Pajiba

Remember the Snorks? I loved them.

What about Turbo Teen? WHAT ABOUT TURBO TEEN? Oh, and that Rubik's Cube/Menudo Power Hour bullshit?

Dammit, Rowles!

I fucking loved Pound Puppies when I was like three or four. And I refuse to believe that my opinion as a toddler could as fucking misguided as all that. Fuck you.

*watches clip*

er... Just because you're right it doesn't mean I'll apologize.

But Muppet Babies was the shit. Better than the Loony Toons Babies, for sure.

Oh, and these were the worst:

Captain motherfuckin' Planet

Snorks

Slimer and the *ahem* "Real" Ghostbusters

Goof Troop

Sonic the Hedgehog (American version)

I'd like to add to my best list:

Eek and Bobby's World

Bar none, the Smurfs were the pinnacle of Saturday morning cartoons. Bigmouth is one of the greatest cartoon characters ever created.

Bugs Bunny, hands down. He was the master of the no-win scenario (even better than Captain Kirk). He introduced me to opera, cross-dressing, everything left of Albuquerque, and monsters who lead interesting lives. Never cared much for the Road Runner, but Bugs is my hero.

My Saturday morning favorties were the in between the cartoon inserts. Anyone remember Time for Timer? And there is no denying that Schoolhouse Rock fucking rules.

BSlim, you take Captain Planet, Ghostbusters, and Goof Troop back. You take that back! I do, however agree with with your additions to the best list.

Now it's my turn for sacrilege: I watched Thundercats again a while ago, and, I hate to say it, but that shit does not hold up.

It does not get any more trippy or obscure than "Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea". Of which there are clips on YouTube.

Also, I realized my very first anime was "The Mysterious Cities of Gold."

I was doomed from a very young age.

Excuse me, but Scooby Doo is by far the all-time greatest Saturday morning cartoon show ever created. I'm talking the original version, not the Scrappy-Doo crap or the Scooby-Doo Meets the ... version.

How dare ye leave me scoobs out. Way better than smurfs, snorks, or any of that garbage.

Rainbow Brite (I had a crush on Indigo. I was a bi-curious toddler with jungle fever),

Julie continues to be my favorite person.

Your placement of Dungeons and Dragons on the "Worst List" is nothing less than a crime against humanity. I can't believe you.

I hate you.

But really, the best thing to ever run on Saturdays was the old-school Creature Double Feature that ran every Saturday in these parts. Old Japanese monster movies, every Saturday, from 11AM to 2PM?

The. Fucking. Balls.

I just looked up Dinosaucers for fun, and was HOWLING at the character names.

Terrible Dactyl
Genghis Rex (ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Steggy

...and the best god damned thing I have read all year...

BRONTO THUNDER. If I had a penis, that would be its name.

Dungeons & Dragons episode "The Dragon's Graveyard" is quite possibly the best cartoon episode ever made.

For once I almost entirely agree, except that I really think Looney Toons should be first and Pee Wee's Playhouse should be higher.

Was Voltron on Saturday mornings? If so, then my vote for best all-time Saturday mornig cartoon goes to Voltron. If not, then Smurfs all the way.

Muppet Babies!!

I also loved Garfield, but hated those stupid U.S. Acres cartoons.

But I think my favorite thing on Saturday mornings was actually the teen block of shows - Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. I ate that shit up!

Don't wake me uuuuuuuupppp
Don't wake me up if I'm dreamin'...

Was Voltron on Saturday mornings?

Posted by: Kolby at October 24, 2008 1:30 PM

-------------------------------------------------

Interestingly, there were TWO Voltrons, one was formed by various types of vehicles and small ships, it was part of an interplanetary expeditionary force or some shit. (it sucked) I believe that's the one they aired on Saturdays.

The Voltron that most people are referring to is the one formed by the colored lions and it was based on a planet. That one aired on weekdays, after school :)

Batman doesn't count (actually, was it even on Saturday mornings?), since it transcends the boundaries of a "cartoon show."

What about Jonny Quest?

That is hands down the best Saturday morning cartoon ever! mr.wsapnin and I seriously considered naming a boy "Race Bannon Wsapnin". However, a higher power intervened and made our 2nd & 3rd crumbgrabbers girls.

Muppet Babies Suck! And Muppet Babies Suck almost as much as Loony Toon Babies. BLEH! And I never got into Smurfs.

