There are two kinds of cartoon reboots that get canceled. The first kind is the kind you ardently loved. Once in a blue moon, a cartoon show will come along and steal your heart. You’ll think to yourself, “Wow… this is it. This is the show of my dreams. I’ll never have to search longingly for the perfect cartoon again.” And then it gets canceled. The second kind is the kind you wish never existed in the first place. You’ll be watching it and you’ll think to yourself, “Gosh, this show is terrible for me. It’s not me; it’s the show. I need to remove myself from this situation and get myself to a better place.” You then thank all higher powers when it is canceled.
Part of the nature of television is that shows come and go. It’s easy to understand why some are pulled, not so easy to understand why others are pulled. It might feel like the ultimate betrayal when a network cancels a show (especially when it’s a beloved cartoon), but there are multiple reasons why this occurs. Low ratings, uncertain funding, or creative differences are just some of the reasons.
Cartoon reboots are made with the hope that the following that was built from the original cartoon can cement the reboot in the public’s favor. It often seems like a cruel twist of fate when a good reboot is pulled. Other reboots fall flat, despite the previous popularity of the original material. If you’ve ever been a victim of the unfortunate circumstance of having your favorite cartoon reboot canceled, read on and see if it made it on our list.
20 All Shown Up
I was really fond of Rugrats. I thought the idea of seeing the world from a toddler’s perspective was a unique idea, and the cartoon pulled it off with a side-splitting sense of humor. Even at a young age, I knew Rugrats was cartoon gold. So when All Grown Up! came out, I watched it avidly as well.
The problem with the show was that while the characters we knew and loved were still there (Tommy, Chuckie, and, let’s not forget, Angelica), it had lost the underlying factor that made Rugrats so unique. The kids were no longer babies, they were “all grown up.” The show was still a wholesome collection of episodes, but it no longer had the appeal that the original had. It failed to get the audience it needed, and Nickelodeon canceled it.
19 When Sheen Lost His Sheen
Jimmy Neutron was a boy genius who could invent a million things, and most of the episodes of his show, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, involved him sharing his inventions with his two friends, Carl and Sheen. Carl was a rotund, cowardly little boy, and Sheen was an exuberant (albeit less intelligent) boy with a huge sense of adventure.
Sheen was such an endearing character, he got his own show.
Planet Sheen was nothing to cry home about though. In the show, Sheen gets marooned on an alien planet, and his adventures there are what make up the story. No one was really interested in an even more dumbed-down version of Sheen, and the low ratings caused the show to be canceled after one season.
18 Batman Be Gone
I’m a huge Batman fan. Saying that he’s my favorite comic book hero is an understatement. As such, I’m obsessed with nearly anything Batman-related, including the animated series, Batman Beyond. Batman Beyond told the story of Bruce Wayne’s successor, Terry McGinnis. In the future, Terry took over the role of Batman, even though he did it with a little more fumbling than Bruce displayed when he was the Batman. Terry definitely made more wisecracks. Despite being not bad at all, Batman Beyond was cancelled in order to make room for a Justice League animated series. For me, it’s no contest. A Batman show versus a Justice League show is always going to pull in favor toward the Bat-show.
17 Not Cool, Scooby-Doo
I’m going to let you guys know right off the bat that I’m not a fan of the trend that’s been happening to cartoon shows lately. Extreme goofiness does not equal good ratings (or good quality, for that matter). Thankfully, I was proven right in regards to this with the latest iteration of Scooby-Doo. If you’ve read my Scooby-Doo list, you’ll know that I’ve followed Scooby and the gang for years. So when I say that Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! is the worst Scooby-Doo show I’ve ever seen, you know that I’m speaking from experience.
About a year ago, the show started to quietly fade from existence after only two seasons. There have been good Scooby-Doo reboots and there have been terrible Scooby-Doo reboots. Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! was the latter. The remaining episodes aired on Boomerang.
16 The Offsprings’ Offshoot
Most people know Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as the cute little kids from The Flintstones. These two kids are one of my favorite characters to see costumes of on Halloween. They’re the perfect pairing. But did you know that they had their own show? It was called The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, and it focused on the two kids as they dealt with being teenagers. They attended Bedrock High School, complete with teenage social drama and everything.
The show was cut short after only sixteen episodes.
I liked Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as much as anyone, but I was not interested in watching their teenage lives. They reached the epitome of stereotypical with the inclusion of their struggling rock band.
