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Post by Calidore on Aug 31, 2024 15:39:49 GMT -5
That Flash Gordon cartoon was terrific. The total change in the format for the second season was a crushing disappointment.
I think the most memorable deal in '80s cartoons for me was the first real influx of modern anime. Voltron was impressive enough, and then Robotech was seismic--a proper long-form serial with real characters and mature storytelling.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 31, 2024 15:54:12 GMT -5
The 80s was my prime time for cartoons (being born in 1975). I really didn't get into comics until later... so for superheroes stuff the 90s X-Men and Spider-Man (when my younger brothers were watching and I was the cool kid that pretended I didn't care) were more my jam. I definitely watched Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, but it was never among my favorites.
Thundarr the Barbarian was my favorite... followed by Heathcliff.. they were definitely on the same channel too.
I was definitely more into the weird stuff.. like Gummy Bears, Smurfs, Kid Video, I was definitely into Hanna Barbera too (Space Ghost, Herculoids, etc).
Stuff like Duck Tales, Thundercats, Transformers, Real Ghostbusters I remember being into later, when they were in syndication and I would watch after school. Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry were staples there, too, but clearly they are not from the 80s (at least not the best ones)
Of course I had no idea what Anime was at the time, but the small bits I got (Voltron, Star Blazers, and Robotech) were cherished greatly when I found them on.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2024 15:55:11 GMT -5
That Flash Gordon cartoon was terrific. The total change in the format for the second season was a crushing disappointment. I think the most memorable deal in '80s cartoons for me was the first real influx of modern anime. Voltron was impressive enough, and then Robotech was seismic--a proper long-form serial with real characters and mature storytelling. Oh yeah, I'm right with you, Robotech just floored me at the time and of course Voltron was great too as you mentioned. Also agreed on that second season of Flash Gordon! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2024 15:58:36 GMT -5
The 80s was my prime time for cartoons (being born in 1975). I really didn't get into comics until later... so for superheroes stuff the 90s X-Men and Spider-Man (when my younger brothers were watching and I was the cool kid that pretended I didn't care) were more my jam. I definitely watched Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, but it was never among my favorites. Thundarr the Barbarian was my favorite... followed by Heathcliff.. they were definitely on the same channel too. I was definitely more into the weird stuff.. like Gummy Bears, Smurfs, Kid Video, I was definitely into Hanna Barbera too (Space Ghost, Herculoids, etc). Stuff like Duck Tales, Thundercats, Transformers, Real Ghostbusters I remember being into later, when they were in syndication and I would watch after school. Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry were staples there, too, but clearly they are not from the 80s (at least not the best ones) Of course I had no idea what Anime was at the time, but the small bits I got (Voltron, Star Blazers, and Robotech) were cherished greatly when I found them on. I liked the weird stuff too, one of my favorite shows from the decade was Galaxy High if anyone remembers that one! Love everything you (and everyone else) listed and enjoy hearing which ones were particular favorites, the memories are coming back fast  |
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 31, 2024 16:09:45 GMT -5
Galaxy High? Never saw it, but I did read a UK-produced comic strip of it.