Oh my God Julie, I loved Dinosaucers. Loooooovvvvved it. I think I even had a crush on one of the dinosaurs as weird as that is(probably the leader? I like alpha males.) I also loved Dungeons and Dragons.
I recommend that if you happen to have one of those movie rental places with everything and a vcr that you go out and rent the first episode of Rainbow Bright right now, possibly to watch while drunk. It is much more awesome than you might think. It's all dark and creepy.

Whoops, what I meant was that the Wonder Twins were preferable to the junior mints. Memory... still... malfunctioning...

To those of you who keep picking Looney Tunes: they shouldn't count. The only good ones were the film shorts produced in the 30's, 4O's and 50's. Mostly they were repackaged and shown in the afternoons after school, and they were (and still are) awesome. Same goes for Tom and Jerry.

I grew up with Saturday morning cartoons in the 70's and they all sucked compared with today. You were lucky if they bothered to animate the mouths when the heroes talked. Still, the one's I wouldn't miss were Superfriends, Scooby Doo and Flash Gordon.

As bad as they all were though, at least they were violent and taught us no lessons. I weeped for a whole generation weened on Barney, My Pretty Pony and Care Bears. No wonder we got metrosexuals and emo-spiderman. What the hell did we expect? Luckily Power Rangers and TMNT were born and gave me something I could watch with my son.

"Your placement of Dungeons and Dragons on the "Worst List" is nothing less than a crime against humanity."

"best thing to ever run on Saturdays was the old-school Creature Double Feature that ran every Saturday in these parts."

Jesus Christ, TK, if you weren't married, I wasn't straight, and we were both really drunk and the lights were low, I'd totally try to molester you. D&D was the shit! I'm not a role-player, never have been, but I dug the shit outta that show... And when the last of the morning cartoons rolled around it was time for Kung-Foo flicks, Monster movies, and eventually American Gladiator (I touched myself to Lace once... Actually more like fifty times...)

The Rubik Cube show was friggin' dipshitty and anything "Babies", "Junior" sucked balls. Punky Brewster sucked scabby taint and Godzooky? What the hell was that?

Say what you like about the Garfield comic strip, the Garfield cartoon (AND US Acres) was hilarious.

How can you leave out The Tick???? Come on, get with it. Best Saturday morning cartoon EVER.

I liked Muppet Babies, but hated that I never ever saw nanny. That pissed me off beyond reason.

So many of the above mentioned cartoons, although good, weren't Sat. morning cartoons. The Tick was, though--have I mentioned The Tick, yet? Good.

Hammerman? No? No??
Screw you guys.

Muppet Babies!!! YAY!

Muppet Babies, we make our dreams come true
Muppet Babies will do the same for you

(Kermit)When your world looks kind of weird and you wish that you weren't there
(Piggy)Just close your eyes and make believe, and you can be anywhere!

I can picture Nanny's feet and skirt. Hee.

I also liked Care Bears, Jem, Duck Tales and My Little Pony. Saturday morning was Garfield and Friends. Yessir, I would wake up aruond 6 or 7 and be all antsy for it to come on at 8.

Dungeons and Dragons as one of the worst... Heh! Rowles continues his proud tradition of being a geek hater just 'cause. So predictable.... Stay golden, Pony Boy.

As mentioned above a lot of those cartoons, like Voltron (both versions), Thundercats, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Robotech, Silverhawks, etc. were weekday after school shows. (Though Transformers had a run where I lived in Dallas on Sunday mornings for a while.)

As for Saturday mornings, my favorites were Spiderman and His Amazing Friends, Super Friends, Smurfs, Dungeons & Dragons, and Thundar The Barbarian.

I remember the networks used to have premiere shows giving you previews of the new season's Saturday morning offerings. I also remember sitting down with the TV Guide and sketching out my Saturday morning viewing schedule. I was dedicated.

As for the greatness that was The Tick, that show didn't appear until well after my Saturday morning cartoon viewing days were over. Luckily, I caught them all later during late night re-runs on Comedy Central or the Cartoon Network or whatever and then bought a bootleg DVD.

And I couldn't tell ya why, but Scooby Doo and Winnie the Pooh skeeved me out when I was little. I have no idea why.

Also...did anybody ever see Superbook? It was kind of like this Bible stories cartoon about this little dude Christopher and his friend Joy and a robot who time travel and meet characters from the Bible? My parents liked me to watch that...and it was actually kind of cool.

i forgot, the wuss in me watched Dino the Last Dinosaur for a little bit with my little brother. I think it had some magic dinosaur shell with a bunch of kids time traveling?

