Five animated mashups we might desperately need

Marvel superheroes are going on summer vacation with Phineas and Ferb, and Archer is going to Bob's Burgers. When you consider what it would mean stylistically and comedically, cartoon mashups can be a pretty beautiful (and beautifully weird) thing. As a fervent supporter of them, as well as someone who has written her fair share of fan fiction, I have five suggestions for potential crossovers with shows that are currently on the air. Would any of them actually happen? Probably not, but we can all dream can't we?

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure there is zero chance of these actually happening.

The Venture Bros. and Metalocalypse

Rather than go into the merits of how perfect this would be, I'll just go ahead and write a pitch: Brock Samson is a huge fan of Dethklok, but when he finally has the chance to go to one of their epic concerts, he has to bring the boys -- and Dermott -- with him. And, as it turns out, The Monarch is trying to bribe Charles Foster Ofdensen to divulge information about Dr. Girlfriend's past dalliances with one (or more) of the band members. If he doesn't get the truth, The Monarch will blow the concert venue to kingdom come, so Brock has to stop it while the boys get to hang out with Dethklok. In the end, everyone at the concert dies because of some mechanical malfunction caused by H.E.L.P.E.R. Boom -- YUMMY.

Adventure Time and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Both of these shows are clever and trippy enough for us "big kids," and if they joined forces, it would be the animated equivalent of dissolving Pop Rocks in Mountain Dew. Which sounds gross, and I wouldn't touch the stuff, but I would look at it! I'm probably not the only one who would stop everything to watch the Ponies infiltrate the Land of Ooo while Princess Celestia did science experiments with Princess Bubblegum in the Candy Kingdom. But the biggest selling point for an Adventure Time-MLP mashup would be how the fantastical tones of both could allow for either show to take on either animation style. Even in the same episode. If that isn't a recipe for delightful, colorful, and whimsical fun, then I don't know what is.

American Dad and The Boondocks

File this one under "Won't Happen," but I'd so much rather watch this than The Cleveland Show. Especially if it's a Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? parody with Hayley Smith bringing home Thugnificent while Huey hacks into the CIA and prevents World War III. What could be so fun about these two shows meeting each other is that if one show took on the style of the other, it would make for such starkly different shows -- The Boondocks as a Seth MacFarlane show would be goofy and irreverent. American Dad as an Aaron McGruder show would be fierce. Visually, turning the Boondocks characters into cuddly-looking MacFarlane characters would be a really insane contrast to the badass anime-style characters on McGruder's show.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force (or Whatever) and Squidbillies

Here is a crossover that I think is totally possible. Not only do they often air right next to each other on Adult Swim, but similarly to how H. Jon Benjamin ties Archer and Bob's Burgers together, they share a voiceover actor: Dana Snyder, who voices Master Shake and Granny Cuyler. Frylock would shoot the shit with Dan Halen. Meatwad and Rusty would get into mischief and learn important life lessons from each other while burning something to the ground. But mostly, the culture clash between suburban New Jersey and the Deepest Appalachian South would be a goldmine of material. And I'd really like to see Carl have a near-death experience and meet Squid Jesus.

Black Dynamite and The Clone Wars

This will never happen. The only thing holding this one together is that they both appear on Cartoon Network, but it will still never happen -- as much as it kind of has to. I defy you to find me one person who wouldn't like to see Black Dynamite battle Darth Maul and receive wise soundbites from Yoda in CG animation. Plus, Star Wars is originally from the 1970s, which is Black Dynamite's universe, so they're practically begging for a crossover. (Just hear me out!) Okay, so The Clone Wars is a kids' show, and Black Dynamite is profoundly not. But how could this be anything less than amazing? Something has to make this happen, somehow!

• [Gerald Mander]

  Must … have … Walter’s Lab … T shirt!  Wallet … aching.  Must … must….

  • [blue balaclava]

    SO SAY WE ALL.

