Cartoons of the 90's

[Irridium]

I'd watch cartoons all the time with my parents. Especially Toonami.

The shows back then were great. They were like Pixar films, in which they were smart, well made, interesting, and just fun for everyone. Since it was fun for everyone, anyone could watch and enjoy them.

People say its just nostalgia and a generation thing. But after watching most of these old shows on Boomerang, it just re-enforces the "shows were better back then" argument.

I'm watching Courage the Cowardly Dog right now, and its easily better than any of the stuff on now.

Also, anyone else remember Two Stupid Dogs?

 

[OmegaXIII]

Swat Kats. That is all i need bring to this discussion.

Also, anyone else remember Two Stupid Dogs?

And now that theme is stuck in my head

 

[Lord Krunk]

I always thought that 90s Nick was better, but that's just me.

Also, who didn't like the Spongebob Squarepants Movie? That scene where they took the piss at Twisted Sister (with a better guitar solo than the original) was gold.

 

[ScarletRider]

Personally, I always gravitated towards the more dramatic cartoons out there. Not that I didn't enjoy Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, or Pinky And The Brain. But cartoons like Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles really captured my imagination. And I also enjoyed Spider-Man, although they recycled a lot of scenes, and it was very melodramatic at times. Those were the days...

 

[Yosato]

I watched a crap load of cartoons in the 90s. My favourite ones that I watched religiously ended up being anime even though I didn't know the difference back then (forshadowing eh?) but I could literally get back from school and watch like 3-4 hours of stuff back to back. To my amazement I found the other day that at about 1-2 in the morning (on disney I think) an old episode of the X-Men aired. I honestly read the title and thought there'd be no way it could be the same one. Then the opening theme started. Nostalgia hit me like a tonne of bricks.

 

[Housebroken Lunatic]

Seriously apart from the humourous cartoon shows that cartoon network aired, Cartoon Network introduced me to the one show that managed to rival Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in pure bad-ass and coolness factor, and that was Swat Kats.

It's too bad that Swat Kats only got two seasons, but it came around with CN from what I recall and that has to be my fondest memory of Cartoon Network in the 90's.

 

[Jewrean]

Venture Brothers FTW!

Swat Kats

Indeed, Swat Kats was amazingly good. Pity the network was too stupid to realize what they had and canceled it in it's second season. It could have continued to be something special.

 

[Skops]

it lacks more X-Men.

 

[AshlieElizabeth]

I remember Mike, Lu and Og, Dragonball-Z and Fat Dog Mendoza, they were legendary ^^

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Mr. Frank gave me the interview, and he said he liked it, but his computer wasn't working. So he said that I could just post it up right here. So, here's my interview:

Spoiler: Mr.Mattress

If I gave you the chance to forget everything that you've done now and go back to watch the old Cartoon Network/Nick/etc. which shows would you fall in love with again?

There are a number of shows from the 90's I love: Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd and Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Cow And Chicken, Spongebob and Rugrats are easy choices. Angry Beavers, CatDog and Ren And Stimpy are also good cartoons.

What were your favorite shows from the old Cartoon Network, Nick, or Disney?

My favorite old Cartoon from Nick was Spongebob, and it still technically is. I rarely watched Disney in the 90's but I would give the award to Duck Tales, which I did watch on occasion. Cartoon Network I watched the most growing up, and my favorite show there was Ed, Edd and Eddy, which I felt was still good right up to the TV Movie (which is the series finale).

Cartoon Network has a contract that it has its entire set of creators sign when they create a t.v. show. The contract says that after 7 years Cartoon Network will cancel the show regardless of ratings, and they keep all of the rights to the show. How do you fell about Cartoon Network enforcing this?

I feel that Cartoon Network is being rather cautious but dumb on their behalf. I can understand why they would cancel a show then: You said in your interview about how Spongebob after the movie started to decline in quality, and while I find a number of Spongebob Cartoons still funny, I will say they do have dumb episodes. I am thinking that the Execs of Cartoon Network don't want a show to become Stale and repetitive but is such an important part of the network that they keep it alive. But I feel that if a show is good, it should have more Seasons then 7. Also, 7 years isn't a lot to explore every part of a show.

The Hanna-Barbera logo has almost just disappeared from animation itself. You use to be able to see this logo and think of it as a Nintendo Seal of Quality, but no more. Do you think with the downfall of Hanna-Barbera that animation as a whole suffered for it?

