quest1mark

is it me or is saturday morning cartoons crap now? i remember when i was a kid id wake up at the crack of dawn to watch my all time favorite shows. now i wake up and turn on the tv and all i see are japanimation cartoons with english dubbing...it drives me crazy!

there seems to be no originality in cartoons now. all the shows are coming from japan. what happend to all the quality toons that we grew up on? * sigh * thank god for the new ninja turtles cartoon...its the only show thats worth watching on saturday mornings.

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Kadath

What? What about Ultimate M.U.S.C.L.E.? That show is...the worst pile of crap ever to be shoveled onto a screen. Part of me thinks you're right, that shows nowadays are no good, but I also think the shows we watched when we were kids weren't nearly as good as we remember them.

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LutherMac

Actually, there are a few decent ones out there... Ninja Turtles definately being the best of the bunch. I also find myself watching Static Shock and X-Men Evolution (whenever WB decides to ever start showing it again)..

As far as the rest of the bunch, you are correct. Nothing but Anime imports that are a ripoff of the "Pokemon" phenomena.. We definately need more american made (or at least american developed) cartoons on Saturday mornings.

Not that I've got a problem with Anime.. I just prefer my Anime with a bit more story!

Just my 2 cents.

Cynthetiq

WTF???? Start with your own statement... When I was a kid...you're older now, have different interests and qualities. It's important to understand that dynamic.

The cartoons in the 70's and 80's were also crap, Smurfs, Snorks, My Pretty Pony? C'mon now PacMan Adventures???? Even the origianl TMNT was cutsey crap.

For those that don't know Saturday morning cartoons was an invention from Saatchi and Saatchi in order to sell more targeted advertising to kids, just like they did with the Soap Operas of the early TV years. Now with alternate locations for cartoons, one can just turn on Cartoon Network, Nickolodeon (during the day) NickToons, DisneyToons, and soon The Anime Channel.

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fuelmyfire

i always liked the animated COPS series.

the soundtrack ruled.

Charlatan

Each and every one of those is from the 80s... The 70s had a whole other dynamic.

While that may be true... the first attempt to make a show that both sold product and entertained the kids was in the 60s and had something to do with Hot Wheels toy cars. This resulted in a law being imposed that forbade programming that was created around a product being sold. The arguement was that children didn't have the critical faculties to differenciate between the commercials and the show.

(it is ironic that Sesame Street was created in such a way that it emulates commecials - ie short segments for short attention spans)

This law stayed in place until the early 80s when the Regan Admin struck it down and opened the flood gate for kids shows that hocked a product. The first out of the gate was Strawberry Shortcake and was soon followed by Smurfs, My Little Pony, etc.

The days of Kroft Superstars, Falcon and DynoMutt, Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman, etc. were over.

While these show (or similar shows) could be made today, they would never be made without first having a line up of merchandising to sell to the kids (books, underware).

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Cynthetiq

Very true.. but they cannot haver GIJoe cartoon and then GI Joe toy commercials. They also cannot make the kids "feel bad" that they don't have the toy. There's a number of other items that I cannnot remember at the moment.

As for merchandising, yes, that's where they make the most money. It's a huge cash cow. I work at a major media company and merchandising is a key element. Wife she works for a smaller media company with only 1 major product (you see him on the boxes of KIX) Lisencing and merchandising big money.

But when you do look at these current crop of cartoons, there are plenty of merchandising that's at the ready. Most of the deals have already been made even before the shows are all in the can.

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krwlz

if its not looney toones its no good


or spider man i guess, those were both on their way out as i was watching cartoons, but id say they were the best

and for the record, looney toons is the most violent show out there

Big Julie

I remember seeing some Tom & Jerry's a few years ago that, were there blood, would'a give Itchy & Scratchy a run for their money...

As for what's on these days, I find some of the stuff on the networks, such as Recess, Filmore, and The Wild Thornberrys quite entertaining.
Maybe I'm just getting old....

Cynthetiq

was... since it's now owned by a megaconglomerate, it's been cleaned up. You will never see them point guns at their heads, in stereotype caricature (chinaman) and some others that I cannot recall at the moment.

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nate_dawg

the TURTLES are back?????????
I'm definitely watching that

quest1mark

i dunno dude. now that i think about it. id take hours of the smurfs, snorks, my little pony, glow worms, alf, teen wolf, thundercats, centurions, silver hawks, jem, gummy bears, archie, go bots, transformers, and pac man adventures over the crap they show today ie. ultimate muscle, kirby, mucha lucha, cubix, the cramp twins, or anything else.

its all about quality. and i just dont feel that a majority of this generation of cartoons cuts it.

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reverendjay

The funny thing is, cartoons have always sucked, which is why our parents lamented at every saturday morning we wasted watching TV. Cartoon Network has done wonderful things trying to preserve and present my childhood in cartoon form. Silver Hawks caught my eye in your post because that used to be one of my absolute favorite shows (in the vacuum left by thundercats of course). I tried to watch it again about 4 months ago.... Tried being the operative word. I then tried to watch as many 80's cartoons as I could to see if I was wrong about them all... While there were some that were better than others (smurfs/gummi bears) the rest of them were horrible. They had minimal plot, maximum action, and no discernable 'carry-over message'.

In Short, if you were as old as you are now back then, we'd be having the same conversation, only using Scooby/Jabberjaws/Josie as an example. Oh, and you forgot my favorite 30 minute commercial, M.A.S.K.

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Cynthetiq

correct... it's about us aging and moving into different demographics. Which is why even though I work at MTV, what they show compared to when I was watching it SUCKS ASSS. But no, it doesn't because they are making money hand over fist, every US$1 they spend they get back US$2. The Saturday morning line up is an important niche, Viacom's merger with CBS meant NickJr. had an instant hole to fill with minimal cost and broad sweeping acceptance in millions of homes instantly.

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Bonesaw

Recess is petty good and The Wild Thornberry's are entertaining. Now if I could only keep myself from watching the Teletubbies.

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warrrreagl

The cartoons and the drugs in the 70's were much better. To wit:

Once upon a summertime
Just a dream from yesterday
A boy and his magic golden flute
Heard a boat from off the bay
"Come and play with me, Jimmy
Come and play with me
And I will take you on a trip
Far across the sea"


But the boat belonged to a kooky old witch
Who had in mind the flute to snitch
From her Vroom Broom in the sky
She watched her plans materialize
She waved her wand
The beautiful boat was gone
The sky grew dark
The sea grew rough
The boat sailed on and on and on and on


But Pufnstuf was watching, too
And knew exactly what to do
He saw the witch's boat attack
And how the boy was fighting back
He called his Rescue Racer Crew
As often they'd rehearsed
And off to save the boy they flew
But who would get there first?


But now the boy had washed ashore
Puf arrived to save the day
Which made the witch so mad and sore
She shook her fist and screamed away


H.R. Pufnstuf, who's your friend when things get rough?
H.R. Pufnstuf, can't do a little, 'cause you can't do enough

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Bonesaw

I'm glad that the Transformers are available on DVD. GI Joe is out with a movie on DVD. Plus the new He-Man isn't as good as the original but they haven't made it completely unwatchable.

__________________
Q. What is the difference between erotic and kinky?

A. Erotic is using a feather... kinky is using the whole
chicken.

Bonesaw

only if you've been using it before '95.

__________________
Q. What is the difference between erotic and kinky?

A. Erotic is using a feather... kinky is using the whole
chicken.