Test Your Cartoon Knowledge By Naming These 25 Shows From The 00's
- by Joseph Allen
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Cartoons have always been a big deal. Most people grow up on them, and learn a lot about their own lives by watching them. The 2000's were an exceptionally important time for cartoons. There was an enormous boom from networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, and the shows being offered by these networks varied wildly in quality and scope. The best of these shows have had lasting legacies, and are still remembered fondly by fans who watched them as children. There are plenty of great television shows that just happen to be animated, and some of these shows were also beloved by children.
These are the shows that dominate this quiz. They're shows that had an impact during their initial run, and haven't faded much in the years since. Some of them are still airing new episodes today. Whether they focus on a young teen with a secret identity or a group of superheroes trying to save the world, each one of these stories captivated audiences in the 2000's, and proved the power of cartoons to shape minds of all ages. This quiz is for those who were shaped by these shows. It's for those who remember every one of the shows they loved as a kid, and can still name them all today.
Note: The show may have begun airing before the year 2000, but for the purposes of this quiz, we're counting anything that would have been most popular in the 2000's.
This 00's Cartoon Featured a Mystical 12-year-old
Widely hailed as one of the best animated series of all time, this show focuses on a magical chosen one who lives in a world filled with element benders. This chosen one is special because, unlike everyone else, he's capable of bending every element, and is supposed to use his immense power to bring balance to the world. Over the course of the show, this chosen one, along with many of his friends, battle an evil fire lord who has tried to wipe the rest of the world's benders off the map.
This 00's Cartoon Featured a Porous Sea Creature
A fry cook and noted jellyfish hunter, this undersea character had one of the most popular shows in the history of cartoons during the 2000's. In fact, the show is still running today, but its golden age was the 2000's, which featured dozens of seminal episodes for the children who watched it regularly. Blending surreal comedy with plenty of jokes and plot lines that children could latch onto, the show's influence grew to the point where many of its jokes are still inescapable today.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Trainer and His Friends
Following a young trainer and his friends, this show is still running today, but made its biggest mark during the first decade of the millennium. As this young and unaging boy travels around the world, he discovers new animals to capture and battles other trainers and gym leaders in order to become the best trainer in the world. Although it's unclear if he'll ever reach that goal, he fights toward it pretty unceasingly, and that in and of itself is worthy of praise.
This 00's Cartoon Features Magical Wish-Granters
Focusing on an unhappy boy who is fed up with his parents and his babysitters, this cartoon begins when the boy decides to call some magical godparents to his side. Every episode, this boy wishes for something, and although some of these wishes solve his problems, others cause more trouble than they're worth. The show ran for ten seasons, and was hugely popular on Nickelodeon. Its solid premise gave it license to do tons of different stories, and also allowed it to survive for quite a while.
This 00's Cartoon Featured a Teenage Superteam
It's easy to forget that, before the Marvel Cinematic Universe exploded, there wasn't a ton of great superhero content out there. There was this show, though, which featured a team of young superheroes who work together to battle a variety of enemies. Capable of huge tonal variety, this show had episodes that were pure drama, and others that functioned mostly as comedies. Whatever the show chose to do, though, it was always entertaining, in part because it gave teenagers a chance to be super.
This 00's Cartoon Features a Group of Kid Spies
Espionage was a popular topic for cartoons in the 2000's, and this series was no exception. Following a unit of kid spies, this show focused mainly on their war against the world of adults. Each one of the kids went by a code name, and each one of them had to fight against the very idea of growing up. It's kind of like Peter Pan, but with way more action. Running on Cartoon Network for six seasons, this show always provided plenty of thrills.
This 00's Cartoon Features a Child Genius
Animated in a fairly unique style, this series follows a boy genius who invents a variety of havoc wreaking inventions. Each one of these inventions inevitably forces the protagonist to invent another machine capable of solving the problem. For a young genius, this show's protagonist definitely causes a lot of his own headaches. Still, with the help of some truly dweeby friends, he manages to get into all sorts of wildly entertaining hijinks. When there's a genius involved, nothing is out of reach.
This 00's Cartoon Features a Silent Warrior
Although this show recently returned for another season, the rest of its run happened squarely inside the 2000's. One of the best shows of that decade, the series features a main character who rarely speaks, and is trapped in a future ruled by an evil deity that he must defeat. Over the course of his travels, this warrior runs into a variety of people impart their own wisdom onto him. It's a Western, to be sure, but it has some distinct genre elements.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Talking Dog
A revamped version of an older cartoon, this show gave a new generation access to this world. Following a talking dog and his friends as they travel around the country solving crimes, this show gave a new generation an interest in rooting out mysteries. Always examining what seems to be a supernatural event that turns out to be fairly easily explained, the show combined a zany sense of humor with some truly engaging mysteries to create episodes of television that were well worth watching.
This 00's Cartoon Features a Space Invader
Following an incredibly inept but hostile alien, this cartoon focused on the character's many attempts to infiltrate and conquer Earth. Banished from his home planet because of his ineptitude, this alien poses as a human, and manages to assimilate into their culture. Unfortunately, he's still a pretty terrible conqueror, but he does manage to get into a variety of shenanigans as he attempts to take over the world. He doesn't have the best equipment, but he's motivated, that's for sure.
This 00's Cartoon Follows Three Dumb Boys
Focusing on three tweens who are obsessed with jawbreakers and aren't particularly bright, this show ran on Cartoon Network for six seasons. The three boys at the show's center are always involved in one scheme or another as they navigate their relationships with each other and with girls. The show featured a ton of low brow humor, but hooked many young viewers who couldn't wait to see what stupid scheme the three would concoct next. When five-year-olds think your show is dumb, your show must be pretty dumb.
