Lately I\u2019ve been reading things about major networks taking off their Saturday morning cartoon lineup and whatnot. I don\u2019t really know the details about all of it because news about Saturday morning cartoons just isn\u2019t at the top of my radar anymore.\u00a0 But it got me to thinking about my favorite Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, so I decided to list my top ten.\u00a0 I think I did a blog like this before, but it\u2019s been quite a while so I think it\u2019s worth revisiting.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think kids today really understand how special Saturday morning cartoons used to be for older folks. Kids today have 24-hour cartoon cable channels, and they can watch whatever they want, whenever they want, via DVR, Netflix, or the Internet.\u00a0 When I was young, kids programs only came on at certain times of the day, and if you missed them, you missed them.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Saturday morning cartoons were such a big deal.\u00a0 It was OUR time for the television, and most of the more quality and memorable shows came on during this long stretch.\u00a0 So let\u2019s all get into our PJs and grab yourself a bowl of sugary cereal and let\u2019s take a look at some of my favorite Saturday morning cartoons as a kid.<\/p>\n
But first let me set some ground rules. One, this list isn\u2019t in any particular order of preference, so the number one spot on my list really isn\u2019t my top favorite.\u00a0 I like them all for different reasons.\u00a0 Speaking of which, not all of these are on the list due to quality.\u00a0 Some of the ones on this list are actually not that great, I just have good memories watching them.\u00a0 And finally, many cartoons I watched were both on weekdays AND Saturdays, and if I have better memories watching them during the week, they didn\u2019t make the list.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019ll do a separate blog about my favorite weekday cartoons.\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 But enough of that, on to the list!<\/p>\n
Pac-Man<\/strong><\/p>\n This is a good example of a cartoon making the list not because of its quality. I could probably write a whole blog on this cartoon alone.\u00a0 But now I\u2019ll just go over the finer points.\u00a0 Again, this cartoon really wasn\u2019t that good.\u00a0 It was typical 80\u2019s Hanna-Barbara fluff.\u00a0 But in their defense, they didn\u2019t have a whole lot of material to go on.\u00a0 Really the best part of this cartoon was the voices.\u00a0 That\u2019s one thing Hanna-Barbara knew how to do was hire talented voice actors.\u00a0 Many of those folks are still in the voice acting business!\u00a0 I loved this cartoon as a kid, even though it wasn\u2019t the best out there.\u00a0 Back then, we didn\u2019t have the Internet so we got our video game fixes any other way we could.\u00a0 Plus, as you may know, as a kid I was totally infatuated with Pac-Man. I ate Pac-Man pasta, slept on Pac-Man bedsheets, carried my Pac-Man sleeping bag to sleepovers, etc.\u00a0 About the only thing I didn\u2019t do was eat Pac-Man cereal (I never liked marshmallows).\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s still available, but a couple of years ago you could get the Pac-Man cartoon DVDs online at WB\u2019s online shop (yes I have them).\u00a0 One thing you can say is that at least the old Pac-Man cartoon was better than the new computer animated Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures!<\/p>\n Muppet Babies<\/strong><\/p>\n Hey don\u2019t laugh. This cartoon was actually very well-written.\u00a0 It even won Emmys and other awards.\u00a0 Which is surprising since many of the episodes were written by the same guy who wrote most of the scripts for the Pac-Man cartoon!\u00a0 His name was Jeffrey Scott, and he also wrote episodes of Superfriends and the Mega Man cartoon.\u00a0 No wonder why I\u2019m so messed up nowadays.\u00a0 Anyway, this was a very good cartoon for kids.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if it would hold up as well today, what with all the 80\u2019s references and all.\u00a0 Plus, the show used a lot of live footage, especially from old movies, that I\u2019m not sure they\u2019d have the rights to show anymore.\u00a0 In fact, in one famous episode, the Muppet Babies used an old video camera to make their own Star Wars movie.\u00a0 Come to think of it, Disney does own both the Muppets AND Star Wars now, so maybe they could do that again!\u00a0 At any rate, any show that encourages kids to use their imagination can\u2019t be all bad, right?<\/p>\n Garfield and Friends<\/strong><\/p>\n I said that this list wasn\u2019t in any order of preference, but if I had to pick my number one favorite, this would probably be it. For many years prior, Garfield prime time animated specials would always win Emmys, so eventually they made their own Saturday morning cartoon that I\u2019m sure won awards, too.