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Apr. 17th, 2008 01:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariOne of the prime prime prime influences on my youth was Saturday Morning Cartoons. You couldn't get me up in time for school on ANY day, but I was always up and ready at 6AM for the Saturday Morning Film Fest (and even Sunday Mornings, when KMOL would show the North Central Ford sponsored Terrytoons).
I'm so so so so sad that kids today don't have much of a Saturday Morning. I've always seen school and education as a "job" for kids. It's their 9-5 obligation, and that weekends were their days off. Yes, cartoons were often commercials for toys, or just vehicles for cereals, but, you know, it's not much different than spending the weekends blitzed out on beer and pizza as a teenager, or Matlock and Mint Juleps as a geezer.
Kids today have cartoons that educate, and while that's a lofty goal, you're making them do their "job" on their days off. Some are good with that, some aren't. Sometimes you just need your mind turned off for a few hours by watching The Transformers with a bowl of Captain Crunch.
Wikipedia has a nice long list of cartoons that ran during Saturday Mornings, and even lists them by years. I was born in 1974, and so I missed out on the great Sid and MArty Kroft stuff in the mid 70s (or at least, I don't remember any of it, despite remembering a good number of things from the mid to late 70s). According to wikipedia, and my own memory, the first real Saturday Morning "Cartoon" I saw was Filmation's live action Space Academy (video). And even then, I don't remember anything about it other than the robot "Peepo." That started in 1977, when I was two or three, so the fact I remember Peepo at all is pretty amazing. :)
I also seem to remember the Muhammad Ali cartoon show - but I think I saw that later in the 90s on Cartoon Network. It was also about this time I caught Star Blazers and Battle for the Planets. Exposed to anime at the tender age of 3, what could I do but surrender to it's siren call as an adult?
I must have only caught a few episodes of these shows here and there, because I don't remember any of the other shows. But pre-1980, there was only one TV in the house, and from 1977-1979, my just-born sister was very sick, we spent most of our time Not Watching TV.
In late 1979 we lost our house and moved into an apartment. For the first time I had my own room, and was given an old black and white TV for it (from 1982, on, that was replaced with a tiny tiny portable TV I had up until the late 90s that went all the way up to Channel 83, and could pick up voice pagers between channel 6 and 7). According to Wikipedia, my Saturday Mornings got very busy around 1980, and I remember exactly what I'd watch and even the order:
Fall 1979: Superfriends, Plastic Man, Spider Woman, Godzilla, Jason of Star Command and Tarzan and the Super Seven.
Oh, man, do I remember Jason of Star Command. Usually on Saturdays my dad would want to visit family or friends, and we'd ALWAYS go just after Jason of Star Command. I remember dad wanting to buy a new TV to fix our old one (Someone had attempted to steal it, but it was a HUGE console TV with recordplayer and stereo, and dropped it...the TV still worked, but barely), and he'd specifically wait till Jason of Star Command was over (i totally totally totally LOVED Jason of Star Command - I still have a W1K1 toy somewhere)...we went to a TV shop nearby and while he priced TVs (and didn't get one), I watched Tarzan.
Spring 1980: Superfriends, Plastic Man, Captain Caveman. I remember the ABC Weekend Special, but only because I hated hated hated seeing it. I loved the opening credits, and still do to this day, but to me, that was the end of Saturday morning, and it was time to go out with Dad or Mom. And the actual specials were pretty boring, especially when they started doing Live Action more than animation.
Fall 1980: Superfriends, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show, Thundarr the Barbarian.
Thundarr. Man, what can you say about Thundarr. This was my fave morning cartoon for a LONG LONG time. It was really my first foray into Sword and Sorcery, and was a pretty good one too. My mother had just started working for an Airline, and I remember on Saturday Morning sitting at the gate watching Thundarr every Weekend there as we flew off to Dallas for something Airline related.
The Bugs Bunny show was what really got me interested in animation, though. Most of those old theatricals were just from a different time, and it showed in the animation. I wondered why other shows didn't look the same, and really, now I know that they were shown before movies, so they had more of a budget. Still, that and the lovely Tex Avery influence really got me into wanting to do animation/cartoons myself.
Spring 1981: Superfriends, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Richie Rich, Thundarr, Heathcliff, Plastic Man.
I hated Heathcliff. I still do. He's a punk. But he was the only thing worht watching till Plastic Man came on. Stupid Heathcliff. The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang was BIZZARE. Imagine Happy Days. Except everyone is bouncing around time and space with an alien named Cupcake. Yeah....
