Notable animated series finales (1990s)

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This is a list of notable animated television programs from the 1990s with series finales.

Contents 1 1990 2 1994 3 1995 4 1996 5 1997 6 1998 7 1999

[edit] 1990

• Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears - "King Igthorn" - Duke Igthorn builds a full gummiberry juice production facility in Castle Drekmore to produce enough juice (which gives Igthorne's troops superhuman strength) to finally conquer the Dunwyn Kingdom. To prevent the Gummi Bears from interfering, he uses a special termite to destroy Gummi Glen. He is later successful in conquering Caste Dunwyn. Upon learning that the long-lost Great Gummi civilization is finally returning, Igthorn prepares to destroy the fleet. The Gummi Bears foil Igthorn's plans by warning off the Great Gummis and secretly help the Dunwinnians to retake their kingdom. Meanwhile, another group of the Gummis sabotage Igthorn's factory to cause it to overload and literally make the castle shoot away like a rocket to be destroyed, leaving the Duke's power base in ruins. The Gummi Bears relocate in the reestablished Gummi city of Ursalia, giving their trusted human friends directions and free access to it. They also receive a message from the Great Gummis who promise to return to the land soon.

• DuckTales - The Golden Goose - Two-episode story arc. Dijon the Thief from DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp stumbles upon a cult where he meets his long-lost brother, Poupon, and is assigned to guard the Golden Goose, which can turn anything into gold. Unable to control himself, Dijon takes the Goose from its stand, but then loses it, and it ends up being found by Scrooge. Scrooge takes it home and wastes no time turning almost everything in his mansion to gold. Flintheart Glomgold, wanting the Goose in his possession, sends The Beagle Boys to steal it, which they do, during which they turn Huey, Dewey and Louie into gold. Shortly after Glomgold gets the Goose, though, it comes alive and turns things to gold on its own will, as part of a curse that takes effect when removed from its post. After an unsuccessful chase sequence, the Goose begins to turn the whole world to gold, and soon Scrooge, Launchpad, and Dijon are the only ones who can return things to normal.

[edit] 1994

• Doug - Doug Graduates / Doug's Bad Trip - The first 15-minute segment details Doug's fear of graduating from middle school, which he gets over when he discovers his nemesis Roger is going through the same thing. The second segment covers the summer vacation Doug takes which bridges this series and Disney's Doug, which premiered two years later. (This episode is an exception to Nickelodeon's general policy of not producing series finales, allowing for any episode to be aired out of context without confusing the viewer. However, recently it's been confirmed that Danny Phantom is being allowed a final episode.^{[citation needed]})
• Sonic the Hedgehog - The Doomsday Project - Dr. Robotnik's ultimate plan finally comes into fruition, using the Doomsday machine to produce an unstoppable mechanical army which will raze the planet. The Freedom Fighters band together from all over Mobius to stop him, but they are quickly defeated and captured; Sonic himself narrowly escapes being roboticized. Forming a last-ditch plan with the remaining heroes, Sonic recovers the second of the Deep Power Stones from Robotropolis, and he and Sally manage to destroy Doomsday with the Stones' power. Robotnik tries to flee in a hovercraft, his fate uncertain. The assembled Freedom Fighters celebrate their victory in Knothole while Sonic and Sally share a romantic kiss, the remainder of the Stones' power setting off a fireworks display. The series ends with a cliffhanger - Snively re-emerges from the wreckage, laughing maniacally, declaring that it's his turn and that he's "not alone", revealing a pair of glowing red eyes in the shadows behind him.

[edit] 1995

• Neon Genesis Evangelion - Take Care of Yourself (AKA The Beast that Shouted "I" at the Heart of the World) - Continuing the enigmatic two part finale, the episode focuses on philosophy, both of the characters and of living, and Shinji realizes what the world has become and what he is capable of. The episode ends when Shinji has some form of epiphany and he is suddenly surrounded by everyone he has known (including dead cast members), who are applauding him. The episode was met with confusion by most fans, as well as radically different interpretations. Later, a film was released called End of Evangelion that gives a more detailed ending that explains to the final episode some extent. The Japanese title is a reference to the Harlan Ellison story "The Beast That Shouted Love At the Heart of the World," a play on words since Ai ("I") is Japanese for love and the story focuses both on love and personal identity.

