The 80′s-90′s cartoons

I’m a child of the 1980′s. At that time, the concept of anime (japanese animation) deludes me. For a kid in those days, anything that is in 2d animation on television is considered cartoon and every kid would settle for nothing to watch their favorite characters despite untimely eating schedules, getting late in class or blurring their visions from too much radiation.

Ah yes, saturday morning cartoons 80s. It was the life.

Back on those days, I remember waking up early every Saturday morning. And I mean EARLY. Like 7 or 8 in the morning. Because when 9 settles in, I will immediately go to my grandfather’s room and he would let me watch cartoons from 9am till lunch. Yes, that long. I do remember each cartoon taking half an hour to finish and I will be very happy to end half of my day in cartoon land only to take a short nap before doing another cartoon marathon in the afternoon.

*sigh* The life of being a kid. I TRULY miss those days.

Of course, right now, I wouldn’t possibly each and every cartoon I watched back then but I would like to list down the few I still remember and take a leisure stroll back down memory lane.

NOTE: These are not just cartoons found in the mornings. I added up cartoon viewed in the afternoons since I couldn’t possible remember their schedules. And some might come from the early 90′s since those were also a part of my crazy cartoon days. ^_^

The Adventures of Popeye

Popeye is a favorite of my dad’s. Yes, it’s that old! This series revolves around episodes of Popeye defending the honor of his beloved Olive Oyl from his all-time nemeses, Bluto. Similar to Donald Duck’s brood of naughty nephews to add spice to his episodes, Popeye has two nephews named Wimpy and Pappy.

The Best of Scooby Doo

Created for Hanna-Barbera Productions, Scooby Doo garnered a lot of versions, merchandise deals, and movies from their fun synopsis of Scooby and four teenagers, namely Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy driving around in their Mystery Machine van solving mysteries involving ghosts, monsters and crooks. Later versions of Scooby-Doo featured different variations on the show’s supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby’s cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Beetlejuice

The story revolves around a recently deceased young couple, who haunts their quaint and quiet house on a hill overlooking a town of Winter River in Connecticut. When a family from the city moves in, the ghosts seeks help from an obnoxious, devious and mischievous “bio-exorcist” named Beetlejuice from the underworld in order to scare and drive the city-dwellers out of the house. This is where the craziness starts.

Bravestarr

On a planet called New Texas, Marshal BraveStarr, together with his talking horse, Thirty-Thirty, and the sidekick Deputy Fuss, preserves order and justice with the use of his super powers (strength of the bear, speed of the puma, eyes of the hawk, ears of the wolf). Thirty-Three is a mechanical horse with the ability to transform into humanoid form. BraveStarr also has a wise, elder Shaman, as his advisor.

BraveStarr’s enemy, Tex-Hex, is the evil leader of the Carrion Bunch, a group of outlaws under the control of the mysterious group Stampede. They sought the valuable Kerium that BraveStarr protected. Tex-Hex has guns that can turn people into half-human/half-dog beings called “Dingos.”

Candy Candy

Candy Candy is originally a japanese novel (manga), which was later translated into an anime series. The main character, full name Candice “Candy” White Ardlay, is a blonde worn in pigtails with bows, has freckles, large emerald eyes and has a happy demeanor always around her.

Candy feels love in the series but the recurring part of the story is Candy’s love for Pony’s home, a place where she constantly goes back to when life becomes to hard for her to bear. It is there where the story begins, and the story ends.

Carebears

The Care Bears live in a cloud city named Care-A-Lot. From there, they monitor the world for bad feelings. Whenever something bad is sensed by the Care-O-Meter, they race down to earth in their Cloudmobiles and Rainbow Rollers to help. They meet to discuss important matters in the Hall of Caring, led by Tenderheart Bear. The Care Bear Cousins are similar to the Care Bears, except that they are different animals and they live in the Forest of Feelings, led by Braveheart Lion. The symbols on each of their tummies have special powers. When they unite, they can use the Care Bear Stare to send good feelings to someone or to defeat evil. Some villains they have faced are No Heart, Professor Cold Heart, Shrieky, and Beastly.

Dennis the Menace

Dennis is a young boy who is usually well-meaning, but ends up annoying his neighbor, Mr. Wilson, or getting himself into some kind of trouble along with his big white dog, Ruff. He is a good kid really but has a wild, mischievous streak.

Denver, The Last Dinosaur

The show revolved around the adventures of Denver, the last dinosaur, who was released from his egg by a group of interracial modern California teens: Jeremy, Mario, Shades, Wally, and Casey, along with tag-along older sister, Heather. The kids taught Denver the finer points of skateboarding and other pastimes while protecting him from concert promoter Morton Fizzback who wanted to use the dinosaur to make money.