Richie Rich was one I really liked as a kid. I started developing crushes around this time, and sadly, I developed one on the red-headed Gloria, and the redheaded Irona (no comment). I think we know where my redhead thing got started. ;) I remember after the series was cancelled thinking "Wow, I'll pick up the comic!" and it turned out everyone in the comic looked like they were two feet tall on a high gravity planet.
Fall 1981: Superfriends, Heathcliff (Blech), The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Laverne & Shirley In The Army, Richie Rich, Space Stars/Blackstar.
Laverne & Shirley In the Army is exactly what it sounds like, and probably just as horrifying. I must have liked it as a kid, but I can't figure out WHY, exactly. Soace Stars was a brand new seried of old obscure Hanna Barbera cartoons - mainly Pre-Talk-Show Space Ghost and the Herculoids. There was also a segment called "Teen Force" on Space Stars with the redheaded Elektra, who, as you may have guessed, was another animation crush. Notice a trend?
Blackstar was an okay series. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the Fantasy Elements, but when Elektra (er, I mean Teen Force), Space Ghost or the Herculoids weren't on, Blackstar replaced those stupid Space Mutts.
The Smurfs made their debut. I watched one episode and immediately swore off them.
Spring 1982: Superfriends, Thundarr, Goldie Gold and Action Jack, Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam!, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends, Space Stars/Blackstar.
I don't remember a thing about Goldie Gold, other than I watched her, and it was the first of the girl-oriented shows I used to watch. Spiderman and his Amazing Friends not only had a redhead in Firestar, but a near naked readhead in spandex who shot fire. Make no bones about it, if I wasn't imprinted by now, this did it.
Fall 1982: Superfriends, Pac-Man, Mork & Mindy, Gilligan's Planet, Pandamonium, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, Popeye & Olive Comedy Show, Fat Albert, Blackstar.
Pac Man. 1982. Pac Man. Wow.
Gilligan's Planet was another just TOTALLY bizzare concept with the worst sung opening credit ever produced. It didn't last very long, but I really liked it. It was also the first cartoon I noticed that had that "Filmation Style" to it. Massively recycled animation, wierd direction, half-face shots...
Pandamonuim was a show I really really liked because it had an arc to it. It was a really light arc, but if you paid attention, you got more out of the show than when you didn't, and I appreciated the arc, even if a lot of it was just "We had 4 pyramids last week, we have 5 this week."
Spring 1983: Superfriends, Pandamonium, Richie Rich, Pac Man, Bugs Bunny, The Dukes, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends, Gilligan's Planet, Fat Albert, Blackstar.
The Dukes is just what it says it is - Cartoon versions of The Dukes of Hazard. Move along, nothing to see here.
Fall 1983: Saturday Supercade (what, no Superfriends?!), Dungeons & Dragons, Rubik, The Amazing Cube, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Mr. T, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.
The Golden Age of Cartoons for me. I have the most memories of this year. I was a video gamer, and an animation freak by now - and the two great tastes tasted great together. Saturday Supercade? Full hour of nothing but video gamed themed cartoons.
Dungeons and Dragons. Wow, what a show. GOOD GOOD Storylines, great characters, and lots of action and a redhead. Left enough of an impression on me that when it came time to show Andrea's magical bow and arrow, it had the shape of Hank's. If I ever animate it, it'll have the sound effect, too.
I remember really liking the Charlie Brown show because of how simple it was. It wasn't a action show, wasn't a gag show, but had that very easy going mature feel to it the specials had, but weekly.
Mr. T. was a really odd show. Mr. T was the leader of a gymnastics team that solved crimes. It sounds stupid, but that somehow worked REALLY well, and I never missed it.
The less said about Rubik, the better. Guilty pleasure.
Spring 1984: The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Saturday Supercade, Dungeons and Dragons, Rubik the Amazing Cube, The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show/Mr. T & Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.
Fall 1984: Superfriends, The Mighty Orbots, Turbo Teen, Dragon's Lair, Pole Position/Scooby Doo, Dungeons and Dragons/Kidd Video, Mr T.
The Mighty Orbots was another favorite. I didn't know it at the time, but it was an American series animated as an anime in Japan, which explains why the animation was so good, compared to most shows that were done on the cheap.
