Viewer discretion is advised! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the episodes of kids’ cartoons that push the envelope with mature, unsettling, and/or unexpectedly dark content. We won’t be discussing anime since that’s another list.
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00:00 Slade ran right by you! How could you let him get away?
00:03 But...Robin! There was no one there.
00:07 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the episodes of kids' cartoons
00:11 that push the envelope with mature, unsettling, and/or unexpectedly dark content.
00:16 We won't be discussing anime, since that's another list. Beware of spoilers.
00:20 We cannot call the cops. In these scenarios, they call the cops,
00:23 but they never nab the bad guys because they don't have proof!
00:27 #30. Teeth for Two - Catdog
00:30 During Catdog's dental checkup, they discover that whatever Dog does to his teeth affects cats,
00:36 and based on the former's diet, it's not a pretty sight.
00:38 Wait a minute, this isn't fair!
00:41 Neither is my billing policy. But if Rover there doesn't change, you're going to need surgery.
00:47 It's extremely expensive and extremely painful.
00:50 Most of the episode involves Cat trying to convince Dog to practice better dental hygiene, to no avail.
00:55 But halfway through, Cat takes more extreme measures,
00:58 emerging inside out from Dog's mouth to brush his teeth by force.
01:02 Teeth for Two was made infamous not only for this gruesome scene,
01:12 but also for the brutal methods Catdog uses to spite each other by ruining the other's teeth.
01:16 That's saying nothing of the horrifying rash they get in the end.
01:20 If you're not a fan of body horror, skip this dental nightmare.
01:23 #29. Drab City - Care Bears
01:26 One day, the Care Bears and their cousins find themselves in Drab City,
01:30 where things take a turn for the eerie.
01:32 If you can help us, we need to get home, back to the Forest of Feelings.
01:37 Help? We don't help anybody.
01:41 Wait! Can't you tell us where we are?
01:45 The color has completely vanished, the streets are filthy,
01:48 and the people don't seem to care about anything.
01:51 According to their new friend, Jill, it wasn't always like this,
01:54 but some mysterious force took away everyone's color and feelings,
01:57 and it's slowly affecting our multicolored friends as well.
02:00 They find the source of the infection, only to end up succumbing to the darkness.
02:04 The mental health symbolism there is weighty, to say the least.
02:07 Thankfully, help arrives at the last minute, and everyone is saved.
02:11 But we were panicking for a bit there.
02:12 As mayor, I declare Drab City will be known as Rainbow City!
02:17 [cheering]
02:20 Number 28. The Return of Raggedy Android.
02:23 My Life as a Teenage Robot.
02:25 Hoping to fit in more with the humans,
02:26 Jenny tries an experimental exosuit made to disguise her robotic appearance.
02:31 It works as intended. A little too well.
02:34 Acting more like a symbiote, forcing itself onto Jenny, and even talking to her.
02:38 It's me, your second skin. Don't we look beautiful?
02:43 I... I am beautiful, aren't I?
02:45 Yes, we are.
02:48 But this isn't the real me. The real me isn't beautiful.
02:51 No, I'm beautiful.
02:53 It slowly takes over, seizing control,
02:56 and manipulating her into acting like a normal, snobby girl.
02:59 That personality change is extra scary.
03:01 Thankfully, Jenny eventually starts fighting back,
03:04 and manages to free herself from the horrifying influence.
03:07 But the body snatcher scenario causes more than enough nightmares.
03:10 Not letting you control me any longer.
03:12 I have to save my best friend!
03:14 You're just a girl. It's not normal for girls to save boys.
03:17 Well, it's normal for this girl to save everybody.
03:21 If being normal means being possessed by a horrific, manipulative parasite,
03:24 Jenny's far better off being herself.
03:26 In its earlier days, Thomas and Friends knew how to tackle real-world fears gracefully,
03:35 discussing things like getting scrapped.
03:37 But what you're doing?
03:40 Escaping.
03:41 From what?
03:43 Scrap.
03:45 Douglas shivered.
03:46 Season 5's "Stepney Gets Lost" remains one of its most frightening episodes.
03:50 It starts innocently enough, with the Bluebell engine lending a hand,
03:54 but eventually, the tone makes a complete 180.
03:56 Stepney gets lost in the fog and ends up at the scrapyard,
03:59 where he's abducted by two diesels and nearly scrapped.
