Yes sir, today's Day 2 of 90's Week, and today I focus on the cartoons that entertained the hell out of me in the 90's.
I don't know about you, but as much as I enjoyed and cared for the iconic cartoon heroes of the 80's, it was really in the era of the 90's that I really blossomed and matured in taste as far as cartoons go.
And really with the exception of maybe an odd cartoon or here, the main channel and line-up of cartoons that really hold the most appeal for me was FOX. Yes the FOX channel was a favorite for me back in the day, and with it's huge roster of cartoons for the entire decade, I became a very loyal and faithful viewer.
Consider the long list of cartoon franchises that appeared on the FOX network in the 90's:
-We started out with mostly Disney cartoons, like Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, and Duck Tales. All good for the time, and general pretty decent. I loved Duck Tales in the beginning, with it's catchy theme song and all, then Darkwing Duck because of the Batman-like spoof character; Tale Spin was fucking awesome because of Baloo and the kid. Seriously, who didn't want to be flying alongside F'N Baloo back then as his sidekick and navigator?
Goof Troop was alright, but quickly just got too dumb and silly for me; definitely the weakest of the bunch on my opinion.
But Hark! What's this coming to the network in the fall of '92?
OMG, It's BATMAN!!!!!
Oh man, that show really turned me from a causal Batman fan, to a fucking devoted follower of his for years. And you can all thank Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for that.
I could devote an entire post to just this show alone, and I probably will some day, but this was what started to separate the older generation of cartoons and how they were written to the then present-day. Batman:TAS was very ahead of it's time in terms of animation and writing, not too mention the voice talent.
To this day, and I know Randomnerd agrees with me here, Mark Hamill's Joker is the best and truest iteration of the Joker period. I'll fight you to the death if you disagree with me too;)
But alas, for some fucked up reason, the series only lasted 3 years. Yeah I know. It's later show up on the WB Network in several versions, but the first was the best. Hands down!
FOX still spoiled me and countless others of my generation:
While Batman was going on, we were all treated to the best that Warner Brothers had to offer when it came to the other cash cow franchise of theirs: Loony Tunes, or more specifically, Tiny Toons.
Who as a kid growing up back then didn't love this show. It attempted to be hipper with the kids by using , well the kids, or cousins of the more popular Loony Tune characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy, and Pepe Le Pew.
It worked for awhile for me, as it added a new take on an old reliable franchise, yet still remained easily accessible for any kid not familiar with Loony Tunes.
To this day, my favorite episode ever has to be the with the character called Foul Mouth.
Foul Mouth had a little problem: He couldn't stop cussing. Period. No matter the situation, he'd cuss worse than a fucking sailor in a shit storm. See what I did there;)
So, he asks his pal Buster Bunny to cure him of this affliction, all of which mostly fail, leading up to the big finale; Buster hooks Foul Mouth up to a Clockwork Orange-like machine that'll punish him for cussing. Of course it doesn't work, and just pissed off Foul Mouth so much, he breaks the machine just from the sheer amount of four and five-letter words that come out of his mouth. This shit was funny, and yes, you know this was right up a very young Mr.Morbid's alley.
FOX wasn't done with us yet; nope, they then decided to spring the Animaniacs on us.
Who can forget Wacko, Yakko, and Dot?
They had a catchy theme song that introduced the whole cast, but was easily memorable.
With 5 years worth of shows, we got the main cast, plus the Pinky and The Brain, the gangster pigeons known as the Goodfeathers, and so much more.
Hell, who could possibly forget such timeless concepts like the Wheel of Morality, or Good Idea; Bad Idea?
Eek the Cat, Sam and Max, The Tick, Big Guy and Rusty, the last three all based of independent comic characters that were really too weird for even the mainstream audience. But I loved 'em all just the same.
Of course Marvel Comics represented big time by then, launching Spider-Man and X-Men on the network.
They were pretty damn good themselves back then. Trust me, those shows helped move a lot of merchandise, especially action figures. I had so many back in the day, I still can't get over just how much I had.
Marvel would try to capitalize on the success of the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises by launching shows like the Silver Surfer and the Avengers towards the late 90's. If you blinked, you missed the Silver Surfer, and The Avengers didn't last too much longer either. I don't know why the last one didn't work out, because even with the re-designs, it seemed to be pretty solid. Of course the now cancelled series on Disney XD is actually even much, much better, but still.
Oh, and can't forget the Iron Man and Fantastic Four cartoons either. They're were pretty damn good themselves, not to mention the figures they helped push and sell too.
So yeah, FOX back in the days when I looked forward to watching Saturday morning cartoons, kinda like now, but it was better then.
Honorable mentions for cartoons I watched in the 90's, but on other channels are as follows:
-Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
She started out as a computer game I played in elementary school, and then become both a kids' quiz show, and animated series on FOX later on in the late-90's.
-The Incredible Hulk
The then UPN network wanted to jump on the animated superhero train, and thus this show happened.
It was pretty good too, using the traditional Hulk-is-hunted motif as the main theme. It did feature some fun guest-stars such as Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, and Thor. She-Hulk also showed up and a more regular basis, oozing pure sex.
Did I mention the toys? Ok, just making sure;)
-Spawn: The Animated Series
This show wasn't little kiddies by no means, you know, just in case it being on HBO didn't tell you right there. Not to mention the actual blood, gore, and violence. Oh and sex too. Can't forget that.
It didn't last too long either, but David Keith's voice made Spawn all the more cooler than the Spawn Movie.
-WildC.A.T.S./Savage Dragon
God bless Image Comics for trying so hard to compete with the big boys. Hats off to Jim Lee and Erik Larsen for trying to make their dreams come true, even though both series sucked hard! I don't know if it was the animation, bad stories, or what, but these shows didn't age well, nor live up to the hit comics they were based off.
At least there were the toys......
Whew that's a lot of shows. I'm sure there's more, but they'll have to wait for a possible sequel.
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, reliving your own childhood past with these beloved shows as well.
