If you’re anything like me, then the bulk of your childhood was spent parked in front of the TV watching cartoons . Oh, how magical those Saturday mornings truly were!
As an animation aficionado, I can tell you that there are a lot of jokes that went right over my head as a kid. Have a look and check out these 10+ details in cartoons fans only noticed as adults!
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1. God is the only character on *The Simpsons* with five fingers.
God makes a cameo appearance at various times throughout the series, but he usually appears to Homer in his dreams.
Take a look at his hand and you’ll notice that he has an extra digit.
2. Mr. Dink’s last name is a reference to his expensive spending habits.
Remember the Dinks from Doug ? Well, DINK is actually an acronym. It stands for ” Dual Income No Kids .” If you’ll remember, Mrs. and Mr. Dink lived alone.
Otherwise, he’d never have been able to afford his “very expensive” lifestyle.
3. Daffy Duck is reading a very NSFW magazine.
So not only are the animators referencing a pornographic magazine in a kids’ cartoon but on top of that, they’re advertising cigarettes?!
Oh, the ’90s, what a beautiful blissfully ignorant decade it was!
4. Question: How does Two-Face take his coffee?
Answer: Half & Half!
Don’t you get it? I personally love a good pun and Batman The Animated Series is rife with them. It’s perfectly in-keeping with Two-Face’s dastardly dichotomous character, and is a clever detail hiding in plain sight.
5. Mark Hamill is the voice of The Joker in *Batman The Animated Series*.
That’s right! Luke Skywalker himself lent his vocals talents to The Clown Prince of Crime and has been doing so now for nearly three decades!
As impressive as that is, Mark actually voices another infamous comic book villain.
He’s also The Hobgoblin in Marvel’s *Spider-Man (1994)*.
The Hobgoblin was a recurring rogue both in the comics and in the series, as well as one of Spider-Man ‘s deadliest foes.
I personally love Mark’s portrayal of both characters. But to me, he’ll always be The Joker.
6. Ms. Frizzle’s prison number is significant.
My musical buffs will likely know right away that prisoner #24601 is none other than Jean Valjean from Les Misérables .
It’s fitting that “The Friz” would have such a clever literary allusion embedded in her mugshot.
7. Listening to Styx whilst floating on the River Styx in *The Simpsons*.
The Simpsons retells the story of Odysseus.
One of his challenges in the epic, and in the episode, is that he must descend into Hades. He does this by traversing the River Styx.
In Greek mythology, the River Styx transported you from the realm of the living to the land of the dead.
Souls paid the boatman, named Charon, for passage. If you could not pay, then your soul would be stranded on the banks for eternity.
If you listen to the music that’s playing in the background, there’s a clever double entendre that’s taking place.
The song “Lady” by the band Styx is playing as Homer makes his way up the river!
This show was brilliant in its prime. What makes the scene even better is when Homer yells in disdain, “This truly is Hell!”
A reference to the fact that he’s in both literal and figurative Hell!
8. Circumcision jokes in *Rugrats*? You bet there are!
If your Hebrew is lacking like mine sure is, allow me to translate for you. The sign on the wall translates to ” Mohel .”
In the Jewish faith, a Mohel is a kind of holy doctor who’s trained in the “art” of circumcision. The “cut-rate” sign is self-explanatory.
Also, was Tommy’s grandpa watching adult movies once he put the kids to bed?
He explains how he bought two films that the kids would enjoy, but then he references a third with the not-so-subtle title, Lonely Space Vixens .
As if it wasn’t already obvious enough, he drives the point home by explaining that he’ll be watching that only after the kids go to bed. Ugh. It’s just creepy.
9. Barney Rubble has a seriously dirty mind in *The Flintstones*.
While out at a costume shop, Barney tells Fred that he wants to find something that will make him look taller. To which Fred replies that he’d need another head.
Barney crudely replies, “Another one? What do I need three of them for?” There’s even a laugh-track!
10. In *SpongeBob SquarePants*, the Krusty Krab is in the shape of a lobster trap!
I actually can’t believe I never noticed this before. Talk about your “glass-shattering” moments of realization.
I watched this show all the time when I was a kid…when I was a teen…OK, I watched it last night…
11. Bart Simpson is a girl.
What I mean to say is that Nancy Cartwright has been voicing the 10-year-old Hellraiser since he first burst onto the Springfield scene.