Dino Riders

The series told the story of the Valorians, a peaceful race of telepathic humans whose home planet was conquered by the Rulon Empire. 400 survivors escaped on a space ship and time traveled to prehistoric Earth using the experimental Space-Time Energy Projector (also known as the S.T.E.P). But Emperor Krulos and his lead commanders accidentally followed them into the past when a tractor beam locked onto the Valorians’ ship during the time jump. Stranded in the past, the two groups recruited the planet’s dinosaur population into their struggle. The Valorians used their telepathy for taming dinosaurs to ride and for domestic use. The Rulons captured dinosaurs with ‘brain boxes’. These were large metal helmets which fit onto dinosaur’s heads and control their brains. Both Valorians and Rulons would often fit dinosaurs with huge arrays of laser and weapon platforms, upon which people could ride, and attack one another. Battles were mostly motivated by the Rulons’ desire to steal the S.T.E.P. from the Valorians (to get back to their time), and almost always inconclusive, seldom accomplishing more for either side than restoring the status quo from the beginning of the episode. One of the recurring trends throughout the series was the Tyrannosaurus Rex getting de-brain boxed by the Dino-Riders.

Ducktales

Of course, Disney will not fall behind with their classic animations.

This Disney series followed the adventures of millionaire Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Other characters include the pilot Launchpad McQuack, butler Duckworth, inventor Fenton Crackshell and his alter-ego Gizmoduck, and the rival millionaire Flintheart Glumgold.

Ewoks

The cute, fuzzy ewoks from the Star Wars trilogy return in animated form as teenagers. Debuted on ABC in September of 1985 with Droids: The Adventures of R2D2 and C3P0 and combined with Droids on March 1, 1986 to form The Ewoks and Star Wars Droids Adventure Hour. Renamed The All-New Ewoks at that time.

The Flying House

This Japanese series (Tondera House in Japan) aired on the Christian Broadcasting Network alongside another religious cartoon, “Superbook”. It covered various stories from the New Testament of the Bible. The two main characters were children who stumbled across a house in the woods where they found Professor Humprey Bumble (in Japan, Dr. Tokio Taimu), his robot, and the professor’s time machine. An accident involving the time machine, sends the house and everyone in it back in time where they experience biblical events.

Ghostbusters

After losing their jobs at Columbia University, a trio of misfit parapsychologists—Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler—establish their own paranormal exterminator service, “Ghostbusters.” The business, operating out of an abandoned fire station, gets off to a slow start, but just as they run out of money, the Ghostbusters are contacted by the upscale Sedgewick Hotel to investigate a haunting. At the hotel, they successfully (albeit chaotically) capture their first ghost and deposit him into a “containment unit” of their own design located at the Ghostbusters office. Paranormal activity appears to be on the rise in the city and business skyrockets for the Ghostbusters, who become local celebrities and hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore.

G.I. Joe

Following the broadcast of the 1983 and 1984 animated miniseries, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero I and II, it was evident enough interest existed to launch a daily animated series in 1985. The former action figures and comic book heroes daily fought for right against the forces of COBRA, a terrorist organization, led by such villains Destro and the Baroness. In the 1989 five-episode miniseries, a COBRA special mission force attempts to master the power of Dragonfire—a natural energy like electricity, only infinitely more powerful—found in the underground “lakes of fire.” Their mission is to tap the most powerful, existing under Sorcerer’s Mesa, an Native American site in New Mexico.

He-man and the Masters of the Universe

He-Man is a heroic character featured in the Masters of the Universe franchise. In most variations of the franchise, he is the alter ego of Prince Adam and also the twin brother of She-Ra. He-Man and his friends defend Eternia and the secrets of Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor.

Jem and the Holograms

Jem, also called Jem and the Holograms, is an American animated television series that ran from 1985 to 1988 in U.S. first-run syndication. The show is about music company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, her band the Holograms, and their adventures.

Legend of Zelda

The series loosely followed the NES Zelda games, mixing settings and characters from those games with original creations. Thirteen animated Zelda shorts were featured within the show’s 65-episode run. The show’s incarnations of Link and Zelda also appeared in various episodes of Captain N: The Game Master during its second season.

My Little Pony and Friends

Its various incarnations told the adventures of the little ponies and all of their friends as they lived in the beautiful Dream Valley. There were literally dozens of ponies of all different colors and they were divided into Earth ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasus ponies. All were fundamentally magical beings and each had a small picture on her back that reflected her name or personality. The ponies’ most cherished friend is Megan, a young girl of about 13 who was brought to Ponyland to help them in their darkest hour. She continued to visit her friends and often served as leader when trouble struck. Eventually, her younger brother Danny (probably 11) and sister Molly (around 9) met the ponies, and the three of them came to stay in Ponyland for extended visits.

Rainbow Brite

Rainbow Brite and the Color Kids fight to protect the world’s color from the evil Murky Dismal and his inept sidekick, Lurky. Rainbow Brite, whose real name is Wisp, has a talking horse named Starlight. The color sprites mine color crystals, which Rainbow uses to add color to the world. Twink is the head sprite who often accompanies Rainbow on her adventures.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

This show was originally titled “Star Musketeer Bismarck” when released in Japan. World Event Productions purchased the rights and rewrote the show, using much of the original material, and it became the popular space-western Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. The good guys used their robotic transportation to transform into a gigantic robot named Ramrod whenever they had to take on a Desperado unit, another type of large robot. Saber Rider is the leader of the brave Star Sheriffs, including Colt, April, Fireball and Commander Eagle. The Saber Riders protect the planetary pioneers from the Outriders. The Outriders are strange spirit/gas-like beings from space.

