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For every beloved cartoon character on TV there is often one right by his or her side, destroying the entire series episode by episode.
Bat-Mite (“The New Adventures of Batman”)
Catchphrase: “All I wanna do is help!” (Which is about as endearing as “Buy me that cereal now!” or “You know that thing you love more than anything? I broke it.”)
Personality: Stalker.
Origin Story: Bat-Mite was a magical creature who adored Batman to the point that he tried to dress and act like him, resulting in the first Saturday morning cartoon to use the “obsessive, psychotic roommate” story line for laughs. Bat-Mite also kissed Robin, had a huge crush on Batgirl, and taught kids the importance of restraining orders and triple-locking all doors.
Legacy: Makes a brief appearance in “The Dark Knight Rises” when while flying “The Bat” Batman asks, “Did we just hit something?”
Snarf (“The Thundercats”)
Catchphrase: “Snarf!” (A catchphrase that is either extremely narcissistic or is like naming a cat “Meow” or “Hairball noise.”)
Personality: You know that guy on road trips who keeps saying, “I just know we’re gonna get lost,” “I just know we’re gonna run out of gas.” “I just knew my friends would throw me from a moving vehicle.” Meet him in cartoon form.
Origin Story: Nursemaid for Lion-O, the leader of The Thundercats. Spends every episode worrying everyone is going to die and making food, resulting in a character that’s sort of like your grandma if she were crossbred with a skittish armadillo.
Legacy: Completely revised for the new “Thundercats” series so that he doesn’t say a single damn thing.
The Great Gazoo (“The Flintstones”)
Catchphrase: “Dum-dums.” (Used when talking about his own friends.)
Personality: Bitchy.
Origin Story: A snide, small, floating alien banished to Prehistoric Earth by his own people after creating a doomsday device that could burn all living things (cue the laughter of children). Could only be seen by Fred, Barney, Pebbles, Bam-Bam, and Dino. In other words, everybody but Wilma and Betty, who had enough to deal with cleaning out talking pelican toilets.
Legacy: Appearance considered by many to be the point where “The Flintstones” went from being a incisive, informative, intensely researched study of stone-age suburban life into something that was just plain silly.
Gleek (“The All New Superfriends Hour”)
Catchphrase: Constantly laughing to the point viewers were sobbing for sweet release.
Personality: Comic relief who does something stupid so all the serious characters can laugh at the end of an episode only to immediately stop and hit the bar when the director yells, “CUT!”
Origin Story: Blue space monkey pet of “The Wonder Twins,” two alien siblings who helped superheroes by turning into water and animals. (Because what catastrophe can’t be resolved with shaved ice and a honey badger?)
Legacy: Rumored to be playing the general whose silly antics makes all the primates laugh hysterically as they stand on a pile of charred human corpses at the end of the next “Planet of the Apes” movie.
H.E.R.B.I.E. (“Fantastic Four”)
Catchphrase: “I replaced the Human Torch.” (Probably followed by a muttered, “I’m sorry.”)
Personality: Not the Human Torch.
Origin Story: Why did a robot replace the beloved Human Torch in this 1978 cartoon series? One theory is the network executives didn’t want kids imitating the Torch by setting themselves on fire (but clearly they had no fear of kids replacing their skin with orange brick). Another theory is the rights to the Human Torch were tied up in a live-action series that never got picked up (because adults kept imitating the character by setting themselves on fire). And yet another theory is this came out a year after “Star Wars” and if you didn’t feature a robot you might as well call your show “Cancelled.”
Legacy: Appeared as scrap metal in a background shot of “Wall-E.”
Scrappy-Doo (“Scooby-Doo”)
Catchphrase: "Ta dadada ta daaa! Puppy power!" “Lemme at ‘em! I’ll splat ‘em!” “I will devour this show and all that you love from the inside!” (Never actually said but certainly implied.)
Personality: Very energetic, very brave, in desperate need of shock collar.
Origin Story: The young nephew of Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo was introduced when ratings for the series had fallen to the point where it was almost replaced with slides of the network president’s summer vacation.
Legacy: Both saved and destroyed the series, changing it from being about teens solving supernatural crimes to being about a midget Great Dane screaming, punching, and constantly talking until Freddie drove the Mystery Machine into an oncoming train.
Which one do you think is the worst? Let us know in the comments!
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