it is also revealed that when the brothers are near if one of them is injured, both of them sustain a wound.

Their final fight of the episode ends in a draw when they realize that The Dragon Code and their mutual injuries prevent them from ever actually defeating one another.

The Series

Summarizing the pilot episode into a few paragraphs leaves you with something that sounds halfway decent on paper but the delivery leaves something to be desired. Billy’s cavalier and naïve actions make the series difficult to take seriously and the events of the second episode through everything that happened in the first into upheaval.

Jimmy captures Billy, delivering him into the hands of The Shadow Master who quickly betrays Jimmy. This one betrayal, clearly the first in a lifetime of living with and being raised by an evil mastermind, changes Jimmy’s allegiance to the side of The Dragon.

Jimmy and Billy join forces, summoning the spirit of “The Oldest (Deadest) Dragon, fulfilling an ancient prophecy, and unlocking the true power of The Double Dragon to protect their city from the forces of shadow and evil.

Only Mary, a local police officer and friend to Billy, asks the pertinent question, “And you trust him?” Billy responds that because of the prophecy, he has to. Solid logic, Billy. The pair uses their powers, mediocre costumes, and recruited allies to search for their father, a goal they never accomplish, and to combat the powers of the Shadow Master and his henchmen, all to the worst soundtrack to come out of the nineties. 

“Todd McFarlane’s Spawn” Created by Todd McFarlane; Developed for television by Alan B. McElroy; Starring Keith David, Richard Dysart, Dominique Jennings, James Keane, Michael McShane, John Rafter Lee, Victor Love, and Michael Nicolosi; Rated TV-MA; Originally aired May 16, 1997; Run time 30 minutes.

CONTENT WARNING: Contains scenes of graphic violence, adult language, and nudity.

From 1997, HBO developed Todd McFarlane’s beloved comic book series “Spawn” into an animated series featuring eighteen 30 minute episodes, these episodes were later grouped by threes into a series of animated feature length films.

The story follows Al Simmons, an ex-war-veteran and government assassin, turned hellspawn. Simmons is resurrected after five years being dead into a decaying body surrounded by a living cape and armed with deadly chains.

Simmons makes a deal with the leader of the eighths plane of Hell in order to return to Earth so he can see his wife. Simmons discovers that in the five years since his death, his wife has remarried his best friend and has a daughter. Stricken by grief and confused by the events that have led to his current predicament, Simmons struggles with retaining his humanity and fulfilling his deal to deliver acts of evil upon the earthly plane.

The series was voted the fifth best animated comic book adaptation by IGN and with good reason. It stands far above the live action film based on the same material. The animation is gritty and immersive and the series offers a drawn out but cohesive version of events that is compelling enough to binge watch. The series having been on HBO with a rating of TV-MA also means it was able to remains faithful to the tone of the source material without making sacrifices in order to achieve a particular rating.

“Todd McFarlane’s Spawn” presents a world as dirty and unfair as the real one. While the character of Spawn is only a “hero” by the thinnest definition, he is compelling for the same reasons that Batman is compelling. There is a primal satisfaction in the idea of an entity that can be seemingly omnipresent and is able to invoke true justice in places where an unjust world may fail.

The darkened alleys where Spawn makes his home are places that the world has largely forgotten. Inhabited by people the world has largely forgotten, people who are often victims of a seedy criminal element. Spawn intervenes on behalf of those good, but invisible, members of society and brings criminals, who are insulated by a high ranking corruption, to a bloody but satisfying end.

The character’s functional invincibility means he has no concerns about physical repercussion and can levy his own brand of hellish justice with extreme prejudice. He is the embodiment of thoughts we’ve all had about what we might do to right the wrongs of our world, if only we had the capability and the guts. This, along with beautiful animation and compelling characters, makes the series incredibly satisfying.

Recommended for any fans of the source material, fans of comic books in general, or fans of good animation and writing. “Todd McFarlane’s Spawn” stands as a gold standard by which all animated adaptations should be measured.

“Swamp Thing” Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson; Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book character of the same name; Starring Len Carlson, Don Francks, Philip Akin, Errol Slue, Harvey Atkin, Gordon Masten, Joe Matheson, Richard Yearwood, Jonathan Potts, and Tabitha St. Germain; Originally aired on Fox Kids October 31, 1990; Run time 22 minutes.

