Your Favourite Childhood Cartoons
October 24th 2006 01:53
I thought I’d take a stroll down quaint old memory lane today and revisit some of the cartoons of my youth, back when I wasn’t as jaded and cynical as I am today.
Two of my favourite cartoons were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Samurai Pizza Cats. I guess I had a thing for anthropomorphic creatures that were skilled in Japanese martial arts and that had a love of pizza.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles followed four humanoid turtles living secret lives in the sewers of Manhattan. They were trained by the sensei, Master Splinter, to become ninja warriors battling criminals of every type. The original series that I watched ran from 1987 to 1996, but a new, somewhat darker series began in 2003. A new CGI movie, TMNT, will also be released next year. I think what I loved so much about the series when I was a kid was the differing personalities of the turtles. They were all elements of human nature – Leonardo, the honourable leader; Raphael, the fierce anti-hero; Donatello, the geeky pacifist; and Michelangelo, the adventurous free-spirit.
Samurai Pizza Cats was quite an unusual adaptation of a Japanese anime. When American producers bought the rights, they received a show with no English transcripts and chock full of Japanese-centric references. This led to the decision to write new scripts to match the animation. The resulting show was somewhat of a spoof of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but also of itself. It was fun, good-naturedly mocking and slightly of the wall. This show very much appealed to my irreverent side.
So, my question to you: what cartoons did you love as a child? It's not obligatory, but it would be great if you could post a picture as well to refresh our memories.
*Images courtesy of Wikipedia, and used under Fair Dealing as identification and commentary.
Two of my favourite cartoons were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Samurai Pizza Cats. I guess I had a thing for anthropomorphic creatures that were skilled in Japanese martial arts and that had a love of pizza.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles followed four humanoid turtles living secret lives in the sewers of Manhattan. They were trained by the sensei, Master Splinter, to become ninja warriors battling criminals of every type. The original series that I watched ran from 1987 to 1996, but a new, somewhat darker series began in 2003. A new CGI movie, TMNT, will also be released next year. I think what I loved so much about the series when I was a kid was the differing personalities of the turtles. They were all elements of human nature – Leonardo, the honourable leader; Raphael, the fierce anti-hero; Donatello, the geeky pacifist; and Michelangelo, the adventurous free-spirit.
So, my question to you: what cartoons did you love as a child? It's not obligatory, but it would be great if you could post a picture as well to refresh our memories.
*Images courtesy of Wikipedia, and used under Fair Dealing as identification and commentary.
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
It only lasted one season, but formed the basis of my childhood war fantasies. The opening theme music was amazing, too.
Visionaries Intro Theme Song
Comment by Nina
Comment by Aaron
All images are from that wonderful world of Wikipedia.
Man I miss those cartoons. They don't make cartoons like they used to, that's for sure.
Aaron.
Comment by Nina
X-Men was great too - it had a lot of deeper issues and themes that were left out of other kids programming.
Comment by The Voices in my Head
The Voices in my Head
The Smurfs...I loved the Smurfs and Gargamel! :c)
Comment by Nina
Comment by Anonymous
I don't have time today to access pictures (plus I'm not much good at it anyway ...
I'm taking you back to the late 60s & early 70s ...
My mates lived on a farm. We used to get dropped off by the school bus and have to walk about a mile or so to the house ... We would race each other home to watch either:
Marine Boy or Prince Planet ...
But the cartoons I really loved:
Batfink & Karate ...
Felix the Cat
Aesop's Fables ...
Plus a few more (plus some) ...
Felix the Cat was one day trying to set up a fold up chair on the beach and it kept collapsing on him ...
He said, " I wouldn't touch that thing with a ten foot pole."
He then produced a pole, and said.
" Luckily I have an eleven foot pole." ... Just one of those things that sticks in the memory ...
Homer ...
Comment by Nina
Comment by Icognito
I guess its always hard to go past the Simpsons and Xmen weren't too far behind.
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
The Smurfs - loved them all
Magic Roundabout- this was an English program
Rainbow - another English program
Tintin - what a hero
Pepe Le Peu
Comment by Nina
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would also be in my top cartoons.
I'm sure there's many others!
Comment by Nina
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
...and The Care Bears
...and Transformers
...and Dinosaucers
...and Captain Planet
...and The Gummy Bears
...and Danger Mouse
...and probably the greatest cartoon ever...HE -MAN!!!
Ash
Comment by Nina
Comment by Ragin Cajun
Observer's Post
Death By Myopia
Comment by Nina
Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life
No I get to relive that crush with "Harvey Birdman - Attorney at Law."
Creepy.
Comment by Nina
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
What a great question...
I loved Scooby Doo and Thunderbirds -- loved 'em - wow, now doesn't that take you back ....
I also liked Marine boy, Batfink and all the Looney Tunes.
(these days I watch Sailor Moon and The Winks, and the T.M.N.T's with my girls).
Lilla.
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Luke
Book Club
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Faves...
Astro Boy (80s version)
Cities of Lost Gold
Tintin (even though I wasn't a kid when I saw it LOL)
Ewoks
Ghostbusters (NOT the 'Real Ghostbusters')
Gummi Bears
Smurfs
Daffy Duck cartoons (Daffy rules)
Most of the Disney Cartoons can eat my arse.
