BURBANK, Calif. — The Girls are back in Townsville.
The Powerpuff Girls, Cartoon Network's action-packed hit that first aired in 1998, is flying back to TV Monday (6 p.m. ET/PT) after an 11-year break, with 40 new episodes. Though the producers, voice actors and animators have all changed since the show's first run, the animated supergirls haven't aged a bit, and their oversized heads and mighty punches haven't left the pop-culture landscape.
"The brand was so potent and powerful for a good period of time that it never really went away," says Rob Sorcher, Cartoon's chief content officer. "There were always conversations at different points in the company: 'Should we bring them back? When would be the time?'"
He arrived at "now" after finding the right talent and determining that Powerpuff''s fun, colorful brand was the right fit for the "shift of the way we're making things. ... It's not just television, but really building a whole world."
Cue the Powerpuff Girls video games, Flipped Out game app, short videos for YouTube, Instagram account, customizable social-media avatars and Moschino fashion line.
An old-school premise in a new school.
The revival hasn't made many tweaks from the original series created by Craig McCracken. “At the core of the show, it’s little teeny girlsfighting big monsters, trying to save the world before bedtime, juggling schoolwork and the superhero lifestyle,” says executive producer Nick Jennings. The “updated spin" on the girls features new female voices, a rounder; less angular look; a new theme song and a new school: The girls made of sugar, spice, everything nice and Chemical X moved from kindergarten class to a K-12 school with a whole host of new problems and villains.
There are female heroes, but that doesn’t make it a “feminist show.”
In "Man Up" (available for free on iTunes), beard-growing baddie Manboy picks a fight with Buttercup after calling her a princess and talking about women's limited place in society.
“Manboy is a perfect villain, because you have these cute little girls and this misogynist talking about how women should be,” says Jennings. But “we don’t quote ourselves as a feminist show.”
Another episode, about a horse deciding whether to become a unicorn, presents a metaphor for gender-reassignment surgery. “This is your body, and it’s a serious choice,” the character Professor Utonium reminds the horse.
Is there another message there? Not exactly.
“We try not to belittle anything, offend anybody. And we can take any social problem (or) feminist idea, but we weave it in a way a little kid would understand it,” says co-executive producer Bob Boyle.
Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom's new voices.
Voicing a Powerpuff Girl requires a mastery of grunt, yell and cheer sounds. In an episode recorded last month, young voice actors Amanda Leighton (leader Blossom); Kristen Li (super-friendly Bubbles) and Natalie Palamides (tough Buttercup) followed oofs, ahh and wows with a synchronized "Stop!" They read that seemingly simple line three different ways, as usual.
“It’s tough to choose from your brilliance,” complimented voice director Jack Fletcher, who helps decide which takes to save for the show. “Did Jack just call us brilliant?” asked a wide-eyed Li.
She’ll take the compliment, given all of the Internet hate she and her co-stars have already received for their roles.
“Oh my gosh, was I getting the nastiest messages. A lot of people say, ‘You’re not the real Buttercup, you’ll never be (original voice actor) E.G. Daily,’” says Palamides. “If you miss the old show, watch the DVDs. Go on Netflix.”