 As with so many animated series from this era, “Swamp Thing” was a thinly veiled attempt at selling toys. The number of visually interesting characters and vehicles was almost overwhelming, but underneath the shameless cash grab was a decent set of characters and story concept.

Swamp Thing is one of my favorite DC/Vertigo characters due in large part to the reimaginings of Alan Moore. As with the other television adaptations of the character, the animated series avoided most of what Moore put on the page, instead leaning on the original origin. Alec Holland, a scientist searching for a scientific answer to the problem of world hunger is sabotaged by Anton Arcane. Arcane wants to steal Holland’s growth formula in an attempt at obtaining eternal life, in the ensuing chaos, Holland is covered in growth formula and leaps into the swamp where he is transformed into Swamp Thing, a creature made entirely of plants but retaining the mind of Dr. Holland.

Once Holland becomes Swamp Thing he is able to manipulate his body by growing it at will, he is also able to manipulate other plan life in his vicinity. Swamp Thing/Holland was accompanied by a select group of friends who helped him thwart the efforts of Arcane, including Tomahawk, a Native American ranger protecting the swamp, Bayou Jack, a Vietnam veteran, and two teenagers. Arcane, similarly has a group of henchmen known as the Un-Men, including a snake man called Dr. Deemo, a human-bat hybrid known as Skinman, and a super creepy multi-limbed centipede monster called Weed Killer. It’s worth noting that Bayou Jack is also temporarily turned into a fourth Un-Man human-mantis hybrid in the third episode titled “Falling Red Star” when our heroes encounter a fallen nuclear powered satellite.

“Swamp Thing” was similar to other series from the nineties in its exploration of environmental themes making it unique in that it taught kids the importance of environmental preservation while also being a pretty shameless capitalist money making scheme. Cognitive dissonance be damned.

Unfortunately, the series lasted only five episodes before meeting an untimely demise. While the character’s time in the hallowed halls of nineties animation were cut short, he is alive and well in the medium that birthed him, you can read some of the best stories ever paneled in classic and modern comic books. All five episodes of the animated series are also available on YouTube.

“The Goode Family” Created by Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Krinsky; Starring Mike Judge, Nancy Carell, Linda Cardellini, and David Herman; Originally aired May 27, 2009; Run time 22 minutes.

Mike Judge, coming off the long running success of both “Beavis and Butt-Head” and “King of the Hill” created a third animated series following the everyday adventures of a modern liberal American family. Gerald and Helen Goode struggle to raise their daughter Bliss and adopted son Ubuntu as environmentally conscious vegans in a society that often ridicules those beliefs and lifestyle.

The series derives most of its humor from the family’s clash with more conservative values as well as the constantly shifting dynamic of what is good and what is bad in social consciousness. Unlike most other series with a green message, “The Goode Family” does not portray liberalism and environmental consciousness as undeniable good.

While the series’ protagonists are clearly of the recycling, meat is murder, organic produce variety, the show is written in such a way as to poke fun at that type of lifestyle while simultaneously putting a spotlight on why making an effort in these areas is necessary. This angle had the effect of making both sides of the issue look silly which may have been an attempt at finding balance and avoiding bias (which it was certainly successful at) but based on the show’s low ratings, it seems it had the effect of alienating both sides of the aisle and the show was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

Despite mixed reviews and low viewership, for my money it’s actually the strongest of Judge’s three animated at bats. The show maintains the relatable struggles of a modern family that “King of the Hill” provided (with Ubuntu being strikingly similar to Bobby Hill) while adding the additional element of political subtext, dealing with issues of environmental balance, racism, sex, and more.

Recent years have seen our society evolving in all of these arenas, the dynamic of the conversation is changing as more minority groups achieve a voice. Many of us are finding it difficult to navigate the conversation causing unintended wounds and unhelpful divides.

A show like “The Goode Family” could have helped humanize both sides of the conversation and helped us to plot a course that would be mutually beneficial. It’s unfortunate that the message was lost and the show discontinued so quickly. 

