Which '90s kids cartoons had the most sophisticated writing?

February 2, 2021 6:15 PM

Looking back, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest had some very "adult" writing, in the sense of featuring situations that took its audience seriously. I'm still remembering how one of the reoccurring villains is a former CIA agent who was disavowed by the U.S. government, a victim of American imperialism and blowback. The show was at times both fanciful and oddly grounded, and didn't feel like it was geared towards a young audience. What other childrens' cartoons had similar quality of writing?

I also enjoyed how one of the episodes of TRAoJQ explains the mystery of the Jersey Devil as being a 200 year old shadow conflict between the descendants of American revolutionaries and British loyalists. There was even an episode that just about a tiger in the New York subway. In retrospect, it was pretty great since it was just a high concept adventure show. (Are there any others like it, both animated or not?)

Bruce Timm's entire canon from Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Batman Beyond, and the Justice Leagues deserve a mention.

Greg Weisman's Gargolyes is also legendary. I like how I first learned about the concept of the Illuminati from his show.

On the comedy side, the Animaniacs is well-renowned for including humor and references that went over its main audience's heads. That also goes for other WB shows like Tiny Toon Adventures (remember the They Might Be Giants music video episode?), Freakazoid!, and even child's education show Histeria!

posted by Apocryphon to Media & Arts (22 answers total)

Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Rugrats.
posted by Ideefixe at 6:30 PM on February 2, 2021 [6 favorites]

The Tick.
posted by mogget at 6:50 PM on February 2, 2021 [15 favorites]

Seconding all four of those shoes, but especially The Tick, which is one of my favorite cartoons of all time. Really wish that would start streaming somewhere. (I learned quite a bit about story structure from it!)

It's mid-aughts rather than 90s, but for sophistication from kid's shows, you have to consider Avatar, which has amazing characterization and arcs for both its heroes and villains.
posted by thecaddy at 7:04 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

Agreed with The Tick, PPG, and Dexter's Lab. I'd also add Ed, Edd n Eddy, Rocko's Modern Life, and Johnny Bravo. I don't think any of those shows wrote down to their audiences, and as a high schooler/college student through most of the 90s I really enjoyed them all.
posted by DingoMutt at 7:30 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]

Hey Arnold. It had a lot of silly or fantastical episodes, but also took some unflinching looks at urban poverty, mental illness, and dysfunction. Just off the top of my head: Mr. Hyunh's daughter, Pigeon Man, Stoop Kid, Helga's parents.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:33 PM on February 2, 2021 [15 favorites]

All The Tick episodes are on youtube - unofficial versions, but still very watchable.
posted by mogget at 8:50 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Invader Zim (technically 2001) was not a politically specific show, but it was devastatingly adult in its misanthropy. I'm not entirely sure from your post whether it would be too cartoonish, but it had a Santa-worship rally staged like The Triumph of the Will.
posted by praemunire at 8:52 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

Captain Power (written by Babylon 5's JMS) had some really interesting and dark concepts, including the death of a main character and how everyone else reacted to it.
posted by evilmonk at 9:06 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wasn't this (respecting kids enough to write kids' shows that adults also got something out of) a whole thing in child development circles around the start of Sesame Street, the Muppets, and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood? I feel like older cartoons, like Rocky and Bullwinkle and maybe other old Hanna-Barbara (sp?) cartoons as well as others from that era or earlier tended to be more "adult" in that sense, and then at some point (which I think was in the early to mid 80s, and maybe related to the development of more targetted demographic marketing, from some pop history I've read?) the trend shifted toward more "childish" kids shows. Then in the 90s a chunk of people rebelled against that (Barney being a target of much derision, followed by the Teletubbies), and some shows differentiated themselves by increasing cartoon violence without increased sophistication or respect for their audience, while some others re-introduced the more adult type of writing?
posted by eviemath at 9:07 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

Klasky Csupo actually wrote a lot of mature or adult overtone/undertone into their narratives. Definitely worth looking at the progress of their timelines for production. They kicked off the Simpsons.

