VA: Top 5 Cartoons We Need to Put Back on the Air
Dec 19th, 2007
(10 votes, average: 3.4 out of 5)
Loading ...Kids these days have no imagination.
One thing I’ve been blessed/cursed with in life is an unusually good memory, so I very keenly remember being a little kid hanging out with […]
Original post: Top 5 Cartoons We Need to Put Back on the Air
This is exactly why kids don’t ask adults for fun ideas. Rather than give the children a few ideas, and let them run off and play, V had to dominate their game. She had to create “rights & wrongs” for their play, and when they didn’t do exactly as she said, she was disappointed.
In the end I think the story is bullshit, and V was using it to prove a point. Can anyone here actually imagine V surrounding herself with a bunch of kids?
V is a foster parent. I’m almost positive. I’ve been reading since the beginning and I could have sworn I remember her saying something about taking a class to be a foster parent and bitching in typical V fashion about how they let pretty much anyone foster abused children.
Fuck other people’s kids. I just want these cartoons back on the air for me.
I am with Sean on this one - why does she have so many stories where she is around a bunch of kids? Who would let her near kids? Could S be right about foster parenting - or even a preschool teacher??? Yikes.
Dude, my 5 year old niece watches Thundercats all the time. Maybe it’s just Texas.
If you want kids to develop an imagination, then don’t give them a game to play when they complain about being bored, put them to work. Then the next time, maybe they’ll figure out a way to entertain themselves.
I like the usage of henchpersons.
But those are just ok cartoons. All of them are superhero stuff where there’s a mighty super-power fight sequences. Even the cuddly and innocent cartoon (Smurfs) is the most violent of those baby-cartoons. There’s so much more. Therefore I will descend from my pedestal among you mortals and remind you of some good cartoons:
Around The World In 80 Days
Not only this was a good cartoon, it made me ask “dad, who’s Jules Verne?”. Jules was more of a prophet than a sci-fi writer. Pretty much the only thing that hasn’t come true is a trip to the core of the world. But those portable devices with their own power source that emit light, for example. They are true nowadays. We call them torches. (Or flashlights, depending on your continent.) (Go to project Gutenberg for Jules Verne books.)
Dogtanian - Less than £17 in play.com - I’m ordering this.
Again, classical story played by animals. Getting kids to read is never a bad idea. After watching the cartoon you will read the book if you come across it. (By the way… Project Gutenberg: Alexandre Dumas.)
Dr. Snuggles - Less than £18 in play.com - I’m ordering this.
Tell me these writers weren’t Puffing the Magic Dragon. Come on. A Doctor who has an umbrella with a talking duck’s head that can be used as a pogo stick. They take a wooden rocket to the moon to eat some cheese and on the way back visit a green-dotted camel who lives up in the clouds. Marvelous series.
Barbapapa
The only repetitive series in my top 5. But hey, as a kid I wanted to be a Barbapapa. To be able to turn into any object you need at any given time. Cool.
Nils Holgersson
Arrogant kid got a curse, making him the size of a thumb. Rides with a flock of geese and tries to get normal size again and learns to be humble along the way. Kind of airborne Thumbelina story.
Bubblin’ under:
Tao Tao
Oh, come on. Can it be more cuddly? As a boy it’s not ok to watch My Little Pony or some weird bears up in the clouds. But you can get away with Tao Tao. Or those two bears who got lost and tried to find their mommy.
Ducktales
Who doesn’t like Donald Duck series? Donald isn’t that much in this one, but the modernized world of Donald Duck created a great series.
Nick Knatterton
This guy makes Sherlock Holmes look like a slow-witted weakling. Otherwise nice series, but repeats a lot. Like Snorkles or Smurfs.
Ghostbusters
I liked the cartoons and the comics and the movies, but this series is kinda the end of my childhood. I was on the border being a bit too old for cartoons. I’m not too old for cartoons anymore. (My little brother got heavily into TMNT.)
But of course there’s few violence-based superhero stuff I like:
Spiderman
Whatever can be said about X-men. Plus he’s my favourite superhero. (Not in the movies, though. Logan would kick Spidey’s behind.)
Transformers
Came with collectables. Good marketing. This with He-Man (vs Skeletor) and She-Ra (vs Hordak) were my favourite cartoons as a 5-6 year old kid.
I always thought Smurfs was about communism. You know how the whole village pitches in for the good of everyone and each person has a distinct role to play.
All those cartoons sucked. But then again I wasn’t born in the 70s.
I feel like me, my sister and my best friend were the only persons to watch The Adventures of Johny Quest. I’d love to see that again! They had a lot of super technology stuff. Like gravity boards and babel fish, only a tech version of it.
I considered the cartoons of my childhood pretty silly, but they only got more silly and unimaginative over time.
My sister and I had magical pendants in our childhood and we climbed the dangerous piano-cliffs and tried not to wake the dragon…
Oh, I simply loved this post! My kisses to V, with tongue, if she likes.
When I was a bored teenager, we would play the smurf drinking game. Everytime one of the little blue guys said “papa smurf” on the cartoon, you had to tke a drink. You would end up pretty smashed after a half hour show.
