Finding the best cartoon of all time

[Desdichado]

Hmmm... I'm a little out of touch with what's been on the last several years. Like the last 15 or so. My kids watch cartoons in the basement, so I rarely see them. Here's some of my faves of all time, though.

As a very young kid, I like Mighty Mouse. I have no idea when those originally aired, but I went through a phase where that was my favorite, along with Heckle and Jeckle. Wow, those were old even then, though.

Tom and Jerry: dude, those guys are classic.

I also remember phases of having Speed Racer and the Tarzan show as my favorites for a while.

G.I. Joe was a good one.

The old Spider-man got heavy rotation at my house (I was the oldest kid, so I always picked the shows!) When the newer version, where he had two "Amazing Friends" came out, and was immediately followed by the Hulk cartoon, that was my favorite hour of TV all week. Heck, I doubt I've liked anything on TV since the way I liked those two shows.

And the other really "big hitters" on my cartoon greatest hits are probably Thundarr the Barbarian and Flash Gordon.

 

[johnsemlak]

Johnny Quest for the 80s (I like the D&D cartoon of course; I sort of don't include it.)

 

[Ferret]

I know I liked the spiderman and X-men cartoons, but I only like the Spiderman ones now. Somehow it still seems to work and it isn't as consistantly outlandish as X-men. I have just discovered Dangermouse, and think it is quite amazing!

I also like the new X-men cartoon.

 

[blaskowicz]

Here are my picks:

70s - Snoopy/Peanuts (the strip is much older, I know, but I think the cartoons are from around that period)
80s - SDF Macross
90s - Batman: TAS

Batman deserves a special note since it is one of the few I actually like to watch in the brazilian portuguese version. I usually prefer in the original english...
Never liked Tom & Jerry since Jerry always won. :\

 

[Klaus]

60s - the original Jonny Quest (the 80s and 90s remake sucked)
70s - Snoopy, Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote
80s - Thundercats, Transformers (Generation 1, the only real Transformers), Masters of the Universe
90s - Batman (and spinoffs), Superman
00s - Justice League, Inuyasha

 

[Starman]

What? No love for the Star Trek animated series from the 70s. Sure it had some flaws, but it still had Kirk, Spock, and Bones, the holy trinity of fictional characters.

Starman

 

[Wombat]

Ladies & gentlemen I give you...

ROCKY & BULLWINKLE

 

[dreaded_beast]

Hmm, hard for me to say, but I'll just mention a "few" of my favorites:

Voltron
Thundercats
Silverhawks
Starcom (Based on those space toys that had magnets as a gimmick)
Galaxy Rangers
GI Joe
Inspector Gadget
M.A.S.K.
Robotech
Transformers (All versions, but I prefer the 80's and Beast/Machine Wars. The current crop of Transformers has become too "kidified" for my taste)

Nickelodeon (Before Rugrats, argghh, I can't stand that show):
Dangermouse
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Spartacus
You Can't Do That on Television (Not a cartoon, but entertaining)
David the Gnome

Disney Afternoon:
Gummi Bears/Gargoyles (I swear, I think there are some good ideas to inject into your DND campaign from here. Gummi Berry Juice - Potion of Bull Strength for humanoids, Potion of Jumping for Gummi Bears.)
Tailspin (I wonder if there is a map for Cape Suzette. That place seems like a cool port city for DND. Especially the guns that keep away Don Carnage.)
Rescue Rangers
Ducktales

 

[The Serge]

Transformers (Generation 1, the only real Transformers)

Indeed. After Transformers: The Movie scarred me for life (THEY. KILLED. PRIME!), the franchise went down hill and never recovered. One of the cool things about the Transformers was that a kid could imagine that the car beside them could transform into a robot, or that the construction vehicles would combine to form... DEVASTATOR! That impact was lost with Transformers: Beast Wars because, not only did the Transformer turn into essentially biological creatures, they didn't coexist with human beings, losing their impact (not to mention that the transformations were on par with the Gobots... Essentially, flip the head back, twist the body around, and flip the feet and that's the extent of the transformation... They also had crappy names. Wasn't one called Cheetor and another called Dinobot... Pathetic).

I won't get into the nonsense that is Transformer: Armada.

Masters of the Universe

Although I loved the original series back in the 80s, I found that I actually enjoyed the new series a great deal more. The animation is far smoother (they don't use the same frames repeatedly), the voice acting is broader, the action is better, and the stories are generally linked. There's a greater degree of maturity and myth in the recent series. However, perhaps others didn't agree as I don't think I've seen any indication of the series return (it looked like they were steadily moving to finally bringing in Hordak).

 

[Klaus]

Hey, no dissin' Transformers: The Movie! It had some of the most memorable scenes in animated history (a... transformer... PLANET!!!!!!.... "Megatron must be stopped. At whatever cost." You got the touch! You got the poweeeeer! Yay!)

The new Masters series is/was good (and my friend Emiliano Santalucia got to pencil the Image comic book it spawned), but I have fond memories of the original series, its She-Ra spinoff and the "Secret of the Sword" feature film! I loved trying to guess which toy would be introduced in the show.

And well, the new cartoon had King Hiss, so Hordak couldn't be too far back...