15 You Can’t Force Voltron
Voltron has been around for what feels like generations. The premise of Voltron itself almost guarantees it a spot in television history forever. A team of astronauts pilot a super robot and defeat an evil Empire?! That’s brilliance! Who doesn’t want to watch a show with that at its core? Of course, money issues can plague even the best ideas. Voltron Force succeeded the 1980s series Voltron, but it was canceled due to funding problems. Oh, horrendous of horrors! Luckily, as I stated earlier, an idea like Voltron is too good to let down, and other iterations were made after Voltron Force ended. It’s just such a shame Voltron Force ended on a cliffhanger.
14 The Baby Process
A trend when making reboots for cartoons is to make the main characters of the originals into baby-versions of themselves. I have no idea why this became a thing, but it did. (Except for the Rugrats. They did the exact opposite.) They did it with Muppet Babies, Baby Looney Tunes, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and more.
These cartoons were received with varying amounts of success.
Tom and Jerry Kids enjoyed middling reviews. I’ve seen a couple episodes, and they were enjoyable, just as enjoyable as the original Tom and Jerry episodes. Poor Tom and Jerry’s baby versions were canceled anyways, despite not being an abomination on the face of television.
13 From The Mightiest To The Most Boring
A cartoon show based on the most diverse cast of heroes sounds like a stupendous idea. The creators of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were on the right track when they penned this amazing cartoon show based on Marvel’s Avengers. The core members of the Avengers were there, but a wide variety of other heroes made appearances as well.
All that changed when the show was ended.
Instead of getting renewed for a third season (like it should have), Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was replaced by Avengers Assemble, a new animated series more heavily based off of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’ve already seen the MCU in theaters. Forgive me for wanting fresh material for my cartoon shows.
12 Fantastic Mediocrity
The Avengers aren’t the only super team to get rebooted animated shows. The Fantastic Four got some of the love too in the cartoon series called Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes. (I’m just going to throw this out there. I think animated super hero series need better titles. Just saying.)
Twenty-six episodes were made, but only eight of them ever aired.
Then, the show was suddenly cancelled. The show told its own version of the Fantastic Four’s origin story, and it was drawn with some definite Japanese anime influences in mind. World’s Greatest Heroes is a clear case of a show that did not offer enough of a reason for people to stick around to watch it. (Though I have to admit, I watched every episode. All eight of them.)
11 The Not Fake Adventures
Hanna-Barbera was the king of cartoons. Look back on their history, and there’s no denying that they were prolific cartoon makers. The Jetsons, The Flintstones, and Tom and Jerry are just a few of the cartoon series that Hanna-Barbera is responsible for. They are also well-known for making Jonny Quest, a story about a boy with a father who is half-scientist, half-explorer, and all irresponsible parent.
The original show was a beloved classic.
The reboot, not so much. There were apparently different opinions about where The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest should go, and you can totally tell there were problems in production by comparing the first and the second season. The first season feels futuristic, and the second did a one-eighty and went back to that old-timey feel. The show was canceled after the second season, so clearly those problems were never resolved.
10 Lucky There’s A Cleveland Guy
Family Guy is one of my favorite adult cartoons, and Cleveland was one of my favorite characters from the show. Giving Cleveland his own show seemed like a pretty good idea to me when I heard about it. But, in all honestly, The Cleveland Show tanked.
It unfortunately showed how formulaic a Seth MacFarlane cartoon could be.
It was canceled after four seasons (not a bad amount for a fairly unpopular show), and Cleveland thankfully returned to the cast of Family Guy. I love the MacFarlane formula as much as the next guy, but it felt a little weird seeing the formula on two shows that were airing at the same time. (No, I do not watch American Dad.)
9 Mastering Network Television
I adore the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series that was made in the 1980s. It was campy and it was fun. Re-watching those episodes makes me giggle at the ludicrousness of some of the situations Prince Adam found himself in. In my opinion, the reboot made in 2002 took itself too seriously. It wasn’t a horrible reboot, but I much preferred the unintentional goofiness of the original. I wasn’t the only one. A lack of interest in the reboot caused it to get canceled after two seasons. I hate the idea of He-Man’s fame fading away, but even I have to admit that it’s difficult to relate to a barbarian prince with a magic sword who has to fight a skeleton.
8 The Web-Slinging Failure
Okay, I know I said that Batman was my all-time favorite super hero, but if there is a second place hero on my list of favorite super heroes, it would belong to Spider-Man. Unfortunately, I’ve never taken to Spider-Man cartoons as much as I’ve taken to Batman cartoons. I tried getting into Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, but that was a huge mistake. The show was made using computer generated imagery (CGI), and while that might have captured Spider-Man’s acrobatic flips more or less accurately, it did little favors for Peter Parker’s facial expressions. The show was canceled after a single season, so that should let you know how the story compared to the animation.
