I suspect the cartoon characters Ross alluded to in this episode, buried deep in his subconscious, may have been the Aardvark antagonists in Canadian cartoon "The Raccoons." Funny, I also spent many years vaguely recalling those weird-looking purple creatures from the show, but not remembering the show itself. Evidently it's just one of those essentially-forgettable-but-not-completely-forgettable things that have a way of slipping out of one's consciousness but then lingering just beneath awareness, a very slightly less dark shadow among shadows...
