The Winchester brothers, Raymond Reddington and the Devil himself are among the lucky TV characters to have found themselves in cartoon form.
While animated television specials have popped up numerous times over the decades, the coronavirus pandemic has forced even more series — including some you might not expect — to get creative with different art forms as live-action TV production halted during the last 18 months. In recent weeks, Hulu’s PEN15 and Netflix’s Lucifer have both experimented with animation, but where do those episodes rank among the rest of television’s animated specials?
In the list below, we’ve ranked 13 animated one-offs, meaning the shows in question are all typically live-action series that ventured into 2D styles on one occasion — or, in Community‘s case, three occasions. And though all 13 episodes intrigued us with their outside-the-box approaches, we quickly found that not all attempts at animation are created equal. (It still feels like we imagined that holiday episode of The Nanny, but alas, it’s real!)
We should also note that an episode did not need to be entirely animated from start to finish in order to make our list. The Blacklist, Legends of Tomorrow, Fringe and other series only delivered a handful of animated scenes in total, but they also made the cut (for better or worse).
Which animated episode claimed the No. 1 spot on our list? Scroll down to find out, then drop a comment with your own rankings!
In fairness to the NBC drama, The Blacklist was among the first series to pivot to animation (with limited time, no less) as the coronavirus pandemic made in-person production infeasible. Unfortunately, the resulting Season 7 finale — which mixed live-action scenes with animated sequences — looked like it was produced quickly, with the show’s take on graphic novel-style animation appearing more like a half-finished modern video game.
Given the popularity of The Nanny‘s opening credits, we weren’t surprised when the CBS sitcom decided to give us a fully animated episode in that same style back in 1995. However, we were surprised by… well, pretty much everything about the episode itself. A Christmas musical with a talking dog, an Elvis-inspired elf and an “abominable Babcock” monster determined to ruin the holiday? If footage didn’t still exist online, we’d swear this was a fever dream.
Rita Moreno and Gloria Estefan’s sing-off aside, the beloved reboot’s animated episode — the last episode produced after production was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, which would then become the series’ last episode ever — was a tonal misfire. Simply put, ODAAT‘s brand of progressivism, combined with Family Guy-style sight gags, was not a good match.
Matthew A. Cherry, who won an Oscar for his animated short film Hair Love, directed this pre-Season 7 episode that served as half of the show’s 2020 election special. In it, Dre decided to run for office if only to spite his racist boss, Stevens, who was doing the same. The best part? A voice cameo from Stacey Abrams, former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, who gave Dre a pep talk when he (of course) lost… badly.
Like most sequels, this spiritual successor to another one of the NBC comedy’s animated episodes — Season 2’s “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” — just wasn’t as good as the first. We just couldn’t sympathize with Jeff, who was merely depressed about turning 40, as much as we could with Abed, who we’d previously seen suffer from deep-seated abandonment issues when he took the Greendale 7 on a Rankin/Bass-style adventure (more on that in a bit).
Alistair’s 2D cartoon spell on Astra had such a wonderful old-school Disney vibe, complete with a song number, that we wish we’d gotten a fully animated episode. As is, we’ll happily take Astra briefly kicking butt as a ‘toon princess and the rest of the Legends as speaking inanimate objects. (Spooner as a fork was particularly brilliant.)
A surgeon (voiced by 24‘s Kiefer Sutherland) crash-lands onto a desert island, testing his will to survive and tolerance for pain. The story (by Stephen King) is grisly and twisted, with an animation style akin to a comic book coming to life. Sutherland’s raspy vocals lend tense realism to the stranded doctor’s plight, and when it’s time for the tale’s many amputations, his screams chill to the bone.
In the final season’s “Yabba Dabba Do Me,” Lucifer and Chloe went to visit the series’ very first caught killer, Jimmy Barnes, in Hell. The record producer’s personal Hell loop, though, in part took an animated form, because a young Jimmy marathoned TV cartoons after being abandoned by his mother. Lucifer and Chloe thus found themselves animated for a spell — “butt” chins, “smooth” private parts and all!
Hulu’s throwback comedy got around COVID filming restrictions by producing a cartoon special, employing a trippy, quirky animation style to chronicle Anna and Maya’s summer road trip to a Florida beach town. The girls were just as exquisitely awkward in two dimensions, and the animation allowed for unique moments like Anna and Maya getting unflattering caricatures drawn of them and then morphing into the grotesque drawings. (So uncool.)
You needn’t be a gamer to admire the commitment to the bit — or should we say 8-bit? — here, as Pierce and the study group played a video game built around his late father’s many prejudices. We’re not sure what was funnier: Britta acknowledging that the game was racist, or Annie and Shirley “tying up loose ends” after Annie accidentally killed the town blacksmith.