\u00a0 Aside from some references to old technology like videotapes, I think this cartoon still holds up well today.\u00a0 It had a lot of clever parody and satire that wouldn\u2019t be seen in cartoons until Animaniacs came out.\u00a0 But it wasn\u2019t delivered in a heavy-handed kind of way, so you didn\u2019t have to think about things too much.\u00a0 It was the perfect Saturday morning cartoon in that respect.\u00a0 I have ever single season of this cartoon on DVD.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always been a pretty big Garfield fan, too.\u00a0 Jim Davis may get criticism for not being much of a cartoonist, but he\u2019s a pretty good business man to get his character out there, and most of the products Garfield was on were of high quality.\u00a0 At least back then, anyway.\u00a0 Not so much now.\u00a0 A few years ago, there was another Garfield cartoon called The Garfield Show and it was all computer animated.\u00a0 It looked terrible, plots were not as good, and Garfield actually moved his mouth when he talked.\u00a0 I would say the voices weren\u2019t as good, but you can\u2019t blame the cartoon for that since Garfield\u2019s original voice actor passed away a while back.\u00a0 The new voice actor (which is Frank Welker I think), does a good job, but he\u2019s no Lorenzo Music.\u00a0 That guy really got into his role as Garfield back in the day, and you could really tell in the Garfield and Friends cartoon.\u00a0 What\u2019s really sad is that this cartoon didn\u2019t go off the air because of lack of quality or viewers.\u00a0 In fact, it was as popular as ever when it was taken off.\u00a0 But back then, the station that carried this cartoon stopped doing Saturday morning cartoons altogether in favor of news shows.\u00a0 So, popular shows like Garfield and Friends, Muppet Babies, and Super Mario World ended prematurely, unfortunately.\u00a0 Well, maybe Super Mario World ending was a good thing, as that cartoon was horrible!\u00a0 One last tidbit about Garfield and Friends.\u00a0 It was animated by Film Roman, who also did the early episodes of The Simpsons (you know, back when they were good).<\/p>\n Captain N: The Game Master & The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3<\/strong><\/p>\n OK I know this is cheating since these are basically two cartoons, but back then many shows were shown in blocks. In fact, for a while the Pac-Man cartoon was part of the \u201cPac-Man, Ritchie Rich, and Rubix Cube Hour.\u201d\u00a0 (Yes, there really was a Rubix Cube cartoon back then).\u00a0 Anyway, this is one of those cartoons that is on my list not for its quality, but I sure did like this cartoon as a kid.\u00a0 Even if they messed up some of the characters.\u00a0 Really the only one who bothered me was Mega Man, with his scratchy \u201cMega Hi!\u201d voice.\u00a0 They ruined Kid Icarus and Simon Belmont, too, but I didn\u2019t care about them since I wasn\u2019t into those games.\u00a0 I loved the villains, though.\u00a0 King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard were great dumb sidekicks, and Metroid fans would cringe if they saw what they did with Mother Brain.\u00a0 She talked like Aunt Jemima.\u00a0 \u201cDoctah Wily!\u00a0 Git ovah heyah!\u201d\u00a0 I will say one thing; at least this cartoon was imaginative.\u00a0 One memory of this cartoon that sticks out was the Dragon Warrior episode.\u00a0 When it aired, I was spending the night at a friend\u2019s house and we were excited when this came on because we were currently playing the Dragon Warrior game at the time!<\/p>\n The Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon wasn\u2019t great either, but any cartoon based on one of the most popular games of the time was still going to be big anyway. Plus, it was actually based on the game, while the Super Mario Bros. Super Show was more about movie and TV parodies.\u00a0 There were tons of animation errors, though.\u00a0 I did like the Koopa Kids design, even if they got their names wrong (probably because they had to do the cartoon before Nintendo decides on their names in the game).\u00a0 Plus, the cartoon had some good lessons sometimes, and who could forget the infamous \u201cMilli Vanilli\u201d episode!\u00a0 I watched a lot of video game based cartoons as a kid, but somehow certain ones stick out in my mind more than others.\u00a0 Some video game cartoons I watched back then were pretty good, like Earthworm Jim.\u00a0 Other ones, like Saturday Supercade, were not good at all, but I watched them anyway.\u00a0 I especially liked the Q*bert cartoon on Saturday Supercade.