Maybe the opposite of sophistication, but the Rockos Modern Life team seemed to have thread as many innuendos or off color jokes as the animators possibly could (they probably had a funny staff).

I love All Dogs go to Heaven. The dogs gamble, some of the dogs are pictured as licentious (? in the underground dog world..), they also drink. They befriend a cross dressing, opera singing alligator. They lead incredibly active doglives.

Don Bluth does well to thread a lot of humanity into his characters, even if the characters themselves aren't human beings :) a lot of these shows are totally still watchable. I would second Hey Arnold. That show had adult narratives running through it like mad, they did very well for work intended primarily for a younger audience.
posted by firstdaffodils at 9:11 PM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

Not a 90s show but the best cartoon ever has got to be Rocky and Bullwinkle. Hands down. Kid or adult, it was fabulous. From Sherman and the way-back machine, to Boris and Natasha, to Rocket J. Squirrel. Others are great, but Rocky and Bullwinkle are the greatest.
posted by citygirl at 9:32 PM on February 2, 2021 [14 favorites]

I remember really liking the first three seasons of the Men in Black cartoon quite a bit when I was in college. A lot of it was zany slapstick, but I seem to remember the comic timing, delivery, and voice acting to be very good for a Saturday morning cartoon. I lost interest in season 4 though -- they changed a couple of the voice actors, and the whole dynamic seemed to change as a consequence.
posted by ambulatorybird at 11:04 PM on February 2, 2021 [2 favorites]

The Real Ghostbusters. Still a favorite.
posted by WaywardPlane at 11:05 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

I remember Doug covering a lot of issues in a really sensitive way that seems to have been ahead of its time now.
posted by mani at 11:39 PM on February 2, 2021 [4 favorites]

eviemath, Nancy Regan and Urban Dictionary: PMRC. That whole "Just say no to drugs", "f**s deserve AIDS", "video games cause violence", "every cartoon ending with a moral 'the more you know' morality lesson". That's when cartoons went to total shit.

ReBoot was so adult nerd that it's sorta impossible to imaging a kid actually getting the jokes and puns.

Disney's Gargoyles (TV series) should not be forgotten.

Sadly as much as I luv cartoons, the 90's is like a decade I mostly missed. Second Invader Zim (seriously, I have machines named gaz, gir, zim, and tak. RFC 1178 - Choosing a name for your computer - Don't use long names, Use words/names that are rarely used, Use theme names).
posted by zengargoyle at 1:57 AM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Daria.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:25 AM on February 3, 2021 [12 favorites]

(Rocky & Bullwinkle is less a cartoon than a post-war kid's radio serial with pictures. But hell yeah it's well written.)
posted by thecaddy at 9:22 AM on February 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

The Mighty Max cartoon was surprisingly sophisticated and super intense.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 9:41 AM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

All of the above, but possibly also?:

Animaniacs
Recess
posted by rozcakj at 9:49 AM on February 3, 2021

There are definitely plenty of cartoons for adults that fit this criteria (including the incredible Home Movies), but one that I don't already see listed yet here is Taz-Mania, which was in an afterschool block with Tiny Toons and Animaniacs in the 90's. In re-watching, I also think the U.S. Acres segment of Garfield & Friends fits what you're looking for. Neither of these contain adult themes in the same way as Johnny Quest or Batman or Gargoyles, but they both contained mature themes and more nuanced comedy. Denver the Last Dinosaur aged like milk, but is about a group of kids who find a dinosaur and have to protect him from adults who want to make money off him.
posted by juniperesque at 10:34 AM on February 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Sheep in the Big City! Scratches the same itch as Bullwinkle, but is from the Powerpuff Girls era.
posted by matildaben at 11:29 AM on February 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Does this need to be U.S. specific?

In the UK we had Count Duckula - a vegetarian count dracula in duck form - which was still running in the early 90s. It was quite funny - typical English humour. Lots of wordplay going on.
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 6:09 AM on February 4, 2021 [2 favorites]