[edit] 1996

• Gargoyles (syndicated series) - Hunter's Moon - The clan is hunted by the latest generation of Hunters, who are convinced that the Manhattan clan is in league with the renegade gargoyle, Demona. In the conflict, the clan's clock tower home is destroyed, and they are fully revealed to the public by the Hunters to create a public panic. In one final battle, the warring groups fight in an abandoned church while Demona attempts her grandest scheme of global genocide in the building. Although they manage to make partial peace and stop Demona, the clan is trapped by the NYPD until their former enemy, David Xanatos, rescues them and takes them to safety. Furthermore, he allows them to live in The Eyrie Building's Castle Wyvern once again with his family as the clan's patrons for their protection operations in gratitude for saving their son from certain death in Demona's scheme. (Note: This was the actual series finale even though the series was continued on in Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles, as the creator and head writer Greg Weisman does not consider this series canon.)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - "Divide and Conquer" - The Turtles pilot Krang's giant robot body to defeat Dregg's final mutated form. Having overcome this final challenge, Splinter informs the Turtles that they have finally graduated. They are no longer the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but simply the Ninja Turtles.

[edit] 1997

• Beavis & Butt-head - Beavis & Butt-head Are Dead – An erroneous report that Beavis and Butt-head have died causes massive celebration among, teachers, staff and fellow students at their school. Daria even briefly returns. However, when the boys show up, Principal McVicker suffers a heart attack. They take a jar of money the school had been raising in their memory and remark as they walk off into the sunset that they'll never have to go to school again.
• X-Men - Graduation Day - After an assassination attempt leaves Professor Xavier mortally wounded, the X-Men come together to grieve as he lays dying, and to carry on Xavier's message of peace and tolerance. Even Magneto, their arch-nemesis, gives up his last chance to conquer the world in order to help Xavier, his best and only friend. Ultimately, Magneto uses his powers to summon the alien Lilandra to take Xavier to another world. Xavier gives each of the X-Men a final farewell message.
• Freakazoid- After his last episode ended, Freakazoid thanks his special guest star Norm Abram and his co-stars, especially Steven Spielberg and his announcer Joe Leahy. Then the whole cast sings We'll Meet Again and it concludes with fireworks.
• Sailor Moon- "Usagi's love! The moonlight illuminates the galaxy", The 200th and final episode of the series. Sailor Moon battles Galaxia and returns her to the good side, thus eliminating Chaos from the universe.

