Cartoon Heaven - When the 80's Ruled the Earth

[Misfits923]

I loved M.A.S.K., Transformers, Visionaries(that series really got shafted), Thundercats, GI Joe, Captain N...it was all great ****! This is why I love comic book conventions, because you can find all these series on dvd. At Wizard World, I picked up all of MASK. As soon as I get more of a cash flow, I hope to complete my collection for Transformers, GI Joe, Thundercats, He Man and the Masters of the Universe, and anything else I can find on DVD.

 

[scikaiju]

good times man, when you could watch something get blown up and not worry about a soccer mom saying it's too violent

 

[Ragna "D" BloodEdge]

That's for sure.

 

[Skyknight]

I'd rather think the 80s' offered the greatest cartoons ever, Transformers may have had dodgy animation and writing at times, but you can't have the bad without the good, there was more than enough positives to make it a classic, the movie also makes complete sense if you watch the third season, particulary the beutiful "Call Of The Primitives".

M.A.S.K and Wheeled Warriors are two of the most underrated, great writing for both, (J. Micheal Strazenski, creator of Babylon 5, handled Jayce) , with M.A.S.K having one of the greatest toylines, its' recently been revived as A.T.O.M (though has nothing to do with the universe or characters, just the veichles turning from car or bike to hoverbike or jet)

 

[Keith Justice]

I think the 90's brought the best with Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Beast Wars.

 

[Skyknight]

I think the 90's brought the best with Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Beast Wars.

I wont' argue with you there, the 90s' brought fourth equal classics, only with slightly better attention on all aspects, but I'd say there were 80s' cartoons out there that had some great writing, just sometimes not the animation to back it up.

Real Ghostbusters, Galaxy Ranegrs, M.A.S.K, and Visionaries at the time however could balance both excellent animation and writing at times though

 

[Keith Justice]

Interesting point, but do any of those classics have the epic storylines that Gargoyles was able to bring? 80's cartoons seemed to suffer mostly from lack of continuity and horribly moronic bad guy.

Gargoyles on the other hand had stand alone and on going sagas as well as some very sofisticated an intelligent bad guys.

Those two elements usually end up bringing the most impressive array of stories to be told.

 

[Sndtrkman]

I wont' argue with you there, the 90s' brought fourth equal classics, only with slightly better attention on all aspects, but I'd say there were 80s' cartoons out there that had some great writing, just sometimes not the animation to back it up.

Real Ghostbusters, Galaxy Ranegrs, M.A.S.K, and Visionaries at the time however could balance both excellent animation and writing at times though

Definitely with the Real Ghostbusters.....The whole first (and I think a certain point in the second) was written by J. Michael Strazynski so you could tell it was awesome....makes me glad I got the first season on a DVD-R when I bought it at the Comic-Con this year.

 

[Skyknight]

Interesting point, but do any of those classics have the epic storylines that Gargoyles was able to bring? 80's cartoons seemed to suffer mostly from lack of continuity and horribly moronic bad guy.

Generic adversaries such as Skeletor may not have always been up to par, but they had what other generic villains before them did'nt have...backstories and character development.

As for epic storytelling?

Transformers had a little problem with its' continuity in the earliest seasons, but yeah, it gradually began getting tighter again, the first season suffered no problems continutiy wise, ne development led into another, heck, after "Ulitmate Doom", Cybertron stayed in Earths' orbit for a while, but by the second, new writers completly new to the concepts came in and accidently treaded on some areas, resulting in the jumbled confusion the series often gets criticised for in light of what it got right sometimes.

Megatron was'nt incompetent, especially if you watch the earliest episodes he was far from it, managing to convicne Prime to let Cybertron arrive in Earths' orbit or risk its' destruction, and forcing him to choose between Earth and Cybertron were classic examples of good manipulation.


The third season in particular spent three whole episodes revolving around political issues revolving around trade disputes, Optimus Prime coming back early as a reanimated corpse (in one of the seasons' best animated episodes)

Galaxy Rangers also had TONS of contiunuity and capable villains, so did Centurions, using classic science fiction concepts and new ones at the time.

Those two elements usually end up bringing the most impressive array of stories to be told.

Indeed, 90s' brass were a little more riskier thanks to the examples set by Visioanaries, Ghostbusters etc, and especially Disneys' work, Disney itself being behind Gargoyles helped tremendously also

 

[Sage Shinigami]

While it's said that the 80's cartoons are superior to todays, I'd definately not agree. But one thin the 80's did have was awesome openings. The songs and animation put together are pretty superior to anything we do today, which is usually intrumentals and a compilation of clips from the show.

But 80s cartoons ARE superior to today's. Shows like Avatar, JLU, and (to some) TT are the exception, not the rule. Now, before anyone tries it: 90's cartoons aren't the same as 2000 and up (I love 90s cartoons, and they're JUST as good as 80's ones), and anime doesn't count.

Now, having said that...

What would you rather watch? These badly made cartoon cartoons, or Transformers?

Krypto the Superdog (one of the shows I LIKE to show I'm not biased) or G.I. Joe?

The new Kong TV show or Thundercats?

Basically all cartoons are these days are reruns of the same boring stuff that most of us didn't want to watch the first time around. If not that then either anime or an Adult Swim show.