Whatever Happened To The Mind-Opening Cartoons I Used To Watch As A Kid!??!!

reply to post by Majorion


No, your not the only one to notice such things.

I love cartoons, and I love drawing, and most of all, I love the cartoons we used to watch in the 80's.
Thats why I'm starting my Masters degree program this summer in San Francisco for 3D animation.
My goal is to make a new kids cartoon show.

Sure, 3D may not be as cool as a lot of cell cartoons from back in the day, but it is the future, and 3D animation is where its at.

Trust me, in 3 years I'm going to get this awesome idea out of my head, and hopefully you will all see another awesome kids cartoon show.




Oh, also, Japanese cartoons is where its at. Sure, the older ones are much better than the newer ones, but if you havent checked em out yet, I recommend watching:
-Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Cowboy Bebop
-Full Metal Alchemist
-Samurai Champloo
-Death Note

Thats a good start.

Some of my favorite growing up... haha brings back lots of memories!

(All of these were themed with like good over evil and always try your hardest etc etc.)

Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers!!!

Darkwing Duck!

OMG Tailspin!!!!!

Sailor Moon!!!

Ok Sailor Moon isn't that old but it still had good morals and in the english one they had a little.. "Sailor Moon says" at the end where she would talk about the meaning of the show and etc kind of like he-man.

I miss these shows haha..

Originally posted by Odessy
reply to post by Majorion

 

Oh, also, Japanese cartoons is where its at. Sure, the older ones are much better than the newer ones, but if you havent checked em out yet, I recommend watching:
-Neon Genesis Evangelion
-Cowboy Bebop
-Full Metal Alchemist
-Samurai Champloo
-Death Note

Thats a good start.

It's sort of funny. Japanese animation have always been ahead of western animation in terms of plot, characters, production, etc. Western animation and story lines have been highly influenced by Japanese animation over the last two decades. Yet now people say that cartoons are becoming mind-numbing garbage? Yeah, we're still quite a way's behind them, but I think where we're at now is overall better because of this influence. Some might say that you can't really compare G.I. Joe to Cowboy Bebop... but really, they're for roughly the same age group. The difference is largely in the puritan morality America still carries. We put shows like Cowboy Bebop on "Adult Swim", when it's not really intended for adult audiences. It can certainly be enjoyed by them, but it's hardly prime time television over there. It's more for teenagers. Most adults, as I understand, tend to read manga as it's compact and easy to carry on the commutes to work or on break.

If anything, it was the likes of Magilla Gorilla and the Jetsons which were pointless tripe that only held the animation industry back until faced with serious competition from overseas. Transformers, TMNT, and some of the late 80's/Early 90's toons already had some of this influence, and shows like Avatar or Ben 10 show how much better cartoons can be these days. There were no American contemporaries to these shows in the 70's and early 80's.

[edit on 2-2-2009 by Lasheic]

The problem with cartoons these days is that they talk down to children.... I remember exo-squad dealing with some very serious issues(such as slavery) voltron is another one of my favorite shows which deals with things such as the horrors of war etc...Captain Planet was also an excellent show highlighting personal responsibilty for enviromental matters... All of these shows have been replaced with shows that preach materialism... money.... and even dating .. I just saw a show recently on the disney channel(cant remember name) and I was in shock at how much it dealt with money and consumption of superfitious items.... I beleive the networks are brainwashing our children in order to train them to be good drone consumers not questioning there goverment... I mean come on ... when did you ever hear a cartoon from the 80s speak about purchasing products???????????????? Duck tales was also a great show that dealt with thing such as inflation and budgeting......... where are all these cartoons today?????? I highly recommend to any and all parents reading this to go out and purchase these (or download) these cartoons and let the kids watch those shows instead of the garbage out there...

Wow. I forgot I used to even watch Captin nintendo GAME Master . Never even knew it exsisted until just now. The Brain part was what got me, I have vivid memories of watching it and I remember the dog jumping through the room.

Flag just for the memories.

And the SKyhawks theme !!!! GREAT Guitar Solo.


Yea 80's / Early 90's cartoons where the BEST hands down and will NEVER be beaten.

