The 80's was a GREAT time to be a kid! We had all the best cartoons, if nothing else. The crap on tv nowadays just can't possibly hold a candle to the stuff from back in the day. I was feeling nostalgic, so I made this list and even included the intros for fun...
10. The Visionaries:
It didn't last long, I believe just one season (on Sundays!), but I liked the mix of knights, magic and science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuqO9P1Ixm4
9. The Superfriends:
This was a LONG running cartoon that had several incarnations. There wasn't much better than the Justice League vs. The Legion of Doom on Saturday mornings!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCytePaomMU
8. Inhumanoids:
This was another single season Sunday morning cartoon. It was pretty intense, even a little scary at times, all things considered. It was my first exposure to zombies too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki711DX8HDI
7. Thundercats:
This was an after school cartoon. It was a mix of sword and sorcery, with a dash of science fiction thrown in. The storylines were fairly mature which was a rarity of the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qd_IsxgAf8
6. Silverhawks:
The Silverhawks was a sister series to the Thundercats, although there was never a crossover. The sheer sci-fi of it really grabbed my attention. Also, at the end of each episode, they had a science or astronomy lesson as opposed to the usual PSA about not talking to strangers or something. I found that MUCH more interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzAQu23t19A
5: Voltron
Whats not to like? Robot lions piloted by pilots from earth and they could be combined to form a cool looking robot! It was a lot of fun to see a giant robot fighting monsters (remember, this was a decade before the Power Rangers ripped off the Voltron recipe). Plus, one of the pilots was killed off and replaced. That was a unique thing to happen in a cartoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9C2YLVaSBw
4. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
This early 80's Saturday morning cartoon was my only television exposure to Marvel superheroes until 1991. The series was simple, but it had friggin' Spider-Man in it! Plenty of other Marvel characters would appear in the show from time to time which made it fun. Originally, the Human Torch was supposed to be the third "friend" on the show, but he was unavailable for use. The character of Firestar was created for the show in his place. She eventually went on to debut in Marvel comics later on, due to her fondly being remembered from this show.
Firestar was also the first cartoon character who was censored by a network, due to her rack being considered too large. Also, she's a red head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQwNwQIY73U
3. G.I. Joe
This show was a perrenial favorite of just about every boy who grew up in the 80's. Everyone had a favorite character from either the Joes or Cobras. For me, Cobra Commander MADE the show! My parents forked over a lot of cash getting me action figures from this cartoon as I did my best to build my armies.
By the way, this debuted at night, which was unheard of back in the early 80's! Afterwards, it setteled into its after school time slot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YXQSrOCeKQ
2. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
This was a before school weekday cartoon. I LOVED watching this before going out the door to another horrid day of school each day. While the toyline was mismanaged and sucked, the series itself was very well done and complex. Plus, it had rockin' 80's tunes for the intro and closing credits.
Unfortunately, the show was never given an ending, so we never got to see if the Monster Minds were defeated or what. Darn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCOU1k0EKks
1. Transformers
For anyone who knows me, I'm sure they saw this coming.
My parents REALLY spent a lot of money on my crack-like Transformers habit. I've never been able to kick it. The whole mythology of the Transformers just caught my imagination from the first time I was exposed to it.
This was originally a Sunday morning cartoon, which gave me a reason to wake up on Sunday mornings and train my sister into understanding that she could watch Jem or whatever AFTER my Transformers fix. Luckily, she was alright with that.
Eventually, this was switched to a weekday after school schedule and it was the LAST cartoon of the day at 5pm. This was LONG before the days of Cartoon Network and 24 hour cartoons on tv!
Transformers is tough to beat in my book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0ZJgb-VX4
Now, with that all out of the way, I'd like to give an honorable mention to a current show thats on: The Spectacular Spider-Man. It's set in Peter Parkers high school days (just like the early issues of the comics) and it's a very well put together show! It's got Spidey and all of his classic rogues gallery, with some newer ones tossed in, like Venom.
It's also the first ever Spider-Man show that has Gwen Stacy in it. For those not in the know, she meets an untimely demise at the hands of one of Spideys enemies. It should be interesting to see if/how they deal with that on the show...
