If you're anything like me, then the bulk of your childhood was spent parked in front of the TV watching cartoons. Oh, how magical those Saturday mornings truly were!
As an animation aficionado, I can tell you that there are a lot of jokes that went right over my head as a kid. Have a look and check out these 10+ details in cartoons fans only noticed as adults!
God makes a cameo appearance at various times throughout the series, but he usually appears to Homer in his dreams.
Take a look at his hand and you'll notice that he has an extra digit.
Remember the Dinks from Doug? Well, DINK is actually an acronym. It stands for "Dual Income No Kids." If you'll remember, Mrs. and Mr. Dink lived alone.
Otherwise, he'd never have been able to afford his "very expensive" lifestyle.
So not only are the animators referencing a pornographic magazine in a kids' cartoon but on top of that, they're advertising cigarettes?!
Oh, the '90s, what a beautiful blissfully ignorant decade it was!
Answer: Half & Half!
Don't you get it? I personally love a good pun and Batman The Animated Series is rife with them. It's perfectly in-keeping with Two-Face's dastardly dichotomous character, and is a clever detail hiding in plain sight.
That's right! Luke Skywalker himself lent his vocals talents to The Clown Prince of Crime and has been doing so now for nearly three decades!
As impressive as that is, Mark actually voices another infamous comic book villain.
The Hobgoblin was a recurring rogue both in the comics and in the series, as well as one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes.
I personally love Mark's portrayal of both characters. But to me, he'll always be The Joker.
My musical buffs will likely know right away that prisoner #24601 is none other than Jean Valjean from Les Misérables.
It's fitting that "The Friz" would have such a clever literary allusion embedded in her mugshot.
The Simpsons retells the story of Odysseus.
One of his challenges in the epic, and in the episode, is that he must descend into Hades. He does this by traversing the River Styx.
Souls paid the boatman, named Charon, for passage. If you could not pay, then your soul would be stranded on the banks for eternity.
If you listen to the music that's playing in the background, there's a clever double entendre that's taking place.
This show was brilliant in its prime. What makes the scene even better is when Homer yells in disdain, "This truly is Hell!"
A reference to the fact that he's in both literal and figurative Hell!
If your Hebrew is lacking like mine sure is, allow me to translate for you. The sign on the wall translates to "Mohel."
In the Jewish faith, a Mohel is a kind of holy doctor who's trained in the "art" of circumcision. The "cut-rate" sign is self-explanatory.
He explains how he bought two films that the kids would enjoy, but then he references a third with the not-so-subtle title, Lonely Space Vixens.
As if it wasn't already obvious enough, he drives the point home by explaining that he'll be watching that only after the kids go to bed. Ugh. It's just creepy.
While out at a costume shop, Barney tells Fred that he wants to find something that will make him look taller. To which Fred replies that he'd need another head.
Barney crudely replies, "Another one? What do I need three of them for?" There's even a laugh-track!
I actually can't believe I never noticed this before. Talk about your "glass-shattering" moments of realization.
I watched this show all the time when I was a kid...when I was a teen...OK, I watched it last night...
What I mean to say is that Nancy Cartwright has been voicing the 10-year-old Hellraiser since he first burst onto the Springfield scene.
Nancy even wrote a book about her experiences, titled My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy.
Casey Kasem was one of the most popular and recognized radio DJs of his or any era. He hosted a number of shows over the years, most notably the "American Top 40 Countdown."
Casey, a lifelong vegan, left the beloved cartoon after he was asked to appear in a Burger King commercial.
It sounds strange, trust me, I know. And, boy, if I didn't scour the internet for just a single image to prove the assertion false.
But at the end of the day, it holds water. Donald only puts on shorts when he's swimming.
Jaleel White portrayed the lovable and annoying Steve Urkel on Family Matters.
He also voiced the lovable blue hedgehog in the original TV series that ran in the early '90s.
The UK may be leaps and bounds ahead of the western world when it comes to cursing on television, but they are much more conservative when it comes to violence.
The word "ninja" had to be swapped out for censorship reasons.
That's right, Homer and Grandpa Phil are both voiced by the remarkably talented Dan Castellaneta.
Boy, what I wouldn't give to see those two sit down over a game of Chinese checkers and crush a couple of cold ones.
OK, so my mind is officially blown. I always thought that Arnold wore the kilt as a way of honoring his Scottish heritage.
Am I alone on this? Did everyone know it was a shirt the whole time and just decide not to fill me in?
Well, I'll be darned — it's true! A quick skim of the cast list on IMDb reveals as much.
This is actually a common trait in animated features since women tend to have higher-pitched voices, among other reasons.
Voiced is maybe too strong a word since Donnie didn't actually speak.
What Flea did do was yell, scream, grunt, and groan his way through all of his lines with expert precision.
Nor is that a bush. It's actually a sleeping water buffalo, and those berries are its..."berries."
Kind of disgusting, even for a show like Rocko's Modern Life. Which was already prone to pushing the envelope.
Fun fact: George Clooney was a huge fan of South Park in the early days. He got in contact with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and told them he'd do anything for a cameo.
So they opted to turn him into a homosexual dog with absolutely no lines.
If you have young children with you in the room, you'd better make sure they're not within earshot of this.
Rewatching this scene changed me. Miss Finster is literally getting off with a giant floor buffer.
Who doesn't love sexual innuendo? I'm not saying there isn't a time and a place, but a Saturday morning Batman cartoon definitely doesn't rank high on my list.
Just look at what Harley's wearing! Isn't that just a tad unnecessary?
SpongeBob is dressed up as a pirate and shows the bars of soap to Gary the Snail. Hey proclaims aloud "doubloons Gary — don't drop 'em!"
That "joke" definitely went over my head as a kid. It's also pretty homophobic, too.
Let me paint the scene for you: Fred and Daphne stand alone in an abandoned desert, looking out into the abyss. Totally unprovoked, Fred says, "This desert reminds me of a woman."
"Why?" Daphne asks.
"Because it goes on and on forever." That's pretty savage, Fred.
