While at Fry's tonight, I was noticing just how many 80's cartoons are being put out on DVD. Some of the names that caught my eye that I can remember watching back in the 80s were Voltron, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Thundercats. I think out of those my favorites were Voltron and He-Man. For those of you who watched these shows during the 80's, or after, what did you like?
My favorites, in this order- Robotech (big surprise) Transformers G1 Thundercats Voltron: Defender Of The Universe GI Joe: A Real American Hero Duck Tales I did like He-Man and She-Ra at the time but the 2003 He-Man series is really way better. More consistent and mature story telling. And better animated. Similarly, I used to watch the 80s Ninja Turtles cartoon regularly... but the newer animated series is far superior and much more in line with the original Mirage comics.
I totally forgot to mention Robotech and Transformers. Two series that I enjoyed. I never really got into GI Joe all that much though. I too enjoyed the 2003 He-Man series more.
I watched 80s cartoons with daughter. I really don't want to revisit that time. I was ever so glad when she grew out of My Little Pony and Care Bears. Duck Tales was OK, though...
Oh, good points, though I think of Morph as more a 70s thing... And there was Count Duckula... I was just thinking of Yank cartoons, though, in the original post...
I used to love Dungeons and Dragons, Ulysses 31 and Defenders of the Earth, as well as some of the others mentioned. There are far too many Brit cartoons I loved to start listing them.
Wasn't Silverhawks sort of the same thing as Thundercats only in space? At least most of the voice actors from Thundercats also did the voices for Silverhawks, maybe that is why I have that impression if it isn't correct.
Eh. I could be wrong, but I suspect most '80s cartoons are best left in my fond childhood memories and wouldn't hold up well now. Shit, look at Batman: The Animated Series. That came out in the 1990s and was amazing and cutting edge at the time. If you look at old episodes of it now, they seem clunky and crude compared to what's out there now.
What about: Mighty Orbots Bear Called Jeremy (Claymation, so not exactly a cartoon) Belle and Sebastian Mighty Hercules Gummi Bears Inspector Gadget The REAL Ghostbusters Rocket Robin Hood Battleship Yamato (?) Saturday Supercade Mr. T Those were all staples of 80's cartoons. Networks hardly air cartoons on Saturday mornings nowadays. It's all been taken over by 24 hour cartoon networks.
There were so many great ones; Silverhawks, Little Monsters, GI Joe, Rescue Rangers (Chip & Dale), and Tailspin. Heck, I have Ducktales and Rescue Rangers for NINTENDO!
Actually, "Star Blazers" (the American verision of "Space Battleship Yamato") holds up pretty well, all told. But then again, that's Japanese. And I think it's from the 1970s originally.
this makes me sad the new series seems too serious....and their eyes have no pupils, i don't know why that bothers me. i like the older ones so much more.
Mighty Hercules wasn't 80's. Although I agree that is a great cartoon series. Mighty Hercules was 60's. The Mighty Hercules
Interesting. I guess I was watching reruns all that time. In any case, Hercules was a cartoon I grew up with in the 80's. I heard somewhere that Disney took it off the air then waited several years for the memory of that cartoon to fade so they could go ahead with the Hercules movie, which was completely different. The Disney Hercules movie is one of the few Disney movies I actually liked, despite it not being the Hercules I grew up with. I don't think they will ever put the old Hercules cartoon on DVD. Which is a real shame.
The new series actually ended a few years back. But it kicked ass. Great mix of humor an action without the cheesiness of the 80s version.
There WAS the "Herculoids", however. They were a segment on the "Space Ghost" series (before Cartoon Network had him host a talk show). There was a Schmoo-like character, and something that looked like the Thing and acted like Chewbacca. That show was contemporary to "Thundarr the Barbarian".
I sort of liked the Herculoids. I also remember Isis and Shazam on Saturday mornings. But, I think they were in the 70's not the 80's.
I must've been a fan of virtually every cartoon that aired in the 80's, no matter how crap they might have been. Here's a list of most of my faves of that era! Thundercats Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles (as they were called in old Blighty!) Duck Tales Inspector Gadget Super Ted Danger Mouse Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers Raggy Dolls Batfink Heathcliff Fantastic Max Gummi Bears The Raccoons Family Ness Thomas the Tank Engine Postman Pat He-Man Dogtanion Trap Door Alvin and the Chipmunks Bananaman Dungeons and Dragons Count Duckula Defenders of the Earth Transformers Sharkey and George Ghostbusters
