In Memoriam / Western Animation

From the guy who brought you Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Shows with their own pages:

• The Simpsons

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• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • In "The Tales of Ba Sing Se", one segment of the episode centers around Iroh, who was voiced by Mako. However, Mako died shortly after the recording for the second season of Avatar was completed, so the Iroh segment of "Tales" carried a dedication to Mako at the end. Fittingly, the segment features Iroh mourning his dead son on said son's birthday.
  • The Grand Finale was dedicated to the memory of Dante DiMartino, father of series co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino.
• Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: The final episode "The Ultimate Enemy: Part 2" was dedicated to Dwayne McDuffie, who died from heart surgery complications in 2011.
• Futurama:
  • The movie "Bender's Game", which involved an adventure in an alternate fantasy universe, was dedicated to Gary Gygax, who appeared in the first Anthology of Interest episode.
    "Anyone wanna play Dungeons & Dragons for the next quadrillion years?"
  • "The Mutants are Revolting" was dedicated to Alex Johns, one of the co-producers of the show's original run.
  • "Naturama" was dedicated to Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise (the second segment featured a parody of him with Professor Farnsworth as "Lonesome Hubert").
  • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas" was dedicated to Coolio, who was the voice of Kwanzaa-bot.
• The Phineas and Ferb episode "The Chronicles of Meap" was in memory of "Movie Trailer Announcer Guy" Don LaFontaine, as the Trailer Spoof in that episode's credits was his final role.
• Likewise, the Chowder episode "The Apprentice Scouts" is dedicated to the aforementioned LaFontaine.
• South Park
  • The Christmas Episode "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" has a dedication for voice actor Mary Kay Bergman, who committed suicide in 1999, as well as a shot of all the main characters she'd voiced singing together near the end. The episode that aired prior to that one, "Starvin' Marvin in Space", also had a dedication at the beginning of the episode.
  • "The China Problem" was dedicated to Isaac Hayes, the former voice of Chef.
  • The French dub of Season 22 was dedicated to Chef's voice actor, Jean-Michel Martial, who died two months before the season aired in France.
    • Parodied in the initial first airing of the episode "Awesom-O", which the episode opens with a title card explaining that the initally planned and advertised episode "The Return of Lemmiwinks" was to be postponed due to a "Tragic Event in Hawaii". However allegedly the crew were dissatisfied with the episode's production and had to meet their six day deadline so quickly threw together "Awesom-O" as a replacement. The Lemmiwinks follow-up would appear later down the line in the episode "Bass To Mouth".
  • The "Tragic Event" referred to in the mock intro was actually a wedding of Trey and Matt's close friend that was held in Hawaii however this could also be a nod to a number of cases in which certain episodes get pulled last minute due to unforseen circumstances or a national tragedy, especially around the time of the episodes production following the aftermath of September 11th in which a number of movies/TV shows were edited or pulled entirely out of respect.
• The final episode of Moral Orel ends with a dedication to Tom Stamatopoulos, series creator Dino Stamatopoulos' father.
• As Told by Ginger's episode "No Hope for Courtney'' became re-written during production to have Ms. Gordon die in the story's canon, as a dedication to the character's actress Kathleen Freeman, who died of cancer during the making of the episode.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • The episode "Karate Island" ended with a dedication to Master Udon's late voice actor, Pat Morita. Oddly enough, it's been removed from later airings in the US.
  • The episode "Snooze You Lose / Krusty Katering" was dedicated to Barry Anthony Trop, one of the show's composers who notably provided Squidward's clarinet sounds from 2005 up until 2013.
  • The 20th Anniversary Special "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout" ends with a dedication to series creator Stephen Hillenburg, who passed away from ALS the previous year.
• The ending of the Superman: The Animated Series two-parter "Apokolips... Now!" features the Man of Steel standing at the grave of Inspector Dan Turpin before fading into a dedication to comics writer Jack Kirby, who created Turpin in the comics, and who the animated version was modeled on.
• A Blue's Clues episode focusing on a neighborhood festival was dedicated to Fred Rogers. Rogers was the inspiration that made Angela Santomero, the show's creator, decide to create a children's TV show. The episode ended with a red trolley moving across the screen as a snippet of "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" is heard.