04:02 Got you this time, Stepney.
04:05 You'll make very fine scrap, indeed.
04:07 Thankfully, he's rescued at the last minute.
04:09 Still, the episode is a dark, yet effective cautionary tale
04:13 about being careful on your journeys.
04:14 You might not live to tell your story otherwise.
04:17 At first, the bears are thrilled to have new neighbors,
04:23 but Grizz overhears some strange stuff,
04:25 and he starts becoming paranoid that they might be bear hunters.
04:27 Did you see his size?
04:28 The grizzly? Yeah. I like how chubby he is.
04:32 What? I'm not chubby.
04:33 I mean, this is what we've been looking for.
04:35 All the hard work we put in, finally paying off.
04:38 He even has horrific nightmares about them coming to kill him.
04:41 The bears investigate and find a scene straight out of a horror movie in the couple's RV.
04:45 Thankfully, in the end, the whole thing turns out to be a funny misunderstanding.
04:49 My husband and I run a woodworking business,
04:51 and when we met you guys, we thought you were perfect muses for our work.
04:54 We tried to be inconspicuous.
04:56 We didn't want to freak you guys out.
04:58 But with how weird and cryptic the neighbors were acting,
05:00 not to mention the spooky imagery,
05:02 it's hard not to get creeped out.
05:04 It just goes to show that nothing is scarier than your imagination,
05:07 and that you shouldn't binge too many true crime shows at once.
05:10 Number 25.
05:12 Helga on the couch.
05:13 Hey, Arnold.
05:14 When Helga's aggressive attitude becomes problematic,
05:16 she gets sent to a child psychologist hoping to uncover the root of her anger issues.
05:20 I think that your behavior may be covering up other, more important issues.
05:24 And I want to try to get to the root of the matter.
05:26 Maybe uncover some emotions you may be hiding.
05:29 She's afraid of her love for Arnold being exposed,
05:32 but what we learn is even more troubling.
05:34 For the rest of the day, Helga speaks about her toxic family,
05:37 a perfect sister who overshadows her,
05:39 and neglectful parents who barely even notice her.
05:42 The poor girl's been alone in the world since she was in preschool,
05:44 until Arnold came along.
05:46 I...
05:48 I love Arnold!
05:50 There, I said it!
05:52 I love him! I love him!
05:53 While we've seen signs that her home life is a disaster,
05:56 this episode completes the picture in harrowing fashion,
05:59 giving us full, heavy insight into the character.
06:02 Number 24.
06:03 The Price.
06:04 Brave Star.
06:05 A smooth-talking dingo arrives and offers Jay, Daisy, and Brad
06:09 a seemingly wondrous substance called Spin.
06:11 In reality, Spin is highly addictive and dangerous.
06:14 I'll tell you this, lads.
06:17 Spin's fun!
06:19 Wow! Spin! I've heard of it!
06:23 That's right! Spin! It's happiness in a bottle!
06:28 Before long, Jay becomes hooked on the stuff.
06:30 He falls into a downward spiral of dependency,
06:33 to the point where he even steals from his mom's purse
06:35 just to finance his unhealthy obsession.
06:37 While Brave Star demolishes the factory producing Spin,
06:40 he's unable to help Jay, who pays the ultimate price.
06:43 I'll call Doc Clayton.
06:45 Don't bother. It's too late.
06:48 PSA cartoons about substance use are nothing new,
06:51 but to have one as effectively bleak as this
06:53 should hopefully scare anyone straight.
06:55 We really underestimate how heavy '80s cartoons could get.
06:58 Number 23.
06:59 Angelica's Worst Nightmare.
07:01 Rugrats.
07:02 Angelica takes pride in being Drew and Charlotte's only child,
07:05 but her world is turned upside down
07:07 when her parents announce they're potentially expecting.
07:09 Angelica, mommy's gonna have another baby.
07:11 [laughing]
07:13 No, really. What did you want to tell me?
07:16 That's what we wanted to tell you.
07:17 Mommy's gonna have a baby.
07:19 Worried about being replaced,
07:20 she has a horrific nightmare of what might happen
07:22 when her sibling comes.
07:23 The brother she dreams up is petrifying,
07:26 with the voice of a serial killer.
07:27 He's basically taken over her life,
07:29 yet still wants her out of the picture permanently.
