| The Rowdyruff Boys | |
| Episode name pun on: The Powerpuff Girls | |
|---|---|
| |
| Airdate: | April 7, 1999 January 30, 2006 (color-corrected version) |
| Credits | |
| Director: | Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken |
| Story: | Paul Rudish and Clayton Morrow |
| See also | |
| episode transcript |
image gallery |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Mime for a Change" |
Next "Uh-Oh, Dynamo" |
| Rating | |
"The Rowdyruff Boys" is a Season 1 episode. It first aired on April 7, 1999.
Synopsis
In this episode Mojo Jojo creates the ultimate weapons against the Powerpuff Girls—boy equivalents! Enter Brick, Boomer, and Butch: The Rowdyruff Boys. When regular fighting doesn’t work against the Boys, the Girls have to use their feminine wiles to seal a victory.
Plot
After suffering numerous defeats at the hands of the Powerpuff Girls, Mojo Jojo is at the end of his rope. During his most recent stay in prison, he realizes he needs to "fight fire with fire", using his phone call to ask Professor Utonium what the girls are made of.
Deciding that "sugar, spice, and everything nice" is "too girly", Mojo decides to make male equivalents of the Powerpuff Girls, collecting snips, snails and a puppy dog's tail. For the final ingredient -Chemical X- he uses the digustingly filthy toilet in his cell. One flush and explosion of toilet water later, Mojo discovers that his "seeds of evil" have indeed borne fruit; floating before him are Brick, Boomer and Butch - the Rowdyruff Boys. At first, Mojo is filled with the joy every new father receives, and embraces the boys. Although they immediately threaten to beat Mojo up, the evil simian directs their aggression towards the Powerpuff Girls instead. He offers to lead the Rowdyruff Boys to their foes, and they bust him out of prison.
The next day, the Rowdyruff Boys challenge the Powerpuff Girls to a battle just after the latter bring down a giant octopus monster attacking Townsville. Both trios deliver furious strikes to their opposite numbers, but the Rowdyruff Boys gradually gain the upper hand - in no small part due to their disregard for property damage and the safety of Townsville's citizens. Desperate to protect the people, the Powerpuff Girls try to lure their evil counterparts out of the city, but the Rowdyruff Boys "kick in the afterburners", overtaking the girls and knocking them out with toxic fumes. Before the girls can recover, the boys deliver a brutal blow that sends them hurtling into the street below, seemingly defeating them once and for all.
With his perennial enemies down and out, Mojo gloats at his fortress while celebrating with his creations. Back in the street, the tears of Townsville's grief-stricken citizens fall on the Powerpuff Girls, bringing them back to life. Ashamed by their defeat, the girls prepare to leave Townsville, but Ms. Bellum calls them back, insisting that the citizens love them too much to let them go. The brainy secretary also offers an alternate means of battling the Rowdyruff Boys: instead of violence, "try being nice".
With Ms. Bellum's advice, the girls head to Mojo's lair, drawing out the Rowdyruffs for another round. This time, however, the girls forgo their fists in favor of flirtatious looks, confusing their foes long enough for them to each plant a kiss on their opposite number's cheek. Overcome with disgust and horror, the Rowdyruff Boys explode into their base components, leaving Mojo to be arrested once again. In the wake of their victory, the girls discuss the fun of kissing, although Buttercup strongly disagrees, then the episode ends.
Quotes
(Mojo is sitting in his prison cell at night after being defeated by the Powerpuff Girls again) |
(Bubbles was hit by a cash register) |
(Mojo is being sent back to jail after the girls blow up the boys with their kisses) |
Characters
- The Powerpuff Girls (Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup)
- The Rowdyruff Boys (Brick, Boomer, and Butch)
- Mojo Jojo
- Mayor
- Ms. Bellum
- Professor Utonium
- Talking Dog
Trivia
- Recurring event: The Narrator saying "The City of Townsville is under attack (by Mojo Jojo)"
- This is the first 22 minute episode.
- This is one of Craig McCracken's ten favorite episodes.
- This is the first time the girls died then get revived, the second was in Mojo Jonesin' and the third was in Knock It Off.
- This is the first appearance of the Rowdyruff Boys.
- This is the first episode to have a character die in the show, which is The Rowdyruff Boys, but they were later resurrected by Him, (second being Bunny, Dick Hardly was the next to die.)
- The 1998-2001 animated episode outro has more color in it.
- When Bubbles crashes into Mr. Cooper's store and mistakingly apologizes to "Mr. Looper", this is a likely reference to Sesame Street, in which Big Bird frequently mispronounced the name of the owner of the general store, Mr. Hooper, often calling him "Mr. Pooper", "Mr. Looper" or other malapropisms. This gained fame in 1982 when the actor who played Mr. Hooper died, and Sesame Street decided to incorporate that aspect as well by having Big Bird be told Mr. Hooper was dead, causing Big Bird to finally get his name right in memoriam.
- This episode is the last Season 1 episode to be produced during 1998. Therefore, this episode is the last PPG episode to be produced and animated in the year 1998.
- At the 9:04 minute mark, the octopus the girls were fighting is briefly seen lying dead in the background.
- In 2006, a color-corrected version of this episode was made via a computer in which this episode's colors were brightened and, for the second time, new material consisting of just the January 1999 version of the 1998-2001 animated episode outro was produced for this version. This time, the outro was produced via cel animation at an American not-for-profit animation studio. The color-corrected version aired only once on January 30, 2006.
- This episode is the first time we see Mojo Jojo act more like the monkey he is than a criminal mastermind, as his fit of rage upon being arrested multiple times has him screeching like a monkey, slamming his fists on the ground, and climbing on the tire swing and the bars of his cell.
Goofs
- During the scene in prison when Mojo tells the boys about the girls, Brick is on the right, Butch is in the center, and Boomer is on the left. When they boys say "Yeah!" in response to Mojo's words, Brick and Butch change positions.
- In the same scene, Butch's mouth doesn't move.
- When the Rowdyruff Boys throw the vehicles at the Powerpuff Girls, the shadows of the vehicles are shown approaching them in an overhead shot. After the girls take off, however, the shadows have disappeared.
- In the scene where the boys cover the girls in smoke, Blossom's mouth doesn't move when she coughs.
- When Boomer tackles Bubbles, she kicks him into the wall of a yellow building, and Butch is thrown into into the same building seconds later. Yet when Brick yells "Ballistic Barrage!" they hop out of the same building Brick crashed into, which is red.
- Mojo creates the boys at night so that the moon is in proper alignment, but when the boys bust him out through the ceiling a minute later, daylight comes in.