She-ra

With the success of the popular series He-man and its toy line, Mattell worked with Filmation to produce a series and corresponding toy line aimed at young girls named She-Ra: Princess of Power. She-ra was introduced in the animated feature “The Secret of the Sword”. Princess Adora was kidnapped as a child and taken to the planet Etheria, where she was brainwashed to do the bidding of the evil Horde. He-Man entered Etheria to look for his lost sister, Adora. Eventually she learns who she is, the real nature of the Horde is revealed, and Adora turns against them. She gains the Sword of Protection, which allows her to turn into She-Ra. As She-ra she demonstrates incredible strength, speed, and agility, can telepathically speak to animals, and can heal with a touch. Adora chooses to use her newfound power to free Etheria from the grip of the evil Hordak and his Horde. Her allies include Glimmer, Bow, Lightrope, Madame Razz, and Kowl. Episodes included a “Where’s Loo-kee?” segment, where children were encouraged to find the creature in a scene. At the end of each episode, Lookee would show up with a positive message for kids.

Superbook

The first series (Anime Oyako Gekijo) began at the home of a young boy named Christopher Peepers (Sho Azuka in Japanese) who discovers the magical Bible “Superbook” (Timebook) that speaks and sends him, his friend Joy (Azusa Yamato), and his toy robot Gizmo (Zenmaijikake) back in time to the early events of the Old Testament. Gizmo can walk and talk, but only for the duration of the adventure (and he still needs to be wound up regularly).

Super Mario Brothers Super Show

This video-game based show aired as a segment of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, alongside The Legend of Zelda. It features the adventures of two NYC plumbers who are sucked down a sewer pipe and into the Mushroom Kingdom. There, they must fight King Koopa and save Princess Toadstool.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Pizza-eating, fun-loving, mutant turtles Donatello, Leonardo, Michaelangelo, and Raphael use the art of ninja to fight crime under their teacher Splinter (a mutated rat). Other characters include Shredder, Krang, April O’Neil, and Irma.

Tigersharks

Using the “Fish Tank”, the protectors of Water-O become half-man/half-fish superheroes to stop Captain Bizarrly from destroying the Wateriens. Their ship, the Sark, can transform into a plane, submarine, or spaceship. Only lasted one season.

Transformers

More than meets the eye!

This popular series, created to market the toys of the same name, features robots that can transform into various forms, such as vehicles, weapons, animals and more. The transformers were broken into two factions: Autobots (good) and Decepticons (evil). The two warring factions left their home planet of Cybertron in search of energy. Various events bring them to the planet Earth. The Decepticons, led by Megatron, want to strip the planet of its energy resources. The Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, work to keep Earth safe from the Decepticons.

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

“It is a time when magic is more powerful than science and only those who control the magic control destiny. They are the Visionaries.”

“Far away in a distant galaxy, the people of the planet Prysmos lived in an age of great technology. They had taken control of all of the sources of energy, and enjoyed a life of comfort and ease for 7,000 years… but this was not to last, for the realignment of the three blazing suns of Prysmos signalled the end of the age of science and technology. When all of the electrical energy had been depleted from the world, an age of magic began. But it would take some time before man would believe this. Years passed, and as the old order collapsed a new more primitive order rose from the rubble. Knowing that the balance of power between Darkstorm and Leoric could easily be tipped, both frantically searched for a military advantage.”

During the stalemate the wizard Merklynn offers a challenge to the two nations offering to teach magic any who survive the journey up his mountain. Only fourteen survived the journey and are rewarded with animal totems which are based off the traits they showed during their quest. Those who carried a staff were granted further power. Each staff was granted a unique ability: Wisdom, Strength, Speed, Knowledge, Decay, Fear, Destruction, and Invulnerability. Those who didn’t carry a staff were able infuse magical powers into vehicles and pilot them. The surviors split into two groups: the Spectral Knights led by Leoric and the Darkling Lords led by Darkstorm. And the battle for the world began anew. [special credit to TWiSTeDMeTaL and Prysmos.com]

Voltron, Defender of the Universe

This anime series was also known as “Voltron, Defender of the Universe” and “The New Adventures of Voltron”. The first season featured the “Vehicle Voltron”, where Voltron was comprised of numerous space vehicles. In the second season, Voltron was a mighty robot who defended peaceful planets and justice. It seemed invincible until an evil witch, Haggar, in an effort to destroy it, split it into 5 parts, each a large robotic lion. One day Keith, a space explorer, found the parts and reassembled them. With his friends, Voltron was revived to protect the planet Arus once again from evil forces.

I’m sure there are many other cartoons I’ve missed so please don’t slap me if I forgot your favorite series! *hides* I’m only human too you know XD

Don’t hesitate to share titles if you want to. :D