• American Dad!:
  • The show parodied this with a Brick Joke in "Bullocks to Stan". First, Klaus is seen pretending the Smith family was on a DVD, and he's doing the commentary. This is forgotten until the final hobo-fight showdown, where he mentions one of the actors supposed to be in the scene, Jimmy Ng, had died beforehand, before apologizing for speaking over the funniest line in the entire episode (apparently). Then, just before the credits, we get a behind-the-scenes shot of Stan joking around with Ng, with 'In Memory' superimposed. Apparently, the joke incorporated a genuine dedication — Trahn "Jimmy" Ng was a Canadian Royal Mounted Police officer friend of one of the animators who was killed in a car accident whilst responding to a call.
  • A genuine one was done after "An Apocalypse to Remember" for Taylor Hall, a friend of Mike Barker's, who died in a car accident shortly before the episode premiered.
• Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up, a TV movie based on the show Stanley, was dedicated in memory of John Ritter, who voiced Stanley's Great-Uncle Stew.
• Arthur:
  • The Season 6 episode, "Crushed" ends with a dedication to Pat Harris, a friend and colleague of the episode's director, Greg Bailey.
  • A Very Special Episode from the thirteenth season about the character Mrs. MacGrady getting cancer was dedicated to Leah Ryan, who had a hand in writing the episode. Additionally, the MacGrady character was identified as Aunt Leah, even though a previous episode had established her first name as Sarah.
  • The Season 19 episode "Brain Sees Stars" ends with a dedication to Walter Massey, the voice of Mr. Haney and Mr. Marco.
  • The Season 19 finale, "The Last Day," is dedicated to Greg Kramer, who voiced Nemo, who appears here as an extra.
• Family Guy:
  • "And Then There Were Fewer" included at the beginning a dedication to Seth MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry MacFarlane, who died of breast cancer in July of 2010.
  • And at the beginning of "Brian's Got A Brand New Bag", a dedication to Patrick Swayze was featured (his film Road House (1989) was an important part of the episode's plot).
  • A dedication to musician Warren Luening appeared at the end of "Family Guy Viewer Mail #2". Warren was the trumpeteer for Family Guy's soundtrack.
  • "Peter's Daughter" featured a dedication to Paul B. Sheridan, father of staff writer Chris Sheridan.
  • A dual dedication for Phyllis Diller and Michael Clarke Duncan appeared at the end of "Ratings Guy" (But only on the first time the episode was showed. It has not been seen since the premiere).
  • "Bookie of the Year" has a Cold Open with a dedication to Frank Sinatra Jr., whose death was announced over the preceding summer hiatus. He features heavily in a subplot, and appears as himself for the last time.
  • "Passenger Fatty-Seven" was dedicated to Carrie Fisher, who had the recurring role of Angela, Peter's boss, until her sudden passing during the holiday hiatus in December 2016.
  • After the death of beloved "Mayor" Adam West in June 2017, the episode "The Dating Game" was re-aired with a dedication at the beginning. The episode "Adam West High" was made in his honor as well.
  • A dedication to Luke Perry, who played an important role as himself in the episode "The Story on Page One", appears at the end of "No Giggity, No Doubt" as his death was announced a week before it aired.
  • The episode "Rock Hard" includes a dedication to Norm Macdonald who was the voice of Death in "Death Is a Bitch" and cameoed as himself in "Don't Be A Dickens At Christmas".
  • "Mister Act" was dedicated to Kirk Benson who was the editor for the episode "The Fatman Always Rings Twice". He also previously edited on shows such as American Dad! and The Cleveland Show.
  • "White Meg Can't Jump" was dedicated to Gilbert Gottfried, who posthumously cameoed in the episode.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy:
  • "Dim Lit Ed" was dedicated to Shawn "Wilfred" Godin, who was a friend of the production crew.
  • "Look Before You Ed" was dedicated to Paul Boyd (who was one of the animators for the show's opening sequence), who was shot dead in 2007 before it aired.
• One episode of the animated series of ALF was dedicated to associate producer Vic Kephart.
• Transformers: Prime:
  • The episode "Partners" was dedicated to Peter Cullen's older brother Larry, who was buried two days before broadcast.
  • The episode "Synthesis" was dedicated to the memory of Armen Mirzaian, a storyboard artist for the show who was killed in a car accident about a month before the third season began airing.