“Toxic Crusaders” Created by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz; Based on characters from “The Toxic Avenger”; Directed by Bill Huton and Tony Love; Starring Rodger Bumpass, Paul Eiding, Ed Gilbert, Susan Blu, John Mariano, Hal Rayle, Michael J. Pollard, Gregg Berger, Patric Zimmerman, Susan Silo, and Hath Soucie; Originally aired 1990; Run time 22 minutes.

“Toxic Crusaders” is an American animated series based on the 1980’s Troma Entertainment “The Toxic Avenger” movie series. It takes the concept of the movies, a hideously mutated superhero fighting pollution extreme prejudice, and waters it down to be palatable for children. While the series maintained the core of the films, they are considerably more family friendly.

Melvin Junko (previously Melvin Ferd), a janitor and the fated protagonist of “Toxic Crusaders,” is the victim of bullying that results in his exposure to toxic chemicals. As a result, Melvin is transformed, along with his mop, into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength and a sentient mop respectively.

Melvin uses his strength and transformative self-aware mop to stop crime, fight pollution, and save kittens. Toxie, as he becomes known, is paired against an anthropomorphized cockroach from the planet Smogula called Dr. Killemoff.

Killemoff has come to Earth with one purpose, to corrupt and destroy the ecosystem to make the planet more suitable for himself and his species. The Smogulans can’t stand Earth’s relatively clean environment and as a result, Killemoff wears a mask that pumps in pollution in order to survive. Each episode features Killemoff, along with an array of other aliens, cyborgs, mutated creatures, and anonymous henchmen, hatching some nefarious but flawed plan to convert and take over first Tromaville and then the world.

Toxie is tasked, along with his sidekicks and fellow mutants. Toxie’s accomplices include:

Nose-Zone, a test pilot who flew through a hole in the ozone layer and crashed his plane into a load of pepper. As a result, Nose-Zone has a gigantic nose and a mechanized wheel for a leg, turning him into some sort of gray-toned generously olfactorally endowed Gizmo Duck.

Major Disaster, a soldier who fell into a toxic swamp. As a result, he became some sort of plant creature with an army helmet fused to his head, and can control plants. You can think of him as G.I. Swamp Thing.

Junkyard, created when a vagrant and a dog took shelter in a kennel covered in toxic sludge and struck by lightning. As a result, they transformed into a single sentient dog wearing overalls. Think Al Borland but if he was a werewolf who’s also a surf bum.

The disgustingly mutated team rounds out with Headbanger, created when a singing telegram employee visits the laboratory of Dr. Bender and they both fall into an atom smasher. As a result, they are fused together with two heads on a single patched together Frankenstein body. They originally work with Dr. Killemoff but swap sides to get the ladies.

“Toxic Crusaders,” like many films and television shows of the era, had an overtly environmental theme. It’s clear throughout the series that polluting and negatively impacting the environment is the real enemy here and, despite their polluted origins, Toxie and his friends are ultimately fighting against the encroachment of invasive technologies.

It isn’t quite as on the nose as “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” without the overt environmental PSAs and power is yours message, but it did provide another role model for conservationism for kids of the 90s and could be argued to be equally as important as it also appealed to adults and pulled in a completely different kind of kid as might be enticed by the Planeteers.

Despite only producing thirteen episodes, the series maintains a cult following due to its living more on the fringes of popular animation and the film series that preceded.

Several years after the cancellation of the animated series, the first three episodes were mashed together and released as “Toxic Crusaders: The Movie” the entire series was eventually released as a box set on DVD. 

“Defenders of Dynatron City” Created by Gary Winnick; Directed by Chuck Patton; Written by Bob Forward and Gary Winnick; Starring Pay Fraley, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Curry, David Coburn, Candi Milo, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gary Owens, and Charles Adler; Originally aired February 22, 1992; Run time 22 minutes.  

“Defenders of Dynatron City” got its start as a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Lucasfilm Games. It features a team of mutated superheroes who defend a futuristic city from the nefarious Dr. Mayhem.

The game was adapted into an animated pilot but was never picked up. The only produced episode was later released on VHS and aired on Fox Kids in February of 1992. The game received bad reviews for having a strict hit detection system making it difficult to attack enemies without exact precision.

