May 3, 2010
As We Get Nostalgic
I was flipping through the television channels looking for something mildly sexy to watch the other day. (The Girlfriend had earlier rather selfishly declared the sex tap “closed”)
Not realising the time, (it was the middle of the afternoon) I was instead greeted by kids cartoons. Now, I used to be an avid cartoon fan when I was younger, and would regularly get up early at about 6:30am on a Saturday, excitedly waiting for K-TV to start promptly at 7am. Can anyone else remember the orange / yellow clock that they used to display about 5 minutes before 7?
Watching it slowly tick by as you willingly wished it to go faster was epic torture for an 8 year old with no friends. Maybe I’m being biased, but the television shows they had back then were infinitely better than what is currently available for kids. Seeing as I have some time this evening -- what with the sex tap still being closed and all -- I thought I would go through some of the awesome shows from that era, in no particular order:
#5 -- Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs
Saber Rider - About to cut someone with his sword.
One of the greatest cartoons of all time. Fact. The show had a bit of a western vibe, and involved Saber Rider, a blonde, androgynous-looking guy who had a robot horse and preferred a sword over a laser gun, which I always found a bit narrow minded and conservative, because I would have found the laser gun to have been an incredibly useful invention, what with not having to carry around boxes of bullets everywhere you went, and you can only do so much damage with a sword. Surprisingly, this never seemed to bother Saber Rider, and he managed to slay and permanently maim a large amount of enemies on a weekly basis with his little sword. Oh, and his giant robot, called Nimrod.
Besides being a simply phenomenal series, Saber Rider was also famous for its opening theme, which we will now look at and sing along with:
Click here if the video does not play
#4 -- Bravestarr
Bravestarr: Chilling with his talking horse 30-30.
A staggeringly epic cartoon, which had just the right mix of action, laughs and morality lessons for kids. The series centred around New Texas, a futuristic planet with a bit of a western vibe about it, and the ongoing battle between Tex Hex, a scarily demonic looking bad guy and gang leader, and the equally badass Bravestarr, a native American lawman who had super human powers. What kind of super human powers? Well, being a native American, he could of course channel the strength of the bear, the ears of the wolf, eyes of the hawk, and speed of the puma -- you know, pretty standard stuff if you are a native American.
Looking back at the theme song, I can easily see this turning into a live action movie, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Bravestarr. Anyone agree?
Click here if the video does not play
#3 -- Galaxy Rangers
Shane 'Goose' Gooseman: A Galaxy Ranger.
Yet another cartoon with a strong western influence, this didn’t seem to run on television for too long, but it always stood out as a favourite of mine. Set in the future (+ -- 2086) it involved four gifted individuals who served as “Galaxy Rangers”, helping to maintain law and order in the universe. Besides the standard episode plots, there was also the overiding story arc involving the Galaxy Ranger leader, Zachary Foxx, who is trying to resuscitate his cryogenically frozen wife, after her mind was stolen by the evil and mysterious Queen of the Crown, who was the show’s antagonist. Shane “Goose” Gooseman was always my favourite for some reason, possibly due to me having a preference for blonde cartoon action heroes, but also because he was pretty handle with the steel, if you know what I mean, he earned his keep.
Besides being a fairly adult themed kids show, it also had one of the best intros. Let’s take a look.
Click here if the video does not play
#2 -- X-Men
X-Men: Simply awesome.
If you put a gun to my head and told me to choose just one of these cartoons, I would probably have to go with the X-Men. This originally aired 1992 but even today it’s still a watchable series. It’s probably the most critically acclaimed adult themed kids cartoon ever made. I’m not going to talk about the plot, as you should all be aware of the X-Men (if not read this).
Another intro which is pretty spectacular, I found this HD version of it, so let’s have a look:
Click here if the video does not play
#1 -- Spiderman
Not Spiderman: But the chick he was pulling. Mary Jane.
This is probably the second best cartoon series to come out of the 90′s, after X-Men. Spiderman: The Animated Series aired in 1994, and was a brilliant and action-packed show centred around the most famous man to have been bitten by a radio-active spider. The animation was pretty awesome for it’s time, and as previously mentioned, the fast paced action scenes were pretty epic. It was also another kids show with season long story arcs, and didn’t do the whole moral at the end of the show bit that many cartoons were still pulling. The success of the cartoon also surely convinced the movie studios to go with the live action route, much like the X-Men cartoon did.
Let’s have a look at the intro, which is a shit quality, but still gives you an idea of the show:
Click here if the video does not play
Leave Anything Out?
How brilliant was that? Think there were better shows than these? Drop a comment and let’s hear your thoughts.
I was always more of a fan of the robot manga – Voltron, Transformers, Go Bots etc.
I know they did a nasty updated version of Voltron Force, but I remember the show from the 80;s being more superior.
I enjoyed the Walt Disney styff like Gummi Bears, Ducktales, Alladin etc.
In fact, Ducktales was was probably my favourite show of all time.
A movie is being made of the best cartoon of all time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS6E-Nu3xsg
Also, Bionic 6 and even Gummi Bears would be worth honourable mentions.
As Ryan and Simon say, Voltron, Transformers, GI Joe, Ducktales et al are probably right up there. The one from your list that I won’t even begin to dispute is X-Men. That theme tune still gives me lift.
Yes, these are all good and dandy, but there were some pretty cool ‘girly’ action cartoons too? Like Princess Starla and the Jewel Riders? They had horses, animal side kicks and some powers that made them change outfits. And there was Beast Wars too, not a girly action cartoon but i always thought those guys were kinda cool…
Oh and there was Jem and The Holograms – another girly action cartoon, ok maybe action is a strong word for this cartoon but it was way ahead of it’s time for the 80′s
Thundercats, hello? And what about Robotec – oh, and the one with the Dinosaurs (Dino-riders mayhaps?)
The batman series where he had a square jaw was almost as good as x-men and spiderman. K-tv is kak compared to the 90′s. I used to dig that lame game show they had with the green slime and the “forward forward grab” sonic the hedgehog game. Good times.
Cool selection. You are forgetting Robotech.. perhaps a little before your time. Dragonball and DragonballZ was awesome as well. As far as the 90′s go, the Simpsons ruled the roost. Marvel also has an 80s animated version of the Incredible Hulk which was one of the highest rated shows of the Saturday morning cartoon era :)
Captain Planet – he’s our hero!
That Bravestarr intro gave me a tingling sensation in my genital region.
Tin Tin? Asterix?
this list is not complete without
Thundercats and Ghostbusters.
glad we didn’t have to do my little pony.