"Speed Demon" is the 23rd episode of Season 2 of The Powerpuff Girls, and the 47th episode overall.
It was produced in 1999 but premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 2, 2000.
Synopsis[]
The Powerpuff Girls are looking forward to a vacation in the Bahamas after school but a race home soon sends them to an alternate timeline where they discover that they have traveled fifty years into the future. Townsville and its people have all paid the ultimate price for the Girls' absence, becoming dilapidated and miserable. Furthermore, one of their enemies has become a huge threat.
Plot[]
At Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, Buttercup is impatiently looking at the clock on the wall. Ms. Keane calls Buttercup's name to get her attention. Ms. Keane begins scribbling complicated forms of math on the board as her young charges look on, puzzled. Ms. Keane realizes this and snaps back to herself. The bell rings, and she bids the children farewell. The students race to the outside, with Buttercup announcing that they are all free at last. It is revealed that the Girls are excited as they are going to the Bahamas for the weekend. Bubbles says that she will work on her tan, while Blossom notes that they will have a whole weekend away from the people of Townsville. Buttercup agrees, mentioning that they will be free from the Hotline too. Bubbles does an impression of The Mayor, saying that he needs the Girls' help because he "accidentally flushed himself down the toilet".
Buttercup then asks her sisters if they want to race her home. The Girls then line up and, after taking turns to count down, race off at the speed of light with Ms. Keane bidding them goodbye while on the street. With their sheer power having destroyed a car, a nearby man with a mustache urges them to slow down. Soon, the race gets very intense. A tunnel of blurs ensues. Blossom and Bubbles are evenly matched but Buttercup sails past them, forcing her sisters to increase their speed until they are level again. Suddenly, everything just stops and the Girls become frozen. It then cuts to a close-up of the Girls as Buttercup's voice is heard echoing as she says, "I told you I'd win!".
Finally, everything begins moving slowly before returning to normal speed. The Girls land outside their house, not noticing that the sky is red and that the windows of their house have been smashed. Buttercup is thrilled about her victory, but Bubbles is convinced that Buttercup cheated. Buttercup pulls Bubbles's pigtails. Bubbles starts crying and calls for the Professor, but he is not there. The Girls then head down into the lab where they discover an aged and miserable Professor, who is struggling to create another set of Powerpuff Girls. Upon seeing the Girls, he chases them out of the lab, convinced that they are mere hallucinations, revealing that he is also senile. Frightened, the Powerpuff Girls flee and head outside, but discover that Townsville has been reduced to a barren wasteland.
The Girl then fly through the decimated city, eventually reaching City Hall. Inside, they find Ms. Sara Bellum, who has gone old and insane. She is mourning the death of the Mayor of Townsville. Upon seeing the Girls, she orders them to get out, saying that the Mayor is hers. The Girls flee and soon reach Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, which has been destroyed as well. They find Ms. Keane who, like the Professor and Ms. Bellum, has now aged and is also senile and frail, endlessly waving over on repeat. Blossom tries to talk to Ms. Keane, but the latter only repeatedly states that she stood to wave after the Girls went missing for fifty years.
I just stood there waving goodbye, and they raced off…
The Girls are stunned at the revelation, and just then, HIM's laughter emerges and wisps of smoke begin emerging from the ground. HIM is heard explaining that time stopped since the Girls flew so quickly. HIM then appears and floats up past the Girls. He begins to sit on the edge of a cliff, and asks Buttercup if she remembers what happened. Buttercup then hears herself arrogantly challenging her sisters to the race, and clutches her head in dismay. HIM gleefully affirms the events, and gets up to explain that as the Girls traveled through time, the whole world went to his dimension. Blossom urges her sisters not to believe the lie and they all take off, approaching HIM as he lets out an evil laugh.
The Girls channel all their rage into their attacks as they beat HIM. They silently scream and tear up as they do so, but then give one final punch which sends HIM crashing to the ground. HIM, however, recovers quickly just as the girls descend on him again. As they continue fighting HIM, various newspaper headings are shown hanging on the walls. These detail the Powerpuff Girls' disappearance, the Professor being exposed as a fraud, the Mayor presumably dying at the age of 83, and "Who is HIM?". The Girls stop fighting HIM as they are all breathing heavily and sweating. HIM, however, remains unharmed.
HIM mockingly asks the girls if they are finished. Buttercup assures HIM that he is, while Blossom tells him that he can never beat them. HIM, with his eyes now glowing bright green, remarks that he has already won and does not need to "beat" the Girls. He launches himself in the air before his whole body grows bigger and more muscular than ever, and a jolt of lighting erupts. Having become a powerful monster, HIM then declares in a demonic voice that Townsville's current state is to blame on the Girls, for leaving it. A group of aged and broken children approach the Girls and proclaim it was indeed their fault. Blossom and Bubbles visibly disagree, but the monstrous HIM states that all he did was take over the abandoned city. The aged townspeople continue to place blame on the Girls, leaving them deeply guilt-ridden and distressed.