07:31 The nightmare ends with a traumatizing shot
07:33 of the oversized baby eating Angelica.
07:36 I wonder what a toy car would taste like.
07:38 No, please! I'm your big sister!
07:40 Well, now you're num-nums!
07:43 No! No!
07:45 Thankfully, the episode ends on a happy note,
07:47 but the fact that it frightened us into sympathizing
07:49 with a bratty three-year-old is scary enough.
07:52 Number 22.
07:53 Long Live the Queen.
07:55 The Legend of Korra.
07:56 Knowing what happens in this episode,
07:58 the title is horribly ironic.
08:00 Zaheer, the airbending leader of the Red Lotus,
08:03 has grown tired of the Earth Queen
08:04 and decides to put an end to her.
08:06 In one of the most graphic ways possible.
08:08 You wouldn't dare attack a queen!
08:11 Maybe I forgot to mention something to you.
08:18 I don't believe in queens.
08:21 Using his powers,
08:22 he draws the oxygen out of her lungs
08:24 and suffocates her with it.
08:25 There's no traditional weapons and no bloodshed,
08:28 but this is still one of the most gruesome deaths
08:30 in the entire franchise,
08:31 regardless of how you feel about the queen.
08:33 Unfortunately, Zaheer's atrocities don't end there,
08:36 as he would later poison Korra
08:38 in an equally brutal fashion in the season finale.
08:40 I told you, Korra.
08:42 The world doesn't need you anymore.
08:48 The time of the Avatar is over, Korra.
08:55 Give up.
08:56 Number 21.
08:57 Over the Edge.
08:58 The New Batman Adventures.
09:00 It's amazing we can consider Batman the animated series
09:03 and its continuation The New Batman Adventures kids shows,
09:06 considering how mature and emotional the writing is.
09:09 In one particularly terrifying episode,
09:11 Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl,
09:13 is murdered by Scarecrow
09:15 and unmasked by her father, Commissioner Gordon.
09:17 Dad.
09:18 Barbara?
09:20 Oh my God, no!
09:26 Feeling betrayed, Gordon issues a manhunt on Batman,
09:29 threatening his superhero career
09:31 and ruining a once strong friendship.
09:33 Thankfully, it all ends up being a nightmare
09:35 and everyone is safe, including Barbara.
09:37 She's waking up!
09:39 Thank goodness.
09:40 How do you feel?
09:42 Terrible.
09:43 Thank God you're not dead.
09:50 Still, watching how one fatal accident
09:52 could destroy our hero's lives is too grim to bear,
09:55 real or not.
09:56 The fact that Barbara's guilt over keeping her double life
09:58 a secret from her father
09:59 is the cause of the whole ordeal,
10:01 makes it even more harrowing.
10:02 When our Bucktooth main character
10:08 is berated for every good deed he's done that day,
10:11 he decides to teach everyone a lesson
10:13 by wishing he didn't exist.
10:14 Bye! You know what?
10:16 I wish I was never born!
10:18 Timmy is then transported to an alternate timeline
10:20 where it turns out everyone is better off without him.
10:23 What's worse is that Jorgen tries to send him
10:25 to what is conceptually similar to hell.
10:27 Goodbye, Timmy Turner!
10:29 No!
10:30 Forever!
10:32 When Timmy is able to steal Jorgen's wand,
10:34 he laments,
10:35 wondering if everyone else's sadness is worth his existence.
10:38 He decides it's not,
10:40 and accepts his fate.
10:41 But all I'll be doing is making everybody's life worse!
10:44 I can't do that to Cosmo and Wanda,
10:46 Mom and Dad!
10:47 It all turns out to be a test,
10:49 but it's still a pretty shocking plot.
10:51 Ever since Danny Phantom was granted ghostly powers,
10:58 he's tried to use them for the betterment of the people around him,
11:00 which is why it was so surprising to find out in this TV movie
11:04 that he was the one who destroyed the world.
11:06 During an experiment gone wrong,
11:08 all of Danny's friends and loved ones died.
11:10 The big explosion at the Nasty Burger,
11:12 you, Tucker, Danny's family,
11:14 and it was all your fault!
11:17 As a result, Danny asked Vlad Masters to remove his pain,
11:20 i.e. his ghost side.
11:22 This resulted in Vlad and Danny's ghost fusing
11:24 to create Dark Danny,
11:26 where it's implied they killed Human Danny.