[edit] 1998

• Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles - Angels In The Night - The majority of the clan are caught and apparently killed in a trap arranged by the Quarrymen, leaving only Broadway, Angela and Bronx alive but captured by the police. However, the other gargoyles find themselves alive thanks to David Xanatos who knew about the trap and interfered with it to fake their deaths so they could escape human persecution. However, the clan decide against abandoning their principles and decide to rescue the others who are being transported by train to a holding facility. In transit, the passenger train is attacked by the Quarrymen intent on killing the survivors. When the rest of the clan engages them, the fight climaxes with a confrontation at the engine's controls where the Quarrymen's leader, John Castaway, raves in front of human witnesses about how he was going to destroy the train and everyone on board, human and gargoyle, to kill the clan. The clan subdue the madman and save the train in a spectacular rescue. The episode ends with Castaway arrested and the clan being hailed by the humans as the heroes they are.
• Pinky and the Brain - Brainwashed - A 3-episode story arc. Instead of trying to take over the world, Pinky and the Brain end up saving it after a popular Macarena-like dance crazy secretly reducing the intelligence of the world's population and turns them into zombie slaves. Brain is kidnapped and brainwashed by the zombies (Pinky, who's already brainless, is immune to the process). At first, Pinky becomes great friends with the newly stupified Brain, but soon frees him after realizing Brain will never truly be happy unless he's trying to take over the world. Returning to his old self Brain decides to discover the party responsible for the new dance. His research soon ends when Acme Labs is destroyed. Brain then comes to the conclusion that his arch-nemesis Snowball is responsible, but soon learns that Snowball is another victim of the plot. Pinky, Brain, and Snowball join forces to confront their creator, Dr. Mordough, but in the end find out that it is Mordough's super-intelligent cat, Precious, who is the real mastermind. In the ensuing struggle, Snowball falls into Mordough's mutation machine and get un-mutated, losing his super-intelligence and becoming a regular animal. Pinky and Brain escape Dr Mordough's Island, and get to Washington to stop the dance from permanently stupifying the world. After foiling Precious's scheme (and getting her a new home) they are able to get Acme Labs rebuilt (and enhanced). Having saved the world, Pinky and the Brain prepare for the next night in their traditional manner: "What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?" "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series - Spider Wars, Chapter II: Farewell, Spider-Man - Spider-Man learns that the destiny Madame Web has been preparing him for all along is to stop Spider-Carnage, a bitter alternate reality version of Peter Parker, from destroying the multiverse. After battling through several realities, Spider-Man realizes he can't outfight Spider-Carnage. Instead, he locates Uncle Ben (who is alive in one of the alternate realities). Uncle Ben convinces Spider-Carnage to let go of his hatred. Redeemed, Spider-Carnage sacrifices himself to stop the Carnage symbiote. Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker/Spider-Man that he's proud of him. Madame Web then takes Spider-Man into "our" reality to meet his "creator", Stan Lee. The series ends with Web taking Spider-Man to be re-united with Mary Jane.

[edit] 1999

• Animaniacs - The Animaniacs Super Special - The show's 99th episode first features a new short titled "The Scoring Session", where the regular cast is shown scoring background music for a cartoon, all the while Yakko, Wakko and Dot annoy the conductor. This is followed up by a half-hour segment titled "Star Warners", an obvious parody of the original Star Wars trilogy. Next up, the Warners introduce a tribute to the show's run in the form of "The Animaniacs Suite", a clip show set to orchestrated music. Finally, the episode closes with a brief Goodfeathers skit titled "Birds on a Wire".
• Cowboy Bebop - The Real Folk Blues, Part 2 - In response to the death of his former lover, Julia, Spike goes solo and launches a final suicide attack against Vicious and the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate. Spike utterly destroys the Syndicate HQ and kills Vicious in an intense guns vs. katana duel, but dies from his wounds soon afterwards. Jet is left without a partner, and Faye is left an emotional wreck with no purpose in life. Ed and Ein, on the otherhand, return to Ed's home to help her father, and seem to be enjoying life. Many fans consider this to be an extremely unhappy, and yet powerful ending, because the series doesn't even hint as to what Jet and Faye do, or even plan to do, and Ed leaves the Bebop without so much as a goodbye.
• Disney's Doug - Chad Mayonnaise and Miss Kristal get married, after Doug and Skeeter go on an extended chase all over Bluffington to find the wedding ring before the ceremony starts. In the end Judy leaves for College, the Sleetch twins both get dates, Baby Dirtbike says her first word, and Patti asks Doug out on a 'date-date', and after many years, Doug's journal comes to an end. This was the show's second series finale.
• Timon and Pumbaa- Double Length Episode- Timon finds a lost Egyptian chamber that is said to be able to predict the future. They both explore in it but just as when its about to predict the future, flashbacks start and Hakuna Mattata is played in the background, Timon then signs off "Thats All Folks"
• Trigun – Under the Sky So Blue - Vash defeats his murderous twin Knives, but (despite Knives having killed many of Vash's loved ones) stays true to his code and doesn't kill him. Vash ditches his symbolic red coat, vowing to continue to believe in Rem Saverem's ways, but also to live by his own words. The series ends with Vash coming back to Milly and Meryl to stay.
• Jumanji: The Animated Series - Goodbye Jumanji - Learning from their previous adventures by the magical mirror, Peter, Judy and Allen finally find Allen's clue to return home.