Good Very Special Episodes

K

King Sarcasm

New member
Sometimes, TV shows aimed at kids, especially cartoons, are forced to do a "very special episode" that focuses on issues that plague the target audience. Most of these involve drugs and smoking but do involve other issues as well like proper nutrition and racism.

The problem is that these issues don't fit in with the universe that the show is in and/or that the material isn't handled very well. As a result, these things can result in laughs (in a "oh brother!" kind of way) or groans.

I was wondering. Was there a "very special episode" of a cartoon that you thought was actually effective or at the very least, decent? I remember an episode of "Pinky and the Brain" that addressed smoking and was actually watchable.
 
Captian Planet's episode where the girl got hooked on a variant of weed and her boyfriend died was pretty powerful. The way he died and no mention was made or even grief made you see how drugs really work. Not only that, but it fit in with the canon perfectly.
 
Nearly every episode of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids felt like a "very special episode" and some eps tackled some pretty hefty social issues like racism, pornography, child abuse, drug use and smoking. Those things really stuck in my young, impressionable mind and I'd say they were very effective.
 
Ever see "Cartoon Allstars To The Rescue"? - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_All-Stars_to_the_Rescue

It really didn't fit into the continuities of any of the shows that featured characters in this anti-drug special. But man, it was pretty cool. I remember it featured a character from basically every cartoon on television. And they all came together to help tell some teenage boy not to do drugs. It wasn't the greatest thing ever created. But it was really special how so many different characters were able to all be featured in this special.
 
I thought the Static Shock episode about school shootings was well done, as was the Jem episode dealing with drugs. Would the 90s X-Men eps that dealt with anti-mutant hysteria ("Beauty and the Beast" being an example) count? They did more or less make messages about prejudice.
 
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