Batman: The Animated Series
In my opinion, the greatest Saturday morning cartoon of all time, and one of the finest realizations of the Batman universe ever conceived. They dealt with some real adult topics like depression, fear, violence, addiction, loss etc. in a very direct way, and each episode really made you think. The tone was perfectly dark and gritty, and every episode was amazingly well written and scored.
I own a box set of this, and it still holds up years after the fact. Also, Harley Quinn ^^
Animaics
I don't think anyone realized how genius this series was until it was already upon us. Tiny Toon Adventures paved the way, but Animacs was one of the finest combinations of satire, iconic/memorables characters (Slappy the Squirrel, Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers) and sharp social commentary to grace a weekend lineup. There are still some jokes and puns that I am just realizing now, all these years later.
Pretty amazing that they could make a show that was equally fun for adults and kids to watch; and the level to which they lampooned actual real world events and figures is hitherto (that's right, hitherto!) unmatched.
EarthWorm Jim/Freakazoid
I'm putting these two in a category together since they were cut from a similar mold, but these two cartoons filled out the zanier/weirder/random side of the Saturday morning lineup. Earworm Jim was, at that time, one of the strangest characters to appear in a popular cartoon, and I think he paved the way for a lot of the newer shows that appeared in the late 90s and 2000s.
The style of humor was super irreverant, and also launched one of the best video games for 16 bit consoles. Frekazoid was also a total gem -- I don't think I'd ever laughed that hard at a cartoon at that age. It didn't make any sense at all, but yet it did -- and the borderline between organization and complete insanity was flirted with in such a way that the network execs didn't get it and they quickly cancelled the show.
X-Men
While it wasn't quite at the level of Batman: The Animated Series, this cartoon did a fantastic job of bringing the comic book universe it was based on to life. It had memorable storylines, and the way it was paced made you eager to tune in every week to see the next chapter in the saga (the Phoenix story was a highlight for me).
I really enjoyed this cartoon, and it's one of the things that originally got me interested in the X-men. This and B:TAS really paved the way for future Saturday morning comic cartoons.
There are tons more cartoons and I'm curious to see what everybody thinks -- so add your own!
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Also as an aside.. Does anybody remember this cartoon?
In my opinion, the greatest Saturday morning cartoon of all time, and one of the finest realizations of the Batman universe ever conceived. They dealt with some real adult topics like depression, fear, violence, addiction, loss etc. in a very direct way, and each episode really made you think. The tone was perfectly dark and gritty, and every episode was amazingly well written and scored.
I own a box set of this, and it still holds up years after the fact. Also, Harley Quinn ^^
Animaics
I don't think anyone realized how genius this series was until it was already upon us. Tiny Toon Adventures paved the way, but Animacs was one of the finest combinations of satire, iconic/memorables characters (Slappy the Squirrel, Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers) and sharp social commentary to grace a weekend lineup. There are still some jokes and puns that I am just realizing now, all these years later.
Pretty amazing that they could make a show that was equally fun for adults and kids to watch; and the level to which they lampooned actual real world events and figures is hitherto (that's right, hitherto!) unmatched.
EarthWorm Jim/Freakazoid
I'm putting these two in a category together since they were cut from a similar mold, but these two cartoons filled out the zanier/weirder/random side of the Saturday morning lineup. Earworm Jim was, at that time, one of the strangest characters to appear in a popular cartoon, and I think he paved the way for a lot of the newer shows that appeared in the late 90s and 2000s.
The style of humor was super irreverant, and also launched one of the best video games for 16 bit consoles. Frekazoid was also a total gem -- I don't think I'd ever laughed that hard at a cartoon at that age. It didn't make any sense at all, but yet it did -- and the borderline between organization and complete insanity was flirted with in such a way that the network execs didn't get it and they quickly cancelled the show.
X-Men
While it wasn't quite at the level of Batman: The Animated Series, this cartoon did a fantastic job of bringing the comic book universe it was based on to life. It had memorable storylines, and the way it was paced made you eager to tune in every week to see the next chapter in the saga (the Phoenix story was a highlight for me).
I really enjoyed this cartoon, and it's one of the things that originally got me interested in the X-men. This and B:TAS really paved the way for future Saturday morning comic cartoons.
There are tons more cartoons and I'm curious to see what everybody thinks -- so add your own!
-----------------------
Also as an aside.. Does anybody remember this cartoon?
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