    • [blue balaclava]

      Found it:
      http://shirtoid.com/74237/walters-lab/

  • [Brainspore]

    Yes, I’m afraid that that image set up impossibly high expectations for the rest of the blog post.

    Maybe the War of the Seven Kingdoms from “Game of Thrones” could expand to encompass Castle Grayskull? 

    • [benher]

      “Yes, I’m afraid that that image set up impossibly high expectations for the rest of the blog post.”

      When I read this I laughed so hard I shot meth amphetamines out of my nose.

  • [iamlegion]

     Jesse! Yout eeedeot! Don’t touch that! You must respect the sciiiience!

    • [Kimmo]

      That’s a trumping, right there.

      Must… have… THAT T shirt.

  • [Patrick Delaney]

    I come bearing gifts…
    http://www.offworlddesigns.com/p-818-walters-lab-t-shirt.aspx

  • [Spartan’s Lair]

    I think a great idea for an animated series related to Breaking Bad would be one centered around Saul Goodman before he met Walt, called “Better Call Saul!”   It’s lighthearted fun in the style of the ‘Beetlejuice’ or early ‘Ghostbusters’ cartoons, and has the huge security guard, the ginger dude and Saul’s secretary as other characters.  Seriously, this could totally work.

• [Deekman]

  I don’t think I could disagree with this article more. Let these worlds exist on there own. While sometimes cartoon crossovers can work the match ups here I feel don’t mesh together at all.

  • [Chentzilla]

    It’s one of those “list” articles with intentionally bad lists made for you to disagree with them and bring more clicks. Didn’t think I’ll find those on BoingBoing, and just when I thought Jamie has finally learned how to write for this venue.
    Well, at least each item wasn’t on a separate page.
    Kinda related: http://www.learntocounter.com/top-ten-reasons-your-video-game-list-blows/ 

  • [Kimmo]

    Seriously? The American Dad / Boondocks combo is a pretty inspired notion, IMO.

• [bryan rasmussen]

  “. In the end, everyone at the concert dies because of some mechanical malfunction caused by H.E.L.P.E.R. Boom — YUMMY.”

  obv. Brock does not die, and Dethklok thinks Brock is so cool and rocks and all that, they turn out to be real Brock fanboys so there could be a funny sequence where Hank asks them if they don’t think they’re embarassing themselves too much.

  Hank and Dean should die, despite being death prone they haven’t died so much since the possibility of cloning was removed. There would of course have to be an out on their deaths – perhaps involving Satan?

  • [ldobe]

    Bring in Brock’s “special friend” the ant queen, and have her use some kind of good necromancy (better than Orpheus’ of course, since he hasn’t been enough of the show punching bag yet)

• [Derek Tank]

  No thanks, Adventure Time’s great writing and memorable cast doesn’t need to be watered down by crossing over with a rather mediocre show that only got popular because of an obsessive fan base.
  Love the Walter’s Laboratory picture though.

  • [Bersl]

    Hmm, I wonder what the attendees of the currently-taking-place Everfree Northwest would have to say about this assessment?

    Just kidding. :D

    (EDIT: I don’t think the crossover would quite fit, either, but that’s because they are aren’t similar enough but aren’t dissimilar enough either.)

  • [Dave X]

     I was going to say the same thing, but switched-around. Adventure Time is one of those made-to-be-crappy cartoons for adults– absolutely forgettable.

  • [PXL]

    I’m with you. All adding the two together would accomplish would be unnecessary twee-ness. Part of AT’s fun is that there’s some barely concealed darkness underneath the bright colors- it’s not just candy all the way down, candy characters notwithstanding.

• [Christopher]

  Oh great, now I’ve got a craving for Pop Rocks dissolved in Mountain Dew.