The animated episode however is actually a lot of fun, if a little on the nose, it’s surprising that it wasn’t picked up for more episodes. The story takes place in Dynatron City, a futuristic metropolis full of varied technological wonders including Proto Cola, a soda that not only energized and revitalizes consumers but causes spontaneous mutation due to its radioactivity.

While inhabitants of Dynatron City fall in love with the drink, one can’t help but wonder if city doctors aren’t battling just so much cancer. Dr. Mayhem is bewildered by the positive response to his drink, noting that he created it in an attempt to terrify the populace but they have embraced it and him.

Our heroes begin as ordinary citizens of the city, delivering a shipment of Proto Cola to Dr. Mayhem’s warehouse/headquarters. When Mayhem stiffs them on payment they decide to use brute force to right the wrong but are quickly captured along with a mutated monkey boy already in Mayhem’s possession.

Due to a lack of planning uncharacteristic of Mayhem’s apparent genius, monkey boy is able to slip the chains but abandons his companions in the search for bananas. He slips on a rogue peel and accidentally fills the chamber they’re being held in with Proto Cola and electrifies it, causing sever spontaneous mutation to occur, thus the Defenders of Dynatron City are born.

Those trapped within the chamber become superheroes with an array of abilities. The players are,

Jet Headstrong: with the ability to launch his head like a rocket.

Buzzsaw Girl: with the ability to whiz around and slice things up with the buzzsaw that has replaced her legs and feet like some sort of female version of Gizmo Duck.

Ms. Megawatt: with the ability to generate electricity.

Radium Dog: with super strong jaws and the power of flight.

In addition to the three mutated human heroes and Radium Dog, Monkey Kid also falls into the charged cola and becomes… Monkey Kid: with the ability to be a monkey kid, also exploding bananas. The crew is rounded out by a toolbox who, during the atomic event, is anthropomorphized, has a big hammer for a head and can shapeshift into essentially any type of tool they might ultimately need.

The six heroes go after Dr. Mayhem and his giant floating brain computer with the ability to turn inanimate objects into animate techno-monsters and… Mayhem ensues.

While the episode was referential and over the top at times, it had a fairly unique premise and entertaining characters. I would have liked to have seen more. 

I never really appreciated the nineties while I was in them. I remember having a distinct feeling that the previous decade was a hell of a lot cooler and I had the misfortune of having mostly missed it, it being over by the time I hit Kindergarten and was forming most of my long term memories. Sure there were things that I liked, things that came out of that decade that are still a part of my cultural DNA, but I had a sort of intentional distance from it, sure that the best music and the best culture had come and gone. Part of that may have been the angst of growing up, the rite of passage that is being too cool for whatever is given to you, part of it may have been that life is like “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” difficult to appreciate from too close.

Whatever it was, it’s only now that I can look back on that time and realize that it did have its own soul, an attitude that was distinct to that time in the world, a flavor that is now gone for the most part, and I find myself sort of missing it. Life is weird like that.

We were being buried with fear, the Ozone layer had a whole in, AIDS was coming to get every one of us, the rainforest was being destroyed, space shuttles were blowing up, kids were coming to school with pipe bombs and bullets. At the same time, the new millennium was on the horizon, the internet was becoming ubiquitous, space stations were being built. The vast array of problems laid at our feet caused a sort of nostalgia for a simpler past that had left us behind, while the promise of the future suggested that just maybe we could fix those problems if we had the fortitude to pick up a hammer, or a shovel, or a bullhorn, or maybe just put down our weapons and see one another. Give the world a Coke.

Anyway, it was a weird time, we didn’t really know who we were, or where we were going, at least I didn’t, and born out of that feeling, as with every generation, was art. All of this is a longwinded way of saying that while I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, sometimes I wish I could go back, knowing then what I know now, but the wheel of time keeps turning, that is of course except for…

“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” Created by Mark Schultz and Steven E. De Souza; Based on the comic book “Xenozoic Tales;” Starring David Keeley, Susan Roman, Bruce Tubbe, and Tedd Dillon; Originally aired September 18, 1993; Run time 22 minutes.

“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” has perhaps one of the lamest names of any cartoon from the nineties but a pretty entertaining premise, especially if you’re like me and a sucker for pretty much anything with dinosaurs in it.

