Cartoons From the 80s are the Best Kind

May 29, 2012 in Entertainment, Film & TV, People

If you were a child in the 80s, you got to see some excellent cartoons. If I bring them up in conversation at a party with similar generation friends, you can guarantee they have seen them and we have a fun time reminiscing. I thought I’d share with you my personal top five, so you can see what you’ve been missing.

5. Voltron

Robot lions that come together to make a super fighting machine! The series was created using footage from Japanese animations such as Beast King GoLion (much like how Power Rangers started). Originally the team is all guys and they hang out on a planet with its own Princess. Eventually the Princess gets to fly her own lion (a blue one, the water lion). An evil King, his witch and his son make trouble for Voltron force. All the cool kids at school had the Voltron toys. I had the Princess action figure.

4. Thundercats

The best intro song and animation ever. Thundercats are escaping from their planet (it gets blown up by bad guys) and they crash on a new planet which they make their home. Unfortunately this planet is host to Mum-Ra, a scary mummy with magical powers. Each Thundercat has their own special power, which made for great make-believe playing amongst my brothers and I and any friends hanging around. I was Cheetara, whose special power was (of course) speed.

3. Inspector Gadget

Remember the spoofy spy show “Get Smart”? Maxwell Smart (aka Don Adams) is the voice of Inspector Gadget, a silly bumbling police inspector who is also a robot. His niece Penny (don’t ask me how a robot has a niece) and his dog Brain are the real heroes here, as they help Gadget solve crimes and foil the plans of the evil Doctor Claw without Gadget realising they’re helping him. Also Penny was a computer whiz ahead of her time as she used a computer book (laptop people!) and a video watch (Skype in action!). She was my idol.

2. Astro Boy

Astro Boy had it all. Robots with human feelings and souls, monster machines, exploration of robot rights and human nature, death and love. Also, a robot that could shoot bottom bullets. Awesome. Astro Boy is set in a futuristic world where robots and humans co-exist. The television program was originally adapted from the manga series by Osamu Tezuka, and aired in Japan in the 60s. The English version was made in the 80s. Astro was originally called Atom. Osamu Tezuka is regarded as the “godfather of anime”, he also created Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack. The “large eyes” style that Japanese anime is known for, was invented by Tezuka. This show (the 80s version) is a must see.

1. The Mysterious Cities of Gold

I have so much love for this show. A mix of South American history, archaeology and science fiction, the series follows the adventures of three kids Esteban, Zia and Tao as they search for Esteban’s father and the lost Cities of Gold in the New World. I held a weekend Cities of Goldfest when I was at uni, my flatmates and anyone else who dropped in watched the entire series through- and it was still just as good as I remembered. The soundtrack is awesome, the characters are great-the intriguing Spaniard Mendoza who saved Esteban as a baby but is greedy for gold, the ruthless Gomez who will do anything to get the children to lead him to the gold. There are technologies the children uncover from lost civilisations such as solar (the golden condor) and even nuclear fission. The sacrifice made at the end brought me to tears. This series is being rebooted, with a sequel series planned- I can’t wait!

Special Mention: She-Ra, Gummi Bears, The Smurfs, Ulysses 31, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

By the way, most of these cartoons are on DVD now, if you want to experience them for yourself! (I have them all except Voltron).

What were your favourite cartoons as a child? Do any of them compare to my top 5? What’s your top 5?

Featured image from here.

Author Info

Bek M has written 23 posts.
Bek is a Christian single mum and a lover of books, fatshion, computer games, social media and all things vintage. She loves watching Doctor Who and most things sci-fi and fantasy. Bek blogs her op shop finds here: onceyouop.blogspot.com.au and her experiments with fatshion here: ccurves.blogspot.com.au
Follow on twitter: @bookbek

20 Comments »

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http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

My favourite cartoons:

1) The classic Warner Brothers cartoons of the 40s/50s…Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Roadrunner etc…nothing comes close.

2) Rocky & Bullwinkle….not only one of the best cartoon series ever made, but one of the best comedy series ever written.

3) The Simpsons – it should have stopped after series 10, but it’s still one of the most important cartoon series ever…

4) Scooby-Doo – it’s the Citizen Kane of detective shows.