11:27 This would be a very touching little reunion.
11:30 But of course, I surrendered my human half
11:35 a long time ago.
11:37 This darkness is brought even further when you see this evil fusion
11:40 then attempting to kill all the characters we love.
11:43 Squibbard has always gotten the short end of the stick,
11:49 but no one expected the show to insinuate him ending it all.
11:53 Squibbard realizes that he doesn't have a happiest memory,
11:55 prompting SpongeBob to try and create one for him.
11:58 Look, I don't need a happy memory,
12:00 so just get back to your culinary grease factory and leave me alone!
12:04 Unfortunately, his efforts fail,
12:06 sending Squibbard into a deep depression,
12:08 locking himself away for weeks.
12:10 It's here we see one of the darkest images ever drawn in the series,
12:13 where it's implied that he doesn't feel life is worth living.
12:16 I can't seem to get happy.
12:19 Maybe this will help.
12:24 It may have been a bait-and-switch, but by the end of the episode,
12:27 Squibbard has a mental breakdown, leaving his depression unresolved.
12:30 Are you enjoying the hors d'oeuvres?
12:33 At a certain point, his pain is no longer funny.
12:41 Ben Tennyson has battled all sorts of monsters,
12:48 but battling a toxic partner is something we don't think the Omnitrix has kitted out for.
12:52 When famous actress Jennifer Nocturne helps break her former kidnapper,
12:56 Carl Nesmith, out of prison, Ben can't figure out why.
12:59 Do you have the gauntlet?
13:00 I found it right where you said.
13:02 Good girl. In only a few hours, Captain Nemesis lives again.
13:07 As the two escape together, Carl commits atrocious crimes,
13:10 while Jennifer remains unfazed, even almost killing Ben herself.
13:14 Jennifer has pitted all of her dreams of a normal life on Carl,
13:17 but only reciprocates her feelings when she's useful to him.
13:20 Yes, it all sounds wonderful.
13:22 But there's something I have to do first.
13:25 What's that?
13:26 Destroy Ben Tennyson.
13:28 But why can't we just go?
13:30 I'm sure you know what's best.
13:33 This episode tackles the very real issue of manipulation in toxic relationships,
13:37 which is a bit different from fighting aliens.
13:39 The 2003 series of TMNT has a couple of dark episodes throughout its run.
13:48 However, none of us expected our heroes in a half-shell to die on screen.
13:53 When Donatello is sent to the future,
13:55 he discovers things took a turn for the worse in his absence.
13:57 You've been gone over 30 years, Donatello.
14:00 30 years? It can't be!
14:03 Splinter was killed, the brothers split up, Mikey lost an arm,
14:07 and Shredder is taken over the world.
14:09 In a last-ditch effort to stop this horrible timeline from happening,
14:12 the Turtles charge Shredder's HQ, dying off one by one.
14:15 All right, Donnie, we'll do it one more time,
14:18 but please, tell me we have a fighting chance.
14:21 The saddest part is seeing Raphael,
14:23 crawling over to his estranged brother Leo to spend his final moments with him.
14:26 Leo! Leo!
14:30 It's the Teenage Mutant Ninja Dead Guys.
14:38 They'll summon the attack drones!
14:44 You've got to stop them getting back through the portal!
14:47 Sometimes, the Internet can feel like a black hole
14:49 that destroys everything it comes into contact with.
14:51 And for the people of Mainframe, this was literally the case.
14:54 As seen in this dark episode of Reboot,
14:56 World Web Wars served as the season 2 finale of the hit show,
14:59 and ended on one of the darkest cliffhangers of all time.
15:02 Nothing can stand in our way.
15:05 Mainframe is ours.
15:07 Bob was betrayed by Megabyte,
15:09 and launched him into the dangerous storm of the World Wide Web,
15:12 leaving the question of his fate unanswered,
15:14 until the third season premiered.
15:16 Megabyte! You won't get away with this!
15:19 Even though it aired on Nickelodeon,
15:25 Rocko's modern life liked to push what they could get past the censors.
15:28 In this episode, Heifer finds himself choking to death
15:31 after swallowing a chicken's rib cage.
15:33 Time to vote, buddy.
15:35 While Rocko tries to revive him,
15:38 Heifer meets Peaches in what is quite obviously hell.
