Your cartoon cannot unsee moments

[ParanoidPander]

This is from a Show called Adventure Time on Cartoon Network..

 

[Puppies04]

I was actually looking for the donald duck gif with the plunger (trust me you will know what I mean if you have seen it) but this will have to do...

 

[akahoovy]

I got the season 1 Ren and Stimpy disc from Netflix and saw this part in episode 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfBxxwZy9J4

I've got more "cannot unsee moments." Let me see if I can find them.

 

[akahoovy]

Here we go, I think this was posted on ATOT a while back.

***NSFW***
http://io9.com/5919401/one-of-the-earliest-adult-cartoons-was-gonzo-even-by-todays-standards-nsfw
***NSFW***

 

[waggy]

Here we go, I think this was posted on ATOT a while back.

***NSFW***
http://io9.com/5919401/one-of-the-earliest-adult-cartoons-was-gonzo-even-by-todays-standards-nsfw
***NSFW***

hahahah oh my god..

 

[Geosurface]

Mind you this was from a children's daytime cartoon in the 80's, not some anime.

Inhumanoids!

Here's the video clip

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Specific examples? Did you even watch Rocko's? Hell did you actually watch like any of the Nickelodeon shows in the 90s other than Spongebob? They were almost all chock full of innuendo and references that went above and beyond their "target" audiences. I know that you're a Spongebob fan so you're used to just being fed what you're supposed to find funny, but that's kinda the point, if you don't get the reference you can't have it spelled out for you, that makes it not fun/funny (cue "That's the joke" MacBaine, or the Joker's Truth "If you have to explain the joke then there is no joke" or Robot Devil "You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!").

Not even close, especially considering it was just barely in the 90s at all. Spongebob is not more mature, they just toned down the outright gross factor to keep it "kid friendly" while regurgitating the same stuff Nickelodeon had been doing for almost a decade in an even more overt manner. The reason Spongebob makes it into a "full theme" is because it took things to an even lower common denominator level, and caters to the people that didn't get all the jokes and references of those other shows (even though they were far from subtle about it most of the time) and then slaps them across the face with it constantly so they'll get it. Kinda like the laugh track on crap like Big Bang Theory, they have to almost outright tell you to laugh, but that just makes it less funny.

Spongebob is by nature a lesser breed. The great tongue-in-cheek comedy of the 90s was done in, and they needed shows that were more direct while also being even less offensive to appeal to an even wider audience. Its good in many ways, but ultimately is let down by dumbing down its greatest strength.

lolwut. I explicitly stated that I was looking for more than individual innuendos and puns. Being fed? Yeah, cuz an episode where Mrs. Bighead literally tries seducing Rocko all day after her husband fairly explicitly refuses to put out is so damn subtle. Not that it isn't a funny episode with some more clever moments as well, but it isn't nearly on par with Spongebob unless you name me an episode or two that I may have forgotten or overlooked. I get the feeling that Spongebob came a bit too late in your childhood to get into it early and that when you did try it, you only saw shitty season 3 (or beyond) episodes, or maybe just the movie. There was the occasional repetitive episode in the first two seasons, but that was faaaaar from the show's primary mode of entertainment. If it's not that, you're probably just a filthy hedonist that needs bodily functions in your humor in order to get a laugh, and the upstanding, virtuous nature of early Spongebob simply repulses your sick anti-morality.

 

[W.C. Nimoy]

When the brother & sister on family guy hooked up.

I know it's supposed to be subtle, hidden meanings in otherwise normal cartoons, but despite its weirdness I still just remember thinking WHAT?!

 

[darkswordsman17]

lolwut. I explicitly stated that I was looking for more than individual innuendos and puns. Being fed? Yeah, cuz an episode where Mrs. Bighead literally tries seducing Rocko all day after her husband fairly explicitly refuses to put out is so damn subtle. Not that it isn't a funny episode with some more clever moments as well, but it isn't nearly on par with Spongebob unless you name me an episode or two that I may have forgotten or overlooked. I get the feeling that Spongebob came a bit too late in your childhood to get into it early and that when you did try it, you only saw shitty season 3 (or beyond) episodes, or maybe just the movie. There was the occasional repetitive episode in the first two seasons, but that was faaaaar from the show's primary mode of entertainment. If it's not that, you're probably just a filthy hedonist that needs bodily functions in your humor in order to get a laugh, and the upstanding, virtuous nature of early Spongebob simply repulses your sick anti-morality.

Like I said those shows weren't subtle but Spongebob just beats you over the head to make sure you get it relentlessly. Its simpleminded, and has so much less of the great nonsensical non sequitur stuff that made those other shows great as its so focused on getting its point across and going with things much less esoteric to make sure that people do get it. Then they even managed to make a weaker base show which hurts how well their references/homages resonate (shows like Doug and Rugrats were exceptional due to that). Spongebob is more tame than Ren & Stimpy or Rocko and some of those, while trying to be "whacky" for the sake of being whacky only its not willing to really go whacky and actually push any boundaries. It plays it safe. Less boring than some shows that have references beyond what their likely audience gets, perfect for the ADD/ADHD, but not willing to really see what it can get away with. If you want to see the right way to really tread this middle ground, see Shrek, it did a much better job of it, mostly because it remembered to be solid entertainment that then bolsters the other layers of what they did. Of course it also has much better references that make sense for kids but adults will also easily get as they're so ingrained.

No I saw early Spongebob and immediately saw it for what it was, Nickelodeon but more tame for people that let cartoons upset their delicate sensibilities while dumbing down the great tongue-in-cheek cleverness to help stupid people feel smart for "getting" the jokes.

I'm not saying its unwatchable or terrible, but I think you're crazy to think its better than so many other 90s Nick shows, let alone being the pinnacle of them, its more the bastard offspring.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

So Spongebob is tame, boring, and so much less full of nonsensical non sequitur stuff, and simultaneously it's perfect for the ADHD audience. That makes sense.

EDIT: And the early episodes of the show were almost never whacky for the sake of it. You'd get the occasional moment like the time-traveling stuff in SB-129, Patrick's insanity in Valentine's Day, Squidward's interpretive dance moves in Culture Shock, etc, but they all served a purpose.