Would you consider the 90s Cartoon Cartoons more of 2000s cartoons than 90s ones?

[AnimaniacNutso]

I've heard people say that the Cartoon Cartoons released in the 90s defined the 90s, but when I think about it, I really don't consider stuff like Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and (to a lesser extent) Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo to be 90s cartoons more than 2000s. I think it's the other way around. Is it weird that I think that way? I think its because of how much they aired in the 2000s and how many new episodes of them came in the 2000s that I consider them to be more 2000s shows than 90s ones. I will say Dexter's Laboratory is probably the most 90s of them, since it aired most of its episodes in the 90s, but it always felt like it hit its peak of popularity in the early 2000s, which is why I consider it to be more of a early 2000s piece of culture than anything

 

[GiantWaffle]

Nope. 90s for sure. When I think of 2000s cartoons I think MGPAM, Lazlo, Squirrel Boy etc.

One 2000s cartoon that for sure feels like a 90s Cartoon Cartoon is Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? It used cel animation despite airing in 2003.

 

[Fawfulmark2]

I kinda get your analogy, since the Simpsons is technically an 80s show but became big in the 90s. But yeah they would be late 90s toons, but seeing how the 2000s got things like Billy & Mandy, Samurai Jack, Fosters and Teen Titans the eras were well balanced.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Honestly I do think of them as more 2000’s shows than ‘90’s. That could be because I first started watching CN religiously during the summer of 2000, so these shows weren’t on my mind much during the ‘90’s. The only exception would be Cow & Chicken since it finished its run in 1999 and wasn’t on much past the early 2000’s.

I agree with your thoughts on Dexter. It seems to me, it hit its peak in popularity after the original run ended, however I wouldn’t mind if somebody called it a ‘90’s show.

 

[Daikun]

I will say Dexter's Laboratory is probably the most 90s of them, since it aired most of its episodes in the 90s, but it always felt like it hit its peak of popularity in the early 2000s, which is why I consider it to be more of a early 2000s piece of culture than anything

That's interesting. I thought the 2000s was when that show declined, not peaked, mainly because of its retooling. I was under the impression that the 90s was when Dexter's Lab had seen its best years.

 

[RandomMe]

Even I sometimes consider some 90s shows as 2000s shows, partly because my earliest clear memories of CN were from around 2000/2001.

 

[GustlyWind]

I think it depends on which era the show spent most of the time during its run. Like I really doubt EEnE would be 90s since most of its seasons premiered after the 2000s

 

[wonderfly]

Definitely agree with the overall premise of this thread. You can't call "Powerpuff Girls", "Ed, Edd N Eddy" and "Courage the Cowardly Dog" to be "90's cartoons" when the majority of their episodes came into existence after January 1st, 2000.

Except for Dexter's Lab. I can wrap my head around calling that one a "90's cartoon". Majority of it's episodes did air in the 90's, but I think it hit the climax of it's popularity in 1999/2000, so it's very borderline...

Even moreso than "Dexter's Lab", "Johnny Bravo" is very borderline, almost equal in the number of episodes that premiered in the 90's versus the number of episodes that premiered in the 00's.

So this is my breakdown:

1. I consider Dexter's Lab, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, and Mike, Lu & Og (and Johnny Bravo - barely!) to be 90's cartoons.

2. I consider Powerpuff Girls, EdEddnEddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Sheep in the Big City, Time Squad, and Samurai Jack to all be "early 00's" shows.

3. I consider "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", "Codename: Kids Next Door", "Megas XLR", "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" and "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" to be "Mid 00's" shows.

4. And then I consider everything from "Life and Times of Juniper Lee" to "Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" to be "Late 00's".

That's how I wrap my head around it, at any rate.

One 2000s cartoon that for sure feels like a 90s Cartoon Cartoon is Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? It used cel animation despite airing in 2003.

It premiered in the Summer of 2002, but I get your point: It's animation style was meant to invoke the old cartoons (specifically the "School House Rock" educational shorts of the 70's). And it's an "Early 00's" show, in my mind.

 

[superkeegan9100]

I always felt like Courage came around 2000.

I was wrong.

 

[Red Arrow]

I tend to put CN originals in 3 groups.

Dexter's Laboratory (1996) till Grim & Evil (2001): I grew up with these shows, but I didn't witness these shows being brand new. I got CN in March 2003 so these shows have "always" existed to me.

Codename: Kids Next Door (2002) till Ben 10: Alien Force (2008): Kids Next Door premiered here in October 2003. This was my very first "new CN show".