15:41 Despite Heifer's food habits being played for laughs,
15:43 the cartoon gets quite dark
15:45 as Heifer is exposed to his various gluttonous sins,
15:47 and how he would be punished.
15:49 Now turn to channel 3.
15:51 Sure. But where's the remote?
15:53 You poor fool.
15:57 Still don't know where you are, do you?
15:59 There is no remote!
16:01 It gets even scarier when Peaches starts appearing out of nowhere
16:06 when he thinks he's safe.
16:08 The cartoon likes to play with adult jokes from time to time,
16:10 but this went a little far for a watershed time slot.
16:14 Number 13. Elephant Issues.
16:16 Tiny Toon Adventures.
16:18 There is a reason why this episode got pulled from the air.
16:20 The segment, "One Beer",
16:22 follows Buster, Plucky, and Hampton
16:24 as they come across a beer in the fridge.
16:26 Buster peer pressures his friends into taking a sip.
16:29 What are you thinking, Buster?
16:31 Let's drink it.
16:33 Drink it?
16:35 But Buster, this isn't like you.
16:37 I know. But in this episode,
16:39 we're showing the evils of alcohol.
16:41 The show go on a bender, stumbling around,
16:43 clearly drunk, and alienating their friends.
16:45 If underage drinking wasn't bad enough,
16:47 the characters take a police car for a joyride
16:49 and fall off a cliff to their deaths.
16:51 While this episode is very self-aware
16:53 that it's supposed to deter kids from alcohol,
16:55 it still shocked people enough to be banned from Box Kids.
16:58 I hope the kids got the message.
17:00 Yeah, drinking's uncool.
17:02 So do we get to do a funny episode tomorrow?
17:05 I hope so.
17:07 Number 12. Heavenly Puss.
17:09 The adventures of this cat-and-mouse duo
17:11 is filled with endless violence,
17:13 but the characters have only ever died a handful of times.
17:15 Blue Cat Blue sees the two await a train to run them over
17:18 after losing the girl of their dreams.
17:20 However, Heavenly Puss pulls no punches.
17:31 After Tom and Jerry engage in a typical chase,
17:34 Tom is crushed by a piano and ascends to heaven.
17:37 But once he gets there, he's rejected for how he's treated Jerry.
17:40 If within that time you can obtain the signature of that little mouse
17:43 on this certificate of forgiveness,
17:46 you will be permitted to pass.
17:48 It's here we find Tom pleading with Jerry to forgive him
17:51 before he gets sent to the Red Hot Place down below.
17:54 Turns out it was all a bad dream,
17:56 and Tom has never been happier to see Jerry.
17:58 Number 11. Jimmy. Static Shock.
18:06 In the lead-up to a community center Halloween party,
18:09 shy kid Jimmy gets relentlessly picked on by Nick and his friends.
18:12 After some violent pranks, Jimmy disappears, worrying his peers.
18:26 Virgil and his dad go to Jimmy's house,
18:28 where they discover that he plans to violently confront his tormentors.
18:31 At the school, we see Jimmy bursting into tears of anger
18:34 as Richie tries to talk him down.
18:36 But just as Jimmy lowers his weapon, he gets tackled by Nick's friends,
18:48 accidentally hurting Richie in the process.
18:50 It wasn't fatal, but it was a frighteningly real situation nonetheless.
18:54 Number 10. Phineas and Ferb Get Busted.
18:57 Imagination is a wonderful thing to have,
19:03 though not everyone would agree,
19:05 as seen in Disney's hit cartoon Phineas and Ferb.
19:07 In this episode, Candace finally catches the titular pair
19:10 performing their usual dangerous antics,
19:12 leading them to get sent to reform school.
19:14 The story takes a dark turn when the pair have their imaginations
19:20 forcibly removed from their brains through intense brainwashing,
19:23 a concept that gets even darker considering
19:25 it serves as a disturbing metaphor for growing up.
19:28 Creative acts are imitatable and dangerous.
19:31 Using your imagination is morally wrong.
19:34 Though the whole thing turned out to be a dream,
19:36 that didn't save the episode from being incredibly dark.
19:39 I never actually busted Phineas and Ferb.
19:41 I am so happy.
19:43 Number 9. Way of the Dee Dee.
19:45 Dexter's Laboratory.
19:46 Why do you do this? You are so stupid!