Turbo Teen was another odd duck of a show. Imagine Ranma 1/2. Except instead of turning into a woman with cold water, you turned into a car. And your friends often went to the drive in with you...AS A CAR. It also had these little icons in the corner for some reason. Anytime he turned into a car, this little flashing car with a green circle would appear for a second in the corner of the screen. When he changed back, it was red. And as far as I know, NO ONE IN THE UNIVERSE NOTICED THAT BUT ME.
Pole Position was just that. Pole Position as a cartoon, but it has a special memory for me. This was the year KENS stopped showing the later Saturday Morning Cartoons and went with Saturday Morning News programs (what pissed me off the most about that? The news set had monitors you could see showing various feeds. RIGHT THERE, NEXT TO CHRIS MARROU'S HEAD WERE ALL THE CARTOONS WE WERE MISSING). I lost Dungeons and Dragons (and started watching Scooby doo, a show whose popularity I never got, and still don't get, but it made for a time waster to the next show) and Dungeons and Dragons (I got Kidd Video, though, which wasn't all that bad). We had JUST moved to a new house and I was sitting on the second floor window, with a good view of the western sky. For a few weeks after KENS pulled the plug on cartoons, SOMEHOW I was picking up a TV station from either Dallas, Houston or Laredo (Channel 11, KING possibly?) and was able to watch Dungeons and Dragons and Pole Position again. This event got me into DXing (getting long range signals from TV or radio), and CB radio. After about two weeks of this, I lost the signal forever and never saw another Dungeons and Dragons episode until I recieved one from a friend on third generation tape from a friend in Puerto Rico.
Spring 1985: Superfriends, The Get Along Gang, Mighty Orbots, Turbo Teen, Dragon's Lair, Scooby Doo (blech), Kidd Video, Mr. T.
The Get Along Gang was another show that was girl-oriented. My sister started watching, and I got into it to. If Goldie Gold hadn't sounded alarm bells, this should have. :D Still didn't like The Littles, though.
Fall 1985: Bugs Bunny, Muppet Babies, Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling, Scooby Doo, Kidd Video, Mr T, Spider man and his Amazing Friends.
I wasn't a big fan of Muppet Babies, but my sister and mother adored them. I just hung around to get to the next show: Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling. PURE CHEESE. PURE WWF WRESTLING CHEESE. And my sister and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
This was also the year I was introduced to Robotech, The Transformers, Go-Bots and all those other lovely after-school cartoons, which I'll write about some other time. They deserve a post of their own one ofthese years.
Spring 1986: Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling.
I hardly watched anything this year...even the smurfs was just waiting out for the wrestling cartoon. I never liked the Smurfs. My sister did, and I tolerated them. But when Johann and Peewee showed up, and then all the baby smurfs and wierd smurfs, I just couldn't deal anymore. I wanted gargamel to eat those two-apple tall blue things.
One show that WAS on this year that I got into MUCH later was "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo." I'm a scuker for a good story, even if the charactes never impressed me before, and I really liked the quest they were on to find the 13 ghosts released by Scoob.
Fall 1986: The Real Ghostbusters, Bugs Bunny, Galaxy High.
Ah, the Real Ghostbusters. At first I wasnt too keen on the show, then it sucked me in with an episode where a man who held the flute of armageddon and was one note away from destroying the world, soundly trounced the ghostbusters and only stopped because he'd lose his love to the armageddon he unleashed. Holy crap. THAT was an episode. Follow that with an episode dealing with traumatic stresses Egon suffers after a near fatal fall, and you've got my attention. Little did I know that these episode were written by JMS, who would later write Babylon 5.
Galaxy High was a cute series. I always felt bad for the two main character. Doyle and Amy were regular school kids. He was a jock, and she was a nerd, and in Earth they were at least amicable aquiantences. Then they go to Galaxy High, and extraterrestrial school. Suddenly Amy is the popular one, and Doyle is the one no one likes. It wasn't much in the show, really, but I felt bad for them...the only two humans and social factors withe aliens kinda drove them apart. It prolly wasn't a part of the premise, really, but it kinda got to that level with me.
This was also the year I stopped watching cartoons simply to pass time to the next show. I had comics to read. ;)
Spring 1987: The Real Ghostbusters, Galaxy High
Fall 1987: Muppet Babies, The Real Ghostbusters, Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures, Popeye and Son.
