Inappropriate Easter Eggs Hidden In Children's Cartoons
There are two primary audiences for kids' cartoons: the kids that are actually entertained by it, and the parents and babysitters who are forced into it. Animators know this, so they like to throw in the occasional gag just for the adults. At least, we hope that's the reason we keep finding all of these weird, inappropriate easter eggs in children's cartoons...
Flashing In Cars (2006)
In Cars, Owen Wilson plays Lightning McQueen, a race car in a world populated by talking cars. There are no people around, just talking automobiles. In an interesting design choice, the cars' eyes are in their windshields instead of on their headlights. Early in the movie, McQueen is greeted by two female racing fans (who, of course, are also cars). They do the usual fan stuff, claim to be his biggest fans, and then they flash him. Literally, they flash their headlights at him. To make things creepier, McQueen says "I love being me!" and then gives the creepiest smile ever. Hopefully, little kids don't understand the visual pun being made here. The sexualization of car headlights for a cheap gag isn't worth it, Cars. That's why you're everyone's least favorite Pixar franchise. Also, what happens at night? Do cars not turn on their headlights in this world, or is driving at night just the creepiest thing ever?
A "Hooker" In Toy Story (1995)
Sid is supposed to be the bad guy in Toy Story, but he's just a kid having fun with his toys. He doesn't know that they're alive. Also, Sid seems to have a pretty clever sense of humor. Most of his toys are just random mashups of others, like the spider with a baby head, or the strong man with the duck head. That's probably why nobody realized that Sid made himself a hooker. There's a toy fishing rod with two lady doll legs attached to it. Get it? In all honesty, Sid doesn't deserve to get freaked out for messing around with the toys, but he goes too far with the hooker pun. It's fine if Sid's a little creepy, but cheesy puns are crossing the line.
Rocko's Job In Rocko's Modern Life (1993)
In the mid-1990s, Nickelodeon launched a surreal cartoon called Rocko's Modern Life, which was about an Australian wallaby and was well-known for including a lot of subversive humor and double entendres. The show was full of sex jokes, but they were always presented in a way that went right over kids' heads—and made parents uncomfortable. There are plenty of examples, but one of the most infamous was the time that Rocko got a job as a phone sex operator. The scene is real quick: Rocko, trying out some different jobs, is talking on the phone saying "oh baby, oh baby, oh baby." There's a sign in the background that says "be hot, be NAUGHTY, be courteous." This joke probably stuck because it's not an innuendo, Rocko is actually working as a phone sex operator. Apparently, he's pretty bad at it too, because the job doesn't last.
Scar In Hercules (1997)
It's always fun to have a character from one movie make a cameo in another movie. It's especially easy in cartoons, because the animators can draw whoever or whatever they want. In Disney's Hercules, however, there's a cameo that's anything but fun. During a scene where Hercules is getting his portrait painted, he dons a lion headdress. It isn't clear at first, but when Hercules throws the the headdress to the ground, it's clearly Scar from The Lion King. That means that Hercules, or someone he knew, encountered Scar at some point, murdered him, and then cut off his skin and fashioned it into a piece of clothing for Hercules to parade in. Sure, Scar is a bad guy, but that's a little heavy for a kids movie. Kids probably won't notice it, not until they watch the movie when they're older. Then, they'll finally see the perfect visualization of their childhood and innocence being murdered.
Grandpa's Movie On Rugrats (1991)
Grandpa Pickles from Rugrats is pretty silly, so it's easy to forget that even though he's old, he's still a man—a man who had needs. In one episode, Grandpa Pickles rents some movies for the babies, and because he's a cool guy, he gets them Reptar movies to watch. He also rents a movie for himself, to watch after the babies go to bed. It's called Lonely Space Vixens, so it's pretty clear why he's waiting for the kids to go to sleep before watching it. It's creepy enough that the animators included this gag at all, but the grossest part is that Grandpa tells the kids all about it. He shows them the video, calls it his "personal favorite," and shows them the cover. Yeah, they're just babies and can't understand it, but it's still strange. Also, why does he rent outer-space themed porn? Seriously, we learn a lot about Grandpa Pickles from this quick scene, and none of it's good.
Aliens On Arthur (1996)
Arthur was that show on PBS that you probably don't like admitting that you watched. It's a show for really young kids, and it doesn't try to be anything else. Any adults forced to watch it are just going to suffer. Apparently, the show's creators tried to spice things up a little bit, and it got real uncomfortable. There's an episode where one of Arthur's high-pitched friends writes a story about aliens, and the whole thing is presented in the animation style of South Park. It's clearly referencing the latter show's pilot episode, Cartman Gets an Anal Probe. The thing is, they go a little too far with it. The aliens abduct Arthur, and then take his clothes off! He thinks they're going to eat him, and we're praying that's what they were planning too. No one wants to think about Arthur the Aardvark getting probed.