Best Five:

1. A Pup Named Scooby Doo (much more intelligent than the original, I think)
2. Muppet Babies
3. USA Cartoon Express (as I recall contained Smurfs, Snorks, Hanna-Barbara Cartoons, Scooby Doo, and some other stuff...all of it good)
4. Super Dave (was this Saturdays?)
5. Garfield

Worst Five:

1. David the Gnome
2. Reboot
3. Doug
4. Transformers
5. Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby Doo

DarthCorleone, you just depressed the hell out of me. Growing up sucks!

Interesting Wikipedia article about why Saturday mornings aren't reserved for kids' shows anymore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_morning_cartoon

There is no such thing as a "best" Saturday morning cartoon. Unfortunately, my cartoon watching was limited to the 1960's and I don't remember the animated ones. I remember Captain Scarlett, and The Thunderbirds (both marionette shows), and our local Creature Feature starring Dr. Paul Bearer. It was my first introduction to the classics -- Plan 9 From Outer Space, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Bride of the Monster, etc. etc.

Another favorite non-cartoon show was Hey Dude. Anybody know what happened to the girl who played Brad? She was adorable.

My son and I used to watch Beast Wars before I would walk him to school everyday when he was in the 3rd grade. That cartoon will always be special to me.

tt_marie>> Thanks for the link. Very interesting - especially the bit about lobbyists trying to save me from premature brain-rot.

I was at least partially complicit in the phenomenon, as I certainly did play video games and did watch Nickelodeon on cable for a time. Also, I recall a loyalty to some weekday afternoon cartoons (although that inclination began at an age much younger than when I stopped watching Saturday morning cartoons). Beyond that, I think that I did stop watching before the cartoons stopped airing, but it's possible the industry trend played a role in that creative devotion and funding for the Saturday morning cartoons had slipped, thus lessening the quality.

Then again, it could just be that I got old.

Sorry to bring you down. :- )

also "its" instead of "it's." I really aren't dumb. I is just getting old and can't type with my brain.

Anybody remember the sweet specials like CBS Storybreak or ABC Weekend Specials? I freaking loved those, the ABC version in particular because it ran live-action version of my favorite books, like Ralph S. Mouse. SUCH goodness! One of the Ralph S. Mouse incarnations even starred a very young Fred Savage - pre-Princess Bride!

Wow, so no love for probably the greatest sat. morning cartoon? X-MEN (or spiderman...maybe)

i don't really think of the superheros when i think of my saturday mornings. the superheros were after school goodness. if we included those, my list would be
batman
batman beyond
superman
i wanted to be fair to all of my underepresented animated shows.

I guess I must skew a tiny bit younger here. My list:

classic Looney Tunes (I had a radio show in college playing classical music, and I would always use Bugs Bunny to explain why each song was familiar)

Animaniacs (BIG points for all their Gilbert & Sullivan references)

The Tick/Freakazoid (both simply absofuckinglutely awesome, there are no words)

Tiny Toons (hey, I was very young and didn't know better)

I vividly remember a Freakazoid episode where they were doing a Star Trek ripoff and actually got Ricardo Montalban on to do the voice. These shows were, to me, the last days before Saturday morning cartoons started totally fucking phoning it in. Current ones are beyond idiotic.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters ..I'm pretty sure it aired saturday mornings on Nickelodeon and I fuckin loved it!

why would anyone -intentionally- try to recall "pink panther and sons"???

I can't believe no one has mentioned the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. That and Bugs Bunny/Road Runner are my favorites. I also really liked George of the Jungle--totally silly fun.

Oh, fuck you! Hello Kitty was insane and awesome!

And so was Smurfs. And the Muppet Babies!!

I love you and hate you, as usual.

I professed my love for the Looney Tunes in a previous post this week. (to sum up, Bugs, Daffy, Foghorn good...Fuck Tweety) But I can't believe no one mentioned Fat Albert. All of you are like school on a Saturday.....no class.

Remember Alvin & the Chipmunks from the 80's? It's annoying as hell now, but I took that shit very very seriously back then.

Beyond that it was Bugs Bunny, The Smurfs and whatever super hero show was on. Usually the Superfriends. Wonder Twin Powers? Awesome.

Little known fact about Captain Planet, though. Sigle handedly caused global warming. True story. And his show was ass.