Is it just me or were the pics the funniest part of the post, particularly the ones of He-Man, She-Ra and the Thundercat???
He-Man, She-Ra and Thundercats were staple parts of my cartoon regime back in the day. I got the Thundercats box set a while back and watched it with the kids - fun stuff until you realise that the spacebound Thundercats are all naked until Jaga points out that they’ll need clothes in their new home.
On the actual post, I concur with the others - what the hell was V doing surrounded by kids?
Exo-Squad was probably one of the coolest cartoons on television. It featured a genocidal madman trying to wipe out the human race.
It was a lot like Robotech, except possibly even better.
I’m a Thundercats devotee myself it just had the edge on He Man in the matter of Mumm-Ra v Skeletor as arch-nemesis. With that in mind, you guys might enjoy this I found in my email recently:
AN OPEN LETTER TO SKELETOR
Dear Skeletor,
First of all, many thanks for taking time to read this letter. I appreciate that your schedule is pretty packed with evil and evil related activities and that your time is precious. I’ll try not to take up too much of it, but I really do think you need to hear what I have to say.
I, like a large number of other people on the planet Earth, have watched with amusement for the past twenty years as you have repeatedly tried and failed to infiltrate and conquer Castle Grayskull and gain access to it’s legendary “secrets”. Yes, you read that correctly Skeletor: “Amusement”.
Because while I appreciate the thought, effort and sheer dogged enthusiasm which go into your takeover bids, your apparent inability to spot the numerous and often gaping flaws in each and every one of them is laughable. I’m sorry, but it had to be said.
Take, for example, Fakir. You remember Fakir, don’t you Skeletor? The clone you made of He-Man? On the face of it, the plan was brilliant. Flawless. You managed to create an exact duplicate of He-Man using just the power of your Ram’s Head Staff, who could just walk up to Grayskull, knock on the drawbridge and gain entry. Victory was assured.
Or at least it would have been had you not given Fakir blue skin and orange eyes. I mean - what were you thinking there? I can only assume this was a frankly astonishing oversight on your behalf. The real He-Man doesn’t have blue skin or orange eyes, Skeletor, so in order to be truly effective, nor should an evil double. An identical duplicate should be identical to the thing it’s a duplicate of. The clue’s in the name. It’s just common sense.
Speaking of which, why do you insist on surrounding yourself with idiots? Okay, I appreciate that Beast Man and Trap Jaw are some scary looking blokes, but what real help have they been in your war on Eternia? They might mean well, but they haven’t contributed anything useful in two decades, Skeletor. Not a single thing. Even with employment law being so strict these days, any other employer would have found an excuse to dismiss them long before now.
It’s not as if you even like them, and I’m sure they can’t be brimming with job satisfaction either. I’ve had some shitty jobs in my time, but at least no boss of mine ever shouted “Fools!” at myself and my colleagues before shooting at us with lasers. I read somewhere recently that over fifty percent of people who get fired from a job go onto find higher paid employment in their next job. They’d probably thank you for sacking them in the long run.
And what about your strong right arm, “Evil” Lynn? Look at her name written down. You’ve just been pronouncing “Evelyn” wrong all these years, haven’t you? Surely even you can’t expect the Masters of the Universe to lay down their weapons and cower before someone called Evelyn? Particularly one who doesn’t even have the confidence to correct people who say her name wrong.
Your recruitment policy is utterly ridiculous. Take Tri-Klops - okay, so he has three eyes, but how’s that going to help defeat the mightiest man in the universe? At best it’ll just afford him a better view of He-Man’s massive fist as it connects solidly with his head. Likewise Ju-Jitsu - that big hand he has isn’t a useful special power, it’s just a big hand! He’s deformed! While I applaud your policy on employing the disabled, you shouldn’t fall into the trap of believing their disabilities will actually aid your nefarious schemes in any way. Elephantitis is not a valuable addition to your arsenal of evil.
And surely when you employed the two-headed Two-Bad you realized that each half of him spent every waking minute punching the other half in the face? Why didn’t this put you off? Why didn’t it start alarm bells ringing? Couldn’t you have just found a single headed person who would spend their time punching someone else in the face instead? Someone else who it would actually benefit you to have punched in the face? An employee who spends the entire working day physically harming himself is a liability, no matter what line of business you may be in.
And what about Stinkor? Jesus, Skeletor, you hire a guy just because he smells bad?! You think henchmen of that calibre are going to give you some kind of advantage over a man who can lift a mountain with one hand?
I dunno, it just seems to me that you’re deliberately shooting yourself in the foot by hiring these people. You’re attempting to conquer a planet and rule it with a fist of iron, Skeletor, not start a circus. It’s like you want to fail or something. There’s probably a psychiatric term for it, but I don’t know what it is.
Assuming you do genuinely want to succeed, my suggestion is a completely clean slate. Start from scratch. This time round though, I recommend you pick your staff based on their intelligence and skills, not by how outlandish they look. If a guy turns up for interview with green and purple striped skin and metal wings, try to find out what abilities he has rather than just offering him a job on the spot.
