#if it looks weird i’m sorry i don’t render turtles often

[yumeyumeappleo]

donnie <3

me?

actually drawing something?

wow

also i made the background like that cause it’s more fun to draw when it’s not just an empty white void staring back at you after two days of no sleep

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #352

Top Ten Cartoons of my Childhood

After last week’s celebration of cinematic vulgarity (in which our hero, despite dropping more Fs and Cs than an explosion at a Scrabble factory, still managed to forget about Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead), I wanted to restore balance to the Force somewhat by turning the clock back to simpler, more gentle times. In fact, we’re rewinding eighty-plus years by looking at children’s cartoons of my youth.

So here we have, quite simply, my favourite cartoons from when I was a kid. Now I’m saying “when I was a kid” to mean the 1980s – despite the fact that I was, really, still a kid for most of the 90s too. But Batman: The Animated Series debuted early in the 90s, and at that point I think the crossover between what I loved as a nipper and what I love now started to happen. I don’t think I can rank where Young David would place Batman without Old David weighing in to call it the greatest animated show of all time (fun fact: it is). So I’ve stuck to the 80s, which rules out the likes of Animaniacs, Reboot, Tiny Toons, Aladdin, X-Men, and loads more. Maybe I should have just called this “cartoons of the 80s” and been done with it. But here we are.

So, in conclusion: these are, to the best of my memory, my favourite cartoons from when I was a small boy. I’ve tried to think about what I loved and remembered from back then, rather than attempt to appraise what the shows are like nowadays; many of these I’ve not seen for decades, and some of them really do not hold up (Turtles in particular is rather shonky, and even my beloved Transformers varies wildly in quality). But they are what they are, and exist as articles of their time; I loved all of these as a nipper, and in many cases went out of my way to get comics, books, toys, and other manner of merchandise relating to my favourite telly programmes.

Now let’s take a trip down memory lane!

The Transformers (1984-1987): I mean, come on; how could I not? This show casts a longer shadow than anything else. I’ve also watched more of it than other shows, and more recently, so I can confidently say that although it was a relatively cheap toy cartoon from 35 years ago, a lot of it holds up well, so strong were some of these characters and the inherent concept of Robots in Disguise.

The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991): I loved Ghostbusters almost as much as Transformers. I had the fire station, Ecto-1, a proton pack, the works. I’ve watched some of this relatively recently, too, and it’s very, very good – Old David likes it a lot more than the 80s Transformers toon. There’s even an episode where they bust Orson Welles’ ghost. True story.

Garfield TV Specials (1982-1991): I’m specifically talking about the often whimsical, frequently bittersweet, sometimes bonkers specials that aired sporadically throughout the 80s, many of which I owned on VHS. I remember CITV showed the first few in short groups, so it felt like a short Garfield TV series; but the invention and beautiful painterly style stuck with me, along with the music. Garfield and Friends (’88-’95) also gets a warm mention here, but was wackier and skewed younger, and even as a kid I didn’t love it as much as the more complicated Specials. Also shout out to Happy Birthday, Garfield, which was a behind-the-scenes look at Jim Davis and the Garfield machine, and was a phenomenal influence on little me.

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (1987-1996): funnily enough, I always associate the Turtles with the 90s, but I know they debuted in the 80s and I think the TV series aired over here in 1989, so I’m counting it anyway. Turtles was kind of a defining “Big Show” for me as I entered double digits, replacing previous faves Transformers and Ghostbusters (I think Garfield continued in the background as a comic strip). I obsessed over the toys and the merch and the fact that we were denied ninjas and nunchucks on this side of the pond. For shame. Last time I saw the original show I thought it was awful, however.

Muppet Babies (1984-1991): oh, I loved this. I’d have been quite young I guess, although probably the same age as when I was watching Transformers, so go figure. But this was really my main intro to the Muppets, and I remember when they more-or-less featured the Muppet Babies in Muppets Take Manhattan, and seeing them rendered in live-action blew my tiny mind.

The Raccoons (1985-1992): this show seemed to go on forever, a mainstay of my childhood. I remember watching the original TV movie/special, with its human cast and the dogs that go into the woods looking for a star, or something, and finding it a bit weird that those characters were more or less ditched in the series proper. But I still loved it, and I remember it as being rather sophisticated and more complicated than the usual kids’ fair; Cyril Sneer was, obviously, a bad guy, but I seem to remember him becoming complicated and genuinely loving his son who he didn’t quite understand, and slowly warming up over the course of the show. He wasn’t Megatron or Skeletor, is what I’m saying. Plus you had Bert Raccoon, who was a bit of an arse and not always in the right, either. I’ve not seen it in years so maybe I’m misremembering, but Little David found it compelling.

Count Duckula (1988-1993): I know Duckula debuted on Danger Mouse, and I did watch DM too, but really I’m all about the duck. Being a big fan of vampires I was all over this, and I just found everything about it hilarious. I was a bit of a Yankophile too, so I liked that David Jason gave him an American accent. I had tons of Duckula comics, most of which I reckon we threw away. But yeah – loved this show.

Duck Tales (1987-1990): sticking with the duck theme, we have this gem. One of the greatest themes in TV history, and humanity’s favourite Scot, Scrooge McDuck. This was a rollicking, hilarious adventure show with tons of personality, and really helped to kickstart the Disney animation boom of the late 80s/early 90s, which in my mind also encompassed things like Roger Rabbit and the resurgent animated movies, too. I even went to see the movie! I’ve yet to see the remake, sadly, but I applaud the casting of David Tennant.

Inspector Gadget (1983-1986): who didn’t love Inspector Gadget? I think this was probably one of those where it was the repetition of tropes and scenes – “sorry about that, Chief”, “I’ll get you next time, Gadget!” – that made it popular. Gadget was cool, Claw was scary, Brains was funny; this was top-drawer telly. I even wrote a synopsis, a few years ago, for a movie sequel called Inspector Gadget Returns, in which Gadget is old and washed-up, and a grown-up Penny has to bring him out of retirement when Dr. Claw returns. Kinda wish I was an established screenwriter so I could pitch it to someone, to be honest.

Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (1981-1982): aw, this show was very sweet. I remember watching it when I was very young (it’s the only show on this list that basically pre-dates me!), and my mum would do the voices of the characters for me. I really don’t remember it very well or how it holds up, but I know that for a little while there, it was seriously my jam. Teeny Tiny David loved it something rotten. If we’re sticking with anthropomorphised animals doing classic literature, I remember Willy Fog much better, funnily enough, but this just sneaks in based on that early childhood love.

Well, there we go. Now I want to watch all of these again. And Willy Fog, for that matter.