‘The Powerpuff Girls’ 2016: Series Reboot, First Sneak Peek Footage For ‘Don’t Call Me Princess’ [Video]

The Powerpuff Girls 2016 series reboot is here. Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom are back in action, and the first sneak peek video clip of the reboot of this Cartoon Network series has been released.

In the debut episode, titled “Don’t call me princess!” Blossom, Buttercup, and Bubbles, the main female superheroes of the show, go head-on with a so-called “manly” villain who wants to destroy a “hippie carnival.” He challenges anybody who is “man enough” to take it up with him. A few men sitting around a table and knitting, answer, “Now, we’re good.” Buttercup faces up to him challenges him to a fight.

She says, “This day finally got interesting. If you ‘re looking for a fight, Buttercup can satisfy your need for a beat down.”

The villain laughs at her and says, “Why don’t you go play with your dollies, princess.”

Buttercup loses it at this point and grunts, “Princess? Did you just call me princess? Don’t call me princess!”

She packs a few punches and swings him in the air.

The villain is heard saying in the background, “You throw like a girl!”

The cast of the new Powerpuff Girls, scheduled to premiere on the Cartoon Network in April, looks similar to the original series created by Craig McCracken, which ran from 1998 to 2005 and followed the kooky adventures of three super-powered girls “made from sugar, spice, everything nice and Chemical X” created by Professor Utonium. The show will still follow the three as they juggle going to school and saving the world, all before bedtime, according to the Entertainment Weekly.

However, the characters get new voice actors. Amanda Leighton from The Fosters replaces Cathy Cavadini as Blossom, Kristen Li Palamides’ of Monsters University replaces Elizabeth Daily as Bubbles, and Natalie Palamides of Burning Bridges replaces Tara Strong as Buttercup. Tom Kenny will continue as the voice of the Narrator/Mayor.

Tara Strong, the original voice of Bubbles, seemed upset that she wasn’t asked to return. She tweeted in response to Cartoon Network’s announcement, “I don’t remember ordering a stab in the heart today.”

I don't remember ordering a stab in the heart today https://t.co/wmomYvtCDG

— tara strong (@tarastrong) June 8, 2015

She later added that she couldn’t imagine The Powerpuff Girls without creator Craig McCracken’s involvement.

The series had previously inspired a 2003 feature film, a 10th-anniversary special, and a re-imagined CG special, The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed, which aired on Cartoon Network in January 2014 and featured Ringo Starr.

Although violence is certainly not the way to go forward, the series makes some very important points relevant to our society in the current times. The dominantly patriarchal mindset and the compartmentalized thinking that girl should wear pink and play with dolls and kitchen sets reinforce the already strong stereotypes of genders. The Powerpuff Girls fearlessly takes on such stereotypes without sounding too patronizing. It inspires the girls to reach for their dreams without being afraid of any limits or rules set by conventions.

The only lacking thing, which could be improved upon in the new series, is the all-white characters. Diversity is being introduced in the new toys and characters recently, and The Powerpuff Girls shouldn’t remain an exception to it.

All in all, audiences are definitely excited to welcome the Powerpuff Girls trio and anxious and interested about the new series reboot.

[Photo by The Cartoon Network/Getty Images]