Oh, and here’s another one I like:
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 31, 2024 16:12:09 GMT -5
And let’s not forget BraveStarr:
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 31, 2024 17:58:26 GMT -5
The Incredible Hulk is underrated, and I am dismayed that it only ran for one season. It started with a rather outside the box episode featuring the Hulk versus Dr. Octopus; as a fan of “cross-pollination”, it was intriguing seeing Hulk against Ock. Bruce Banner was voiced by Michael Bell, and I’d say all 13 episodes were very good. I wish we’d seen a second season featuring the likes of Abomination and Juggernaut. Spider-man and the Hulk have always been my two favourite Marvel characters, so having them share an hour-long block every Saturday morning when I was a kid was always a treat. The Hulk guest starred in an early episode of Spider-man and his Amazing Friends which I assume was the backdoor pilot that led to him getting his own cartoon. I believe Michael Bell also voiced Dr.Octopus as well, both in Spider-man and his Amazing Friends and the Incredible Hulk show. My favourite episode of The Incredible Hulk cartoon has him going up against a modern-day version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The episode had a darker tone to it, but still remained kid friendly. For some reason though the Hulk's ripped clothes would somehow put themselves back together when he changed back to Banner. Even as a kid I thought that was weird! |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 31, 2024 18:26:13 GMT -5
(...) But if you really want to see the "best of 1979" (I'll take a little sidestep even though this is an 80's thread), the first season of The New Adventures of Flash Gordon is must see watching. The animation is flat out stunning and it's a really fun adaptation: Oh, I'm very familiar with the Flash Gordon cartoon; in fact, I think it - together with two other late '70s Filmation favorites, Batman and Tarzan - has been discussed here before at least once. One thing I really appreciated is that the Flash Gordon told a serialized story, rather than having done-in-one episodes like most other cartoons. I also liked that the first four episodes were later adapted into a feature-length movie that was aired in the evening (which used to be available on YouTube, but I can't find it now, although I see that someone has now posted the entire series. I'm gonna have to find time to watch it).
Au contraire, mon frere! It was actually the other way around. Filmation was originally trying to do a live action Flash Gordon, but switched to doing animation, for a prime time release. NBC was so impressed that they commissioned a series and they used 2/3 of the film to open the series, and held the climax of the film back for the final season episode, while they got the newer adventures intro production. They withheld broadcast of the movie, until later, as Flash Gordon, The Greatest Adventure of All. Loved that they included the actual meeting with Zarkov and rocketing from Earth, since it wasn't in the series episodes, as they begin in orbit around Mongo, before crashing to the planet. Also, the subplot that Ming is providing advanced weaponry to the Nazis, as you see him watching a rally and then eyeing a model of the V-2 rocket. Plus, the film opens during the bombing of Warsaw, with Flash on a mission for the State Department. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 31, 2024 18:41:17 GMT -5
My earliest cartoons were the very end of the 60s; so, I recall stuff like The Adventures of Batman (part of the Batman/Superman Hour) and The Bana Splits Show, especially the Three Musketeers cartoons. The 70s were my main cartoon era; but, I was an animation fan and continued to watch cartoons into the 80s.
Flash Gordon was a huge favorite, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Thundarr, Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends (especially when the X-Men turned up), The Hulk companion series. I also greatly enjoyed The Space Stars, with Hanna-Barbera updating some of their 60s adventure heroes, like Space Ghost and The Herculoids. Blackstar was a good one. I watched the debuts and earliest episodes of 80s stalwarts, like He-Man and GI JOE, though didn't watch them after they launched. In college, I watched a little bit of The Real Ghostbusters (except the "real" ones were Larry Storch & Forrest Tucker!), loved Thundercats, Silver Hawks was pretty decent and I enjoyed what I saw of The Bionic 6. Voltron and Robotech were favorites, just as Battle of the Planets and Speed Racer had been, earlier. I watched Danger Mouse, on early Nickelodeon, in college. Loved that series; and, for a while, they also showed Banana Man. Count Duckula started showing while I was in the military. I liked the Ruby-Spears Superman and also watched the Ralph Bakshi Mighty Mouse, in college.
It was sad watching Looney Tunes in the 80s, though, as they gutted them of just about everything funny. I remember being awake on a Saturday morning, not having to work and watching the latest iteration on the networks and they had one of the Duck Season/Rabbit Season trilogy, but edited out every single gunshot and pretty much each punchline. It was horrible! They wouldn't show a lot of old favorites and were showing more of the later DePatie-Freleng Road Runner than the Chuck Jones classics. For all the talk of the 70s watering down cartoons, with censorship and non-violent shows, they still periodically rebroadcast things like Jonny Quest and Space Ghost, relatively uncut, and mostly left the Looney Tunes material alone, apart from the really offensive stuff from the 30s and 40s.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 31, 2024 21:19:05 GMT -5
I only saw Bravestarr a couple times... but that was one of those shows I wanted to watch but I could never find on... maybe it just didn't last long.
