Here we go!
It's time to explore those strange moments
when kids shows got too uncomfortable or dark,
sometimes being pulled or never aired at all.
[Remember hearing about John Lennon being shot in New York?]
Often discussing subjects that are considered too controversial or adult
to be allowed in kids shows.
So let's check out the top 10 darkest kids show episodes.
But you know, BlameitonJorge is a master of this creepy kids show stuff.
I can't help but feel like Jorge will have already covered a list similar to this.
Jorge: Yes, yes I have. On multiple occasions, actually.
And Strider, I think I can offer some help with this list, if you don't mind.
S: Ah, howdy Jorge. Hey, that's a great idea.
We can dig up some of these dark episodes together.
J: Okay, let's go.
Strider: The Sesame Street creators were heavily affected by 9/11
as they film Sesame Street in New York, and many saw the disaster.
[Are you folks okay?] [Yes, we're fine, thank you.]
So they asked themselves the difficult question:
How can they talk about this with children?
J: They eventually decided to make an episode where Elmo and Maria
get caught in a fire at Mr. Hooper's store.
[I'll call the fire department!]
[Come on, Elmo. Stay low and go!]
S: What's so cool about this show, though, is that they discuss it after.
After the fire, we see Elmo start to get symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
[It's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of.]
[The chief said that the fire's out.]
[Elmo doesn't care! E-Elmo doesn't want to go back in the Hooper store ever again!]
But the firefighters shift this towards post-traumatic growth
by explaining everything to Elmo and showing him the fire station.
[What's a fire house? Is it a house that's on fire?]
[No, it's a place where firefighters like me wait until it's time to go put out a fire.]
J: The same fire station that Elmo goes to actually lost 12 firefighters in the 9/11 attacks.
But that really shows just how much respect went into this episode.
S: It was both a tribute to the firefighters
and a way of showing kids that there are things they can be scared of
that are out of their control.
But there are adults that are doing the best they can to protect them.
Sesame Street is a show that can handle even the darkest concepts,
from death to fear to loss,
with respect and deep care.
[Elmo was scared before, but Elmo isn't scared anymore.]
[You were in a fire before, Elmo. That's a scary thing.]
[It is, Mr. Bill.]
S: Does anyone else remember this show?
This was Jim Henson's light-hearted 1980s kids show comedy
about the antics of a puppet dinosaur family.
J: Yeah, I remember this show. Dinosaurs had a few... mature episodes here and there.
But it was mostly a comedy.
But Dinosaurs had one particular episode that got incredibly bleak.
S: Ah yes. One day, the main character Earl causes the mass global extinction
of the entire dinosaur species.
All plant life on the earth is poisoned.
The sun is blocked out, and the earth's temperatures are sent below freezing.
And it's not like it's just a sudden comet out of nowhere
and all the dinosaurs are gone.
The dinosaur family is acutely aware they're soon to perish
and we watch them every step of the way in realizing this.
[And he didn't take real good care of it.]
[And now it looks like there won't be much of a world left for you or your brother and sister to live in.]
[What's gonna happen to us?]
J: And the final shot of the whole series is a snow-covered home
in the midst of a 10,000-year-long nuclear winter
delivering a brutal anti-nuke message.
S: Given we were parodying Barney the Dinosaur only a few episodes back,
I don't think any child or adult was expecting Jim Henson to finish the lighthearted comedy on this episode.
S: I actually added this episode to the top 10 most controversial cartoons a few years ago.
But it just can't 𝘯𝘰𝘵 be mentioned.
Linka gets hooked on heroine, or "bliss" as they call it,
when her cousin secretly drugs her.
Yikes!
[(slow) Wow, isn't that the best thing you ever ate?]
J: This is also one of the first instances of blood in animation.
Before dying of a drug overdose, Linka's cousin jumps out of a window
and starts bleeding profusely.
S: A lot of people tend to make fun of this episode
because of its completely over-the-top representation of drugs.
