Take yourself back to when you were a young kid. Remember the old TV shows and cartoons you would watch. Today would be a real good day to share them with us.
For me it was, reruns of TV shows like Batman, and Wonder Woman, and cartoons like Scooby Do and the Super Friends. World War Two movies and shows like the Rat Patrol. Sci-fi shows like Buck Rogers and old John Wayne movies and other westerns. I grew up in the 70's and 80's back when cartoons were cartoons, filled with wonder and enjoyment.
Where to even begin? I also grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. Up until I turned 20, tv and music were my life! Especially cartoons and science fiction shows whether good, bad, or just awful.
We had Showtime which featured a lot of anime. Though not a big fan of the style, I enjoyed watching shows like “Thunderbirds: 2086” and movies like “Dynamo.” Quick Bing search reveals that “Dynamo” is also known as “Fighting General Daimos,” “Starbirds,” and “Tōshō Daimos.” Definitely the “Transformers” of the 1980’s. Offbeat cartoons like “Danger Mouse.”
They no longer have entire Saturday morning blocks dedicated to nothing but cartoons. I used to watch those fanatically. Cartoons like “Drac Pack,” “Galaxy High,” “Superhero High,” even flipping “Kidd Video.”
I used to set the VCR to record “Batman: The Animated Series” and “The Real Ghostbusters.” (But not “The Ghostbusters,” that show was unwatchable even by my standards.)
“Thundarr: The Barbarian”… “Hero Sandwich” (which was mostly a live action show that played music videos, especially Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart)… “G.I. Joe”… “Dragon’s Lair” and the accompanying “Space Ace” (“Pac Man,” “Q-Bert”… almost every 1980’s arcade game had a show)… “Dungeons & Dragons” (which for a kids’ cartoon had a great continuum and sharp writing).
“Spiderman and His Amazing Friends”… “Droids”… “M.A.S.K.” (That kid had a DNPC roll of like 1,000,000 or less! Champions players know what I’m talking about)… “Gilligan’s Planet” (why do I remember that?!?)… “The Littles”… “Silverhawks”…
“MIGHTY ORBOTS!!!” That was one of the best cartoons ever!
I better quit now. Busy day that I am late to start as it is!
Growing up in rural Canada in the 1960s, we had two television stations. I would sit impatiently on the school bus on the way home knowing that I would perpetually miss the first five minutes of Batman. Loved the Flintstones, Beanie and Cecil, but my fondest memories are of sitting down Saturdays at 5pm with my dad to watch “The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show”. I would sit yawning through roadrunner cartoons unable to imagine why my dad was laughing so hard. It wasn’t until I was older that I got it. While we never got to share a laugh at Wile E. Coyote’s expense, every now and then – even at 51 – I turn on Looney Tunes and think of my dad and those wonderful Saturday afternoons.
I grew up just this side of the 70’s, so my heyday is the mid to late 80’s and 90’s. I remember watching the old Masters of the Universe, Transformers, GI Joe, and Thundercats, but a lot of what actually went on in the shows escapes me. Denver the Last Dinosaur, The Real Ghostbusters, and the ’87 Ninja Turtles.
Then the 90’s hit and Disney/WB exploded with cartoons. Ducktales, Tiny Toons, Anamaniacs, Freakazoid!, Talespin, Road Rovers, Darkwing Duck and the like. Spider-Man: TAS, The Tick, X-Men, Batman: TAS and Superman: TAS had a lot to do with my introduction to the comic book world. Swat Kats, and Gargoyles spring to mind as well. Throw in ReBoot, Beast Wars, and anything else Mainframe Entertainment did and you’ve got a pretty good picture.
Towards the late 90’s Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Johnny Bravo took a front seat on the menu. Batman Beyond, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, and other Cartoon Network fare pretty much took over until recently, when I discovered all the wonders of Netflix, where I’m gleefully reliving my childhood.
I grew up in them 90s with some re-re-dubed anime shows, like a re-dub into Hebrew of Samurai Pizza Cats. There were also some European shows that were Anime in disguise like “3000 Leagues in Search of Mother” or Moomin both where both brilliantly dubed and just wonderful shows.
In the early 2000s my family got cable and I sew some Cartoon Network (at the stage they were actually good) and the infancy of a local kids channel Fox Kids (latter re-branded 4 times by now). In Fox Kids were strange shows. I remember Enigma (like Kim Possible if it was actually good and combined with Freakazoid) Diabolik (about a James Bond type of thief).
Now, with a whiff of nostalgia, too much time at hand and some hearty fanboy recomandations I’m watching the Kamen Rider franchize, a show at a time. I enjoyed W, Den-O, OOO and Fourze though I’m struggling with Hibiki. Wizard is quite good design-wise but the plot hasn’t been revealed yet (this is the current running show).
One of the things I remember most I didn’t even realize was a tv show until later: Gargoyles. I spent the past couple of weeks watching the whole series on youtube (excluding the Goliath Chronicles), and it inspired me to begin another fanfiction.