  • [Donald Petersen]

    That does sound good.  I like dissolving raspberry Emergen-C into Mountain Dew.  Fifty-four milligrams of caffeine and 1,000 mg of Vitamin C makes for a refreshing midafternoon pick-me-up.  And it doesn’t look so much like antifreeze.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      For those who don’t want a children’s drink, four ounces of Ketel One and two Vicodin, shaken over ice and served with a twist of lemon and an amyl nitrate float on top.

      • [Preston Sturges]

        Add a dash of witch hazel, rim the glass with Epsom salts and garnish with a cotton ball.

• [show me]

  I think a crossover of a live action show with an animated show would be a trip, and I have just the idea: Phineas and Ferb and Breaking Bad. They could have a competition on who could cook the best blue crystal.

  • [allium]

     Platypus, meet turtle.

  • [Conan Librarian]

    Here’s a better crossover, Breaking Bad feat. Weeds. 

    “The Weeds are Breaking Bad”

  • [Quib]

    They did have Bryan Cranston on Archer. Cartoon Walter White was an astronaut.

  • [tré]

    ” Aren’t you kids a little young to be cooki-?”
    “WHY DON’T YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET US WORK? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU MADE A FUCKING ROLLER COASTER?”

• [Chris]

  Aqua Teen and Squidbillies also share a Co-Creater (Dave Willis) and are produced by the same production company (Radical Axis.) 

  • [Maggie Large]

    Your information is a bit outdated– Awesome Inc. now produces those shows.

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Dana Snyder does Master Shake, Granny Squidbilly, and The Alchemist on The Venture Brothers (Best line – “That is the gayest thing I have ever seen, and I say that as someone who has sex with other men.”)

• [tyger11]

  some other possibilities:

  Hong Kong Phooey and Samurai Pizza Cats
  Samurai Pizza Cats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  Rocky and Bullwinkle and Pinky and the Brain
  Pinky and the Brain and the Powerpuff Girls
  Powerpuff Girls and Teen Titans
  Teen Titans and Kim Possible

  and the one I’d most like to see:

  Batman Beyond and Tron: Uprising

  • [Conan Librarian]

    All of those shows aside from Tron are long since over (And Hong Kong Phooey died with Disco I’m afraid.)

    • [tyger11]

       Still just as likely as an of original mashups, though. If not more likely, due to rights issues. Dead franchises probably cost a lot less to license. :)

      • [Conan Librarian]

        Dead franchises are most times even more hard to work with. All thanks to the “locked away forever in the vault so that nobody can profit even a dime from them but me” mentality of the copyright cartels. 
        They would rather let it rot and be gone forever then let anybody else use them. They are a bit like Gollum in that regard, except without the vindicated in the end part.

• [bcsizemo]

  Sploosh…

• [Ramone]

  I’d go for Venture Bros. in the Star Wars universe. “The Clone Wars” would take on a whole new meaning.

• [Cory Trevor]

  The Venture Bros. is already a pretty sweet mash up on its own…

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Aside from when they run into the Jonny Quest gang (Jonny is in a 12 step program) and we also saw Race get killed, the most fully realized mashup was when the compound is infiltrated by the Scooby Doo gang, except they seem to be a mixture of the Manson family and the Symbionese Liberation Army (“Do you want to go back in the box Patty?”)

    TED
    But something’s fishy in the state of Denmark. I can feel a mystery coming on!
    PATTY
    Teeeed, you said I could see my parents.
    TED
    This was on the way, Patty.
    PATTY
    We’ve been driving to my parents’ house for ten years. You promised.
    TED
    Patty, being out of your box isn’t a right. It’s a privilege. Baby, you don’t wanna go back in your box, do you?
    PATTY
    No!

    • [ldobe]

      RUSTY: What’s wrong with the boys Brock?

      BROCK: They saw their own clones doc. I think they’re some kind of …. Saw their own clones…. Coma

  • [BadIdeaSociety]

    If Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer want to do a sort of crossover they will just manufacture it flawlessly into the “Venture Bros” cannon. Why risk the creators of another show ruining a nearly flawless series?