And although there is an element of propaganda,
I actually like the analogy of a person's mind becoming polluted through drugs.
In fact, Linka's mind becomes too polluted for her to be able to use her ring to... kill Gi.
[Your mind's too polluted to use your ring!]
J: It's considered the darkest episode of Captain Planet,
containing the only death in the entire show.
It was a shockingly dark step away from the show's usual simple "don't litter" message.
[But according to my house rules, dealer always loses!]
J: What? Really, Strider? My Little Pony?
It's- j- it's hard to imagine this show being even slightly dark.
S: I know, right? But this episode does handle cults, dictatorships,
and creepiest of all, forceful conditioning.
The episode is about the My Little Pony crew
discovering a town under the control of a cult.
But I like how many of them immediately see through the cult's loss of humanity
and how they've lost an element of their free will.
I mean, Fluttershy is still as gullible as ever,
but nothing sneaks by Pinky Pie.
[I think it's lovely.]
[I don't like it. I don't like it one bit.]
[I know smiles, and those smiles... they're just not right.]
Even if the ponies seem happy on the surface,
this episode teaches kids to look carefully for danger
that might not be so obvious.
It also introduces kids the concept of a big brother watching them
and purposely attempting to mislead them.
It teaches of vigilance you don't often see taught in kids shows, and I like that.
Perhaps the most unsettling scene is where every pony is forcefully frozen,
locked up, and then the cult begins to condition them.
Each of our heros begins to lose elements of their humanity.
They manage to unravel the cult at the end,
but the eerie atmosphere of this episode left a lot of My Little Pony fans
uncomfortable and scratching their heads.
J: Really, dude? My Little Pony?
S: Really! It was creepy!
J: Although Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce was originally intended to air in 1992,
it was suddenly canceled because test screenings found, well,
"unintended negative effects."
S: And what were these unintended negative effects, you ask?
Well, some children thought after watching this episode
that their parents no longer loved them.
What?!
What exactly did this episode say?
Sesame Street have never been afraid to shy away from difficult subjects
such as death, child birth, incarceration, and disasters.
In fact, some of the most beautiful, earnest moments in the series are from these episodes.
But this, this is the only time that Sesame Street has really botched up with an episode.
Well that, and when they brought the Wicked Witch on.
J: I truly believe that Sesame Street had all the right intentions.
But I guess here, they just kind of messed up.
And it is now one of the only episodes of Sesame Street that has never been aired.
S: But in all fairness, their new divorce segment is beautiful
and perfectly addresses the subject to kids.
[But they said they both still love me very much.]
[♪ I've got big feelings...]
Aw, I love this show.
A-anyway, despite the episode being complete,
the tape never left the test screening chambers
and was never shown to the public.
Over the last half-century there hasn't been a trace of it,
except for a few stills and pictures.
And here is the only picture I could find.
J: Actually, I showed you that picture, Strider.
S: And here is the only picture Jorge could find.
S: I think if there's one thing that is unanimously accepted by mankind,
it's that Spongebob wouldn't hurt a fly.
[The Krusty Krab is the most perfect place in the universe.]
Except for one time,
where Spongebob poisons a Krabby Patty and gives it to a health inspector.
[Look at 'im choke!]
J: Strangely, both Mr. Krabbs and Spongebob seem to relish
in the inspector's struggle to breathe as he is poisoned.
S: And Spongebob doesn't just find it funny.
It's like reaching fricking nirvana to him.
He laughs like the gas leak from Squidward in Clarinet Land is still unfixed.
J: And when Spongebob and Krabbs think the poor health inspector's truly dead,
they decide to hide the body before anyone sees it.
[We gotta get rid of this body before anyone sees it!]
S: So we watch Krabbs and Spongebob attempt to bury the carcass in the dead of night.
And then stuff it in a trunk.
This is... Spongebob, right?