19:49 Being cooped up in a lab all day is no way to go through life,
19:52 despite what Dexter may think.
19:54 Luckily, this boy genius had his sister Dee Dee
19:56 to free him from the clutches of his stressful work,
19:58 resulting in his spiritual awakening as he finds inner peace.
20:01 However, that peace goes as quickly as it came
20:04 after Dexter destroys his own lab
20:06 before promptly returning to his life of scientific solitude,
20:09 resulting in one of the most downbeat endings
20:11 of any episode in the series.
20:13 Number 8. Perfect.
20:21 Courage the Cowardly Dog.
20:22 This show always bordered on the scary,
20:24 with plenty of episodes using chilling ideas
20:26 to drive the comedic situations Courage gets himself into.
20:29 But the series finale haunted many children's dreams.
20:32 During this episode, no matter how much he tries,
20:35 he can't seem to do anything right.
20:37 You did it wrong!
20:38 Just like you painted the chicken coop wrong!
20:41 And you did a lousy job repairing the windmill!
20:46 His feelings of inadequacy manifest in the hallucination
20:48 of a school teacher called the Perfectionist,
20:51 who berates him throughout the story.
20:53 It all comes to a head when Courage starts having bad dreams,
20:56 where a CGI creature soothingly tells him,
20:58 "You're not perfect."
21:00 You're not perfect.
21:02 The sudden animation switch is weird enough,
21:11 but this one, among many other moments,
21:13 makes the entire episode nightmare fuel.
21:15 Number 7. Mind Pollution.
21:18 Captain Planet and the Planeteers.
21:20 Captain Planet is a wisecracking superhero
21:22 who works with his team of young environmentalists
21:24 to tackle issues that beset the planet.
21:26 With a kid-friendly setup like that,
21:28 everyone probably ended up scarred after this episode.
21:31 When verminous Scum introduces a new substance called Bliss,
21:34 the entire town gets hooked,
21:36 including Linka and her cousin Boris.
21:38 But once you've felt Bliss, none of that will matter.
21:42 Scum convinces the two to attack their friends,
21:44 who can't summon Captain Planet
21:46 because Linka's mind is polluted.
21:48 But then, Boris collapses after taking more Bliss,
21:51 dying in Linka's arms.
21:53 Bliss killed him. I'm sorry.
21:56 No, you are lying.
21:58 Boris, it's me, Linka. Wake up!
22:01 With her mind now cleared,
22:03 the Planeteers summon Captain Planet,
22:05 who isn't slinging puns like he usually does,
22:07 incredibly angry with Scum for going too far.
22:09 They defeat the villain, but the trauma remains.
22:12 Number 6. Twisted Sister.
22:15 The Powerpuff Girls.
22:17 Now, let's see. The first thing we need is sugar.
22:20 This episode of the Cartoon Network original series
22:23 is as memorable as it is heart-wrenching and tragic.
22:25 When Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup
22:27 want a new sister to help them fight crime,
22:29 they haphazardly recreate the professor's experiment
22:32 and make Bunny, who comes out a bit off.
22:35 Justice!
22:37 That's right. You're our sister, too.
22:40 After Bunny messes up crime-fighting
22:42 and is sent away by the girls,
22:43 she eventually returns to beat up every criminal in Townsville
22:46 before exploding from her body's instability,
22:48 saving the day for the first and final time.
22:51 Admit it. Just the description of this episode
22:53 was enough to bring a tragic tear to your eye.
22:55 She was good after all.
22:58 We were the ones who were bad.
23:01 Number 5. Holly Jolly Secrets.
23:04 Part 1 and 2. Adventure Time.
23:06 Wait a second, man. I know this case.
23:09 The Ice King is easily one of the most interesting characters
23:11 in Adventure Time, as well as one of the most tragic,
23:14 as seen in this two-part episode.
23:16 After discovering his hidden videotapes,
23:18 Vin and Jake learn the dark story behind the Mad Ice Wizard,
23:21 that he was once Simon Petrikov,
23:23 an antiquarian who discovered the Ice Crown.
23:25 Hello. My name is Simon Petrikov.
23:28 I am recording this tape so that people will know my story.
23:31 As the Crown corrupted his mind, Simon was driven mad,
23:34 causing him to drive away the love of his life,
23:36 leaving him a shadow of his former self.