It takes place in the 26^th century, humanity has spent hundreds of years underground after a series of environmental catastrophes (potentially due to the rogue second moon whipping around Earth for no reason) and when they return to the surface they discover that previously extinct species have reclaimed the world, including dinosaurs.

A great city is built in the sea run by a council of corrupt governors, pockets of survivors are still emerging in the wilderness and The Mechanics, a group of environmental warriors is committed to finding balance in their new setting. One such Mechanic is the protagonist Jack Tenrec who, along with his buddy Mustapha Cairo, sort of love interest Hannah Dundee, and pet Allosaurus Hermes, fight the forces of Governor Wilhelmina Scharnhorst and poacher Hammer Terhune to maintain the balance of the Machinataeo Vitae, the machine of life.

Jack also receives advice from a race of sentient bipedal reptiles called Griths by way of Hobb, who is able to communicate with Jack and the dinosaurs telepathically.

The animation style and production of “Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” were able to preserve the feel of the late eighties/early nineties comic book style from which it was lifted by way of artistic design and changing the screen ratio to mimic panels at strategic moments.

The series so perfectly embodies the spirit of the nineties by way of looking to the future while also holding onto the recent and distant past. Through its admittedly silly exterior it commentates on the nature of the human experience by suggesting that even the future, even in the face of a near miss extinction, we might still struggle with the same issues of togetherness and balance with our environment that plague us today.

“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” probably won’t go down in history as a great piece of art or social commentary, but it is a great example of the way we were feeling at the time it was made, the things that weighed heavily on our minds, plus it has dinosaurs.

“The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police” Created by Steve Purcell; Based on the comic book “Sam & Max: Freelance Police” also created by Steve Purcell; Starring Harvey Atkin, Robert Tinkler, and Tracey Moore; Originally aired October 4, 1997; Run time 10 – 22 minutes.

Sam, a bear, and Max, a rabbit, originally came into being in the 1987 comic book “Sam & Max: Freelance Police by Steve Purcell. The characters were adapted to the small screen ten years later as part of the Fox Kids lineup.

The series takes its art style and premise directly from the comic books. The story follows the two titular characters as they take on missions assigned by The Commissioner, an off screen entity who calls in Sam and Max when all goes awry and everything else fails. The pair are joined by The Geek, a teenage girl and technical genius who works in a lab in the Sub-Basement of Solitude cooking up gadgets for Sam and Max to help them with their missions.

The first and last episodes ran a full twenty-two minutes but the remainder paired two ten to twelve minute episodes, each with their own adventure. Their missions took them to the world’s strangest places, the center of the earth, Mt. Olympus, and beyond to the Moon and alternate dimensions.

In the pilot episode, (included below) “The Thing That Wouldn’t Stop It” the pair are called to the Sub-Basement of Solitude when The Geek is attacked by a many tentacle, shape shifting creature from another dimension coming out through the refrigerator. Sam and Max seemingly thrive on chaos and danger, rushing headlong into disaster as if it is the very air they breathe. The universe also employs some classic cartoon physics in as much as characters can be smashed or blown up without suffering any lasting harm.

Sam and Max enter a portal in the refrigerator that takes them to an alternate freezer dimension filled with scarecrows guarding frozen corn and housed made of hotdogs. There they find three men taken hostage by the creature within and must find a way to defeat the monster, save the men, and most importantly, restore the fridge to normal working order.

There’s something special about “The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police” in the way it deals with its characters and the way they speak and interact with their world. It can only be described as the nineties distilled into its purest form. Sam and Max brought home a Gemini award for best animated series but was unfortunately cancelled shortly thereafter, after only two seasons.  

“The Wild Thornberry’s” Created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic; Directed by Peter Avanzino, Anthony Bell, Becky Bristow, Sylvia Keulen, Cathy Malkasian, Jeff McGrath, Carol Millican, Steve Ressel, and Mark Risley; Starring Lacey Chabert, Tom Kane, Flea, Danielle Harris, Jodi Carlisle, and Tim Curry; Originally aired September 1, 1998; Run time 22 minutes.

“The Wild Thornberrys” was created by husband and wife team Arlene Klasky an Gabor Csupo, the same duo who brought us “Rugrats” at the beginning of Nickelodeon’s original animated content era. The story follows a nomadic family of wildlife filmmakers as they travel the world exploring nature and investigating the different species they encounter.