And when I say “abilities” I mean useful ones. Sit down and make a wish list of skills and attributes you think will genuinely increase your chances of ruling Eternia. I’d be surprised if “mental command over fish” is on there, so retaining Mer-Man’s services will be largely unnecessary. Again, he may be resentful at first, but he’ll be relieved at no longer having to worry about being thrown headlong into a pit of lava when he inevitably makes his next blundering mistake and will soon come to accept the benefits of no longer working for you.
Once you have an effective team in place, pay attention to what they have to say. I know this goes against the grain, but even with the buffoons you have working for you now disaster could have been averted time and time again had you only listened to them when they pointed out the obvious holes in your plans.
Like the machine you built to turn people to stone and bring stone things to life. Even Beast Man knew that one was an accident waiting to happen, and sure enough fifteen seconds later the machine was going crazy. What thanks did Beast Man get for pointing out the dangers of your latest contraption? A lightning bolt to the feet. He was only trying to help. How long did it take you to devise and construct such a machine, Skeletor? Longer than the four seconds it took He-Man to defeat the giant statue you brought to life with it, I’m almost certain.
The same goes for the huge tank you made out of dinosaur bones. Appearance wise it was nothing short of breathtaking, but what was its purpose? I can see why the whole ‘bone theme’ appealed to you, but you can’t have honestly believed that a vehicle which travelled at approximately four miles per hour and offered no protection whatsoever to those riding inside it was going to be the one to win the war? Trapjaw knew it was destined for failure, you could see it in his eyes, but he kept his metal mouth shut for fear of being on the receiving end of the mental and physical abuse he’s come to expect from you.
Rather than waste valuable time and resources developing such ludicrous contraptions, maybe you should concentrate instead on learning how to use your magic Rams Head Staff properly? I’ve seen you use it for everything from simple fireball hurling to creating living creatures out of thin air, so it seems to be an incredibly powerful piece of kit. Do you maybe have an instruction book or manual for it lying around Snake Mountain anywhere? If not perhaps you could get in touch with the manufacturer to see if they can help. It’s clearly far more effective a weapon than a ray that stops all the flowers in Eternia from blooming. What use is that, Skeletor? You think He-Man’s going to give up the secrets of Castle Grayskull because he misses his Aspidistras? It’s not going to happen.
And anyway, are you sure Castle Grayskull actually has any secrets? I’ve seen inside it and it looks kind of sparse to me. It’s just all stone walls and very little else.
Maybe there’s a room somewhere that’s got secrets in it, but they’d have to be pretty impressive to justify the effort you’re putting into getting them. What if the secret of Grayskull is just the Sorceress’ family recipe for Bolognese sauce? Okay, that might be some tasty sauce, but is it really worth devoting your entire life to? It’s something to think about anyway.
Finally - and please don’t take this the wrong way - don’t you think you perhaps set your sights a little high when choosing He-Man as an arch enemy? I mean, granted you’re pretty toned and clearly keep in shape, but when your opponent can defeat you and your entire army simply by blowing on you the time has surely come for a serious rethink?
I hope you’re not too disheartened by this letter and that you take some of my suggestions on board. There are too few evil megalomaniacs with no skin on their face around today, and I really do think with a bit more thought and a few slight changes in strategy you will one day become ruler of Eternia. I wish you all the best for when you do.
Regards,
Tigg
P.S. - He-Man is Prince Adam with different clothes on. Obvious when you think about it, isn’t it?
We also need to bring back all the old Warner Brothers cartoons and the Tex Avery cartoons. The PC brigade has decided that any depiction of an Asian who isn’t a studious female can’t be shown in a cartoon.
Tex Avery’s opera cartoon is one of the funniest things ever done, but you get the message that if you screw with people, you’re going to get yours back in spades. Same with the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons.
Unfortunately, this generation is pretty much lost and sadly I don’t know if it’s worth trying to save it or not. There will always be the few that have an imagination and use it, but with the schools trying to curb individualism at every turn, we’re all pretty much screwed.
@ #14 - jobyq: Excellent! I liked the letter. Very good.
By the way. I watched the new Transformers movie recently. I recognized the Americans (Autobots) like back in the day, but the Russian Communists (Decepticons) seemed to have moved to south and put a rag on their heads. The movie made me want to fight in Iraq, and I’m not even American.
I don’t think the problem so much is the cartoons themselves, but the accessories. You can’t *play* sponge-bob-square-pants really. But you could play Thundercats or Heman. My friends and I would run around with any-old-stick over our heads yelling “Thundercats, HOOOO!” I also remember playing Ghostbusters and Rainbow Bright.
I do agree though with someone else’s statement that V wasn’t teaching the kids how to have an imagination; she was just telling them what to imagine. The best way would have been to prompt the kids to make up their own story, not dish out a story for them. Perhaps the main problem is kids should read more books in order to practice with their own imaginations.
I don’t know if V is a foster parent, but I’m pretty sure some of the kids she talks about are her husband’s kids.
Megahappy!
Yay!
My order of Dogtanian and Dr. Snuggles have arrived!
Complete sets! I feel like a kid on saturday morning!
‘Scuse me, I gots to go and run around the house screaming and holding the box sets…