A handful of kid-vid writers have taken it upon themselves to close out their series
with some spectacularly definitive — and dark — final episodes.
Here's a look at some of the darkest series finales of kids' TV shows.
Superman: The Animated Series
The finale of Superman: The Animated Series finds Superman going full evil, but it's not
his fault, as Darkseid has brainwashed him into unleashing death and destruction.
After Superman attacks some military bases, Supergirl tries to stop him and nearly gets
killed in the process, which is when Lois Lane shows up and breaks the trance.
Later on, Superman awakens in a military prison, awaiting execution.
But he manages to escape and make his way back to Darkseid's palace for a final, extremely
violent confrontation.
Superman nearly kills the bad guy, but instead he implores Darkseid's oppressed followers
to do with him what they wish.
Forever devoted, they whisk his body away for medical treatment.
As for Superman, he has to deal with a planet full of people who feel betrayed by their
one-time protector, unaware of the brainwashing.
"Onward, for the glory of Darkseid and Apokolips."
The World of David the Gnome
One of the original Nick Jr. cartoons, The World of David the Gnome was a gentle show
about magical creatures and forest animals.
This richly animated series followed around tiny, impressively bearded David and his gnome
family and friends as he went about his quiet gnome life.
According to lore, gnomes live to the age of 400, and for the run of the show, David
and his wife Lisa were right around 399.
And so, on the series finale, death came for David, Lisa, and another gnome named Casper.
Or, rather, they came for death.
Doing what 400-years-old gnomes do, they ritualistically accepted their fate, walking to the aptly-named
Mountains of Beyond, where they transformed into trees.
Mighty Max
A pocket-size toy line of action figures and playsets called Mighty Max reached stores
in 1992.
A year later, the Mighty Max TV series hit the air, adding a surprisingly rich backstory
and mythology to those cheap pieces of plastic.
It begins with Max receiving a statue that contains an ancient, teleportation-enabling
baseball cap that also leads him to do battle with a hideous monster called the Skullmaster.
Mighty Max was one of the most violent kids' shows of the era, as the Skullmaster routinely
and graphically killed people.
In the final episode, he even kills Max's friends, a prophetic fowl named Virgil and
a viking named Norman.
So Max uses his baseball cap to travel back in time to the events of the first episode.
He then goes forth to relive the entire series, only with an eye this time toward an outcome
where his best friends don't die.
"Wonder who could have sent it.
Wait a second.
This is deja vu all over again!"
ReBoot
Imagine, if you will, a time in which children were not computer-savvy, and we needed semi-educational
TV shows to familiarize them with the basic technology.
That time was the 1990s, a period in which ABC's Saturday morning lineup included a show
called ReBoot.
Set inside a computer city called Mainframe, the action involved a "guardian" named Bob
who protected the city against viruses named Hexadecimal and Megabyte.
ReBoot could be a little corny at times, but it also demystified computing terms for millions
of tech-minded kids.
Many of those same kids were likely traumatized by the surprisingly dark ending.
Megabyte, in the form of a Trojan horse virus, gains access to the good guys' lair and sets
out to infect every program in existence.
In other words, he destroys the world of the show and the heroes don't know how to stop
it.
"Prepare yourselves for the hunt."
Digimon Tamers
Part of the Digimon universe of cartoons and games, Digimon Tamers was a one-season wonder
about cute animals that are also magical fighting monsters trained by children.
On the final episode, the various Digimon and their human companions wage war against
the evil D-Reaper.
They prevail, sending the bad guy back into the digital world from whence he came.
But it only works because the Digimon themselves have to get sucked into oblivion as well.
One by one, the cute little guys disappear as their heartbroken trainers look on.
Sure, the cliffhanger seems to suggest there's some sort of portal to that other realm, but
for all intents and purposes, those Digimon are gone, gone, gone.