I try to never miss an episode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoeOBDSgWBA
10. The Visionaries:
It didn't last long, I believe just one season (on Sundays!), but I liked the mix of knights, magic and science.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuqO9P1Ixm4
9. The Superfriends:
This was a LONG running cartoon that had several incarnations. There wasn't much better than the Justice League vs. The Legion of Doom on Saturday mornings!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCytePaomMU
8. Inhumanoids:
This was another single season Sunday morning cartoon. It was pretty intense, even a little scary at times, all things considered. It was my first exposure to zombies too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki711DX8HDI
7. Thundercats:
This was an after school cartoon. It was a mix of sword and sorcery, with a dash of science fiction thrown in. The storylines were fairly mature which was a rarity of the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qd_IsxgAf8
6. Silverhawks:
The Silverhawks was a sister series to the Thundercats, although there was never a crossover. The sheer sci-fi of it really grabbed my attention. Also, at the end of each episode, they had a science or astronomy lesson as opposed to the usual PSA about not talking to strangers or something. I found that MUCH more interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzAQu23t19A
5: Voltron
Whats not to like? Robot lions piloted by pilots from earth and they could be combined to form a cool looking robot! It was a lot of fun to see a giant robot fighting monsters (remember, this was a decade before the Power Rangers ripped off the Voltron recipe). Plus, one of the pilots was killed off and replaced. That was a unique thing to happen in a cartoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9C2YLVaSBw
4. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
This early 80's Saturday morning cartoon was my only television exposure to Marvel superheroes until 1991. The series was simple, but it had friggin' Spider-Man in it! Plenty of other Marvel characters would appear in the show from time to time which made it fun. Originally, the Human Torch was supposed to be the third "friend" on the show, but he was unavailable for use. The character of Firestar was created for the show in his place. She eventually went on to debut in Marvel comics later on, due to her fondly being remembered from this show.
Firestar was also the first cartoon character who was censored by a network, due to her rack being considered too large. Also, she's a red head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQwNwQIY73U
3. G.I. Joe
This show was a perrenial favorite of just about every boy who grew up in the 80's. Everyone had a favorite character from either the Joes or Cobras. For me, Cobra Commander MADE the show! My parents forked over a lot of cash getting me action figures from this cartoon as I did my best to build my armies.
By the way, this debuted at night, which was unheard of back in the early 80's! Afterwards, it setteled into its after school time slot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YXQSrOCeKQ
2. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
This was a before school weekday cartoon. I LOVED watching this before going out the door to another horrid day of school each day. While the toyline was mismanaged and sucked, the series itself was very well done and complex. Plus, it had rockin' 80's tunes for the intro and closing credits.
Unfortunately, the show was never given an ending, so we never got to see if the Monster Minds were defeated or what. Darn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCOU1k0EKks
1. Transformers
For anyone who knows me, I'm sure they saw this coming.
My parents REALLY spent a lot of money on my crack-like Transformers habit. I've never been able to kick it. The whole mythology of the Transformers just caught my imagination from the first time I was exposed to it.
This was originally a Sunday morning cartoon, which gave me a reason to wake up on Sunday mornings and train my sister into understanding that she could watch Jem or whatever AFTER my Transformers fix. Luckily, she was alright with that.
Eventually, this was switched to a weekday after school schedule and it was the LAST cartoon of the day at 5pm. This was LONG before the days of Cartoon Network and 24 hour cartoons on tv!
Transformers is tough to beat in my book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0ZJgb-VX4
Now, with that all out of the way, I'd like to give an honorable mention to a current show thats on: The Spectacular Spider-Man. It's set in Peter Parkers high school days (just like the early issues of the comics) and it's a very well put together show! It's got Spidey and all of his classic rogues gallery, with some newer ones tossed in, like Venom.
It's also the first ever Spider-Man show that has Gwen Stacy in it. For those not in the know, she meets an untimely demise at the hands of one of Spideys enemies. It should be interesting to see if/how they deal with that on the show...
I try to never miss an episode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoeOBDSgWBA
Last edited by The Bill on Fri Feb 05, 2010 11:21 pm; edited 1 time in total