By this time I was 13, and really into animation. I knew about Ralph Bakshi and his more risque cartoons, and heard through the grapevine that he was going to be making a new Mighty Mouse cartoon series. I watched it, and loved it. Seeing some of the older Terrytoons back was great, and the Mighty Mouse stuff was pretty good. Then came the Snorting Flower Incident. Being Ralph Bakshi, he was already on probation for Saturday mornings. In one episode a homeless mouse gives Mighty Mouse a flower made from trash. When he's down, he pulls the flower out, remembers the mouse that gave it to him, takes a good "whiff" of the flower (which promptly goes up his nose) and makes him strong again. The show was cancelled with the usual "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!" rallying cry. Moms across the globe thought Bakshi was having Mighty Mouse snort a drug. Instant cancellation.
I saw a few episodes of Popeye and son, wasn't impressed, dropped it quickly.
Spring 1988: Muppet Babies, The Real Ghostbusters, Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures
Fall 1988: Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, Garfield and Friends, Hey Vern! It's Ernest!, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. ABC Executives didn't like the amount of actual occultism in the show (WON'T SOMBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?), and sent in psychologists to retool the show for kids. Out went JMS. In came a Janine that turned from bored secretary to mother figure, a kiddie ghost that went REAL kiddie, and bumbling Ghostbusters. When JMS left, it showed, and I left shortly afterwards.
Garfield and Friends wasn't a bad show, and I really liked the US Acres portion of the show, too. I remember that being a comic strip in the paper for a few short weeks, and was pretty happy to have some US Acres type thing ont he air. There's something about a cute adorabel sheep with bows in her hair and an incredibly grating bad attitude that makes me giggle.
I admit, I liked the Vern Show. Sue me.
I REALLY liked Ed Grimley. I was already a big fan of SCTV and Ed's few appearances on SNL (You haven't lived till you see Howard Cosell dressed up as his dad, saying "LET GO OF MY SON, I MUST SAY!") The cartoon was a BIT on the goofy side to me, but still totally a classic show.
Spring 1989: Garfield and Friends, Hey Vern! IT's Ernest!
You might notice a distinct lack of Pee Wee's Playhouse. I didn't learn to appreciate that till it ran on Adult Swim.
Fall 1989: Beetlejuice, Bugs Bunny.
I totally love the artstyle of the Beetlejuice show. Little too much fart humour, but the artstyle and a lot of the stories just make a Big Win for me.
Spring 1990: Beetlejuice, Bugs Bunny
Fall 1990: Beetlejuice
Spring 1991: Garfield and Friends, Beetlejuice
Fall 1991: Garfield and Friends
Spring 1992: Garfield and Friends
The Great Slough Off of the 90s: By this time I had joined the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization and begun tapetrading anime left and right. I'd gotten a penpal in Japan in the late 80s, and I spent more time watching Japanese cartoons than American. And when I saw the American ones, they were usually in the afternoons after school. I'd even stopped following a lot of these shows, and would simply tune them in if they were on and I happened to be around.
Fall 1992: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Batman The Animated Series.
I love Batman, which was showing 5 days a week after school. I was more than happy to add another day to that mix. :)
Spring 1993 (Graduated from High School, still watching cartoons): The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Tiny Toons - please see notes for Batman Animated Series above.
Fall 1993: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Spring 1994: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Fall 1994: The Little Mermaid, Animaniacs, Batman, Garfield and Friends
Animaniacs - see notes for Tiny Toons, above.
Spring 1995: Batman, Spider-Man, Garfield and Friends
I really liked the new series of Spider Man. It wasn't as serious as the Batman series or as stylish, but like I've said, give me a good story, and I'll watch anything. It was really well done while still being Spider Man.
Fall 1995: Spider Man
Spring 1996: Santo Bugito
The only reason I saw this was I'd gotten a job that kept me up very early in the morning on Sundays (KENS had dropped all the cartoons by this point, showing only a few on early Sunday mornings). It wasn't a bad show, but was definately a "It's either this or the farm report."
That was pretty much the end of the Saturday Morning cartoons for me, which really had died around 1989 or so. Everything after that was sporadic shows I'd watch if they happened to be on and I was awake. That isn't to say I stopped watching Cartoons. I was definately a Kids WB fan, and watched a ton of those shows right up till 2003 or 4. Even now I watch a ton of anime, Simpsons and Futurama. A lot of the shows I missed in the 90s, like The Tick and Freakazoid, I got to relive through Cartoon Network. Adult Swim was the closest I had to a revival of a good block of cartoons, but when Sealab 2021 jumped the shark, the whole Adult Swim block did for me.