Around the early 2000s I got into the Power Rangers and became obsesed with collecting every morpher I could. This in addition to my slowly but surely growing arsenal of Bionicles. Aside from that I spent one entire summer using up my parents pool membership just to watch TMNT (2k3) on the tv in the lobby, and before that I would rush home from tennis lessons to catch Redwall.
I was also really into PBS’s Wishbone growing up.
So it’s nostalgia time. I watched a whole slew of television, from cartoons to live action. I always watched Saturday morning cartoons like samurai jack, Megas xlr, and Teen titans. Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were actually good back then and not the shadows they are today, though both have a few redeeming shows like Young Justice. I also watched an assortment of older cartoons such as scooby doo, Johnny bravo, and powerpuff girls. Aside from these animated shows, I was also raised on Doctor Who. I saw Bakers, Pertwees and everyone else, though I didn’t really like Hartnell back then. I luckily was able to experience shows both from the present and the past.
For me the quintessential Saturday cartoon growing up was the X-Men Animated Series that aired in the early 90’s. It was quite a sophisticated cartoon for my young mind, with long story arcs, complex relationships and plenty of drama. I couldn’t wait for the next episode, to find out what happened and who survived!
Oh boy, where to start? I’m a 90’s gal, so thankfully I got to see Cartoon Network when it was still good. I grew up on Looney Tunes, Freakazoid, Batman: the Animated Series, Scooby Doo (the older one and it’s variants), Justice League, Tom & Jerry, Tom & Jerry Kids, Thundercats, whatever was on Toonami (except for DBZ, that was a bit beyond me at the time), Samurai Jack, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Powerpuff Girls, Ed Edd ‘n’ Eddy, Dexter’s Lab, Swat Cats, Johnny Bravo, Johnny Quest (my dad had a VHS tape that I’d watch over and over), the Real Johnny Quest, Reboot, Teen Titans, Animaniacs (oh yeah, I was spoiled for shows). Occasionally I’d hop over to other channels like Nikelodeon and WB Kids (it’s been re-named several times and I don’t think it exists anymore) and watch shows like Batman Beyond, Zeta, Pokemon, Digimon, Men in Black: the Animated Series, Real Monsters, Wild Thornberries, Talespin, and a few dozen animes that ran their course in under a season. No doubt I’m forgetting a few…
In addition to cartoons however, I’d also watch Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter and Croc Files, and the Animal Show (Jim Henson puppets who hosted a “game show” on animal and nature trivia). Yeah, yeah, they’re not cartoons, but they were a large part of my childhood too.
What do I remember? Hmm…
The Pink Panther, Popeye (the Fleischer/Paramount shorts), The Beatles cartoon, Ultraman, Space Giants, Johnny Sokko And His Giant Robot, King Kong/Hercules, Speed Racer, Banana Splits…
Transformers, M.A.S.K., The Real Ghostbusters (Saturday and syndicated, two different sets), Bugs Bunny, Star Blazers, Woody Woodpecker, Battle Of The Planets, Spiderman (60’s and Amazing Friends)…
Johnny Bravo, Cartoon Cartoons! and the O,Canada compilation series, 2 Stupid Dogs, Rocko’s Modern Life (really good for a college student and punching above it’s weight compared to a lot of other Nick shows), Batman-Animated Series, mk.1 Ren And Stimpy, Courage The Cowardly Dog…
Besides Rocko and R.& S., college brought Appleseed, Dominion, Lupin the Third (Castle Cagliostro) from what I can remember.
After my ex and I separated, the Friday ritual for my son and I was, after pizza and a perusal of the Hot Wheels aisle at the PX, a viewing of Yellow Submarine. As I got turned on to the Beatles by the 60’s TV cartoon, he did by the movie, and we’re still fans.
Otherwise, there was The Wild, Wild West, Blue Thunder, The George Carlin Show, The Simpsons, King Of The Hill, Grizzly Adams, WFLD-32’s Saturday afternoon lineup of horrors (Universal, Hammer, and Roger Corman, mostly)at 1 PM, Son Of Svengoolie at 3 (same), and Star Trek at 5. Sunday nights of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Dave Allen At Large (later Wild Chicago), and Doctor Who on WTTW-11.
I’m shotgunning here, but that’s what comes at first easy recollection.
I’m not too old myself and I’m from Russia, so my choice wasn’t too great. I watched Space Cases, Hercules, Nightman, Cleopatra 2525, Jack Of All Trades. Of course, I watched the 90’s cartoons – Spiderman, Batman, X-Men. TMNT (Turtles had incredibly stupid intro lyrics in Russian), Street Sharks. Beetleborgs (something that looked like Power Rangers). Oh, and of course Woody Woodpecker and everything that went with him. And some other cartoons and shows, including anime like Pokemon, Sailormoon (Everyone watched it, because there was too little choice on anime).