In Season 3’s “Lysergic Acid Diethylamide,” with William Bell’s mind still possessing Olivia’s body, Walter and Peter endeavor to enter the mind of “Bellivia” and nudge her ego to take control. Inside her mind, once they find Bell, live action gives way to animation, giving the outing an extra-trippy feel while, practically, allowing the show to bring back the retired Leonard Nimoy by pairing his voice with a cartoon.
This homage to classic Rankin/Bass Christmas specials was both a perfect parody and a touching deep dive into the psyche of Abed Nadir, who was struggling with his mother’s absence during the holiday season. Far and away the best of the sitcom’s animated adventures.
The CW series’ animated crossover with Scooby-Doo was the kind of wild idea that somehow made sense on paper and then was actually delightfully well-executed. Having the folks behind the classic cartoon involved in the process certainly helped the special episode capture the charm of Scooby-Doo, but even more impressive was just how well the Supernatural characters and the show’s twisted sense of humor fit in with Scooby, Shaggy and the gang. (Check out our favorite moments from the episode.)
Have to disagree about Community, I actually preferred both GI Jeff and Digital Estate Planning. Although GI Jeff wasn’t much of a story in terms of plot the unpicking of 2 hi-tech armies that never even injure each other in massed battles was very much on-brand for the show. In Digital Estate Planning we not only got a very much on-brand performance from Giancarlo Esposito, but also got one of the few episodes where Pierce wasn’t just a prejudiced old guy.
Oy to the World was amazing. Deserve a a higher ranking. Always makes me laugh this one.
Farscape’s “Revenging Angel” not being on this list is criminal.
I was thinking the same thing!
Right?! They could have knocked off one of the Community episodes 😒
Agreed! It was doing long before it was cool. Its a perfect homage to Looney Tunes and fits in the story too
Exactly. The animation pushed the plot forward. Was essential to character building. It deserved a spot on this list. So did Eureka for their Xmas special TBH.
Eureka should be on the list.
i agree, the first episodes I thought of were Farscape and Eureka.
I only saw a few of these but I did enjoy the Supernatural one. Here’s an idea for another rundown … episodes using puppets or Claymation. I’m thinking of the “Angel” episode specifically … but I have seen others.
“Revenging Angel” from Farscape should have been a long way up this list.
Hear, hear!
Wish Lucifer season 5 was on fox. Then I would not have missed the last two seasons.
The last 3 seasons wouldn’t have been the same if it was on Fox. Moving to Netflix gave the show the freedom it needed.
Since all episodes are on Netflix now, sign up for a free trial (when you’re on vacation) and binge them all.
Eureka had a great animated Christmas episode.
What about Broad City’s trip from the final season? Number one in my book!
I have no wild disagreement with any of these – maybe a few quibbles but I concur in the results overall. Especially #1. Holy cow I’ve never laughed so hard at something that wasn’t a comedy.
I can’t believe Eureka’s Animated Christmas episode was not included
Eureka did it better than most on this list.
Lucifer.. episode 4’s foray into an animated
segment ( Chloe’s trip to hell) was a surprise but very entertaining . I will miss Tom Ellis’s outstanding portrayal of the devil in human
form. This is the only series I am following
from the list above.
I’m glad “ScoobyNatural” was ranked first. It was a perfectly executed episode. I can’t imagine any animated episode being as brilliant as Supernatural’s.
“I can’t imagine any animated episode being as brilliant as Supernatural’s.”
What a limited imagination. 🤔
bannedbyTVLine says:
Wow. Was that really necessary?
Yes.
Class isn’t your style?
Truth is.
I loved Eureka’s “Do You See What I See” Christmas animated episode. They used a variety of animation and homages in it!
FAIL!! The animated episode from Farscape should be number 2! And it’s not even listed. It was HILARIOUS!!
It was funny but it was also meaningful. It really showcased a complicated relationship between two male friends in way that we rarely see on TV or film. The ending scene is one of my favorites ever.
Heck yes, the Supernatural may be my favorite, if not top 5 for sure. It had rewatching for a week straight on my dvr 🤣
No love for the Eureka Christmas special with its multiple animation styles? Not to mention it being one of the best Holiday specials.
If you want more animated Supernatural there’s a full season of an anime series. It mostly covers the first season but there are some original episodes.
The Legends, Lucifer and Supernatural episodes were likely done by WB Animation.
I loved the Fringe animated episode
Forgot Eureka!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2034296/
I find this condescending to adults, if there are any left. Cartoons are for children and the devious covert presentation is exactly that. Devious material being coated too attract children to watch is child abuse. That the commenters are actually watching these shows just boggles my mind.