The cheery, overly-positive frycook?
J: Now it turns out that he's still alive at the end,
but Spongebob burying and hiding bodies
is still one of the darkest things he's ever done in the entire series.
S: Interestingly, there was one lost episode of Mr. Rogers that only aired once.
The reason is that it discusses, very smartly and respectfully,
war and terrorism to children.
[What does assassination mean?]
In fact, Mr. Rogers specifically request that the children watch the episode with an adult.
J: Mr. Rogers made this episode after the murder of John Lennon
and the failed assassination of Ronald Reagan.
He still has his usual pleasant nature, but the subject matter was considered
too controversial for young children.
S: Frankly, I thought it was fine when I saw it.
[As soon as the plane leaves,]
[then the people will come and get the food and feed it to their children and to themselves.]
S: Mr. Rogers explains things like how victims of war get air supplies during a conflict
and discusses how mentally sick people can do horrible violence.
[But when we get sad and angry, you and I,]
[we know what to do with our feelings, so we don't have to hurt other people.]
As dark concepts as these may be for young kids,
damn, this man handles a subject well.
Once again, he treats the kids like equals,
asking the children's opinions on why people might commit murder
when he talks at schools in the episode.
J: It's hard to fault Mr. Rogers when he's discussing such heavy subjects with children.
I'd still call this a very important episode, despite the direct subject matter.
S: I agree. It's a shame this one was taken off the air.
There's no one I trust more to talk to children about difficult concepts than Mr. Rogers.
[Wake me when I'm dead.]
What?! How've I missed this episode?
I mean, I like the episode, but it's still surprisingly dark.
The episode coyly plays with the subject of suicide a lot
while Squidward becomes horribly depressed and Spongebob desperately tries to reach him.
[I see nothing but darkness ahead.]
I like this episode because despite the darker subject matter,
Spongebob acts sensibly and works intently on trying to help Squidward.
[At least we know he's still alive.]
It would've been easy to just make Spongebob annoying in this episode.
But instead, he's being the most important aspect of who he is.
Just his good-natured, earnest self.
J: Originally, Spongebob was trying to help Squidward create a happy memory,
but it backfires on him when Squidward becomes even more depressed than usual.
[Okay.]
S: I like that rather than what we usually get with just Squidward being cynical,
we get a more deep look at why Squidward's always been so miserable.
J: What makes Squidward's depression darker is that it feels uncomfortably realistc
with several jokes revolving around him potentially committing suicide.
[Well, that didn't help.]
S: About 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression.
Chances are, you've either known someone or had depression yourself at some point.
And I am very sorry if you still struggle with it.
It's considerably darker than your average Spongebob episode
but the subject was handled in a very well-meaning way.
No harm was obviously intended from it.
This one shocked a lot of people
as it is a Tom and Jerry episode that deal with the subject of suicide,
a word that YouTube will probably flag me for using even in a respectful context.
J: The episode focuses on Tom sitting on train tracks.
He's very depressed and intent on being killed by the oncoming train.
[The next step was... the gutter.]
S: The reason for this bizarre shift in tone and character?
Tom got dumped by his girlfriend who turned out to be a gold-digger.
[In a few minutes, it'll all be over.]
I dunno. This one's pretty hard to buy.
Honestly, if I discovered someone that important to me was purely interested in money,
I wouldn't feel as bad because I would know I did everything I could in the relationship.
It wouldn't primarily be a fault in my character that they left me.
Sure, it'd still hurt a whole lot, but at least Tom would be aware
that it was purely his love's shallow nature that he lost her for.
J: Yeah, but I don't think it's supposed to be analyzed like that.
It's more about the train suicide thing.
That's how the episode starts, and that's how it ends.
It's not just the dark subject matter that makes this episode bleak,
but the fact that every time Tom tries to win his girlfriend back, he fails miserably.
S: And every time Jerry tries to cheer his friend up, he fails miserably.
