Whoopass Stew!

Fans who buy "The Mane Event" DVD will get the chance to see this, Craig McCracken's first student short, which is a hilarious harbinger of things to come. Many of the design elements are already present -- as is much of the opening credit sequence -- but the girls are a bit more sadistic here (which is fitting since they're called the Whoopass Girls). My only complaint is that on the DVD every instance of the word "ass" is bleeped out, but "The Powerpuff Girls" is a kids show, right? Riiight.

"The Whoopass Girls" are created by Professor Utonium, duke it out with a quintet of gangrenous punks, and have to come up with a novel escape when they get stuck on a trio of three-foot-long amoeba crooks. Viewers will recognize The Whoopass Girls as the trio now known as The Powerpuff Girls; they are a little leaner in this short than they are on the familiar Hanna Barbera cartoons, and although their names are the same and their outfits (mostly) the same, the personalities of the Girls were not much developed until Cartoon Network picked up the show four years later. Trivia bit: The punks in the first part of the cartoon (later named The Gangreen Gang) were a satire on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids!

Yes, this cartoon short, WHOOPASS STEW!, was the genesis for the Powerpuff Girls as we know it! Back when creator Craig McCracken worked at Cal-Arts in the early 90s, he did some cartoon shorts for Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Animation Festival, including NO NECK JOE and, of course, WHOOPASS STEW! In this short, the Powerpuff Girls, originally named the "Whoopass Girls" looked the very same, had the same names Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup (who was colored aquamarine rather than bright green), had the then-unnamed Gangrene Gang, and the Amoeba Boys, who were intelligent in this cartoon (as opposed to the benign, dopey versions on the show). The differences were Professor Utonium (who looked like an aging Dexter) and Chemical X (which was originally a can of "whoopass").

The animation was somewhat limited, but it cleverly ended up looking like 60s-style animation! The opening title sequence was exactly like the title sequence for the subsequent series (with more 70s-style music), only more violent! And an interesting treat is that McCracken was the narrator (speaking in a big towering voice)! McCracken didn't think this cartoon short was going to make it, having screened it for Cartoon Network, who showed a great amount of interest in the short (some of the test audience booed it). However, it was made into two WHAT A CARTOON shorts (the first short, "Meat Fuzzy Lumkins," was the first WHAT A CARTOON ever to be aired, making its premiere on SPACE GHOST: COAST TO COAST's World Premiere Toon Special), and became a surprise hit amongst the WHAT A CARTOONs that it eventually led to the popular TV series in 1998! Having seen the two WAC shorts and the series, I didn't know of WHOOPASS STEW! until early November of 1999 (sometime before the series' first anniversary), and saw it on the Internet! I enjoyed the short immensely, and showed it to fellow PPG fans, who, at first, thought it was a parody!

In summary, it's a fun, action-packed short! Fans of POWERPUFF GIRLS should check out this obscure short! You won't be disappointed!