\u00a0 One thing I can say about these cartoons is that while they weren\u2019t the best in the world, they were just fun, unassuming, wholesome cartoons that kids (and only kids) would like, and I can\u2019t fault them too much for that.<\/p>\n The Real Ghostbusters<\/strong><\/p>\n I oftentimes forget about this cartoon, but when I think about it, I really did watch this one a lot as a kid. Ghostbusters was always one of my favorite movies.\u00a0 Some of the things they got away with in this cartoon really surprised me, and it could get kind of scary for a kid\u2019s cartoon.\u00a0 I watched this one both on Saturdays and weekdays, but it felt more memorable on Saturdays for me.\u00a0 Is it wrong that my two favorite characters in the movie and cartoon were Slimer and Janine?\u00a0 As much as I liked Slimer (and his awesome Hi-C Ecto Cooler juice), I hated it when Slimer got his own cartoon.\u00a0 That was awful.\u00a0 Do you know why the cartoon was called The \u201cReal\u201d Ghostbusters?\u00a0 Back in the 70\u2019s, there was a live action show called The Ghost Busters, and Filmation got the rights to make a cartoon based on that in the 80\u2019s.\u00a0 It was horrible, by the way.\u00a0 So when it came time to make a movie cartoon, they couldn\u2019t use the same title, I guess.\u00a0 At any rate, there were a lot of movie-based cartoons back then, but The Real Ghostbusters was my favorite.\u00a0 Another one I liked was the Back to the Future cartoon.\u00a0 Christopher Lloyd even played his Doc Brown role in the cartoon and in live action as they did science experiments before and after the show.\u00a0 They tried so hard to make it educational.\u00a0 Many years later, when Back to the Future was released on DVD and got a surge of popularity, they replayed episodes of the cartoon on one of the major network stations still showing Saturday cartoons!<\/p>\n Eek the Cat<\/strong><\/p>\n Remember when I was telling you about how one of the major networks shut down their Saturday morning cartoon lineup in favor of news shows back in the 90\u2019s? Well, when that happened, one of the upstart new networks, Fox, stepped up to the plate and provided some pretty quality cartoons.\u00a0 The next three on the list are from that era.\u00a0 Eek the Cat was about a tubby purple cat who always wanted to help people.\u00a0 In fact his catch phrase was \u201cIt never hurts to help.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately for him, it always did hurt, as he was tormented by the neighbor\u2019s Shark Dog as well as his own crazy family.\u00a0 Eventually, Eek the Cat spawned another show called The Terrible Thunder Lizards, which was equally as funny, as well as Clutter, which wasn\u2019t very good at all (but it wasn\u2019t made by the same folks either).\u00a0 Speaking of which, the masterminds behind Eek and the Thunder Lizards cartoon was animation veteran Bill Kopp and \u201cSavage\u201d Steve Holland.\u00a0 The latter also made a few cheesy 80\u2019s movies like Better Off Dead, as well as the Whammy characters in Press Your Luck (yes, really).\u00a0 I kind of consider Eek the Cat as \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d of Saturday morning.\u00a0 It was pretty edgy for its time, had celebrity guests like the folks from X-Files, and had parodies of 90\u2019s pop culture.\u00a0 For instance, in one episode, the Shark Dog became a rapper and had a song called \u201cMailman Biter,\u201d which was a direct parody of Snoop Dogg\u2019s \u201cCop Killer.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, the humor was so anchored to the 90\u2019s that I\u2019m not sure if it would hold up as well today.\u00a0 And since Disney owns the rights to this show now, I don\u2019t think they have any interest in re-releasing it again.<\/p>\n Sam & Max<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of us probably know Sam & Max from video games, but I knew it way before then as an underground comic book. Probably one of the only comic books I ever really got into.\u00a0 I first learned of Sam & Max through the LucasFilm Games newsletter, then I got into the comics shortly after.\u00a0 I was surprised when Sam & Max was on Saturday mornings, as they did have to soften some things up, but they still got away with a lot of things you wouldn\u2019t expect.\u00a0 I imagine the only reason why it was even made was due to the popularity of another underground comic book turned cartoon: The Tick.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the Sam & Max cartoon series came out when I was in college, and I didn\u2019t watch as many cartoons then.\u00a0 And it only lasted for one season anyway (they even made a joke about that in one of TellTale\u2019s games).\u00a0 But a few years ago I did buy the Sam & Max cartoon on DVD.\u00a0 I hear Disney also owns Sam & Max now, so we may not see anything out of them anytime soon.