• [Conan Librarian]

  Batman: The Brave and The Bold did some interesting mash-ups while it was on. 

• [Boundegar]

  After the Gintama/SKET Dance crossover, I never want to see another mashup ever again.

• [Lithi]

  American Dad and the Boondocks? YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 

• [Preston Sturges]

  Two best mashups ever:

  Harvey Birdman in “The Dabba Don” where Fred Flintstone is a gangster.  just seeing the intro with Fred driving the Flintmobile to the Sopannoes theme was priceless. 

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk0T7-wwxMg

  The Boondocks with the voice of Samuel L. Jackson ( and Charley Murphy) doing the voice of the rich white punks, mixing in Don Rumsfeld talking about “unknown unknowns”  with Pulp Fiction (“Say “what” again! I dare you”)

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILLZqymJRZI

• [BadIdeaSociety]

  Here are my recommended crossovers:

  American Dad meets Black Dynamite
  Stewie (From Family Guy) v. Dexter (From Dexter’s Lab)
  The 2 Stupid Dogs go to the Land of Ooo (Adventure Time)
  Gordon Schumway in the Land of Ooo (Alf: The Animated Series/Adventure Time Crossover)
  The Aquabats Join the SSSP (The Aquabats: Super Show/Ultraman Crossover)
  Popeye Enters the Tenkai Ichi Budokai (Popeye/Dragonball Crossover)
  The Simpsons Move to Moralton (The Simpsons/Moral Orel Crossover)
  Quailman Goes to the Olympics (Akira/Doug Crossover)

• [Spraynard Kruger]

  Aqua Teen (Unit (Something)) and Squidbillies actually share two voice actors. Dana Snyder, as you mentioned, and Dave Willis who plays Denny in Squidbillies and Meatwad in ATHF. Also writes, directs, produces and co-created both.

• [Preston Sturges]

  The “Mad” magazine kids show has some good mash-ups.  When Thor came out they did “The Jersey Thor” 

• [Halloween_Jack]

  I’d like to see a “Breaking in the Middle” TV movie that explains that Bryan Cranston is playing the same character in Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad. “Hal” is Lois’ nickname for Walter White,  and after he finds out that only Malcolm is his biological son (Lois, as it turned out, is too much woman to be satisfied by one man), he divorces her and marries his old girlfriend, Skyler. You’d have to play around with the time continuity of the shows a bit, and Hal and Lois would have had to have gotten married at a very young age, but it would just about work. Partially justified by the fact that (at least when I was watching MitM; I skipped out on the last few seasons) we never found out Hal’s last name or what he did for a living, and it also explains where Malcolm’s brains come from. It also sets up the return of Malcolm to BB as a brilliant if slightly bitter young chemist, who decides to reconcile with his estranged father, only to figure out almost instantly what Walter’s secret life is all about and is conflicted as to whether he should give up his dad to the DEA or join him in a life of crime. You know that you’d love it.

• [rtresco]

  I would like to see the community-based cartoons of the 80s as tribes in a large Survivor or Hunger Games mash-up. Smurfs, Snorks, Biskitts, Paw Paw Bears, etc..

• [Guest]

  Wow.  I was the original Head Writer on ‘Dexter’s Lab’ and love the ‘Walter’s Laboratory’ design above!!  I’ve seen lots of mashup/fan-modified art type stuff and that one is GENIUS.
  I’ve found it’s available on t-shirst but I’m picturing it more for some game room coasters for me.

• [Art]

  A Walter and Jesse t shirt is a must have!   Great graphic :)

• [Christopher Johnson]

  While the “mash-up” is mostly a post-post-modern annoyance, I must confess I’d be first on line for a “Shallow Gravy / Dethklok” concert….

• [C W]

  I like the t-shirt design, but poorly-written and unnecessary mashups belong in the fanfic realm. This stuff makes me cringe.