Adventure Time (2010) till present: I feel like CN completely changed then, as do many other people I suppose.

I have never seen The Moxy Show or Robot Jones on TV so I left those out.

(The bolded years are for the US, of course)

 

[AnimaniacNutso]

Definitely agree with the overall premise of this thread. You can't call "Powerpuff Girls", "Ed, Edd N Eddy" and "Courage the Cowardly Dog" to be "90's cartoons" when the majority of their episodes came into existence after January 1st, 2000.

Except for Dexter's Lab. I can wrap my head around calling that one a "90's cartoon". Majority of it's episodes did air in the 90's, but I think it hit the climax of it's popularity in 1999/2000, so it's very borderline...

Even moreso than "Dexter's Lab", "Johnny Bravo" is very borderline, almost equal in the number of episodes that premiered in the 90's versus the number of episodes that premiered in the 00's.

So this is my breakdown:

1. I consider Dexter's Lab, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, and Mike, Lu & Og (and Johnny Bravo - barely!) to be 90's cartoons.

2. I consider Powerpuff Girls, EdEddnEddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Sheep in the Big City, Time Squad, and Samurai Jack to all be "early 00's" shows.

3. I consider "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", "Codename: Kids Next Door", "Megas XLR", "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" and "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" to be "Mid 00's" shows.

4. And then I consider everything from "Life and Times of Juniper Lee" to "Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" to be "Late 00's".

That's how I wrap my head around it, at any rate.




It premiered in the Summer of 2002, but I get your point: It's animation style was meant to invoke the old cartoons (specifically the "School House Rock" educational shorts of the 70's). And it's an "Early 00's" show, in my mind.

The only one I disagree with is "Mike, Lu & Og". Only 6 episodes aired in the 90s compared to the 20 in the 2000s

 

[wonderfly]

The only one I disagree with is "Mike, Lu & Og". Only 6 episodes aired in the 90s compared to the 20 in the 2000s

It was a failed show, barely lasting into the Spring of 2001. It didn't enjoy a health rerun period (like Courage did, which premiered around the same time). These are just my memories, anyway, but the fact that it didn't even make it through 2001 helps solidify in my mind that it's a 90's cartoon (even if that's not fully accurate).

 

[mqg96]

@AnimaniacNutso I think the proper term to use for the Cartoon Cartoons is that those are "millennial". Millennial or Y2K culture means late 90's and early 00's combined into one. Late 1998-Summer 2001 (before 9/11) is widely considered as the Y2K era of pop culture. It's neither strictly 90's or 00's culturally but right in between. The Pokemon craze was big around this time with the Gameboy/N64 games and the TV show on Kids WB. The teen pop music such as Britney Spears, NSYNC, Spice Girls, and Backstreet Boys were very huge at the time. The Late 90's/Early 00's Hip Hop and R&B era began after Biggie and Tupac were dead. The Kobe #8 and Shaq era of the Lakers was huge at the time. Cartoon Network's Powerhouse Era was in its prime. Kids WB and One Saturday Morning were at its absolute peak as the last solid Saturday Morning cartoons stations with exclusive content. Toon Disney was in its prime. Disney Channel started transitioning over to a tween pop station for girls like it's been for years and so forth. All of this was millennial or Y2K era culture. Anyways, my point is that Cartoon Cartoons like Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Cow & Chicken, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Ed Edd n Eddy were popular around the new millennium so these don't strictly belong to the 90's or 00's. Ed, Edd n Eddy is a 00's cartoon since it's the longest lasting Cartoon Cartoon while Cow & Chicken is really 90's because it only lasted in the 90's. But overall the Cartoon Cartoons era is millennial/Y2K because it lasted from 1996 until 2003.

 

[wonderfly]

@AnimaniacNutso I think the proper term to use for the Cartoon Cartoons is that those are "millennial". Millennial or Y2K culture means late 90's and early 00's combined into one. Late 1998-Summer 2001 (before 9/11) is widely considered as the Y2K era of pop culture. It's neither strictly 90's or 00's culturally but right in between.