I am officially old as shit. Sid and Marty Krofft owned my childhood:

Gumby and Pokey (I'm Gumby, dammit!)
HR Pufnstuff
Lidsville (are you feeling the Charles Nelson Reilly love?)
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters (shello......)
Land of the Lost (yeah it was live action, suck off a Sleestak, it made my Saturday)

The worst shit was Sunday morning when you were stuck with Davey and Goliath. "Gee Davey, doncha think you outta go to church?". Sanctimonious fucking dog.

slower lower, I am in love with you. I, too, am older than the dirt shit sits on. I was SOOO gonna name all the Sid & Marty Krofft, obviously-inspired-by severe-acid-trip Saturday morning shows (yes, I DO own Witchy Poo socks!!!) although Lidsville really kinda blew. I did catch an episode of "The Banana Splits" on Boomerang the other day and again wondered how I survived my childhood without being hooked on serious psychotropic drugs.

Here are my top & bottom 5:

TOP:

1) Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour (yeah, they were old, but WHO CARES!!! Watch "That's Opera, Doc," and kiss my ass!

2) HR Pufnstuf/Sigmund & the Sea Monsters

3) Underdog

4) Pee Wee's Playhouse

5) Land of the Lost

BOTTOM:

1) Smurfs (yes, I HATE the blue bastards and the one blue whore...smurf on that one time)

2) He-Man/Captain Caveman

3) Shazam!/Isis

4) Yogi's Space Race (WHY? Oh, Why, ruin a perfectly good bear???)

5) Jabberjaw

geez, I need a drink now...

Battle.Of.The.Planets.

...and I'm done

Three words: Pirates of Darkwater.

JenK>> I would reenact the Danger Mouse opening credits along with the show, leaping behind furniture as each bomb went off. Penfold ruled! Wasn't Count Duckula a Danger Mouse spinoff, or am I misremembering that?

I was a Belle And Sebastian fan myself (still remember that theme music), although in hindsight Sebastian was a bit emo himself. I loved how Belle would always leap at villains and knock them down with her paws. :- )

Omg I can't believe there was no mention of X-Men or Spiderman! Also The Tick! I think that Fox had the best Saturday morning lineup in the 90's. Followed by ABC's One Saturday Morning, then NBC. I long for the days when I would wake up, get a bowl of cereal (usually HoneyCombs or Fruity Pebbles)and sit on the couch for hours watching everything from Goosebumps to Bumb In The Night. I remember there was a show called Tales from the Crypt Keeper which was basically an animated Tales from the Crypt that I loved. There was another show called Bone Chillers that was about a haunted high school or something. I just remember that Brad Garrett was the creepy principal.

So after all the cartoons went off I would turn to Nickelodeon. Watch GUTS, Legends of the Hidden Temple and all of those other great ass shows. At night I would watch SNICK. Are You Afraid of the Dark anyone?! Why were there so many scary shows on saturdays?!

Since the last post I read before commenting now is the wonderful Wednesday's 9:04 pm comment,

I have to holla out to you for my FAVORITE comment of this thread, a true gem:

"Scooby-Doo has somehow been elevated to "good"? Y'all are weird. It had one plot and ten animation cels that they rearranged every week to make the new episode appear fresh."

Oh, that SO cracked me up, you wonderful Pajibatributor! SO true, SO funny... would you consider me as a possible new best friend, if there's a vacancy?

I have my own thoughts on this, i.e., the BEST (theatrical) cartoons were made before most of us were born, so as such, they really can't be included in the best original Saturday morning cartoons, as represented by the esteemed Bugs, Daffy, Elmer, Roadrunner, and Tex Avery masterpieces that, although shown, (and the only ones I and my brother watched, aside from the Superman/Batman animated series), were always acknowledged as the only true cartoons worthy of watching.

So I always felt a bit above my friends when I'd implore them to ignore the current Hanna-Barbera and latest Kroft Creature cornucopia o' crap and the endless cheapo animated series that followed and tell them to enjoy these classic cartoons, made with true care and appealing to audiences of any age, that would be lost to history otherwise- alas, I couldn't convert everyone...

and this preaching continued throughout my entire adolescence, friends, long after I stopped caring what came on Saturday mornings.

The past is the past now, and we all have our own special Saturday-morning TV experiences (I remember catching the Monkees TV show when it went fresh into Sat morning sydnication- at 11:30am you did not DARE bother me while watching the Monkees)

And it was great reading all of these memories tonight. We'll never get those times back again, but the memories remain strong, don't they?

