Cartoon Network vs. Nickelodeon Part 1/10

Battle 1: The Rugrats vs. The PowerPuff Girls (THE ORIGINAL!)

Throughout July, I will determine which channel is better: Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. I will compare and contrast 10 Nicktoons to 10 shows from Cartoon Network Studios. First, let's go back to the 90s, back when there were only 4 CGI movies (Toy Story, Antz, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2), countless Disney clones/knockoffs, and two groundbreaking Broadway musicals based upon animated Disney movies. Our first two combatants are The Rugrats and The PowerPuff Girls.

Muppet Babies, I mean, The Rugrats, was one of the first three Nicktoons ever created, along with Doug and Ren and Stimpy. Rugrats focused on four babies: Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and the twins Phil and Lil Daville. They would go on misadventures in various locations, from the projection room of a movie theater to a desert-sized playground. There were also older (single-digit) kids Angelica Pickles, Tommy's cousin, who would normally bully the babies, and African-American Susie Carmichael, who acts as the voice of reason. The show initially ran from 1991 to 1994, but in 1997, because of its extreme popularity, Nickelodeon decided to bring it back for seven more years, along with two successful theatrical movies: The Rugrats Movie in 1998, and Rugrats in Paris in 2000. There was also a spinoff series called All Grown Up, which featured the characters as 10-year-olds, but wasn't as popular.

The PowerPuff Girls started life as a pilot in February of 1995, part of the Cartoon Network anthology series What a Cartoon! Along with other What a Cartoon pilots, The PowerPuff Girls got made into a very popular TV series, which ran from November 1998 to March 2005. The show tells the story of three genetically modified super-powered girls: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, who must save the City of Townsville from villains like the diabolical chimp Mojo Jojo, the pink bug-like Fuzzy Lumpkins, the terrifying crab-like Him, and PowerPuff rejectee Princess Morbucks, who's actually a bit similar to Syndrome from The Incredibles. The Powerpuff Girls was popular enough to spawn a feature film, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, released in theaters in 2002. However, it bombed at the box office, maybe because it had to compete against Lilo & Stitch at the time. In April 2016, Cartoon Network rebooted The PowerPuff Girls with new voice actors and no involvement of original series creator Craig McCracken. This show got relatively weaker reviews, and Tara Strong, who voiced Bubbles in the original series, was disappointed that she didn't get recast as Bubbles.

Now what show do I think is better? Well, in this case, you get to decide! In the comments section below, write out your opinion on which show you think is better, and I'll see you next time on July 9th when I compare Cow & Chicken to Ren & Stimpy!