That was the golden era of cartoons.

I may actually start watching some old ones. Anybody have any suggestions as to where I might be able to do this.

I've never seen sky hakws but it alrady got me hooked. Wouldn't mind re-watching the the Legend of zelda or some Captin nintendo game master.

Please feel free to inform me of some others you liked.

Anyone remember Heathcliff the cat or Widget that lil purple alien? god I miss bein a kid on Saturday and doin nothing but cartoons in my Pj's ....Life was good!

Never noticed that Heman's Chest symbol was the one the Germans used in WW1 .....hmmmmmm

Unfortunately our children's programming on tv has become exactly that...programming.

I remember watching an episode of the Anamaniacs with my grandson where they sang a song called UN me, it was supposed to be a cute throw off of you and me; however, it was nothing more than an introduction to world government to children. They are still stimulating and teaching, just for a different cause. Shame on these people trying to poison our children before they even get into their school system.

I tried to google the episode I found 5, 4 of them had been removed from the sites they were posted from, no reasons given (imagine that).

I did manage to find a couple working sites one has only the lyrics written down and the other is a you tube video. I will post links to both.

www.youtube.com...

www.lyrics.de...

So as you can see the educational aspect is still there, just not in the manner in which we would wish it to be.

Is this what you want your children watching?

When I think back to the cartoons of the eighties I can only remember the mass collections of toys I had amassed.

Transformers - I had every single one.

He-man - I remember having the main characters and envied those who had the Tiger and Panther.

G.I. Joe - I had a ton of these as well, and can remember begging for the more expensive vehicles. (the vehicles that hardly got touched because camo in bushes was more fun)

M.A.S.K. - I loved these toys, had a few taken by teachers in school, wish I still had them.

Jayce and The Wheeled Warriors - These were among my largest collection. I remember to have the Fortress made you the cool kid on the block.


Morals were barely in those cartoons at all, it was just "good guy" vs "bad guy". That's present in a ton of newer cartoons shown today. Ben 10, Star Wars Clone Wars, Batman, The Secret Saturdays, Wolverine and The X-Men to name a few.

I tried sitting through Starblazers some weeks back... Why did I watch that as a kid is beyond me.

reply to post by Majorion


Wow I forgot about The Silverhawks and Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, I watched those, but don't remember those other ones, others I watched were, He-Man, Thundercats, Robotech, Mask, Gi Joe, Smurfs, Snorks, Gummy Bears, Ducktails... my fave live action shows were Max Headroom and Spitting Image...

I don't think there's any conspiracy today concerning cartoons, it's just bad writers, lack of imagination, Spongebob isn't so bad, the only cartoons I watch now though are superjail, metalocalypse, and shin chan, so good writers exist they just don't get good timeslots.

Dang this thread brought me back to the days when I always watched Robotech.

Most people thought it was too long, complicated, soap operaish but there were harsh lessons about war, especially with the deaths of main characters during the Macross portion. The aliens also weren't these evil beings bent on universal domination but more of a species that was cloned for war and slowing finding out that life is much more.

I feel that kids should be exposed to the the consequence of violence and the heavy editing of Macross to make it into the American cartoon audience as Robotech did a fairly good job.

Most other cartoons I remember during the 80's were more pew pew good guys win and bad guys lose but no one dies. Children should know that war and combat is usually more complicated and real and personal losses do occur. War isn't always a good side vs an evil side but both sides can have their evil as they find ways to push their advantages or escalate conflict and both sides can have their good as they seek to understand each other and find a way to co-exist.

Raising 2 boys of my own I have had to hunt and search for "good" quality cartoons for them to see. I DO NOT let them watch Spongebob or the likes, but for any of you hunting for the oldies but goodies...BOOMERANG channel on Cable networks carries ALOT of our good stuff. (I apologize to those who may not have cable) Thay even have PINK PANTHER!! My boys love it!! While my daughter was growing up-she's 10 years older than my boys-Ren and Stimpy and CATDOG were the most outrageous things out there. (I did not let her watch them either) You can always find the oldies on Nick at nite or boomerang...check it out!! To moderators-still kinda new-apologize tremendously if I sound like I'm endorsing anyone?? I DO NOT WORK for these companies...just a mom...

im sorry,
but why have people forgotten this legendery cartoon ...