I miss those fun Mindless Saturday Mornings, but I have enough of these shows on tape and DVD I could more'n'likely recreate these shows blocks all on my own. :)
I'm so so so so sad that kids today don't have much of a Saturday Morning. I've always seen school and education as a "job" for kids. It's their 9-5 obligation, and that weekends were their days off. Yes, cartoons were often commercials for toys, or just vehicles for cereals, but, you know, it's not much different than spending the weekends blitzed out on beer and pizza as a teenager, or Matlock and Mint Juleps as a geezer.
Kids today have cartoons that educate, and while that's a lofty goal, you're making them do their "job" on their days off. Some are good with that, some aren't. Sometimes you just need your mind turned off for a few hours by watching The Transformers with a bowl of Captain Crunch.
Wikipedia has a nice long list of cartoons that ran during Saturday Mornings, and even lists them by years. I was born in 1974, and so I missed out on the great Sid and MArty Kroft stuff in the mid 70s (or at least, I don't remember any of it, despite remembering a good number of things from the mid to late 70s). According to wikipedia, and my own memory, the first real Saturday Morning "Cartoon" I saw was Filmation's live action Space Academy (video). And even then, I don't remember anything about it other than the robot "Peepo." That started in 1977, when I was two or three, so the fact I remember Peepo at all is pretty amazing. :)
I also seem to remember the Muhammad Ali cartoon show - but I think I saw that later in the 90s on Cartoon Network. It was also about this time I caught Star Blazers and Battle for the Planets. Exposed to anime at the tender age of 3, what could I do but surrender to it's siren call as an adult?
I must have only caught a few episodes of these shows here and there, because I don't remember any of the other shows. But pre-1980, there was only one TV in the house, and from 1977-1979, my just-born sister was very sick, we spent most of our time Not Watching TV.
In late 1979 we lost our house and moved into an apartment. For the first time I had my own room, and was given an old black and white TV for it (from 1982, on, that was replaced with a tiny tiny portable TV I had up until the late 90s that went all the way up to Channel 83, and could pick up voice pagers between channel 6 and 7). According to Wikipedia, my Saturday Mornings got very busy around 1980, and I remember exactly what I'd watch and even the order:
Fall 1979: Superfriends, Plastic Man, Spider Woman, Godzilla, Jason of Star Command and Tarzan and the Super Seven.
Oh, man, do I remember Jason of Star Command. Usually on Saturdays my dad would want to visit family or friends, and we'd ALWAYS go just after Jason of Star Command. I remember dad wanting to buy a new TV to fix our old one (Someone had attempted to steal it, but it was a HUGE console TV with recordplayer and stereo, and dropped it...the TV still worked, but barely), and he'd specifically wait till Jason of Star Command was over (i totally totally totally LOVED Jason of Star Command - I still have a W1K1 toy somewhere)...we went to a TV shop nearby and while he priced TVs (and didn't get one), I watched Tarzan.
Spring 1980: Superfriends, Plastic Man, Captain Caveman. I remember the ABC Weekend Special, but only because I hated hated hated seeing it. I loved the opening credits, and still do to this day, but to me, that was the end of Saturday morning, and it was time to go out with Dad or Mom. And the actual specials were pretty boring, especially when they started doing Live Action more than animation.
Fall 1980: Superfriends, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show, Thundarr the Barbarian.
Thundarr. Man, what can you say about Thundarr. This was my fave morning cartoon for a LONG LONG time. It was really my first foray into Sword and Sorcery, and was a pretty good one too. My mother had just started working for an Airline, and I remember on Saturday Morning sitting at the gate watching Thundarr every Weekend there as we flew off to Dallas for something Airline related.
The Bugs Bunny show was what really got me interested in animation, though. Most of those old theatricals were just from a different time, and it showed in the animation. I wondered why other shows didn't look the same, and really, now I know that they were shown before movies, so they had more of a budget. Still, that and the lovely Tex Avery influence really got me into wanting to do animation/cartoons myself.
Spring 1981: Superfriends, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Richie Rich, Thundarr, Heathcliff, Plastic Man.
I hated Heathcliff. I still do. He's a punk. But he was the only thing worht watching till Plastic Man came on. Stupid Heathcliff. The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang was BIZZARE. Imagine Happy Days. Except everyone is bouncing around time and space with an alien named Cupcake. Yeah....
Richie Rich was one I really liked as a kid. I started developing crushes around this time, and sadly, I developed one on the red-headed Gloria, and the redheaded Irona (no comment). I think we know where my redhead thing got started. ;) I remember after the series was cancelled thinking "Wow, I'll pick up the comic!" and it turned out everyone in the comic looked like they were two feet tall on a high gravity planet.
