Rebooting/reviving live-action movie franchises may be a more popular practice than ever in Hollywood right now, but for cartoon TV series it's really nothing new - case in point, how many Scooby-Doo cartoon series are we up to now, anyway? Among the animated show properties that will soon return to a small screen near you is The Powerpuff Girls, which should debut on Cartoon Network by 2016.
Powerpuff Girls started out as a cartoon series created by Craig McCracken, eventually giving rise to a multi-platform franchise that encompasses video games, a feature film, and much more. The original program (which aired from 1998 to 2005) revolved around Blossom (Cathy Cavadini), Bubbles (Tara Strong), and Buttercup (Elizabeth Daily): three little girls imbued with super-powers, after their creator Professor Utonium (Tom Kane) accidentally adds the mysterious Chemical X to the "sugar, spice, and everything nice" formula that he relies upon for creating perfect little girls.
McCracken's original Powerpuff Girls series and its subsequent spinoffs/tie-ins feature the sort of zany humor and tone as McCracken's other animation projects for Cartoon Network, such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (co-created by McCracken). It remains to be seen if the Powerpuff Girls reboot show can recapture its predecessor's zest and kid-appropriate madcap superhero antics.
However, the series will largely carryover the character designs and visual aesthetic of the original (unlike the 2014 TV special The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed) - judging by the newly-released artwork for the show, anyway. You can check out the Powerpuff Girls reboot series artwork below (via IGN):
The Powerpuff Girls reboot series voice cast includes Amanda Leighton (The Fosters) as Blossom, Kristen Li (a supporting voice actor on Monsters University) as Bubbles, and Natalie Palamides (The Brave Cat) as Buttercup, with Tom Kenny reprising as the Narrator/Mayor. Additionally, the show is being executive produced by Bob Boyle (The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom) and Adventure Time art director/supervising producer Nick Jennings.
Cartoon Network's Chief Content Officer Rob Sorcher has released the following statement, regarding this relaunch of the Powerpuff Girls cartoon brand:
"It has been wonderful to see this new show team bring such passion and positive creative spirit to this iconic property. We know that fans of every age will appreciate this new take on saving the world before bedtime."
Next, we have an official image of the Powerpuff Girls reboot voice cast, just released by Cartoon Network:
McCracken's original Powerpuff Girls, as mentioned before, had a certainly crackling energy and wit to everything from its protagonists' super-heroic deeds - whether they involved battling giant monsters or the Girls loosing their baby teeth - to the directorial style, which reflected the efforts of such animation directors as Genndy Tartakovsky (the Hotel Transylvania films) and Chris Savino (Dexter's Laboratory), among others. The reboot is being developed by people capable of bringing a similar idiosyncratic sensibility to the table, so the new Powerpuff Girls series may prove able to please longtime fans and win over newcomers at the same time.
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The Powerpuff Girls will return to Cartoon Network in 2016.
Source: IGN