• Some The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episodes from the second season bear dedications to director, Boyd Kirkland (also the producer of X-Men: Evolution). "Michael Korvac", the first of these episodes, also calls Kirkland, "Friend, Father, Director, Avenger.", and closes with Silent Credits.
• The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse special "Choo Choo Express" was dedicated to Wayne Allwine, the previous voice of Mickey Mouse.
• Parodied in The Cleveland Show episode "Our Gang", when Cleveland realizes he only has ten minutes to save Junior from a drug gang, a member of his gang says he feels sorry for the loss of Junior. When Cleveland insists Junior's not dead, an "In loving memory" card comes up.
  Cleveland: HE'S NOT DEAD YET!
• Rugrats:
  • "Lady Luck" was dedicated to David Doyle, as it contained his last performance as Lou Pickles.
  • "Psycho Angelica" has one for voice actor/production Andy Houts at the end.
• The TV special Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba-Dabba-Doo Celebration was dedicated to Daws Butler.
• The Looney Tunes short Daffy Duck for President was dedicated to Chuck Jones.
  • The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie was dedicated to Chuck's wife Dorothy.
  • From Hare to Eternity was dedicated to Friz Freleng.
  • Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island was dedicated to Warner storyman John Dunn.
• The Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes "Bounty Hunters" and "The Lawless" were respectively dedicated to Akira Kurosawa (for "Bounty Hunters" is an homage to Seven Samurai) and Ian Abercrombie ("The Lawless" features his last voice performance as Palpatine recorded prior to his death).
• The Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Sharrock" was dedicated to the series' musical director Sonny Sharrock, who died shortly after the show's premiere. It ran with Silent Credits and a dedication card.
• Voice actor Len Carlson had two shows he worked on dedicate themselves to him after his death in January 2006; Atomic Betty (where he was the voice of Minimus) and Cyberchase (Where he was the voice of Buzz). Cyberchase also did an In Memoriam slide for Gilbert Gottfried (the voice of Digit) at the end of the episode "Clean Up On Aisle 8".
• The Grand Finale of Daria was dedicated to Kent Holaday, who was in charge of animation lip syncing on the show.
• At the end of the Harvey Beaks episode "Later, Dingus" which is about the death of Blister, there is a dedication to the cast and crew members' deceased friends and relatives.
• Robot Chicken:
  • The show parodies the dedicated-to-the-memory-of trope with "In Memoriam".
  • A straight example; the episode "Operation Rich in Spirit" is dedicated to Sam Loeb.
• Parodied in the Steven Universe episode "Say Uncle", which ends with "In Loving Memory of Pizza Steve" (Amethyst ate him earlier in the episode).
• Like Justice League: Doom, the final episode of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien was also dedicated to Dwayne McDuffie, who served as story editor of the series along with its predecessor Ben 10: Alien Force and died over a year before the show ended.
• Duckman
  • The first episode "I, Duckman" was dedicated to Frank Zappa.
  • The episode "Ajax and Ajaxer" was dedicated to Dana Hill, the former voice of Charles.
• The Back at the Barnyard episode, "Otis' Mom" was dedicated to Lee Paulsen, mother of voice actor Rob Paulsen.
• The Adventure Time episode "Shh!" was dedicated to animator Armen Mirzaian, who died in a car crash in 2013.
  • Adventure Time: Distant Lands: "Together Again" has one for Polly Lou Livingston, Miguel Ferrer, Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk. The former two provided the voices for Tree Trunks and Death, while the latter two were members of the original show's production staff.
• Bob's Burgers:
  • "Crawl Space" was dedicated to Aron Abrams, a consulting producer who died on Christmas Day 2010.
  • "The Frond Files" was dedicated to Oliver Miles Cross, a nephew of Lizzie and Wendy Molyneux, the writers of the episode.
  • "Li'l Hard Dad" was dedicated to Gordon Kent, an animation timer.
  • "An Incon-Wheelie-ent Truth" was dedicated to character designer Dave Creek who had died from injuries stemming from a skydiving accident in January 2021.
  • "Sea Me Now" was dedicated to background painter Julia Kalantarova.
  • A rerun of "Amelia" was dedicated to Paul Reubens, who voiced Pat in that episode, who died from cancer two months after the episode aired.