Personally no, because before the 90's and after the 60's, Hanna Barbera use to produce nothing but crappy and Stale shows (Look up Robotic Stooges for more Details). While Hanna Barbera were the first to introduce Cartoons to Television, the fact that they declined hasn't killed off cartoons: Flapjack is one of the most awesome shows I've seen on CN, Adventure Time shows Promise, and Penguins of Madagascar is splendid (Considering the Amounts of Crap they show on Nick).

While on the topic of studio downfalls both Nickelodeon and Disney both once had enormous control over animation with their quality cartoons. How did you feel once their shows started to disintegrate?

I believe it is because of Business Models that those corporations have that CN doesn't. As stated above, I believe that Cartoon Network is a bit more restraint then Nick or Disney. Where as Cartoon Network's model is more "Make Money Off of Cartoons", Nick's and Disney's is more "Make Money. Period." Plus, neither Nick nor Disney were founded solely on Cartoons like CN was (Disney had his share of Live Action Documentary and Films, and one of Nick's first programs was "You Can't Do That on TV"), so that also is an influence on them.

The first to begin the separation from cartoons to children aimed reality shows was jarring indeed, but do you feel that children are more attuned for the reality shows than a cartoon?

I think in our modern day and age Children may. From viewing my youngest brother, he will watch anything on TV as long as it can keep him entertained. While I know what is good and what sucks, he will watch anything with Cool Creatures or puts a character in an awkward situation. I am not saying that Children will watch any garbage thrown at them, but I am saying that our modern day culture is drifting kids away from Cartoons, which are getting more and more adult, and Reality I Shows are just filling in the void.

Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney seem to have this terrible habit of not releasing t.v. shows from back in the day on DVD. If they did begin to start releasing DVDs of the cartoons from your past would you pay through the nose to get them?

Depends on the show actually and what they put into the DVD. I feel that all DVD's need more then simply the Cartoons, they need the Behind the Scenes, Commentaries, and other little tid bits that make a DVD feel whole. If any of my favorite Cartoons were to come out on a Several Discs containing many extra features I would buy it.

Final thoughts?

Cartoons, like any other medium, is an art form that has it's goods and it's bads. Right now, many cartoons are bad. However, all cartoon lovers should be patient. Another Golden age of Cartoons will fallow once the last shores of shit wash up. There are already signs of the bad Cartoons dieing off: Flapjack and Adventure Time prove that good cartoons are coming back in style. All it is going to take is for One Studio to have One Creative Idea and others will fallow.[/quote]

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I'm 27. My father is 52. We will both sit down and watch Pinky and the Brain for hours, because it is awesome. People always say something like "of course newer cartoons don't seem as good to you, you're getting older and they're for kids now, not you" and those people are quite frankly completely incorrect.

If you liked a cartoon when you were a kid because you were a kid, it probably sucked. Kids are stupid, and they like crap - there are nicer ways to say that, but that's the bottom line: kids shows do not have to be good, because kids will like any old stupid crap you show them.

If you can watch that same cartoon now and find that once the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia are stripped away, you still find it hilarious, that's because the show is hilarious regardless of brain development. I never watched Spongebob as a child, because when it was first airing I was an adult - and it was hilarious and clever. As it turns out, a lot of the shows I used to watch as a kid are likewise just as entertaining now that I'm an adult, and you certainly can't explain my father's love for Pinky and the Brain via childhood nostalgia.

The problem isn't that people complaining that cartoons were so much better back in the day are getting older, the problem is cartoons these days suck. Unless they're cartoons that were never aimed at kids in the first place (thank goodness for subversive and clever fare like the Venture Brothers). I don't know why childrens cartoons seem to have largely scrapped all the adult humor and clever writing (that just flew right over the heads of actual children) these days, but there's no question that by and large they have, and it's a bloody shame.

 

[Cowabungaa]

CN's rise and fall you say.

However, you must add to that "and rise again." Because they've really been stepping up their game with gems like Over The Garden Wall, Steven Universe, Regular Show and Adventure Time.

It helps that the idiot who thought all that live-action nonsense was a good idea got kicked out. CN has an actual animation guy in charge now, and it shows in both quality and its rising popularity.

snip

Heej now, My Life As A Teenage Robot was pretty good. They really nailed that retro-futurism aesthetic in that one.

 

[Barbas]

I must lock this thread for necromancy.

Only you can prevent the practice of the dark arts.