\u00a0 The creator of Sam & Max, Steve Purcell, helped produce Pixar\u2019s Brave movie, though, and he was the voice of the crow in it.<\/p>\n Bobby\u2019s World<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not really a fan of Howie Mandell, but this is one thing he did that I liked. Based on one of his comedy routines, Bobby\u2019s World was about a five-year-old boy\u2019s unique outlook on life and his family (and was voiced by Howie himself).\u00a0 It was a really cute kid\u2019s cartoon, and touched on a lot of subjects that other kid\u2019s cartoons didn\u2019t.\u00a0 A lot of Saturday morning cartoons were actually based on comedian skits.\u00a0 Others include Louie Anderson\u2019s Life With Louie, Pee Wee\u2019s Playhouse (yuck), and Camp Candy.\u00a0 Heck, even Fat Albert was based on one of Bill Cosby\u2019s acts. I remember seeing Bobby\u2019s World on Netflix a while back, not sure if it\u2019s still on there, though.<\/p>\n Kirby: Right Back at Ya!\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n In the early to mid-2000\u2019s, there was what I feel a resurgence in Saturday morning cartoons. At least on one network anyway.\u00a0 The last two on this list are from that era.\u00a0 Around this time, the GameCube was big and cartoony 3-D platformers were at their height of popularity.\u00a0 There were many cartoons based on video games around this time.\u00a0 Some were all right, like F-Zero, some were awful, like Viewtiful Joe, and some were pretty decent, like Sonic X.\u00a0 But the best of the bunch was the Kirby cartoon!\u00a0 Sure it was typical Fox Kids fluff, but it was still fun and entertaining.\u00a0 A perfect fit for Saturday mornings.\u00a0 One of the reasons why I think this cartoon was so well done was that the creators of the Kirby games were heavily involved in the making of the show.\u00a0 I also like their choices of voice actors.\u00a0 Whoever decided on King Dedede\u2019s US voice deserves a raise.\u00a0 This cartoon holds up pretty well, and I\u2019m surprised a channel hasn\u2019t bought the rights to show this in syndication, especially since Kirby is more popular now than ever.<\/p>\n Astro Boy<\/strong><\/p>\n Around the time that the Kirby cartoon came out, an Astro Boy cartoon was released to celebrate the character\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 The creator of Astro Boy is oftentimes called the father of Japanese manga comic books and cartoons, so Astro Boy is a pretty big deal over there.\u00a0 This new Astro Boy cartoon was great.\u00a0 I heard that they used as many frames per second as movie cartoons do, as opposed to the lesser amount of frames used in TV.\u00a0 This is one of the few anime cartoons I really like, and I have it on DVD, too.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Fox Kids didn\u2019t show the episodes in order, and the DVD set follows suit.\u00a0 So you need to find a guide on the Internet if you want to watch it in order.\u00a0 Fans of Mega Man should really try and watch Astro Boy, as Mega Man is pretty much Astro Boy: The Game. Speaking of games, when this cartoon came out, SEGA published a GBA game by Treasure called Astro Boy: Omega Factor, and it\u2019s one of the few Treasure games I actually like, and one of the best GBA games ever.<\/p>\n Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n And that\u2019s all for this list! When I was a kid, you always knew when the Saturday morning cartons were over when Soul Train came on.\u00a0 So about that time I\u2019d turn off the TV after watching the cartoon train go by, and I\u2019d usually go play outside.\u00a0 Or I\u2019d switch the TV to one of the local stations that always showed a Japanese monster Godzilla or Ultraman movie in the early afternoon.\u00a0 There were a lot of other cartoons I watched, and I tried to squeeze in honorable mentions in the paragraphs above, but I think one other one I missed was Freakazoid.\u00a0 That was a good cartoon, but not good enough to make the top ten.\u00a0 Maybe next time I\u2019ll talk about my favorite weekday afternoon cartoons as a kid.\u00a0 What do you think?\u00a0 In the comments section, tell me what you think of my list, and let me know YOUR favorite Saturday morning cartoons!\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lately I\u2019ve been reading things about major networks taking off their Saturday morning cartoon lineup and whatnot. I don\u2019t really know the details about all of it because news about Saturday morning cartoons just isn\u2019t at the top of my radar anymore.\u00a0 But it got me to thinking about my favorite Saturday morning cartoons as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12688,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12686\/revisions\/12688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}