A very good analysis. It was indeed like a "sub-era" inbetween the more vibrant "We won the Cold War!" early to mid 90's and the "Post-September 11th War on Terror" world of late-2001 to 2006. I might suggest the start date goes back to Summer or Fall of 1997, a year prior. That's when Back Street Boys First Album came out, kicking off the "Boy Band" phase you referenced. In terms of children's programming, 1997 is when Fox Kids lost the rights to "Batman: the Animated Series" and it started airing on "Kids WB" (in the form of the "The New Batman/Superman Adventures", in the Fall of 1997). CBS closed down it's Saturday mornings in 1997 and Disney created the "One Saturday Morning" block on ABC, so that really was the start of this "Sub-Era", in children's programming.

That the Powerhouse era kind of coincides with this era is just a cool twist of fate. Actually, I divide the Powerhouse era into 2 eras (with 1998-2000 being "Early Powerhouse" and 2001 to 2003 being "Late Powerhouse"). Yeah, they were both "Powerhouse" era, but very different in tone (maybe due in part to Adult Swim's emergence in the Fall of 2001, maybe in part due to the September 11th attacks).

That was also the era of "Dumb Summer Blockbusters", starting with "Men in Black" in 1997 (see aka the "Dark Age of Movies", according to the Nostalgia Cricic). Brings back good memories, but yeah, it definitely came to an end in September, 2001.

To bring it back to the "Cartoon Cartoons", yes, I suppose you could just merge all of the "Powerhouse Era" cartoons from 1997 to Late 2001 as belonging equally to both the 90's/00's (because they are in the "Sub-Era" of the New Millennium). Except for Dexter's Lab (which premiered in 1996). I can still consider that a 90's cartoon, in my mind.

 

[SG-17]

When it comes to this era of animation 1995-2005 (ish) is its own decade distinct from 1990-1995 and 2005-2010.

For example, while Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy, and Doug all premiered in 1991 they were merely the vanguard for the flood of programming that would come a few years later. The success of Rugrats could be argued as the reason for the big original programming push that came in '95 and later not just on Nick but on Cartoon Network as well.

I personally consider the Golden Age of Nickelodeon to be from 1991 to 1998 (Doug to Wild Thornberrys) and its Silver Age from 1999 to 2005 (SpongeBob to Avatar). It could also be argued here that the first season of SpongeBob was Golden Age (due to the large amounts of DNA it shared with Rocko) while the post-First Movie Rugrats and all of Wild Thornberrys was Silver Age (due to the markedly cleaner animation than compared to previous Klasky Csupo programs).

As for Cartoon Network their Golden Age ran from 1995 to 1999 (What a Cartoon! to Ed, Edd, n, Eddy) and 2000 to 2003 (Sheep in the Big City to Billy & Mandy).

The distinction between Golden and Silver age is merely academic, The Golden Ages has more experimentation and "figuring it out" while the Silver Ages used the formula refined in the Golden Age. Plus the Silver Age shows tended to use digital ink and paint while the Golden Age shows used traditional hand cel animation. After the Silver Ages on both networks you had large changes in style as well as animation.

So while there is an annotated difference between "late 90s" and "early 00s" programming I personally consider them two halves of one whole and don't generally distinguish between them for personal purposes.

 

[wonderfly]

So while there is an annotated difference between "late 90s" and "early 00s" programming I personally consider them two halves of one whole and don't generally distinguish between them for personal purposes.

A very good way to phrase it, in regards to both Nick and Cartoon Network!

 

[Red Arrow]

I might suggest the start date goes back to Summer or Fall of 1997, a year prior. That's when Back Street Boys First Album came out, kicking off the "Boy Band" phase you referenced.

I thought the same thing. I was thinking of Barbie Girl in 1997, which started the period of bubblegum music.

 

[Pac-Attack]

Kind of related, so CN joined the nostalgia T-shirt craze pretty late and most of the shirts where they have the characters grouped together look very empty, compared to Nick's shirts or something.

They usually use only 5 shows: Dexter, Cow and Chicken (I.M. Weasel too sometimes), Johnny Bravo, Eds, and Courage (PPG isn't included because of the reboot I guess). It sounds like enough but when you actually see the shirts, they look so empty. When your network has only started making shows in the late 90s, you sort of have to put some of the early 2000s characters in there so that it doesn't look so...bare.

Interestingly CN does seem to realize this, because sometimes they will put Billy and Mandy and Foster's on those shirts. Ironic to have the latter, since it's the first show to premiere after the first logo change. In fact, there are two shirts that I've seen with Foster's characters in them which feature the classic logo.

 

[Red Arrow]

In fact, there are two shirts that I've seen with Foster's characters in them which feature the classic logo.

Where I live, the logo changed on April 21st, 2006, whereas Foster's premiered on March 7th, 2005.