Fall 1981: Superfriends, Heathcliff (Blech), The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Laverne & Shirley In The Army, Richie Rich, Space Stars/Blackstar.
Laverne & Shirley In the Army is exactly what it sounds like, and probably just as horrifying. I must have liked it as a kid, but I can't figure out WHY, exactly. Soace Stars was a brand new seried of old obscure Hanna Barbera cartoons - mainly Pre-Talk-Show Space Ghost and the Herculoids. There was also a segment called "Teen Force" on Space Stars with the redheaded Elektra, who, as you may have guessed, was another animation crush. Notice a trend?
Blackstar was an okay series. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the Fantasy Elements, but when Elektra (er, I mean Teen Force), Space Ghost or the Herculoids weren't on, Blackstar replaced those stupid Space Mutts.
The Smurfs made their debut. I watched one episode and immediately swore off them.
Spring 1982: Superfriends, Thundarr, Goldie Gold and Action Jack, Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam!, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends, Space Stars/Blackstar.
I don't remember a thing about Goldie Gold, other than I watched her, and it was the first of the girl-oriented shows I used to watch. Spiderman and his Amazing Friends not only had a redhead in Firestar, but a near naked readhead in spandex who shot fire. Make no bones about it, if I wasn't imprinted by now, this did it.
Fall 1982: Superfriends, Pac-Man, Mork & Mindy, Gilligan's Planet, Pandamonium, Spiderman and his Amazing Friends, Popeye & Olive Comedy Show, Fat Albert, Blackstar.
Pac Man. 1982. Pac Man. Wow.
Gilligan's Planet was another just TOTALLY bizzare concept with the worst sung opening credit ever produced. It didn't last very long, but I really liked it. It was also the first cartoon I noticed that had that "Filmation Style" to it. Massively recycled animation, wierd direction, half-face shots...
Pandamonuim was a show I really really liked because it had an arc to it. It was a really light arc, but if you paid attention, you got more out of the show than when you didn't, and I appreciated the arc, even if a lot of it was just "We had 4 pyramids last week, we have 5 this week."
Spring 1983: Superfriends, Pandamonium, Richie Rich, Pac Man, Bugs Bunny, The Dukes, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends, Gilligan's Planet, Fat Albert, Blackstar.
The Dukes is just what it says it is - Cartoon versions of The Dukes of Hazard. Move along, nothing to see here.
Fall 1983: Saturday Supercade (what, no Superfriends?!), Dungeons & Dragons, Rubik, The Amazing Cube, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Mr. T, Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.
The Golden Age of Cartoons for me. I have the most memories of this year. I was a video gamer, and an animation freak by now - and the two great tastes tasted great together. Saturday Supercade? Full hour of nothing but video gamed themed cartoons.
Dungeons and Dragons. Wow, what a show. GOOD GOOD Storylines, great characters, and lots of action and a redhead. Left enough of an impression on me that when it came time to show Andrea's magical bow and arrow, it had the shape of Hank's. If I ever animate it, it'll have the sound effect, too.
I remember really liking the Charlie Brown show because of how simple it was. It wasn't a action show, wasn't a gag show, but had that very easy going mature feel to it the specials had, but weekly.
Mr. T. was a really odd show. Mr. T was the leader of a gymnastics team that solved crimes. It sounds stupid, but that somehow worked REALLY well, and I never missed it.
The less said about Rubik, the better. Guilty pleasure.
Spring 1984: The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Saturday Supercade, Dungeons and Dragons, Rubik the Amazing Cube, The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show/Mr. T & Spider Man and his Amazing Friends.
Fall 1984: Superfriends, The Mighty Orbots, Turbo Teen, Dragon's Lair, Pole Position/Scooby Doo, Dungeons and Dragons/Kidd Video, Mr T.
The Mighty Orbots was another favorite. I didn't know it at the time, but it was an American series animated as an anime in Japan, which explains why the animation was so good, compared to most shows that were done on the cheap.
Turbo Teen was another odd duck of a show. Imagine Ranma 1/2. Except instead of turning into a woman with cold water, you turned into a car. And your friends often went to the drive in with you...AS A CAR. It also had these little icons in the corner for some reason. Anytime he turned into a car, this little flashing car with a green circle would appear for a second in the corner of the screen. When he changed back, it was red. And as far as I know, NO ONE IN THE UNIVERSE NOTICED THAT BUT ME.