Until eventually, Jerry finds that he's been dumped too,
and joins Tom on the tracks.
And we end on the whistle of an ongoing train getting louder as the cartoon fades out!
Oh come on, could you 𝘨𝘦𝘵 any 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳?!!?
It almost makes you wonder if William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
both just had breakups.
And before we get to #1, just a couple of quick honorable mentions.
Anyone who's seen this episode doesn't forget it.
The girls go forward in time and find that Him has created a horrible, bleak future,
turning Townsville into Hell.
For a kids cartoon, this was unusually bleak,
but still a really good episode, and I definitely recommend it.
Every episode from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
From the King Ramses episode to the exorcist episode
to the Great Fusilli, there's so many Courage episodes you can site that are dark.
My two reasons for leaving it off the list is for one, everyone already knows it.
And two, like Batman, I actually consider it more of a young teen show than a kids show.
That's just my opinion, though.
It's certainly more than dark enough to qualify for this list.
Anyway, on to #1.
I thought a lot about which to choose for #1.
What was a subject on a kids show so dark that it shocked me as a child
and still unsettles me as an adult?
Well, it may seem like an odd choice, but this is what I chose in my subjective opinion.
J: Huh, really. I chose the episode Twisted Sister from my unexpectedly dark episodes in kids shows video.
Mainly because of the subject matter. I mean, they make a fourth sister and she's mentally handicapped.
And then she dies.
S: Yeah, I saw Twisted Sister as well as a child.
And it left me pretty shaken as well.
I can still vividly remember Bunny's horrible voice in my head.
But in the end, Tough Love left me the most unsettled as a kid.
Now don't get me wrong, this episode is one of my favorites.
It is just hilariously over-the-top dark.
Putting the Powerpuff Girls in the setting of everyone they know and love
wanting to murder them.
[Miss Bellum, would you care to go first?]
[It would be my pleasure.]
J: All your friends and family willingly attacking you is a very dark concept for both kids and adults.
The story's that Him develops a gas that he silently releases on the entire city
making every citizen hate the Powerpuff Girls.
[Now come here, girls.]
S: As we watch them being attacked by everyone they know and love,
the girls slowly realize they have no option but to attack their loved ones
in a vain attempt to hold them back.
This really shook me as a kid, and it left me thinking,
what was the message they were trying to get across here?
"Don't trust anyone?"
J: Maybe the message was that people can be unpredictable and fragile?
S: Honestly, that was the best message I could get from it as well.
The grim message that there are limitations to the faith you can put in your relationships.
While I personally think the human mind is far more complicated than that,
it's about the darkest message I could possibly imagine giving to children.
While I do like the episode, I personally found Tough Love
the darkest kids show episode I've ever seen.
[Narrator: Oh, for cryin' out loud, would you three shut up for once?!]
What is interesting about this list is it's certainly not a worst list
because I really enjoy almost every episode we discussed.
Often in the face of potential complaints and controversy,
these episodes try to speak to children about uncomfortable but very important topics.
With children now fluent on the internet as early as three,
it's more important than ever that kid shows don't back away from discussing difficult subjects like these.
Kids shouldn't learn about these subjects from strangers on the internet
with alternative agendas.
They should learn from quality kids shows like these, and us.
Because the only agenda we have is seeing kids happy, safe, and ready for the future.
And be a listening ear for their questions and worries
because sometimes, the most important thing we can do for our friends and family is listen.
Hey, thanks for coming on the show again, Jorge.
These subjects are just always more fun with you here.
J: Hey, no problem, Strider. I mean, this is like my bread and butter,
so I'm just happy to help out.
And as always, thanks for watching
and I'll see you next time!
J: Really, Strider? My Little Pony?
S: Really! It was kind of creepy!
And here is the only picture I could find...
J: W-w-wait, I-I'm the one that showed you that picture.
S: And here is the only picture Jorge could find...
Ooooo!