7 Worst Friend Ever
Garfield, the fattest, laziest cat that ever loved lasagna, somehow manages to have friends in the show Garfield and Friends. Despite my disdain for the I-hate-Mondays Garfield, the show wasn’t that bad. Kindly characters like Odie and Jon made the show worth it, and any episode where Garfield played with his teddy bear Pooky was adorable. The show was actually successful, running on for seven seasons, but when it was suggested that the budget for Garfield and Friends be cut, the show was ultimately canceled, despite receiving high ratings. Let me tell you this now, the show was way better than the movie. (And if you like the movie, whoops, my bad.)
6 The Legend Lives On
Okay, so I know that The Legend of Korra was not technically canceled, but come on, it was practically shoved to the wayside. After Book 2 of Korra was released, it was stated that Book 3 would not be aired on television, but would instead be relegated to a release online. The creators of The Legend of Korra handled the move with grace, and both Book 3 and Book 4 of the show were stellar. It still stings that the show was removed from Nickleodeon’s scheduled television programming. I understand that it was not typical of what Nickelodeon usually aired, but I believe that Korra’s differences were what made it appealing to so many people. If you haven’t seen The Legend of Korra, you are definitely missing out on some of the best animated television I’ve ever seen.
5 The Teen Titans Trigger
This technically isn’t a reboot, but goshdarn it all to flubbing heck this really ticks me off! I’m not alone in saying that Teen Titans was a wonderful cartoon show. It was more than wonderful. It was fantastic. Really, it was all the positive adjectives you could think of. And it got canceled!
The exact reason why it was canceled is still unclear.
Either the pitch for the new season was unsatisfactory or the ratings had dropped. And what did we get instead of the phenomenal show we had grown to know and love? We got Teen Titans Go! which is without a doubt the lamest iteration of Teen Titans I have ever seen. It’s zany, and the characters look cuter (supposedly), but it in no way reaches the depth and meaning that its predecessor did. Sorry. My rant is done.
4 Gotta Go Down!
Sonic was once top dog in the gaming world, competing with the likes of Mario. But as soon as Mario made the jump to 3D, Sonic was left behind in the dust (which is ironic, since Sonic’s whole shtick is “gotta go fast”). Sonic managed to hobble along after Mario by maintaining his popularity in mediums other than gaming. In Sonic Underground, a cartoon show made in the 90s, Sonic and his siblings are part of a royal family (you can snicker now, if you want to), and they are separated from their queen mother thanks to Dr. Robotnik. The rest of the show is the three of them trying to find her. It lasted for a single season, which I personally think is a shame. Not every day that you get such rich material regarding Sonic’s family history.
3 Bats, Bats, And More Bats
Here’s another Batman cartoon that was ended before its time. Beware the Batman was a computer-animated series that ended after only one season. Just so you know, my arms are crossed against my chest and my nose is snootily up in the air right now as I think on the injustices visited upon the best super hero ever made. The show was pulled before it could reach its full potential, but what I saw, I liked. Batman has such a wide array of villains to go up against, any series made about him has all the ingredients they need for success. You have the ultimate protagonist, diverging paths for him to take, and outstanding obstacles for him to face. It’s a mystery why Beware the Batman was canceled, and I’m none too pleased about it.
2 The Lost Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a surprising hit. Star Wars itself is a popular franchise, but the prequels were disappointing to many fans. The Clone Wars beat all odds and endeared itself to many. Seriously, in this show, you actually like Anakin Skywalker. That’s a miracle in and of itself. Once Disney purchased the rights to Star Wars, the show was unceremoniously canceled, leaving several plot lines unaddressed.
Luckily, some of those missing episodes were later released to the public.
If those episodes had not been released, my broken heart would not have mended for at least another year. As a kind of reparation, I hope that Disney produces great Star Wars content now that they have the reins.
1 Young Injustice
I feel it’s only right to end this list positively, but first, I have to begin this entry with bad news. Young Justice was a new cartoon chronicling the adventures of dedicated and determined sidekicks from the DC Universe. I needed Young Justice after losing Teen Titans, so imagine my despair when they canceled it after its second season. Boy, I was desolate. Fellow fans of the show will understand. It was like Teen Titans all over again. But all was not lost. A third season is in the works after fans showed some solidarity in favor of the show returning. It’s going to be called Young Justice: Outsiders, and it’s slated to premiere some time this year. See? Good things do occasionally happen.