This 00's Cartoon is Set in the Future
A cartoon designed for a much more adult audience, this show follows a pizza delivery boy who is frozen and wakes up 1000 years in the future. The show mines plenty of comedy from its premise, but manages to be funny for plenty of other reasons as well. Its ability to shift tones drastically is second to none, and it's become one of the most beloved comedies of the 21st century, animated or otherwise. It's just further proof that animation is not a barrier to quality.
This 00's Cartoon Follows Three Superpowered Girls
These three come from sugar, spice, and everything nice. They're the creation of a professor who set out to make normal girls, but accidentally made superheroes instead. Although the girls have superpowers, they're normal in almost every other way. They go to school and do all the normal things that young girls should. They also protect the city of Townsville from a variety of supervillains, all of whom are ridiculous for one reason or another, and all of whom fight against our superheroes regularly.
This 00's Cartoon is Mostly About a Card Game
Following a young boy with a much more dangerous alternate personality as he travels around the world playing a card game, this series earned tons of fans over the course of its run. The character quickly proves his skill in the game, and is forced to take on a series of villains who seek to bring havoc to the universe, and often hurt his friends and family in the process. Cynical viewers may see the show as a vehicle designed to sell cards, but the message at the heart of this 2000's cartoon is an earnest one about friendship and love.
This 00's Cartoon Follows an Adult Superhero Team
Focusing on an adult team of superheroes, this series proved that heroes of all ages could be completely enthralling. Watching these iconic figures do battle against evil and argue with one another showed us why superhero team-ups were interesting, as we saw the ideologies of each member of the group come into conflict with one another. Although they always managed to save the planet in the end, sometimes they had more than a little trouble getting on the same page about how to do it.
This 00's Cartoon Was About a Crazy Foster Home
This cartoon series was about friends who got left behind. Much like pets, the show focuses on a foster home for friends that have been left behind by their owners. The show's central character, Blue, is left by his owner Mac, but Mac continues to visit Blue, and all of the other friends who have been left behind. The show is fairly surreal, and often plays with what is and isn't real. Always hilarious, and sometimes moving, this Cartoon Network series is worth a re-watch.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Group of Young Skaters
This show debuted when extreme sports were at their most popular, and managed to take advantage of that popularity. Following a group of kids who spend their days doing a variety of extreme sports, the show managed to make their adventures completely compelling, and inspired an entire generation of young people to go outside and fall on their skateboards. Running during the earlier part of the 2000's, the show captured its moment perfectly, and made for pretty excellent entertainment as a result.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Young Boy Who Can Turn Into a Variety of Aliens
When a young boy finds a watch that gives him the ability to turn into a variety of different aliens, he must learn how to save the world without causing trouble. Traveling around the country with his grandpa and cousin, he learns how to be a responsible hero, and manages to have a little fun along the way. The series works so well because it's interested in what young kids would do with that kind of power, and in the various mistakes they would make along the way.
This 00's Cartoon Focused On a Teen Superspy
Although it only lasted four seasons, this Disney Channel show is still remembered fondly by the kids who grew up on it. Following a normal high school girl who moonlights as a spy, this show manages to balance itself between stories about the normal pressures of young adulthood and stories that focus on the various ways she saves the day. This show gave plenty of young girls an understanding of what women were capable of, and should be remembered for that, if nothing else.
This 00's Cartoon Brought Balance to the Force
Based on a film franchise that was struggling at the time, this animated series proved that there was still a little juice left in the story engine. Taking place between two instalments in the film franchise, the series followed an apprentice and his teacher as they fought a massive war that had implications for their entire galaxy. Mixing humor and character development in ways the films sometimes couldn't, this series gave fans hope that this franchise could return to its former greatness.
This 00's Cartoon Featured the Grim Reaper
Running on Cartoon Network for six seasons, this horror comedy mashup was hugely popular because of its strange mixture of tones. When two children have a limbo competition with the Grim Reaper and the Grim Reaper loses, he's forced to become their friend, and a chaotic series of adventures ensue. This show helped usher in an era of surreal children's entertainment. It was frank about death, but also managed to make light of it, and pretty much everything else it brought up.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Teenage Ghost
When a scientific experiment gone wrong leaves a teenage boy with the ability to turn into a ghost, he's forced to battle a variety of paranormal enemies even as he hides his identity from everyone in his life. With the help of his best friends, the only people who know who he really is, the series combined action with wit in truly satisfying ways. Airing on Nickelodeon for its entire run, the show still has a lasting legacy with many of its fans.
This 00's Cartoon Follows Three Teenage Spies
Three normal Beverly Hills spies battle international criminals in this series, which aired on Cartoon Network for over a decade. Many of the series in this quiz focus on the way teenagers balance their normal lives with some other secret identity, and this series is no different. In what is clearly a riff on Charlie's Angels, this series features a bevy of villains who seek to destroy our team of spies, but they always win out in the end, and have time to finish their homework.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a World Protector Who Wants a Normal Life
Although she was created for a specific purpose, the main character of this 2000's cartoon wants to live a normal, teenage life. Her desire to lead this simple life comes into conflict with her stated purpose, which is to be the world's protector. Although she may never get to be the real teenager that she wants to be, this series ably shows us how much of a toll being a hero can take on a person when what they really want is to be like everyone else.
This 00's Cartoon Follows a Paranoid Dog
Although this dog is terrified of pretty much everything, he must overcome this basic fear and focus instead on protecting his owners from a variety of paranormal enemies. Although they live on a secluded farm, that doesn't offer them protection from the spirits that seem to pop up in every episode. The dog at the center of the action never gets credit for his various deeds of heroism, but at least he keeps his owners safe. That has to be worth something.