The family consists of the father and mother, two daughters, a chimpanzee, and a feral boy. The youngest daughter, Eliza, has the ability to communicate with animals, a gift she was given after rescuing a shaman early in the series. This ability allows her to glean pertinent information in each episode that either teaches the audience a lesson or helps them solve the episode’s conflict. It also allows her to communicate with the family’s pet chimpanzee, Darwin, allowing him to be a full fledged character rather than a background accessory.

Donnie, the feral boy, voiced by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is an adopted son of the Thornberrys. He came to them from a group of orangutans in Borneo. In a TV movie about his origins it is revealed that his parents were wildlife activists who come upon a pair of orangutans being threatened by poachers. His parents intervene and are killed in the process. In gratitude, the mother orangutan takes Donnie in as her own but later hands him over to the Thornberrys so that he can live with a human family. It is unknown how intelligent Donnie is, throughout the series he never rises above his feral attitudes but occasionally shows glimpses of civility.

The series tackled obvious issues such as conservation, deforestation, and endangered species, but also used the familial and natural conflict to discuss issues like togetherness, teamwork, and bullying. There were a total of three films made featuring the characters, including one cross over with “Rugrats.”

The show was finally cancelled in June of 2004 though Nickelodeon has been in talks about reviving some of their classic animated series, whether or not we’ll see more of the Thornberys remains to be seen.

“Doug” Created by Jim Jinkins; Developed by Jim Jinkins and Joe Aaron; Starring Billy West, Constance Shulman, Fred Newman, Alice Playten, Doug Preis, Bruce Bayley Johnson, Greg Lee, and Doris Belack; Originally aired August 11, 1991; Run time 23 minutes.

“Doug” began in the sketchbook of Jim Jinkins as a sort of autobiographical alter ego. The character had a long evolution beginning in the 80s and culminating as an animated series on Nickelodeon in 1991. The series follows the titular character and his mostly mundane but relatable adventures in the town of Bluffington.  Jinkins has indicated that while the show isn’t exactly autobiographical, it is emotionally honest to his own experiences growing up in Virginia.

Jinkins originally pitched “Doug” as a children’s book but was met with rejection from most publishers, Simon & Schuster expressed some interest but management changed before the deal was completed and the book was never made.

Jinkins was able to bring the character to life in a minor capacity, a prototype version of Doug and his dog Porkchop can be seen in a bumper spot for the USA Network and in a 1988 Florida Grapefruit Growers commercial.

Up to this point Nickelodeon had only been showing licensed animated content but was looking for original series to fill their animation slots. Jinkins had worked for the network previously when it was under the name Pinwheel and took in his “Doug” book to pitch the idea. Vanessa Coffey, an executive at Nickelodeon at the time allegedly ran out of the room to speak with her boss about buying the property immediately after meeting with Jenkins.

“Doug” premiered on August 11, 1991 as one of Nickelodeon’s three original Nicktoons along with “Rugrats” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show.” It ran for four seasons with a total of 52 episodes before Nickelodeon stopped production. Due to an unusual contract agreement, Jenkins retained the rights to the series and the option to take “Doug” to another network if Nickelodeon decided not to complete the run. As a result, “Doug” was picked up by The Disney Channel and continued its run there.

Nickelodeon had a two year window to reverse their decision and pick up production on “Doug” again, this meant that by the time the show moved to Disney a considerable amount of time had passed, this necessitated some changes in the show including replacement of Billy West as the voice of the main character mostly because Disney couldn’t afford to pay him. In the interim West’s reputation had grown due mostly to his involvement with “The Ren & Stimpy Show.”

In addition to 117 total episodes including 52 at Nickelodeon and 65 at Disney, “Doug” also spawned a theatrical movie titled “Doug’s 1^st Movie” a live musical stage show at Disney World, and the character did eventually find his way onto the pages of books.

Nickelodeon has recently expressed interest in reviving some of their now classic animation titles and while no specific titles have been confirmed, it’s probably safe to say that as one of its most popular and successful titles, “Doug” was be considered for resurrection. It helps that Billy West has also stated his interest in returning to voice the character if Nickelodeon ever considered continuing production.