The Decline Of TELETOON

I remember the day Teletoon launched its network on October 21, 1997 and as I remember fondly all of the shows that used to grace the Teletoon it's changed a lot since it launched.
Gone forever are the cartoons that I've come to know and love and here are the cartoons that just make it out and out terrible. I thought that I would get at least a Transformers TV show or two or maybe even the old G.I. Joe cartoons. Everything that I used to love as a kid just seems to have disappeared off of Teletoon and I don't just mean the small forgivable cartoons.





For me Duckman was the start of Teletoon's greatness. The whole show revolves around the misadventures of a hopelessly inept duck detective, his pig partner, and his disfunctional family which includes his sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and 2.5 children, Ajax, Charles, and Mambo. Charles and Mambo share the same body while Ajax is socially awkward. Somehow this show found its way on to the CTVGlobe Media network Razer.






The story of another disfunctional family that includes the funny, yet slow witted, Homer, his quick witted wife Marge and their 3 children. Bart, the devil's cabana boy, Lisa, the intellect, and Maggie who's the smartest of them all. This show was transferred on to the Comedy Network.







The concept of Flash Gordon is the same now as it was 10 years ago. There is a good guys vs bad guys plot in which Flash almost always outsmarts the evil doers and wins. What's not to like about it? However this show seems to have vanished into obscurity. For what reason? I don't know and I don't even want to know.






What look at Teletoon nostalgia would be complete without looking at these antiquated Hanna Barbera, who were the creators of slapstick comedy, cartoons. Wow that takes me back to the late 80s and the times that all networks aired cartoons. Now the new Teletoon Retro, starting in October, will be airing these cartoons.





X-Men had orginally aired on the now defunct Fox Kids Network in 1992 and since that time very little has changed. In order to celebrate the launch of the X-Men Movie in 2000 Teletoon aired the entire run of the X-Men cartoons which included the Phoenix Saga. Not much time to air all of those shows but it still brought me back to when I was 15. I still enjoy watching X-Men even though it was only for a short time.





The Avengers is another show that was borrowed from the now defunct Fox Kids Network. Even though it only lasted a year the storylines and plots were great. However there are some things that are best left in the ground.





No look at Teletoon nostalgia would be complete without looking at the Silver Surfer another show from the now defunct Fox Kids Network. I had high hopes that Teletoon would air the second season of the show but you know what? I'm kind of glad that they didn't.





Santo Bugito is another Klasky-Csupo cartoon classic. Yes this is the same production studio that brought you Duckman, Rugrats, and All Grown Up. A very forgetable cartoon.





Yes my favourite H-B cartoon made its way on to Teletoon before that god aweful What's New Scooby Doo? Why WB had to go and change it I don't know but they should have left Scooby Doo the way it was. Now they're going to add Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get A Clue this year and I wonder just how much it's been changed.







Out of all the HB cartoons Jonny Quest was, and still is, one of my favourites. I suppose what I liked most about it is that there was almost always a mystery to solve. Whether it was a tomb in Egypt or exploring the Arctic circle. I think that this cartoon almost always had a plot to it that I really liked.


So what exactly happened to Teletoon? I think that with the budget that it first started out with they could get all of the cartoons that I remember as a kid. But as time went on and on I think they just started getting lazy and as time progressed they felt that they needed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which is 0, in order to appeal to the populace of adults who still spend their time watching cartoons.
Not that I ever had anything against such shows as Robot Chicken, Family Guy, and Futurama but it might be nice for them to put some cartoons that grown girls might like. Let's hope that when Teletoon Retro launches in October they don't have to appeal to the lowest common denominator and put on some classic cartoons that appeal to all ages.