That also makes me think of Silver Hawks.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Aug 31, 2024 23:51:52 GMT -5
I started working Saturday mornings doing odd jobs and such for our landlord to make spending money when I was in 8th grade ('82-'83 school year) so I didn't see a lot of Saturday morning fare after that. Though I did make a point of seeing as many episodes of the D&D cartoon during summer reruns or at friends' house on tape as I could (which was about 1/3 of the season). I saw a few episodes of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (and later the Hulk) when I could and liked them, but never saw a lot of them at the time. We wouldn't get a VCR until I was a sophomore in hs and them most of what I taped was Dr. Who episodes on PBS that ran opposite local evening news so I couldn't watch live).
The only real favorite 80s cartoon I had and that I was able to watch all of was Thundarr. I also liked Blackstar but it aired in the same timeslot as Thundarr so I had to catch reruns and that was limited as we moved from Maine to Connecticut that summer and stayed with my grandfather who watched boxing on ESPN or whatever wrestling was on during Saturday mornings so I was only able to see a handful of eps before we moved and nothing after that.
The only other favorite I had was Duck Tales, which debuted the fall I left for university, and I didn't get to see until I stumbled upon a couple of episodes while I was home for Thanksgiving break, and really only got to watch when I was home for holiday and summer breaks and not working.
So I have little to no nostalgic ties to any 80s cartoons. Didn't watch things like G.I. Joe or Transformers, I did check out an episode or two of Masters of the Universe thinking it would be cool sword & sorcery type stuff like Thundarr and Blackstar, but it wasn't and never watched again. I didn't really start watching cartoons again until '92 when Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men debuted, and I had a VCR to tape them because I had graduated from university and was working full time by then and would never be available to watch them live when broadcast.
Of course, the little bit of Saturday morning fare I did see when doing odd jobs for my landlord because his kids were watching cartoons consisted of things like Pac Man, Monchichis and Smurfs, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything I wanted to see. To this day, those big iconic cartoon franchises of the 80s have little to no draw for me, though Mrs.MRP is a big fan of some of them (particularly Thundercats). I checked out a few episodes of MOTU Revelation and thought it was ok, but not enough to finish the season or track down anything related. A lot of my friends in the comic and con community here locally are all big fins of the stuff, so I have absorbed a lot of trivia about them through exposure and osmosis, but it's all just sort of meh for me.
-M
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Post by Calidore on Sept 1, 2024 9:56:59 GMT -5
Here's one that deserved to last longer. The quality of the art and animation, with the characters and camera in constant motion, was leagues above the rest of early '80s Saturday morning.
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Post by driver1980 on Sept 1, 2024 16:13:54 GMT -5
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this month:
One I absolutely did not enjoy (but most of my friends did) was this:
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 1, 2024 21:21:45 GMT -5
One that I was fond of (even in my early youth in the 90's) was The Centurions. It was just such a cool premise and you could really tell that they had fun with it. Would love to get my hands on the toys if they weren't so pricey.
Loved Gumby Adventures as well, (same for Trap Door, LOVE anything stop motion/claymation related)
Also vaguely remember this one show, something about prepubescent genetically-modified shinobi tortoises or something? Right on the tip of my brain...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2024 7:23:10 GMT -5
Back on Spider-Man, while as mentioned I enjoyed Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends back in the day, I didn't realize until more recent years their was a second Spider-Man cartoon that launched that same year. That's right, Spidey got 2 cartoons in 1981!
The second one was just called Spider-Man, though I discovered it as a UK DVD release titled Spider-Man 5000 (the 5000 added just to differentiate the various Spidey DVD releases). It's a more straightforward take on Spidey, and plenty of classic villains, I've really enjoyed watching this one too! Curious if anyone else remembers it, I'm pretty sure it didn't air where I lived when I was a kid. It's currently also available on Disney+ if anyone is curious. Here's the opening:
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