Sorry for long post, I haven't bloviated in awhile.

Wednesday: I know, I know. The Wire is still the best TV I've ever seen, by far, and when I watched Avatar, I struggled to figure out its place amongst all I've seen. It is animated, after all, and though no children I know can appreciate 20% of what makes Avatar great, it is still a cartoon.

Nevertheless, it has the subtlety and thought in direction, philosophy, art, and character development that I so rarely find in TV and movies. For its genre, it is unbelievable. Better (mostly because it is deeper) than Pixar movies, which I love. Comparable really only to (of what I've seen) the Miyazaki films that inspired it. It's hard to compare it to non-animated (live action?) counterparts, but it's still some of the best TV I've ever seen. The second season blew me away.

To anyone who, like me, mourned the passing of The Wire characters (and ultimately, the show), like family members, trust me and watch this show from the start. I really don't believe it to be completely blasphemous to relate the two shows.

Jem. I loved Jem.
And She-Ra.

And for some reason I remember really being into a Hulk Hogan cartoon. Where Rowdy Roddy Piper was the bad guy. I might be mad...

One of things I loved about Tiny Toon Adventures was the music video episodes. Those were awesome. Especially "Istanbul" and "Particle Man".

Best

Number 1 for now and forever: Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show. All Chuck Jones era.

Number 2: Dungeons & Dragons. Do not deny.

Number 3: Tale Spin. Take The Jungle Book and transplant it in a bizarro world of smugglers and thieves. Brilliant.

Number 4: Battle of the Planets. Not Eagle Riders. Not G-Force. Same show but different theme song and opening credits so nowhere near as good as Battle of the Planets.

Number 5: Animaniacs. And kids show that features a joke about getting to 3rd base with Prince is on it's way to greatest ever.

I am aware most of these were weekday afternoon shows.

loved camp candy.

Sorry guys,

the last comment should have been

Shirt tales instead of Critter Tales

actually who cares, because it was one shit ass cartoon!

would you consider me as a possible new best friend, if there's a vacancy?

Ah, TMax, you used bloviate in a sentence. I think that automatically bumps you up to best friend status.

Robotech bitches. The first interracial relationship in cartoon history. Roy got his ass shot in combat, made it home to play the guitar and died in his girlfriends living room. I was 5 years old looking at the TV like....

What the fuck is going on...MOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

Angry Beavers should get points just for the name.

I miss Ren & Stimpy.....

You totally forgot Gummi Bears even though you mentioned it in the intro paragraph...WTF?!

Everyone up
Everyone in
Time for the fun to begin
Come along with us to

Zoobilee Zoo
Zoobile Zoo
Magic and wonder are waiting for you
It's as close as a dream
And as bright as the brightest blue
Welcome to Zoobilee Zoo

Also, how good was Samurai Pizza Cats?

Maybe these shows didn't play in the States and we got all the cast-offs in Australia. I'd like to think so. The alternative, that nobody cares about Inspector Gadget or Samurai Pizza Cats, is too much to think about.

jesus cristo - a eureka's castle reference??? and david the gnome - i peed a little when i saw. those were after school shows though, not sat morning.

i would still watch muppet babies if i could find them.

I don't think Inspector Gadget was Saturday morning. That should explain the omission.

WTF?!

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS WAS/IS AWESOME!

Go get high and watch it, see for yourself, it's badass.

The best?

The post apocalyptic wasteland of Thundar the Barbarian, Ookla and Ariel (teh hotness!).

The post apocalyptic quest of the Starblazers ("Fire the Wave Motion Gun!")

The three series worth of successive post apocalypses in Robotech (yes, as stated above, watching Roy Fokker die was epic and it helped to shape me into the man I am today).

The worst?

Hercules. Although I have to admit that every once in awhile when Daedalus would kidnap Marian I'd get junior wood. Is that wrong?

Rocket Robin Hood - 2 frame per second animation, the most boring stories imaginable and yet another series with tons of dudes and only one chick.

And the bottom of the cartoon universe - the original Spiderman cartoon. You loved Spiderman more than Jesus and you convinced yourself that it was actually the coolest cartoon as you licked its web-coated dookies off the screen. It would be many years before Spidey and Friends (and the oh so fine Firestorm) washed that taste out of my mouth.