Why are "Babyfication" spinoffs a thing?
- kaitlynbivens
- Jul 21, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 27, 2022
So recently I was thinking, Why are there so many of these spinoffs that take a cast of adult characters, and turn them into kids or babies, or what have you, and make a prequel of sorts(also known as "babyfication")? So then I did some quick research and upon further inspection, there were a lot more of these shows than I thought. I'm sure there are more than what I pictured above. So when exactly did this start? Why are there so many? Well, that's what I'm going to cover in this blog.
So, this is a topic I've been thinking about for quite a while. These types of spinoffs were and still are quite a popular go-to plot that seemingly started with "Muppet Babies" in 1984. The "Muppet Babies" was based on a "dream sequence" scene in "The Muppets Take Manhattan", also released in 1984. This seemed to be a catalyst for a new genre of spinoff shows because two years later, in 1986, "The Flinstone Kids" was released. Based on "The Flinstones" (1960), "The Flinstone Kids" feature child versions of Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, and Dino. This show was well received as well the "Muppet Babies". And in another two years, in 1988, "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo", aired. As the name implies, "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" was based on the "Scooby-Doo" franchise and "babyfied" the members of Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma, and of course, Scooby-Doo himself. Then in 1990, "Tom & Jerry Kids" made its debut. The show is about young Tom, Jerry, and friends. One year later in 1991, "Yo Yogi" premiered. Based on Yogi, Boo-Boo, Cindy (Yogi's girlfriend), Snagglepuss, and Huckleberry Hound as teenagers and crime fighters. It is also in my opinion very much a product of its time. Up until now, besides "Muppet Babies", most of these spinoffs were based on Hanna-Barbara characters as a result of being produced or co-produced by the company. Well, this changed in the year 1996, when Walt Disney Television Animation decided to take on the "babyfication" theme with the show "Jungle Cubs" based on Disney's "The Jungle Book" (1967) and featured the animal characters in their youth. In 2001 "Baby Looney Tunes" was released and was based on the Looney Tune Characters as babies. In 2003, "Clifford's Puppy Days" premiered and was a prequel to the 2000 series "Clifford the Big Red Dog". As far as I know, this concept was mostly unused for several years, I thought it was worth a mention that a reboot of the "Muppet Babies" was released in 2018. But in 2021, "Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years" was released on Paramount +. It serves as a prequel and a spinoff of "SpongeBob Squarepants. This show was not well received for a number of reasons, "ugly" design/graphics, being "unfunny", not being "as good" as the original 3 seasons of the original show, but mostly, as I've heard from people on social media, there's speculation that the late Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of "Spongebob Squarepants", didn't want there to be spinoffs of the show, and there are even claims that he wanted the series to end after the first movie. But these are just claims and not proven to my knowledge, and this is a whole topic in itself.
There were so many "babyfication" spinoffs, I probably didn't name them all, if there are any more, feel free to let me know because I am interested in this topic. This is officially my longest blog, due to there being so many examples. In my opinion, it looks like there are so many of these spinoffs because of the initial good
reception of the first few released and the idea became a big money maker, also Hanna-Barbara made the majority of them, and if you know, you know (they or at least their company has been known to release multiple shows that are similar in concept) but that's another story. Which ones do you like best? Which ones have you watched? Let me know via email or comment below. Now, all I need to do is watch all of these examples and rate them from worst to best.
Until next time, Kaitlyn Bivens.
Disclaimer: I did as much research as necessary and might've made a mistake. Correct me if you'd like, but remember I do these blogs for fun.
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