• The TV movie The Flintstones: On the Rocks was dedicated to co-creator William Hanna and composer Hoyt Curtin.
• The Busy World of Richard Scarry episode "A Trip to the Moon" was dedicated to Busytown creator Richard Scarry.
• Toonami:
  • The September 24th, 2016 block opened with a skit where TOM receives a garbled transmission from Moltar, stating that he was returning to his home planet once and for all and declaring himself the better host. This was done in honor of C. Martin Croker, voice of Moltar and Zorak on Space Ghost Coast to Coast (as well as voicing Moltar in Toonami's earliest days), who had passed away one week before.
  • In-universe example: Right after the final episode of The Forge, a bumper appeared saying "In memory of TOM 5 - Long live TOM 6".
  • The January 1st, 2022 program block started in dedication to Keiko Nobumoto, creator of Wolf's Rain and script writer for Cowboy Bebop, who passed away in late December of 2021.
  "Gone too soon."
  • The March 8th, 2024 broadcast was dedicated to Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball, who suddenly passed away back on March 1st. It also helps that Dragon Ball Z put Toonami on the map as one of its flagship shows even way back on its days at Cartoon Network.
  “Rest in peace, legend.”
• In the final seconds of the final season of Trollhunters, the entire series is dedicated to Anton Yelchin, the voice of Jim Lake Jr. for the first two seasons, and the first two episodes of the final season, who died before release.
• The G.I. Joe: Renegades episode "Brothers of Light" was dedicated to the memory of lead character designer Clement Sauvé.
• The Dragon Tales special Let's Start A Band! was dedicated to Nina-Elias Bamberger, the executive producer who had died shortly before the special was produced. The host of the special was also named Nina in her memory. The Season 3 episode To Fly With A New Friend was also dedicated in her memory.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog:
  • The episode "The Sand Whale Strikes" ends with a dedication to John R. Dilworth's older brother Jim P. Dilworth, who died of cancer the year the episode first aired.
  • The part of the end credits listing voice actors in the fourth season features a dedication to Billie Lou Watt, who voiced Eustace's mother and passed away shortly after the season three episode "Scuba Scuba Doo" (the last episode of the series to feature Eustace's mother) ended production.
• Young Justice (2010)
  • Season 3's seventh episode, Evolution, which details Vandal Savage's backstory, was fittingly dedicated to Savage's original voice actor, Miguel Ferrer.
  • Season 4's first episode, Inhospitable, was dedicated to W. Morgan Sheppard, who voiced Sardath in season 2.
  • Season 4's eighteenth episode, Beyond the Grip of the Gods, was dedicated to René Auberjonois, who voiced Blockbuster's human form Mark Desmond in season 1.
  • Season 4's twenty-second episode, Rescue and Search, was dedicated to Ed Asner, who voiced Kent Nelson in season 1.
• The Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Butterfly Follies" was dedicated to Hazel Hammersley, one of Aaron Hammersley's daughters who passed away from cancer in 2018.
• The What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "There's No Creature Like Snow Creature" was dedicated to the memory of Bob Onorato, who was a character designer for Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf and Scooby-Doo in Arabian Nights.
• The Big Hero 6: The Series episode "Supersonic Sue" is dedicated to Stan Lee, who voices the aged superhero Boss Awesome and died between the first and second seasons.
• Rick and Morty: The episode "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat" was dedicated to producer J. Michael Mendel, who passed away before the premiere of Season 4. The entirety of Season 5 was also dedicated to him.
  • This would also be reused for "The Matter Transfer Array", the first episode of Solar Opposites.
• The Teen Titans Go! episode Where Exactly on the Globe is Carl Sanpedro? - Part 4 is dedicated to Albert Jelenic, father of TTG showrunner Michael Jelenic who made voiced cameo appearences in the show.
• Episode 4 of the Disney+ series Monsters at Work titled "The Big Wazowskis" was dedicated to Pixar director and story board artist, Rob Gibbs (father of Boo's voice actress Mary Gibbs) who passed away on April 24, 2020 while the series was in the middle of production.
• The second episode of What If...?, which featured T'Challa becoming Star-Lord, was dedicated to Chadwick Boseman, who died a year prior following a battle with colon cancer.
