Underrated 1980s Cartoons Pt 1

The cartoons that I felt was underrated
On
February 22, 2008
I'm pretty sure most of the users on RJ grew up in the 1980's. Most of us remember cartoons like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Ducktales, Smurfs, GI Joe and Thundercats very fondly, but there are some cartoons from that era that I felt that was overlooked. Some of these cartoons had the potential to go on further than what they had but the creators cancelled them too early. Here are 5 cartoons from the 1980's era that I felt was underrated.

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985)

My sister and I loved this show. She used to record the episodes on tape and it was great. My favorite characters were Cubbi and Sunni for some reason. Maybe it's because they were the kid bears. Oh well. Anyways, this show is about 6 bears who live in a forest in medieval times and they stop the evil Duke Igthorn from stealing the Gummi Beary Juice (which makes them bounce and make the orges more powerful temporarily) and other villains that lure around Gummi Glen. And I loved that theme song and it would remain in my head for hours. It came out on September 14th 1985 along with The Wuzzles (another Disney TV animated series, which didn't last very long) and was originally on NBC Saturday Mornings and then moved to ABC Saturday Mornings in 1989. It has since been re-ran on the Disney Channel (up until 1993 or so) and Toon Disney (until 2001). This was Disney's first entrance to television animation and to me, it was an alternative to the many Hanna Barbera cartoons on Saturday Mornings during this time period.



Jem (1985)

Yet, another cartoon my sister and I were huge fans of. This one reminded me a bit of music at the time and the fashions. At one point, my sister and her friends had all of the Jem dolls and toy sets but she sold them when she turned 12. Anyways, I loved the music in the show, it would get on my mom's nerves, but I didn't care. It's about these young women (or were they teenagers?) in a band and they usually rival against the Misfits (cartoon band, not the 1970's punk band). Notice that the band members are interracial. Doesn't that tell you something? And it's not just a girl cartoon, some guys I knew liked the cartoon too. This cartoon was on syndication (If I'm not mistaking, it was originally on the Super Sunday block). It was last seen on the USA Cartoon Express. I haven't seen this cartoon since 1992.



Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures (1987)
Damn soccer moms and crybabies had to take off this show! This was a great twist to Mighty Mouse (which I didn't really didn't like at first until I saw this show). It was the 1980's version of Ren and Stimpy which was another controversial cartoon.The episode "The Littlest Tramp" was the perfect example of the controversy of the show. Mighty Mouse had something that looked like cocaine in this hand. This upset many religious groups and they tried to ban the cartoon off the air and they successfully did. If they didn't want their kids watching the cartoon, then fine. Don't ruin it for the rest of us. Anyways, Ralph Bakshi and John K. (can't spell the rest of his last name) were the main genius behind this cartoon. It was funny to my mom even who grew up with the original Mighty Mouse cartoons. This cartoon was on CBS Saturday Mornings in 1987-1988 and lasted for 2 seasons. This show haven't been seen since 1989.



Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (1989)
Well, this is another cartoon that had the potential. It was my sister's least favorite cartoon, but I loved it. The theme song was fun to sing along to. It was Disney's attempt to bring Chip and Dale to television animation and it was a funny cartoon. My favorite characters were Gadget Hackwrench, the mouse handy girl. She's kind of like me, nervous and shy, but I'm not a handy girl and Dale because he was lazy like I am and loved junk food. The show was about the Rescue Rangers and they solved crimes again villians like Fat Cat. It's a shame that Disney has this 65 episode policy. Most of their shows in general don't seem to last long. This cartoon was on syndication and it was on the Disney Afternoon up until 1993 (I liked CDRR and didn't care for Bonkers, the cartoon that replaced it) and it is still on Toon Disney.



Thundarr the Barbarian (1980)

I'll admit, I have not seen the original airing of this show. I saw it on tape which my brother recorded all 21 episodes. Some people say it ripped off of He-Man, well it did not. It predated He-Man by 3 years. This cartoon was loosely based on Conan The Barbarian and was set in the future, in the year 1994. Trust me, when I first saw that, I thought the year 1994 was going to be just like that, but I was wrong and so was the show. Oh well. It was originally on NBC's Saturday Morning line up. The show has been re-ran on Cartoon Network until the late 1990's. So if you like Star Wars or any other futuristic movies/books or whatever..I recommend that you see this series.



Well, that's it for now fellow Retro Junkies. Article 2 is on the way if this one does well. I didn't explain too much about the shows because I didn't want to give away too much information and I didn't want to spoil it for the people who never watched these shows.
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