There comes a time when every 90s kid must look back at his or her childhood and wonder: “Where did all those cartoons go?”
The 90s spawned a kids' cartoon dynasty that’s, arguably, still going strong. In accordance, the children of the nineties—whether they were born in the decade or lived through it—often have very strong opinions about the cartoons that aired through the nineties and early-2000s. We were born into Rocko’s Modern Life and The Ren & Stimpy Show, we were there for the premiers of Spongebob Squarepants and Courage the Cowardly Dog in 1999, we watched Pokémon and Invader Zim through elementary and middle school, and, nowadays, many of us indulge in Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gravity Falls.
But there is one show that often eludes the list of Great Cartoons from Times Gone By; sometimes deemed too strange or (legitimately) creepy to be popular, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, premiered by Cartoon Network in 2008, deserves to be remembered as the cartoon gem it was.
Who can forget the lovable and extremely naïve boy named Flapjack, who lived in the mouth of Bubbie, a talking whale? Who doesn’t want more of Flapjack’s (mis)adventures with Captain K’nuckles, the candy-addicted pirate? I can’t be the only one who still wants the adventurers of Stormalong Harbor to find the mysterious Candied Island. Here are a few reasons why you should, too:
1. Captain K’nuckles Embodies Our Inner Pirates
Ok, so Captain K’nuckles may not be the best pirate ever; he spends his days lazing around inside a whale’s mouth, downing pint after pint of maple syrup, and occasionally endangers a young boy in his quest to find and eat candy. K’nuckles sometimes rambles to Flapjack about his past adventures, but he really hasn’t done much lately. He’s a salty old man who has had to replace his arms, legs, and “sittin’ muscle” with wooden prosthetics.
But…isn’t this the kind of pirate everyone actually is, on the inside? Who wants life-threatening journeys over stormy seas in search of gold and jewels? Wouldn’t we all, realistically, just be lazing around, getting drunk on sugar at the Candy Barrel bar? Sure, most of us have all of our body parts intact—while Captain K’nuckles only has his original nose—but we can all relate to the cynical grumblings and annoyed complaints of a pessimistic pirate who spends most of his time with a young, happy-go-lucky sidekick.
Bonus Reason to Love Captain K’nuckles: He is voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray, the same man who voices the Flying Dutchman in Spongebob Squarepants!
2. Minor Characters Who Will Steal Your Heart And Unsettle Your Stomach
Flapjack, Captain K’nuckles, and Bubbie are not alone on Stormalong Harbor; a host of memorable recurring characters populate this little wooden island in the middle of the ocean.
Peppermint Larry, for example, owns The Candy Barrel, a pub that sits on the end of one of Stormalong’s piers and serves candy in pint glasses. Besides offering a unique and welcome business model—who wouldn’t want to be served candy in a bar filled with gritty seamen?—Peppermint Larry is quite the character.
Don’t get me wrong, Peppermint Larry is a pretty nice guy and likes quality puns, but he gets lonely and almost paranoid when his wife, Candy Wife, ignores him, silently threatens him, or purportedly tries to poison him with pickle juice. This relationship is one of the great mysteries of the show; Is this candy woman with peppermint eyes and liquorish hair animate, an actual wife to Peppermint Larry and capable of movement and language (which the audience never sees)? Or is she simply globs of candy stuck together by Peppermint Larry in a desire for companionship, her unseen behavior simply a symptom of her husband’s delusions? Either way, Peppermint Larry treats her well, buying her expensive ring pop jewelry.
Okay, so Stormalong Harbor has its candy supply covered, but is there somewhere the residents can get their hair cut, or maybe undergo some surgery, perhaps at the same time? No worries, Dr. Barber is open for business!
As his name suggests, Dr. Barber is Stormalong’s surgeon and barber, and he takes an almost uncanny delight in his work. When customers come in for a haircut, Dr. Barber eagerly suggests, in his low, melodious voice, that they also consider some surgery (his devious inflection on the word “surgery” is forever ingrained into my mind). Corresponding to the disturbing nature of the entire show, Dr. Barber’s surgery is not quite what one would hope for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8C-7m5vCzY
But the good Dr. Barber is more than just his professions. His distinct voice and speech patterns—drawing out “Hmm…yes” between his sentences—only add to his amazing creepiness. Despite his off-putting demeanor, Dr. Barber does not live alone; his mother lives inside a drawer in his shop. He also keeps a monster in his basement, to which he feeds hair clippings.
3. The Catchy Theme Song With Claymation Style Animation
There are so many things to love about the Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack theme song. Firstly, the song itself is great; it reads like an excited conversation between the characters, with K’nuckles urging Flapjack to “Come with me, we’ll go and see a place called Candied Island.” As Flapjack gets more excited about this adventure, the music speeds up, almost too quickly for the singing, becoming uncontrollable until Bubbie shuts everything down with her flippers on her hips, “Doesn’t sound very good to me.”
And then there’s the animation. Rather than style the opening theme similarly to the show itself, the theme to Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is animated to look like Claymation and wooden puppets. This extreme stylization of the characters and scenery introduces the audience to the oddity of the show, making it the perfect opening sequence.
4. Legitimately Disturbing Terrors That Will Haunt You Forever
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack was and is still in a category of its own in terms of absolute creepiness. While other shows have since been inspired by some mildly disturbing moments, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack reveled in disconcerting its audience, inserting realistic and shocking visuals, over-drawing expressions on characters to the point of distortion, and repeating creepy images after the scene has ended, just when the audience is least expecting it. Two of these terrifying moments stand out to me:
At the end of an episode about Flapjack feeling like he needs to grow up and mature, Flapjack meets a small boy laughing on the pier, whom he promptly tells, “You need to grow up.” The boy looks up at Flapjack and says, “Grow up? I’m 38 years old!” For what happens next…please, just watch for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rMaJkV_GD4
It doesn’t help that a close-up of this old child returns during the credits, when you really aren’t expecting him.
My second favorite terrifying moment comes later in the series, when Flapjack finds a stray cat and wants to play with it. From our first viewpoint, the cat is drawn in the normal animation style, but has curiously large, entirely black eyes. Okay, not too disturbing. Suddenly, the entire screen is filled by a realistic cat, the neck and jaw areas gone, replaced by the gaping black holes of death that are this cat’s eyes and mouth. The mouth itself is lined on all sides by thin, needle-like teeth. Visually nightmarish. Things only get worse when Flapjack pulls out some string for the cat to play with; the screen-filling death cat returns, this time with an absolutely terrifying meow that resonates deeply through your bones. Here’s the scene, watch at your own risk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuPQHxA0TVI
5. The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack Is Just An Awesome Cartoon And Has Influenced The Current Generation Of Cartoons
Sure, the series only lasted 3 seasons, but The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack served as a weirdness springboard for more recent (and longer lasting) cartoons. The creator and voice of Flapjack, Thurop Van Orman, even went on to write for Adventure Time, and voice Li’l Gideon on Gravity Falls. Through these shows, then, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack lives on—but if that’s not enough for you, you can also watch the entire series on Hulu (with a subscription).
