Nickelodeon was one of best channels of the 90's. Back then, it aired nothing but good cartoons and game shows as well as a few sitcoms, and lots and lots variety. Now it is nothing but a big tween factory that shows no cartoons except Spongebob. But I'll save this topic for another article. Here I'm to start a series of articles wear I go over classic cartoons that I liked and write an article about the show and its history and what made it great. The first cartoon I am going to be discussing is a first ever Nicktoon to premiere on Nickelodeon and is widely considered 90's cartoon classic. It premiered in 1991:




In 1991, Nickelodeon aired their first Nicktoon Doug! For those of you who don't know, Doug was about an 11 year old kid named Doug Funnie who writes in his journal about his daily adventures. He is in the sixth grade and had just moved to Bluffington, Virginia. He also has a huge crush on Patti Mayonnaise and loves to hang out with his best friend Skeeter Valentine. He also had a favorite band called The Beets, which was fictional version of The Beatles. He also had his pet dog named Porkchop that is one of Doug's best friends that accompanied him nearly everywhere he went.



He also deals with a neighborhood bully named Roger Klotz (my favorite character of the show) who lives in a trailer with his divorced mother.



What made this series so great was that it dealt with real life issues that everybody can relate to such as bullying, fitting in, and relationships. Doug Funnie was also the type kid that loved to daydream. In every episode, once Doug reaches a problem, he would daydream about how a situation would turn out, and it would often be about him being humiliated or getting into trouble. He also had three alter ego's that he would turn into such as his favorite comic book hero Quailman (a fictional verison of Superman), spy film character named Smash Adams (a fictional version of James Bond), and an archaeologist named Race Canyon (a fictional version of Indiana Jones). However, Nick had ended the show in 1994, and things would start to go way downhill once Disney purchased Jumbo Pictures...

Disney's Doug:



In 1996, Disney purchased purchased Jim Jinkins' company, Jumbo Pictures, along with the rights to Doug. Disney ordered all new episodes of Doug. Originally the series had been called Brand Spanking New! Doug, but later they changed it to Disney's Doug.



Why did the Disney version of Doug suck, you might ask? Well for one thing, they made WAY TOO MANY unnecessary changes to the show, such as:

  • Doug and Roger were no longer voiced by Billy West. Instead, they would were replaced with Tom McHugh(whose Doug voice and sounded way too high-pitched) and Chris Phillips who voices Roger(which wasn't a bad replacement, but still Billy West was better.)
  • Roger becomes rich in the Disney series.
  • Patti Mayonnaise gets a lesbian haircut.
  • The Beets break up. THE BEETS BREAK UP!
  • Honker Burger closes, and is replaced by some French restaurant named Chez Honque.
  • Connie becomes skinny and is no longer overweight.
  • A new character was introduced in the Disney series named Guy Graham, who I hated and thought he was stupid and pointless character.



    Disney's Doug eventually became the most popular show on Disney's One Saturday Morning block and tons of merchandise was made such as clothes, trading cards, and lunchboxes. And in 1999, Disney produced Doug Funnie's first theatrical film called:

    Doug's 1st Movie:



    I highly remember seeing this movie in theaters and being very excited about getting a Doug movie. I also remember it completely sucking. Though Doug's 1st Movie had a strong opening weekend, it eventually tanked and received generally negative reviews by critics. Disney had high hopes that the movie could compete with The Rugrats Movie, which came out in 1999, but the movie failed. And this my friends, is where Doug comes to a end.

    Although Doug is one of my favorite cartoons, and the Nickelodeon series will always remain a classic, the Disney version ruined Doug and you can basically say it killed the series.

    Thanks for reading my article, and I hope you enjoyed it! Please share your thoughts, and pretty soon I will make my next Cartoon Classic article soon enough!