23:38 The tragic origin story made Holly Jolly Secrets,
23:41 one of the series' darkest episodes,
23:43 even more so than Evergreen.
23:44 Just watch over me until I can find my way out of this labyrinth
23:48 in my brain and regain my sanity.
23:50 Number 4. Haunted. Teen Titans.
23:53 He's not coming back, you know. That's all that's left of him.
23:57 Obsession can really mess with a person,
23:59 and in Teen Titans, Robin is that person.
24:02 In this episode of the hit series,
24:04 Robin ponders over Slade's defeat,
24:06 and wonders if he is truly gone,
24:07 a question that begins to haunt him
24:09 as he starts to see the villain everywhere he goes.
24:11 You're not real.
24:13 I'm very real.
24:15 Could you have gotten all those bruises
24:18 from someone who wasn't there?
24:20 Robin is driven to the brink by the hunt for Slade,
24:22 who turns out to be nothing more than visions
24:24 caused by a hallucinogenic chemical.
24:26 The whole affair serves as a metaphor for paranoia and PTSD,
24:30 which is what makes this episode one of the darkest in the series.
24:33 Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one still looking for him.
24:36 The only one who can stop him.
24:38 Number 3. Failsafe. Young Justice.
24:41 Attention. You have entered the boundaries of Earth space.
24:44 Failsafe is easily one of the most relentless
24:46 and horrific episodes of a kids cartoon in recent memory.
24:49 It kicks off with the death of the entire Justice League
24:52 following an alien attack.
24:53 To make matters worse,
24:54 the team is forced to take League's place
24:56 and defend the Earth themselves.
24:58 The one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope.
25:01 But after Artemis dies,
25:02 the rest of the team is picked off one by one,
25:05 before suddenly waking up
25:06 and finding that the whole scenario was a simulation
25:08 made real by Miss Martian's powerful psychic mind,
25:11 leaving everyone devastated by these real emotions
25:13 for a fake experience.
25:15 We know Young Justice was supposed to be mature,
25:17 but not that mature.
25:18 What you experienced was a training exercise.
25:22 Manhunter psychically linked the six of you
25:24 within an artificial reality.
25:26 You all knew this going in.
25:28 Number 2. The Puppet Master. Avatar The Last Airbender.
25:32 What I'm about to show you,
25:34 I discovered in that wretched Fire Nation prison.
25:37 One of the most dangerous things in the world of Avatar The Last Airbender
25:40 is bloodbending.
25:41 The act of bending the water within a person's blood
25:44 to control their movements.
25:45 It's first introduced in The Puppet Master,
25:47 which tells the story of Hama,
25:49 a former prisoner of the Fire Nation
25:51 who escaped by developing this dark technique,
25:53 which she continued to use to harm innocent civilians.
25:56 They threw me in prison to rot,
25:58 along with my brothers and sisters.
26:01 They deserve the same.
26:03 Desperate to stop Hama and save her friends,
26:05 Katara is forced to use bloodbending herself,
26:07 an act that leaves her in tears.
26:09 With such a dark premise, a tragic villain,
26:11 and a horrifying technique,
26:13 The Puppet Master is perhaps the darkest
26:15 and creepiest episode of Avatar The Last Airbender.
26:18 Congratulations, Katara.
26:21 You're a bloodbender.
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26:40 Number 1. Dark Harvest - Invader Zim
26:45 Say, you're full of organs, aren't you?
26:48 This is, without a doubt,
26:50 the most messed up thing ever to be aired on Nickelodeon.
26:53 When Zim fears that his alien biology
26:55 will reveal his origins,
26:57 he attempts to make his body appear more human.
26:59 The episode quickly develops into a full-blown horror movie
27:02 as Zim harvests organs around a school,
27:04 replacing them with everyday objects
27:06 until his hunt finally ends when he steals Dib's lungs.
27:09 Seriously, how did this one make it past the bigwigs at Nick?
27:12 I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.
27:14 The plot doesn't exactly make for great children's television,
27:17 but it does make for one unexpectedly dark
27:19 and unforgettable kids' cartoon episode.
27:21 It isn't human! It's horrible!
27:24 What cartoon scene rattled you as a kid?
27:27 Let us know in the comments.
27:29 I guess I don't have a happiest memory.
27:32 Oh, well.
27:34 Did you enjoy this video?
27:36 Check out these other clips from WatchMojo
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27:42 [outro music]