Pibby and "Adultified" Cartoon Network
A new animated short from Adult Swim has taken the Internet by storm recently. Come and Learn with Pibby!, which sits at 4.3M views on YouTube as of the time I'm writing this, has seen (in my eyes) the greatest push for a greenlight since Infinity Train 5 years ago.
Some people approached the idea of a Pibby series/movie/special with hesitance, their main issue being the use of pre-established IPs. A good friend of mine, Chaos Factor, acknowledged how Pibby may just add more fuel to the "young children discovering unfriendly interpretations of their favorite characters" fire. As someone who went through that experience myself, those concerns are warranted.
But in the context of Pibby being an AS original, it makes sense. After all, Cartoon Network didn't gain traction until they started recycling Hanna-Barbera characters in mature situations — one of which actually led to Adult Swim's creation. So, for funsies, here are some experimental projects you may have heard of:
The Scooby-Doo Project (1999)
In 1999, Cartoon Network called upon three animators to create branding material for their upcoming Scooby-Doo marathons. The result? A satirical, Zoink-ified take on that year's sleeper hit, The Blair Witch Project.
These bumpers (later condensed into a 20-minute short film) aired during two Scoobythons in October and November 1999. The Scooby-Doo Project then languished in the realm of lost media until a fully restored version was uploaded to YouTube in 2020. Give this one a watch sometime soon — it's very well-made!
Spumco’s Yogi Bear (also 1999)
I'll keep this section brief, since I actually haven’t watched these specials (and given the creator, I'm sure you readers don’t want to either).
From what I’ve seen of this September 24, 1999 Yogi block — comprising the 7-minute Day in the Life of Ranger Smith and the 20-minute Boo Boo Runs Wild — it has the typical John K. fixings that you can find less than five minutes into a Ren & Stimpy episode. Because of how frequently Adult Swim reran these specials over the years, they can be found with a quick YouTube search.
Watch at your own discretion, I guess.
The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
Even though Boomerang kept the legacy of The Flinstones alive through reruns, the franchise itself was dead in the early 2000s, especially after the two live-action flops of the 1990s. However, before WWE Stone Age SmackDown came out in 2015, there was one more animated adventure with the Bedrock crew — On The Rocks.
And "on the rocks" is it indeed. The movie revolves around Fred and Wilma's marriage on the brink of collapse, and a surprise vacation gift from the Rubbles complicates things further. It's closer in style to the earlier seasons of The Flintstones, back when it was actually meant for adults. We're talking physical violence, depictions of alcohol, affairs — all that jazz!
Like The Scooby-Doo Project, On The Rocks saw no additional release past its original broadcast, but I'm certain that a copy of the film exists somewhere on the Internet Archive.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994)
And now, the one that started it all.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the brainchild of Cartoon Network's original VP of programming, Mike Lazzo. During its 14-year run, celebrities like "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adam West, Jim Carrey, Hulk Hogan, and Bill Nye sat down and humored the antics of Ghost Planet's late-night scene.
This show is, without a doubt, one of WarnerMedia's greatest success stories. Not only did Coast to Coast's general concept precede the examples I've listed, but it (along with many spin-offs and follow-the-leaders) helped established Cartoon Network’s all-age appeal, culminating with Adult Swim’s September 2001 debut.
With that last part specifically, one could argue that a great deal of adult animation wouldn’t exist had Coast to Coast been unsuccessful.