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
Comment by Anonymous
I *adored* Samurai Pizza Cats - love the postmodern humour. I have a review of 'Kind of a Drag' on my site, I have to put some more up!
PC
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Daily Inspirations
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
Less conventional ones that haven't been released in english pseaking countries (or not very popular atleast) would be Grendizer, Adnan Wa LIna (or Conan and Lara as it is known in english), and umm, yeah... I have every episode of Grendizer and Adnan Wa Lina, no one sells it anymore, no one even owns the rights to them even but you can thank Mr. BitComet for helping me there...
Comment by Miss Faith
young was Rainbow Bright. When I was a little older I liked the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon too.
Great blog by the way! It's funny the things we forget about as we get older.
Miss Faith
Comment by Adrienne
Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life
Comment by Luke
Book Club
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
SpeedRacer
AstroBoy
Battle Of The Planets
Looney Tunes-escpecially Road Runner and Foghorn Leghorn
Hong Kong Fooey
Wacky Races
The Flintstones
Superfriends
Captain Caveman
Dynomut and The Blue Falcon
Birdman
Defenders of The Earth
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Does anyone remember the cartoon called The Comic Strip? There was four segments to it: Karate Kat (a rippoff of Hong Kong Phoeey), The Street Frogs (about a bunch of rapping frogs), Mini Monsters (which were kid verison of Dracula, the Werewolf, etc.) and Tiger Sharks (which was a ripoff of Thundercats but set underwater with fishmen).
Actually, now that I see it written down in front of me, The Comic Strip was really shit.
Comment by Ragin Cajun
Observer's Post
Death By Myopia
Comment by Nina
Comment by Nina
A lot of people have mentioned He-Man as well. I never watched it, but maybe I should have - it's got a lot of fans!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Good fun
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
DENVER THE LAST DINOSAUR...HE'S MY FRIEND AND A WHOLE LOT MORE (duh duh) DENVER THE LAST DINOSAUR blah blah blah!!!...
JohnDoe - I may actually go and buy that! I sed to LOVE He-Man and She-Ra - I even had the figurines, they were great...thanks for the heads up on that!
Ash
Comment by Joy
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Nina
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Cinema Three
But the super mario cartoons were the best...
Comment by Sandi
I loved Voltron (the Lions, not the Cars) He-Man, She-Ra and Jem.
Comment by Nina
Sandi: Great minds think alike
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
I just remmbered Shazam and Captain Planet.
L.
Comment by Nina
Comment by Sisi
Darkwing Duck
Superted
Widget
Roger Ramjet
Bananaman
Pinky and the Brain
Animaniacs
The Jetsons
Raggy Dolls
Captain Planet
Arthur
Inspector Gadget
Madeline
Sorry there are too many for me to post pics...if there are any in particular you can't remember I'll post some
Comment by Nina
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
But I don't want to bitch about cartoons anymore. Even when they were bad, they were still pretty good (like pizza or sex).
Comment by TonyK
AFL Central
In a totally unrelated question Nina, what program did you use for your banner, looks really good.
Comment by Nina
Comment by TonyK
AFL Central
Comment by Gareth
I used to love it when I was a kid but I cant really remember what it was all about, something about a sacred root and lots of bizarre organic cars!
Check out the intro & rocking theme tune here
Comment by Nina
Gareth: I can't say I remember 'Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors', but it does look kind of awesome.
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Thanks Gareth, and thanks Nina for the great post.
Comment by movieland
Popeye was also good
Sometimes i miss those days, though..
Comment by Nina
Comment by movieland
but sometimes i am confused!! It is so nice coincidence that i had written about that as my first post in my blog here.
Nice posts btw
Comment by Nina
Comment by movieland
Comment by SydneyPublicTransport
Public Transport
I wasnt a huge fan cause it was a "Boy" cartoon. I watched it cause of NONO the little robot this kid has as a kind of pet!
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
What about this one. Does anyone remember the Impossibles? It was about a trio of superheroes. One could turn into water, one could multiply himself, and one had springy arms and legs. Thye were in a band, and at the end of every episode, they would play a song. It was totally '60s, like Batfink.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I was creeped out, but fascinated by the use of real mouths superimposed over cartoon faces in Clutch Cargo.
I also dug the weird early Popeye cartoons.
I also loved Donald Duck from Disney.
Daffy Duck and Sylvester from Looney Tunes
I also very much enjoyed Hong Kong Phooey, The Flintstones and The Jetsons from Hanna-Barbera.
.... as an adult I was completely captivated by Ren & Stimpy
Comment by Nina
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Nina
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by holy smoke
Rumors and Truths
I love G.I. Joe....until now...Holy Smoke!
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
Thanks for the compliment too, Nina. Part I of the Hellvis origin story can be found here.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Panthers
Comment by Nina
The Bubbler
The Perilous Paper Doll
Beamatron
The Burrower
Comment by Anonymous
Biker Mice from Mars,
Yogi Bear,
Alvin and the Chipmunks,
Beetlejuice,
Fraggle Rock, and
Street Sharks
Comment by Nina
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Nina
Comment by Anonymous
-Casper
-Pink Panther
-Super Mario Brothers Super Show(included the zelda cartoon)
-Addams Family(animated)
-sonic