In compiling my list, I knew I had to put some restrictions on my selections. If we listed any character they ever appeared in an animated film, the list could go on forever. So I restricted myself to characters that fell under the following stipulations:
1. The candidate must be the star of a series of cartoons.
This left a lot of popular characters out of the running. I received comments from readers nominating The Great Gazoo, Bat-mite, all the characters from Jabberjaw, and other such supporting players that deserved the honor of Worst Cartoon Character. I must confess, those are all great choices. However, to keep this list down to ten I had to draw some lines. The one character I felt the worst about leaving off the list was, of course, Scrappy Doo, the poster child for antipathy. However, I felt he was a supporting player, not the star, so I begrudgingly left him off. Just as well; he's had enough hateful comments spewed on him in the last few years. He deserves a break.
A lot of readers suggested entire shows, such as The Barkleys, The Robotic Stooges, Uncle Croc's Block, Fonz and the Happy Days Gang... all terrible shows to be certain. But they should be on a list of Worst Cartoon Shows of all Time, which I may try to do in a subsequent post. That's a list that could go on for quite some time...
2. The candidate must be a cartoon series suitable for everyone in the family.
Beevis and Butthead were originally on the list, but I felt that would open up a large window of characters who were designed to be edgy, extreme or obnoxious. How can The Beary Family compare with Family Guy? Don't answer that. I decided to use only characters that were meant to be beloved by one and all, and failed miserably at it.
3. The candidate had to be a cartoon character I had heard of.
Other great suggestions:
Kwicky Koala: Kwicky Koala was a cartoon series created by the legendary Tex Avery, one of the very last things he did before he died. A bad cartoon character to be sure, but the show had a couple of great Tex Avery gags in it. That saved it from making the list.Rubik the Amazing Cube: OK, this one probably should have made the list. More puzzling than the cube itself is how this show ever made it to television.
Pepe Le Pew: Some people love Pepe, some people hate Pepe. I'm in the middle. While there are some fairly bad cartoons along his film career, I must confess that his Academy Award winning short, For Scent-imental Reasons is a great little cartoon. So he escaped making the list.
Merlin the Magic Mouse: Yeah, he probably should be on the list. One of the last cartoon series made by Warner Bros. before closing up for good. A blight on the good name Warner Brothers.Hunky and Spunky: The adventures of two mules. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? While I certainly don't care for the cartoons, I don't end up hating the characters at the end. I hate myself for wasting my time.
Gabby: Another one that probably should have made the list. Darn! How'd I miss Gabby? Is it too late to make this The Top Eleven Worst Cartoon Characters of all Time? Gabby was a supporting character in Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels that ended up with a series of his own. Loud, obnoxious and with a terrible temper, he failed to catch on with 1940's audiences.
Sniffles: Gee Willickers! I couldn't put Sniffles on the list! While his early cartoons were unbearably slow, his last three films were pretty entertaining. Lost and Foundling is one of my favorites.
Other choices I had that were cut from the original list:
Hoot Kloot: Who decided to base a cartoon series on a character from a Toyota Dodge commercial? I'm not sure, but that's the genesis of Hoot Kloot. The adventures of a loudmouthed southern sheriff in a western town. The animation in most of these cartoons is fairly good, but Depatie-Freleng sub-contracted a few Hoot Kloot cartoons to other studios outside of the US. The quality went 'way down.
Spunky and Tadpole: I've never watched an episode, so I didn't feel qualified to judge.
The Chipettes, from Alvin and the Chipmunks: Boy, they were lucky they didn't star in a series... They would've been on this list quicker than cheese on a cheeseburger.
Scrappy Doo: Looking back, I should've put him on the list. Darn again!
Thanks, everyone, for patronizing me through this list! I'll end this thing be posting the opening to a cartoon show from Filmation that was so bad, so utterly dismal that after it aired, ABC cut all ties with Filmation and would not buy another series from them. I speak, of course, of the infamous Uncle Croc's Block, which I actually remember watching when it premiered in 1975. I remember standing there stupefied and what was blaring from the TV. Meant to be a satire of children's cartoon shows of the 1950's the whole thing just came off as a mess. The cartoon segments , M*U*S*H (a parody of M*A*S*H), Wacky and Packy, and Waldo Kitty were also nothing to be proud of. Shield your eyes one last time as you watch Uncle Croc's Block...