Pole Position was just that. Pole Position as a cartoon, but it has a special memory for me. This was the year KENS stopped showing the later Saturday Morning Cartoons and went with Saturday Morning News programs (what pissed me off the most about that? The news set had monitors you could see showing various feeds. RIGHT THERE, NEXT TO CHRIS MARROU'S HEAD WERE ALL THE CARTOONS WE WERE MISSING). I lost Dungeons and Dragons (and started watching Scooby doo, a show whose popularity I never got, and still don't get, but it made for a time waster to the next show) and Dungeons and Dragons (I got Kidd Video, though, which wasn't all that bad). We had JUST moved to a new house and I was sitting on the second floor window, with a good view of the western sky. For a few weeks after KENS pulled the plug on cartoons, SOMEHOW I was picking up a TV station from either Dallas, Houston or Laredo (Channel 11, KING possibly?) and was able to watch Dungeons and Dragons and Pole Position again. This event got me into DXing (getting long range signals from TV or radio), and CB radio. After about two weeks of this, I lost the signal forever and never saw another Dungeons and Dragons episode until I recieved one from a friend on third generation tape from a friend in Puerto Rico.
Spring 1985: Superfriends, The Get Along Gang, Mighty Orbots, Turbo Teen, Dragon's Lair, Scooby Doo (blech), Kidd Video, Mr. T.
The Get Along Gang was another show that was girl-oriented. My sister started watching, and I got into it to. If Goldie Gold hadn't sounded alarm bells, this should have. :D Still didn't like The Littles, though.
Fall 1985: Bugs Bunny, Muppet Babies, Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling, Scooby Doo, Kidd Video, Mr T, Spider man and his Amazing Friends.
I wasn't a big fan of Muppet Babies, but my sister and mother adored them. I just hung around to get to the next show: Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling. PURE CHEESE. PURE WWF WRESTLING CHEESE. And my sister and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT.
This was also the year I was introduced to Robotech, The Transformers, Go-Bots and all those other lovely after-school cartoons, which I'll write about some other time. They deserve a post of their own one ofthese years.
Spring 1986: Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling.
I hardly watched anything this year...even the smurfs was just waiting out for the wrestling cartoon. I never liked the Smurfs. My sister did, and I tolerated them. But when Johann and Peewee showed up, and then all the baby smurfs and wierd smurfs, I just couldn't deal anymore. I wanted gargamel to eat those two-apple tall blue things.
One show that WAS on this year that I got into MUCH later was "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo." I'm a scuker for a good story, even if the charactes never impressed me before, and I really liked the quest they were on to find the 13 ghosts released by Scoob.
Fall 1986: The Real Ghostbusters, Bugs Bunny, Galaxy High.
Ah, the Real Ghostbusters. At first I wasnt too keen on the show, then it sucked me in with an episode where a man who held the flute of armageddon and was one note away from destroying the world, soundly trounced the ghostbusters and only stopped because he'd lose his love to the armageddon he unleashed. Holy crap. THAT was an episode. Follow that with an episode dealing with traumatic stresses Egon suffers after a near fatal fall, and you've got my attention. Little did I know that these episode were written by JMS, who would later write Babylon 5.
Galaxy High was a cute series. I always felt bad for the two main character. Doyle and Amy were regular school kids. He was a jock, and she was a nerd, and in Earth they were at least amicable aquiantences. Then they go to Galaxy High, and extraterrestrial school. Suddenly Amy is the popular one, and Doyle is the one no one likes. It wasn't much in the show, really, but I felt bad for them...the only two humans and social factors withe aliens kinda drove them apart. It prolly wasn't a part of the premise, really, but it kinda got to that level with me.
This was also the year I stopped watching cartoons simply to pass time to the next show. I had comics to read. ;)
Spring 1987: The Real Ghostbusters, Galaxy High
Fall 1987: Muppet Babies, The Real Ghostbusters, Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures, Popeye and Son.
By this time I was 13, and really into animation. I knew about Ralph Bakshi and his more risque cartoons, and heard through the grapevine that he was going to be making a new Mighty Mouse cartoon series. I watched it, and loved it. Seeing some of the older Terrytoons back was great, and the Mighty Mouse stuff was pretty good. Then came the Snorting Flower Incident. Being Ralph Bakshi, he was already on probation for Saturday mornings. In one episode a homeless mouse gives Mighty Mouse a flower made from trash. When he's down, he pulls the flower out, remembers the mouse that gave it to him, takes a good "whiff" of the flower (which promptly goes up his nose) and makes him strong again. The show was cancelled with the usual "WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!" rallying cry. Moms across the globe thought Bakshi was having Mighty Mouse snort a drug. Instant cancellation.