As the townspeople continue chanting, the Girls rush up into space in panic. Then, as one, they fly down to the planet, going back the way they came as they head back into the present, having seen the horrific future. The Girls crash-land into some grass and, after recovering, realize with joy that Townsville and its people are all intact and alive. As they head home, the Girls greet everyone they passed by before. Once they see the Professor, they embracing him and begin talking about what happened. The Professor is stunned, but tells the Girls they must get ready for their vacation. However, the Girls tell the Professor that they cannot leave Townsville, not even for a weekend. The episode ends with the Narrator fooling the viewers into believing that he was also affected with the time travel aging, and after delivering the standard closing line, he says he will never drive over 55 mph again.
Characters[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Ms. Keane
- Professor Utonium
- Ms. Sara Bellum
- The Mayor
- Zombie citzens
- Mojo Jojo (mentioned)
- Talking Dog (mentioned)
- Kindergarden students
- Narrator
- Mitch Mitchelson (cameo)
- Harry Pitt (cameo)
- Juile Bean (cameo)
- Floyd Floyjoydson (cameo)
- Lloyd Floyjoydson (cameo)
- Elmer Sglue (cameo)
Trivia[]
- Moral: Never make others so dependent on you that they are unable to fend for themselves. Otherwise, you will never be able to leave responsibility for their well-being.
- This episode premiered in some countries before the United States.[1]
- This episode premiered in Australia on December 17, 1999.
- This episode premiered in Canada on January 8, 2000.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2000.
- It is revealed that Ms. Keane can teach math at a very advanced level.
- Ms. Keane's math explains what happens when the Powerpuff Girls are traveling through time.
- During the episode, the Professor asks himself why he did not write down how he created the Girls. In "Twisted Sister", it is shown that there is a book in the house with the Girls' "recipe" written down. It is possible that this book was misplaced or destroyed in HIM's timeline.
- This is one of the few episodes that shows Buttercup with her hair down.
- This is one of the few episodes where Bubbles impersonates the Mayor. "The Powerpuff Girls' Best Rainy Day Adventure Ever" is another example.
- A later episode "Power-Noia" from 2002 reuses a lot of music that played in this episode. That episode is also very similar to this one.
- Despite the girls begging the Professor to never leave Townsville, in the following season's episode "Town and Out", the Girls end up leaving Townsville since Professor has a new job in Citiesville. Both episodes were written by Amy Keating Rogers and storyboarded by Charlie Bean.
- This could be because the Girls forgot the part where they abruptly traveled in time through 50 years.
- Creator Craig McCracken also revealed on X (formerly Twitter) during a conversation with a fan of the show that, in HIM's timeline, all the other villains including Mojo Jojo are dead, with HIM having killed them.
- MsMojo ranked this as the darkest episode of The Powerpuff Girls and the #7 darkest Cartoon Network episode.
References to other media[]
- When the girls fly in and land in the Mayor's office, it is a direct copy of General Zod and cohorts as they fly into the White House in Superman II.
- The Narrator says, "I'm never driving over 55 again", which references the Back to the Future trilogy, in which it is a central plot point that driving over 88 miles per hour would travel through time.
- It is also a reference to the Sammy Hagar song "I Can't Drive 55", which was used in Back to the Future Part II when Marty explores Hill Valley ruled by Biff Tannen in alternate 1985.
- This episode contains a reference to the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last" as when the Girls look around their house in shock, seeing the destroyed world for the first time, there is a pillar in the background seen that says "Public Library" (a reference to said episode).
- HIM's line "Seconds, minutes, hours, days and nights, crawl by on hands and knees as you race the speed of light" is a reference to The Twilight Zone episode, "Time Enough at Last", in which a man survives a nuclear blast and finds himself alone in a shattered world. The original line goes "Seconds, minutes, hours, they crawl by on hands and knees for Mr. Henry Bemis, who looks for a spark in the ashes of a dead world".
Errors[]
- Ms. Keane writes 43.14 = π on the chalkboard. The correct statement would be 3.14 = π.
- When Buttercup is seen in the classroom, she is sitting at her table alone in the middle seat. Later, however, all the Powerpuff Girls are seen at the same table, and Buttercup is present at the seat to the right. The number of seats and kids in seats and the locations of both differ.
- Blossom's left eyelids change color when she and Bubbles are hugging and laughing.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on June 2, 2000, it was actually produced in 1999 according to the credits.
- This episode was finished in July of 1999.[2]