5) The Beatles cartoons – these introduced me to the wonderful world of music…the rest is history.
- http://duckformation.wordpress.com duckformation
  
  Snap on Rocky & Bullwinkle and WB. We have the WB box sets and the whole family watches them, aged 40 down to 2. The one where Bugs Bunny conducts the opera singer still makes me laugh out loud, too loud. Love Scooby Doo but resent the new ones my kids watch where everyone has a mobile. It’s only a matter of time before Shaggy gets an iPad.
  - http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
    
    Hey, is it true that Velma now owns a bookshop in the newest Scooby-Doos?
    
    Owns a bookshop…sensible shoes…short-hair…it all makes sense now…
  - Monique Fischle
    
    I LOVE that Bugs Bunny one! I also really love the singing frog one, still one of my absolute favourites!
- Bek M
  
  There were Beatles cartoons? Awesome.
  I loved Scooby Doo- I remember reading my Dad’s old comics of Scooby Doo as well as watching the cartoon.
  Classic Warner Brothers are good, but they didn’t grab my imagination as a kid as much as the ones I listed.
  I didn’t think of The Simpsons, I guess ‘cos I didn’t watch them as a kid, and I don’t think of them as a childhood cartoon.
Detachable Princess

I may or may not have the Inspector Gadget theme on my MP3 player. Have to stop myself singing along on the bus!
- Bek M
  
  Love the Inspector Gadget song! I bet if you sang it on the bus someone would join in (or wish they were brave enough to)!
Melissa Savage

As soon as I read the title of Inspector Gadget I started humming the theme song. I have an Inspector Gadget game on my iphone. Of the 5, this was the only one I watched a lot of, but I also was seriously into TMNT and Batman (the Tim Burton movie and the animate series). Oh, and Pinky and the Brain.

Side note: we spent an hour and 20 minutes watching this the other night (famous cartoon voice actors read the Star Wars screenplay) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBzRmWeC6Ds Hilarious if you’re into that kind of thing.
- Bek M
  
  Who was your fav turtle? Mine was the wise-cracking Raphael. I didn’t like how they made him all emo and moody in the movies.
  
  Oh Pinky and the Brain were great!
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  I still respond to “What are we going to do tonight?” with “Same thing we do every night, Pink, TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!”
Mazi Gray

I always loved the Japanese ones, E.g. Astro Boy and Battle of the Planets.

Inspector Gadget was way up there.
- http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
  
  Oh yeah! Battle of the Planets! I loved that one…
  
  I also love the fact that the stupid robot who would give a summary of the show was only included in the US version of the cartoon because they needed to fill in time for all the pornographic imagery that needed to be edited out of the kids version…in Japan it was full-on prime-time sex and violence!
Claire Wallace

Tom & Jerry!
- http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
  
  OK…if the Tommies won WW1, and the Jerrys lost…how come Jerry always beats Tom in the cartoons…they must have been some sort of German propaganda!
  - Claire Wallace
    
    Funnily enough, I never considered this as a 5 year old!
- Bek M
  
  I’m a big fan of Anime. Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, My HIME, Neon Genesis Evangelion, etc.
  I have a vague memory of Battle of the Planets, and Robotech.
  Growing up we had two tv channels, and cartoons were mostly shown on Saturday mornings. Oh how we lived for Saturday mornings…
- Bek M
  
  Ah the cat & mouse- I always wanted the cat to win. Same with roadrunner, I wanted him eaten! Mwahaha.
Monique Fischle

I loved Captain Planet (I still regularly sing the theme song), Inspector Gadget, all the Bugs Bunny related ones. When I was a bit older, I was also partial to Hey Arnold!, Arthur and I really loved Archibald the Koala. I’m sure there are many more that I’ve forgotten, but I just love cartoons. And I’m with what JJ said above, The Simpsons really is possibly the most important cartoon series ever made.
- Bek M
  
  I loved Captain Planet! I can sing the theme song too. So sad they’re not available on DVD. I wanted to be Gi, with the power of water.
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  MOVE IT, FOOTBALL HEAD!! I loved Hey, Arnold!
  
  And Captain Planet, even though it’s super lame.
  
  I was also partial to Samurai Pizza Cats.

KiKi & Tea