I saw a few episodes of Popeye and son, wasn't impressed, dropped it quickly.
Spring 1988: Muppet Babies, The Real Ghostbusters, Mighty Mouse - The New Adventures
Fall 1988: Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, Garfield and Friends, Hey Vern! It's Ernest!, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. ABC Executives didn't like the amount of actual occultism in the show (WON'T SOMBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?), and sent in psychologists to retool the show for kids. Out went JMS. In came a Janine that turned from bored secretary to mother figure, a kiddie ghost that went REAL kiddie, and bumbling Ghostbusters. When JMS left, it showed, and I left shortly afterwards.
Garfield and Friends wasn't a bad show, and I really liked the US Acres portion of the show, too. I remember that being a comic strip in the paper for a few short weeks, and was pretty happy to have some US Acres type thing ont he air. There's something about a cute adorabel sheep with bows in her hair and an incredibly grating bad attitude that makes me giggle.
I admit, I liked the Vern Show. Sue me.
I REALLY liked Ed Grimley. I was already a big fan of SCTV and Ed's few appearances on SNL (You haven't lived till you see Howard Cosell dressed up as his dad, saying "LET GO OF MY SON, I MUST SAY!") The cartoon was a BIT on the goofy side to me, but still totally a classic show.
Spring 1989: Garfield and Friends, Hey Vern! IT's Ernest!
You might notice a distinct lack of Pee Wee's Playhouse. I didn't learn to appreciate that till it ran on Adult Swim.
Fall 1989: Beetlejuice, Bugs Bunny.
I totally love the artstyle of the Beetlejuice show. Little too much fart humour, but the artstyle and a lot of the stories just make a Big Win for me.
Spring 1990: Beetlejuice, Bugs Bunny
Fall 1990: Beetlejuice
Spring 1991: Garfield and Friends, Beetlejuice
Fall 1991: Garfield and Friends
Spring 1992: Garfield and Friends
The Great Slough Off of the 90s: By this time I had joined the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization and begun tapetrading anime left and right. I'd gotten a penpal in Japan in the late 80s, and I spent more time watching Japanese cartoons than American. And when I saw the American ones, they were usually in the afternoons after school. I'd even stopped following a lot of these shows, and would simply tune them in if they were on and I happened to be around.
Fall 1992: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Batman The Animated Series.
I love Batman, which was showing 5 days a week after school. I was more than happy to add another day to that mix. :)
Spring 1993 (Graduated from High School, still watching cartoons): The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Tiny Toons - please see notes for Batman Animated Series above.
Fall 1993: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Spring 1994: The Little Mermaid, Garfield and Friends, Tiny Toon Adventures.
Fall 1994: The Little Mermaid, Animaniacs, Batman, Garfield and Friends
Animaniacs - see notes for Tiny Toons, above.
Spring 1995: Batman, Spider-Man, Garfield and Friends
I really liked the new series of Spider Man. It wasn't as serious as the Batman series or as stylish, but like I've said, give me a good story, and I'll watch anything. It was really well done while still being Spider Man.
Fall 1995: Spider Man
Spring 1996: Santo Bugito
The only reason I saw this was I'd gotten a job that kept me up very early in the morning on Sundays (KENS had dropped all the cartoons by this point, showing only a few on early Sunday mornings). It wasn't a bad show, but was definately a "It's either this or the farm report."
That was pretty much the end of the Saturday Morning cartoons for me, which really had died around 1989 or so. Everything after that was sporadic shows I'd watch if they happened to be on and I was awake. That isn't to say I stopped watching Cartoons. I was definately a Kids WB fan, and watched a ton of those shows right up till 2003 or 4. Even now I watch a ton of anime, Simpsons and Futurama. A lot of the shows I missed in the 90s, like The Tick and Freakazoid, I got to relive through Cartoon Network. Adult Swim was the closest I had to a revival of a good block of cartoons, but when Sealab 2021 jumped the shark, the whole Adult Swim block did for me.
I miss those fun Mindless Saturday Mornings, but I have enough of these shows on tape and DVD I could more'n'likely recreate these shows blocks all on my own. :)