  Dedicated to Our Friend, Our Inspiration, and Our Hero, Chadwick Boseman
• Action Man (2000) featured a dedication to the memory of Mainframe Entertainment crew member Todd Halford at the end of its final episode "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2".
• Season 7 of Johnny Test is dedicated to the memory of Adam Schlesinger, who composed the theme song and died one year before the season aired. He was the bassist of Fountains of Wayne and worked on other kids' shows such as Big Time Rush and T.U.F.F. Puppy.
• The season 12 finale of Archer, "Mission: Difficult," was dedicated to Jessica Walter, the voice of Mallory, who died during production of the season.
• Smiling Friends parodies this by having one after the credits in every episode for very much not real people, complete with heavily distorted pictures of the cast and fake names. The dates are also completely out of whack, complete with one death several years after the episode's original air date. Occasionally it's for one of the characters instead; one of them was for Smormu, who was added to the Smiling Friends cast literally seconds before.
• The Random! Cartoons short "Ivan the Unbearable" is dedicated to the short's creator Andrew Dickman's father Rainer Dickman, who passed away during the short's production.
• The Season 3 episode of Central Park titled "A Matter of Loaf and Boeuf" was dedicated to Ed Asner who voiced Ambrose Brandenham for the final time. The episode was released a year after Asner's passing.
• Months after Ed Asner's passing, Disney+ added a memorial card to Asner for the first episode of Dug Days showing him at a recording booth. The series was one of his final performances as Carl Fredricksen, and was released three days after his passing.
• The Wallykazam episode "The Bathmobile" was dedicated to J.R. Horne, who died on January 14, 2016, due to complications from an operation.
• The Molly of Denali episode "Sea Lion Crooks and Halibut Hooks" is dedicated to Taran Kootenhayoo, who voiced Molly's cousin Randall, who passed away on New Year's Eve 2020.
• The Caillou film Caillou's Holiday Movie was dedicated to Jaclyn Linetsky, Caillou's second voice actress who died in a car crash on the way to the taping of an episode of 15/Love.
• Ninjago: "The Turn of the Tide" is dedicated to Kirby Morrow, who died of substance abuse on November 18th, 2020. Cartoon Network US canceled Ninjago and made it a Netflix original after the production of "The Son Of Lily". They still had their prerecorded voice of him to cover Season 3 and replaced him with Andrew Francis in Season 4: Crystalized.
• The Animaniacs episode "Crumbly's Moment" was dedicated to Paul Coker Jr., a designer on the majority of Rankin/Bass specials starting with Frosty the Snowman. The segment is drawn in his distinctive style.
• The Meteor and the Mighty Monster Trucks episode "Space Rangers!" has a dedication to Len Carlson, who voiced one-off character Cosmo Starfinder in the episode. This was one of his final roles before his death in January 2006.
• King of the Hill:
  • The episode "The Order of the Straight Arrow" was dedicated to Victor Aaron, who was the original voice of John Redcorn in his first two appearances, who was killed in a car crash on September 4th, 1996.
  • The episode "Stressed for Success" was dedicated to John Ritter, who voiced Eugene Grandy, who passed away from an aortic dissection on September 11th, 2003.
• The final episode of Scaredy Squirrel, "Sinker, Sailor, Squirrel, Spy" was dedicated to Robert Henry, who served as the picture editor of the series. He also previously edited on other Nelvana shows such as Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Braceface, Max and Ruby, Cyberchase and Bubble Guppies among others.
• The Season 4 finale of Harley Quinn is dedicated to Arleen Sorkin, who was the inspiration and the original voice of Harley in Batman: The Animated Series.
• The Erky Perky episode "Blueboy's Treasure" was dedicated to Keith Knight, who voiced Moldy Van Oldy.
• Craig of the Creek: The episode "King of Camping" was dedicated to Kiersten Harris, who voiced a pizza delivery girl in the episode and two additional voices, and died from a brain tumor on May 7, 2020, several months before the episode came out.
• The short film Once Upon a Studio has a touching one for Burny Mattinson, a Walt Disney Animation Studios veteran who joined the team in 1953 and had a live-action cameo in the short's beginning. He died several months before the short was finished.
  "For our pal Burny and his 70 years of legendary storytelling at Disney Animation."

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