Nancy even wrote a book about her experiences, titled My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy .
12. Casey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy
Casey Kasem was one of the most popular and recognized radio DJs of his or any era. He hosted a number of shows over the years, most notably the “American Top 40 Countdown.”
Casey, a lifelong vegan, left the beloved cartoon after he was asked to appear in a Burger King commercial.
13. Eeyore and Optimus Prime are voiced by the same person.
Talk about playing two opposite ends of the spectrum . It’s a bit of a glass-shattering moment, but once the initial shock subsides you’ll be kicking yourself that you never noticed it sooner.
14. The only time that Donald Duck ever wears pants is when he goes swimming.
It sounds strange, trust me, I know. And, boy, if I didn’t scour the internet for just a single image to prove the assertion false.
But at the end of the day, it holds water. Donald only puts on shorts when he’s swimming.
15. Steve Urkel and Sonic the Hedgehog are the same person!
Jaleel White portrayed the lovable and annoying Steve Urkel on Family Matters .
He also voiced the lovable blue hedgehog in the original TV series that ran in the early ’90s.
16. *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* was changed to *Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles* in the UK.
The UK may be leaps and bounds ahead of the western world when it comes to cursing on television, but they are much more conservative when it comes to violence.
The word “ninja” had to be swapped out for censorship reasons.
17. Ma Beagle in *Duck Tales* is based on a real person.
Ma Barker was an outlaw in the time of John Dillinger. She and her sons robbed banks, kidnapped, and murdered their way into the cross-hairs of police.
Which is kind of sinister for a kids’ show when you stop to think about it.
18. Homer Simpson and Grandpa from *Hey Arnold!* are voiced by the same person.
That’s right, Homer and Grandpa Phil are both voiced by the remarkably talented Dan Castellaneta .
Boy, what I wouldn’t give to see those two sit down over a game of Chinese checkers and crush a couple of cold ones.
19. Arnold isn’t wearing a kilt in *Hey Arnold!*.
OK, so my mind is officially blown. I always thought that Arnold wore the kilt as a way of honoring his Scottish heritage.
Am I alone on this? Did everyone know it was a shirt the whole time and just decide not to fill me in?
20. All of the kids on *Rugrats* were voiced by women.
Well, I’ll be darned — it’s true! A quick skim of the cast list on IMDb reveals as much.
This is actually a common trait in animated features since women tend to have higher-pitched voices, among other reasons .
21. Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers voiced Donnie from *The Wild Thornberrys*.
Voiced is maybe too strong a word since Donnie didn’t actually speak.
What Flea did do was yell, scream, grunt, and groan his way through all of his lines with expert precision.
22. Those aren’t berries in *Rocko’s Modern Life*.
Nor is that a bush. It’s actually a sleeping water buffalo, and those berries are its…”berries.”
Kind of disgusting, even for a show like Rocko’s Modern Life . Which was already prone to pushing the envelope.
23. George Clooney made a cameo appearance in *South Park*.
Fun fact: George Clooney was a huge fan of South Park in the early days. He got in contact with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and told them he’d do anything for a cameo.
So they opted to turn him into a homosexual dog with absolutely no lines.
24. Miss Finster vibrating across the floor during *Recess*
If you have young children with you in the room, you’d better make sure they’re not within earshot of this.
Rewatching this scene changed me. Miss Finster is literally getting off with a giant floor buffer.
26. Joker and Harley’s obvious sexual innuendo in *Batman The Animated Series*.
Who doesn’t love sexual innuendo? I’m not saying there isn’t a time and a place, but a Saturday morning Batman cartoon definitely doesn’t rank high on my list.
Just look at what Harley’s wearing! Isn’t that just a tad unnecessary?
27. When *SpongeBob SquarePants* made a prison shower joke.
SpongeBob is dressed up as a pirate and shows the bars of soap to Gary the Snail. Hey proclaims aloud “doubloons Gary — don’t drop ’em!”
That “joke” definitely went over my head as a kid. It’s also pretty homophobic, too.
28. Fred’s sexist jokes on *Scooby Doo, Where Are You?*.
Let me paint the scene for you: Fred and Daphne stand alone in an abandoned desert, looking out into the abyss. Totally unprovoked, Fred says, “This desert reminds me of a woman .”
“Why?” Daphne asks.
“Because it goes on and on forever.” That’s pretty savage, Fred.
