These days, popular TV shows go dark on a regular basis, and if you get tired of watching
an old-fashioned sitcom, you're only one click away from the gory post-apocalyptic landscapes
of The Walking Dead.
But while your memories of '90s TV might seem quaint and fluffy in comparison, don't be
fooled.
When the shows you're now so nostalgic about weren't busy wrapping up every episode in
a neat little bow, they plunged you into all kinds of downers.
So who's ready to relive some childhood nightmares?
Changing Nature
On the surface, Dinosaurs seems like an average sitcom.
It's got a working-class dad named Earl Sinclair, his wife, Frannie, and their three
kids.
They actually have a lot in common with the Simpsons, except for the part where they're
prehistoric reptiles created by the Jim Henson Company.
Yeah, Dinosaurs was a weird show, but it managed to stay on the air for 65 episodes, and maintained
such a fun tone that looking back, you almost forget that the show ended with the entire
family's grisly, cold, heartbreaking demise.
The series finale, "Changing Nature," ends with the start of an ice age.
If that wasn't bad enough, it's shown that the worldwide climate catastrophe is Earl's
fault — or, well, the fault of the company he works for.
The final episode closes with the Sinclair family huddled together during the blizzard.
"After all, dinosaurs have been on this earth for 150 million years.
It's not like we're just gonna… disappear."
It's a depressing ending, but it's an incredibly effective one.
And hey, they're dinosaurs.
You can't say you didn't see it coming.
Over the Edge
'90s kids loved Batman: The Animated Series, but what made the show a classic was its courageous
exploration of mature themes like trauma, loss, identity crisis, and more.
That all comes together in the show's most intense episode, "Over the Edge," which shows
a horrific implosion in the relationship between Batman and his eternal ally, Commissioner
Gordon.
The reason?
Gordon's daughter, Barbara, better known as Batgirl, is killed by the Scarecrow, and
as she dies in her father's arms, Gordon blames Batman and swears to destroy everything the
Dark Knight stands for.
It's thrilling, but painful to watch.
The Joker's a scary guy, but even his machinations can't compare to the gut-wrenching sight of
Jim Gordon blowing up the Batcave or striking deals with criminals to murder Batman.
The good news is that it all turns out to be a dream brought on by the Scarecrow, showing
viewers Batgirl's worst fears about what her vigilante career could cost.
Still, superhero cartoons don't get much darker than this.
Stevil
Nothing turns a wholesome family sitcom into a terrifying creepshow like a good Halloween
episode, but Family Matters got so creepy that Freddy Krueger would probably run away,
crying into his claws.
"Tonight's episode episode of 'Family Matters' is a little scary.
So you might wanna watch it with somebody brave."
"Stevil" is the name of a demonically possessed ventriloquist dummy who just happens to look
exactly like Steve Urkel, the show's nerdy star character.
Now, as we all know from The Twilight Zone, ventriloquist dummies are already creepy enough
as it is.
This doll, though, is like something crafted in the bowels of Hell.
His voice alone would be enough to make countless children hide under the bed.
"You just got what you wished for, Pal!"
After he comes to life, the dummy proceeds to systematically torture, play with, and
murder the entire cast of the show.
So yes, for one episode, Family Matters literally turned into a slasher movie.
Once again, this ends up being a dream sequence, but try telling that to the traumatized young
Urkel fan who didn't make it to the end of the episode.
Consider Me Gone
For an Alien Life Form who spent most of his time plotting to eat the family cat, Alf was
a pretty lovable dude.
It's a shame that the government had a specialized task force dedicated to kidnapping Alf so
that they could subject him to tortures like freezing, electrical shock, and dissection.
These were the horrific circumstances that prompted the Tanner family to take Alf into
the fold and protect him as one of their own.
Heartwarming stuff, right?
Wrong.
In the final episode, Alf was finally called up by his fellow aliens, and allowed to leave
Earth.
But unlike E.T., Alf doesn't get to go home.
He misses his flight, and the Alien Task Force finally catches up to him, surrounding him
with guns.
Fade to black.
The ending was supposed to be a cliffhanger for the next season, but the show ended there,
with viewers forced to imagine the alien they'd come to love being cut open like the grey
guy in Alien Autopsy.
A follow-up TV movie came out in 1996 that even acknowledged the experiments, but by
that point, everyone had moved on.
'90s series finales were rough.
The Darkness and the Light
Star Trek is a bastion of hope and optimism, and while Deep Space Nine mostly stayed true
to that vision, it wasn't afraid to test the boundaries.
The series takes place near the planet Bajor, which has only recently been freed from decades
of cruel occupation by the militaristic Cardassians.
Political and religious allegories abounded, and one of the show's prominent heroes was
Major Kira Nerys, a deeply religious former Bajoran freedom fighter.
… or was she a terrorist?
Deep Space Nine was never afraid to challenge moral assumptions.
While the Cardassian occupation itself was unquestionably immoral, the episode "The Darkness
and the Light" went deeper than most TV programs ever would by also holding up a mirror to
Kira's actions as a rebel.
In another episode, "Defiant," she even refers to herself as a terrorist.
"I know I was a terrorist and if I had this ship then…"
Overall, the show mostly sides with Kira: Her people were being oppressed, and she had
to fight back, even if it meant spilling Cardassian blood.
However, DS9's writers pointedly examine the fact that Kira is so unrepentant, particularly
when she's interrogated by a Cardassian who claims he did everything he could to spare
Bajoran lives.
There are no easy answers here, and that's exactly why fans loved DS9.
Bullets Over Bel-Air
Few shows epitomize the '90s as much as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Everyone who grew up in that decade knows the lyrics to theme song by heart, and the
series introduced the world to Will Smith, the movie star of all movie stars.
Even though the show usually stuck to wacky sitcom hijinks, there were a few dramatic
moments, like the classic episode about Will's breakdown over being rejected by his father.
"How come he don't want me, man?"
But things get even darker when Will takes a bullet for Carlton during a mugging gone
wrong.
Will survives, but he does get hospitalized.
Later on, Carlton visits Will at his hospital bed, and tells Will that he bought a gun to
protect them if it ever happens again.
Rather than being impressed, Will is furious, and he demands that Carlton leave the gun
behind.
Carlton stomps off but does as Will asks.
The scene ends with Will choking up as he empties the bullets from the chamber.
The whole sequence is as emotional as a TV program can get.
While Fresh Prince went back to being funny after that, these darker moments are some
of the big ones fans remember today.
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