[edit on 2-2-2009 by wazzock]

I disagree so hard with the comment that 80s cartoons were good it's not even funny. I'm too lazy to find the link but read what the creator of Ren and Stimpy (John K. if memory serves) said about being an animator in the 80s was like. Cartoons were written by ad executives to sell toys, period. Inoffensive drek, smurfs come to mind. There may have been a few exceptions to the rule and I am NOT defending cartoons of today, but the 80s were CRAP.

However, PeeWees Playhouse remains the best kids program to date.

reply to post by semperfortis

Possibly the greatest "Morals" cartoon of all time and we need more of this:

It was actually some of the most transparent propaganda every shown on American TV. What is it with acceptance of propaganda, as long as it fits a certain political ideology? The only thing worse than CP was Furngully.

[edit on 2-2-2009 by Cio88]

Star Trek: The Animated Series. The original concept for ST:TAS became the live action Space Academy which led to Jason of Star Command. Bryan Singer planned an animated version of the classic Battlestar Galactica but, the producer for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, David Eicke forced Singer to scrap his plans for an animated series.

reply to post by semperfortis


Its no wonder so many people are so global warming crazed. I cant believe parents actually subject their kids to propaganda cartoons. I mean, you would think al gore made that cartoon himself.

Personally, I am happy with the "lets push our morals on your kids via cartoons" is out.

When a civilization expects cartoons to teach kids morality rather than parents, there isn't much of a civilization left to save.

reply to post by alyosha1981


OH NO! The kids are watching mindless entertainment, QUICK, INDOCTRINATE THEM! We can't let them enjoy themselves with a regular old funny likable cartoon! Then they would start looking to actual PEOPLE for guidance, like you and me!

Seriously. Spongebob has some funny episodes. Ive seen my dad laugh at that cartoon before. Hes well into his 50's. I know this may be a hard concept for you to get, being raised on propagantoons, but maybe its good that kids don't learn life's lessons from a yellow sponge or a mystical earth spouting super creature. Somehow I don't think reality would set in right.

Originally posted by bigvig316
What easier way to indoctrinate a generation and generations to come, than through the universal medium. They want a group who is not going to think for themselves and follow orders. The cartoons we grew up with taught us that if you work at something you can accomplish anything, team work is good, share with others, good defeats evil. If they don't have these basic tenants instilled in them they will be good automaton for there masters to control.

That may be the single most pitiful thing I have ever read on this site. So you are telling me 20-30 years ago, those evil people that cant wait to pray on indoctrinating your children these days didn't exist? That they made cartoons all those years then went "wait...wait just a minute...we could use these cartoons to indoctrinate kids" just recently?

No, they indoctrinated you back then too with subtle propaganda, you were just a kid though, so you didn't notice. You don't see it as propaganda now probably because, well, you believed it.



You know what cartoon I bet you'll never see, today or in the 80's, is the cartoon of REGULAR ORDINARY people, getting together, and saving the world.

In pretty much all those cartoons, I never saw a normal everyday person saving the day, it was always some super human hero with super powers which no real person could possess. Whats the moral there?

I see those cartoons and all I can see is how obvious it is that they twisted and warped kinds minds. Especially stuff like Captain Planet. I see that and its no wonder people have no idea how to make decisions or understand issues today. The cartoon makes the world out to be utterly black and white, with the purest of evil being doing evil and the super heroes doing no wrong. With these super powered people saving the day for the plebs who can do nothing to stop it.

The cartoon disgusts me personally. Prays on the minds of kids to brainwash them and twist the way they will think.

i learned about physics from looney tunes.....wille e. coyote vs roadrunner as an example....an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by another force......coyote runs off cliff....continues forward momentum(inertia)...until her starts falling (gravity takes over)....

reply to post by Majorion


I will tell you what REALLY energizes the imagination.

TURNING...OFF...THE....TELEVISION.