Older versions of cartoon characters

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Since the 1970s, just as animation studios have "re-imagined" famous and well-known cartoon characters either as babies, children or even younger teenagers, they have also occasionally presented young cartoon characters either as teenagers (The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show), pre-teens (All Grown Up!), or even merely increasing their age by a year (Disney's Doug).

In comic books and strips, some characters will occasionally be allowed to age in real time, or the comic will jump ahead in time to when the characters in question are older teenagers or adults.

This trend may have been first seen in animation in 1971 when Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm Bamm Rubble, the two infant children of the Flintstone and Rubble families, were presented as teenagers on The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. However, an earlier example comes from comics of the 1960s, in which the Legion of Super Heroes were occasionally presented as adults.

As seen when younger versions of cartoon characters are introduced, there is sometimes a problem with continuity. In The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, Bamm-Bamm's strength seemed to have disappeared as a teenager, although in the telefilm Hollyrock-a-Bye-Baby (made in 1993), Bamm-Bamm had regained his strength.

[edit] Television

  • All Grown Up!, (Klasky-Csupo, Nickelodeon,2003) based on the series Rugrats. This series presents the toddler-aged regulars on Rugrats (Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, etc.) as pre-teens attending junior high school.
  • Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991-1993) (CBS)was a cartoon series based on the Back to the Future trilogy of films. The show focused on Marty McFly and Doc Brown, together with Doc's wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne and dog Einstein, and Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker as they travelled through time using the De Lorean and steam train time machines. Marty and Jennifer end up in Hill Valley College after graduating from high school, a year older than in the movies.
  • Digimon Adventure 02 (2000), also commonly written as Digimon 02/Digimon Zero Two, involves the main enemy the Digi-destined thought they had destroyed in the previous season, but has been putting in practice his evil schemes even after his defeat. In this season, the original Digi-destined grew up into jr. high school students (except for Kari and T.K. who became pre-teens) and could no longer watch over the Digital World and be with their Digimon friends. A new generation of Digi-Destined, composed of three new children named Davis, Yolei and Cody, as well as Kari and T.K. and their digimon Gatomon and Patamon, are given a new kind of digivice known as D3, which allows them to be transported to the Digital World through computers. Three new digimon named Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon joined the group, along with the villain-turned-hero Ken and his digimon Wormmon.
  • Max Goof and his best friend/neighbor Pete Jr. (PJ) started out as 11-year-olds in the Disney series Goof Troop and became teenagers in the movie A Goofy Movie and its sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie.
  • Disney's Doug (Jumbo Pictures, Disney, 1996) consisted of new episodes for ABC of the former Nickelodeon series. In this series, the characters were aged from 11 to 12½, with the characters now attending middle school and given several changes (such as a new baby sister for series star Doug, Roger Klotz becoming wealthy, and so forth).
  • Gadget and the Gadgetinis (2001-2003, DiC Entertainment) takes place after the original series. Penny is now twelve years old.
  • The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, (Hanna-Barbera, 1971), based on The Flintstones. The show followed neighbors Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm Bamm Rubble (the children of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Barney and Betty Rubble respectively) as teenagers with their friends Moonrock, Penny, and Wiggy. The episodes revolved in part around the teens' activities at Bedrock High School and around the prehistoric town of Bedrock.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios): The episode "City of Clipsville" had a flashback that featured the girls, as well as the Rowdyruff Boys, as teenagers. The explanation of this being presented as a flashback was that the Powerpuff Girls had sped up time.
  • Quack Pack (The Walt Disney Company, 1996). This series featured the classic Disney Duck characters (Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Huey, Dewey and Louie), though with Huey, Dewey and Louie presented as being teenagers who spoke in conventional (and not duck-like) voices. Several 1950s theatrical Disney shorts, however, were the first to present teenage versions of Donald's nephews.
  • The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (Hanna-Barbera, 1996). This spinoff of the 1960s animated series featured Jonny Quest and his friend Hadji as teenagers instead of as children.
  • Richie Rich (Hanna-Barbera, 1980). The Harvey Comics character appeared in his own animated television series, which shared a timeslot with Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo as The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show. In the animated series, Richie and his pals are somewhat older, around 12 years old; Richie wears a red sweater with the letter "R" in front.
  • Sabrina's Secret Life (DiC Entertainment, 2003) originally aired in syndication in 2003 as a spinoff of Sabrina: The Animated Series. In this series, Sabrina Spellman is a teenager (though a year or two younger than her original comic version) attending Greendale High School. Chloe has moved away, and Gem Stone attends a private school far away from Greendale (Even though none of them is mentioned in a single episode). Sabrina's new best friend is a girl named Maritza; additionally, Sabrina still has a crush on her friend, Harvey Kinkle.

[edit] Comics

  • The Legion of Super-Heroes occasionally presented in 1960s stories adventures of the "Adult Legion," stories about the adult versions of the Legionnaires.
  • The comic strip Funky Winkerbean initially presented its lead characters as teenagers. In the 1990s, however, the strip decided to jump ahead in time and present its characters as young adults some years after high school.
  • The characters in the comic strip Luann have been continuously aging (approximately one month per reader year) since a character revamp in 1999.
  • Nightwing features Batman's sidekick Robin (Dick Grayson) as an adult crimefighter.

[edit] See also