[Heccubus]

This may overlap with the "80s Nostalgia" thread a bit, but oh well. Is it just me, or were cartoons way better when we were kids? I grew up with some shows that I've only been able to truly appreciate in the past few years. I can remember the following from my youth:

Animaniacs
Tiny Toon Adventures
The Pirates Of Dark Water
Captain N
The Real Ghostbusters
The Super Mario Brothers Super Show
Freakazoid
Biker Mice From Mars
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (still rocks the new one's socks off)
Transformers
Batman: The Animated Series
Hammer Time
Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventures
C-Bear And Jamal
Samurai Pizza Cats
Masters Of The Universe
GI Joe
Beetlejuice
Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes
The Tick
Super Dave Osbourne (yeah, he had a cartoon)
Eek The Cat
Ren & Stimpy
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
Super Human Samurai Cyber Squad
Little Dracula
Spiderman
X-Men
And of course, The Simpsons was still funny and original.

I'm sure that I probably left some out.

[SimeSublime]

There's some quality there. Some of them I've never heard of, and some that I'd forgotten. Oh Samurai Pizza Cats, how could I forget you?

[Laura]

I watched a lot of those shows, and I liked many of them, but I'm still not convinced that TV "was better in those days" (what, 10 years ago at most?) I mean, what are kids watching today? I don't know. Do you? It could be great.

The kids' shows of your youth are always going to be better, in your estimation, than the kids' shows of today, because in your youth, you were the appropriate target audience, and now, well, you're not. It's not fair to judge a kids' show as an adult. Adults look for different things in a cartoon.

And if you are looking for cartoons with grown-up humor, this is the era of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

I guess this is all an elaborate way of saying "Back off, man, I love Arthur."

Oh, and how could you forget FRAGGLE ROCK?

[Heccubus]

Fraggle Rock isn't a cartoon, now is it? If I'd made a list of general television shows, it would've been on there along with The Muppet Show, Shining Time Station, Saved By The Bell, and so on.

[looktothesky]

I remember some old show called VR Rangers or something. "We...are... VR Rangers!" Terrible. It didn't last very long...

Also, STOOPID show; Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. I remember being stuck in on so many Sundays watching that HORRIBLE show...lol

[Al Creed]

Ah, Cartoons...

The one's I liked:

Animaniacs
The Real Ghostbusters
Freakazoid
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Batman: The Animated Series
C-Bear And Jamal
Masters Of The Universe
Beetlejuice
Eek The Cat
Ren N' Stimpy
X-Men
The Simpsons
The Raccoons
Muppet Babies

It's not just you, cartoons now-a-days suck. Have you seen the new Ninja Turtles? Good GOD, is it aweful. Apparently, Splinter never mutated with his master, he actually learned Ninjitsu as a rat....Go figure.

[Chyld]

I remember some old show called VR Rangers or something. "We...are... VR Rangers!" Terrible. It didn't last very long...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe they were the VR Troopers, the first addition to Saban's canon of teens-with-super-powers-and-stupid-costumes, following on from the Power Rangers. All I remember was that they had a computer for a mentor, and someone's dad was a robot. Truely, bad TV indeed.

[Jane Sherwood]

I think all of my old favorites have already been listed, but in a resurrected fandom frenzy, I've been trying to find transcripts and episodes of the old Beetlejuice cartoons. I freaking loved that show, and I still do.

And recently, since watching Batman again (about three dozen times), I've developed a new fixation with The Joker, and have been trying to find everything I can on Batman: The Animated Series because of it (and anything else to do with the character…). I don't think I cared much for the show when I was little because I didn't really have the sense to appreciate it then...most of my memories are kind of blurry anyway, but from what I can remember now...dear god that was awesome.




Also, I was an Animaniacs and Tiny Toons freak...but my childhood obsession with the Power Rangers is a topic that humiliates and torments me to this day.

[SimeSublime]

To my shame, I can remember getting into a big fight defending the power rangers over Ren and Stimpy, which I claimed were for children, so don't feel too bad Jane.

[Jane Sherwood]

Believe it or not, I wasn't allowed to watch Ren and Stimpy! My mother thought it was too disgusting and inappropriate, along with Beavis and Butt-head and a bunch of other shows. I think I actually got unbelievably lucky to be able to watch Daria when that first came on, since it was on MTV, and that alone should have made it too inappropriate for a ten-year-old.

I used to only watch Nickelodeon for the most part back then. Does anyone remember those shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark (at that age, that show was pretty damn freaky), Clarissa Explains it All, Salute Your Shorts, or other things like that? I loved those...


Sime: I'll bet you weren't part of the "Official Fan club" or would go on and on about a crush on the Green/White Ranger. Funny thing, though - after all this time, I've only seen one person I recognize from the original in other TV shows and movies. That gives me a strangely satisfied feeling.

That reminds me, did anyone ever watch Space Cases? That show rocked my tiny socks.

[SimeSublime]

I know none of the shows you just mentioned

[Despondent]

I remember Johnny Quest reruns were well developed and seemed to hold up. Speed Racer had a little bit of a lame factor but I liked it. Super Friends were best imho as the 60-minute stories. we watched Pee wee's playhouse, later. AHHHHHHH! The old scooby doo shows were great (you know, the originals!)

[Chyld]

Fear not, Jane, Power Rangers fanboyhood overcame our household at the time. I think my brother used to want to be one/ Probably strill does, all things knowing.Thankfully, neither of us fancied the cast, a small mercy.

Does it speak volumes that I used to sympathise with the nerdy guy who nobody ever seemed to understand properly?

[looktothesky]

I used to only watch Nickelodeon for the most part back then.  Does anyone remember those shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark ? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I used to watch that show all the time with my little sister. lol! My favorite episodes are either the ones when that band accidentally sends their music to aliens, who interpret it as a message or something. (hilarious!)

Or the one episode where Sardo gives some kid a tiny door that can 'see the future'... or the Dangerous Soup episode with Doctor Vink! With a vh-vh-vh...

lol! so many to mention... :\

[electricprune]

I'm about a decade older than most of you guys, so my viewing choices will probably be a little different. I remember the days when I'd come home from elementary school and watch hour upon hour of cartoons. This was in the early and mid 80s. Is it just me or are there a lot fewer "after school" cartoons these days? Daytime talk shows seem to have taken their place.

I liked a lot of the classics like Scooby Doo, anything Looney Tunes related (I used to have a jean jacket with an iron on patch of RoadRunner!), and Muppet Babies. Not cartoons per se but I loved The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and You Can't Do That on Television. And PeeWee's Playhouse (before he got caught in an embarrasing act and the media blew it out of proportion, poor dude). They also had these programs called After School Specials where they'd center around a topic like drugs, sex, divorce, what have you. They were usually pretty cheesy, but I was a sucker for that stuff.

I was really more of a sitcom kid, loved Different Strokes, Family Ties, stuff like that. They re-ran a lot of 70s sitcoms in the 80s too like What's Happening and Three's Company, I loved it when tv shows centered around completely ridiculous "misunderstandings."