Finding the best cartoon of all time

[Laurel]

From the very informal polling so far, I made a list below. The year is US release, or as close as I can figure. If there’s just a ? mark it’s cause I have no idea! One vote gets it on the list more then that gets noted after the name Bold are the top three right now

<O</OPre-80’s<O</O
-Animated Star Trek Series (’73)
-Johnny Quest –2 (‘64)
-Pink Panther (’64)
-Rocky and Bullwinkle-1 (’59)
-Spiderman (’77)
-Star Blazers (70’s-?)
-Tom & Jerry -1 (’39)
-Wacky Racers/Stop that Pigeon (?)

80’s<O</O
-Dangermouse-2 (’84)
-Ducktales (’86)
-Dungeons and Dragons (’83)
-Galaxies Ranger ('86)
-G.I. Joe (’83)
-G-force (?)
-He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (’83)
-Inspector Gadget (’82)
-M.A.S.K. (’85)
-Robotech-1 (’85)
-SDF Macross (’82?)
-Silverhawks (’85)
-Snoopy/Peanuts-1 (‘83)
-Super friends(’80)
-The Simpsons-2 (’89)
-Thundaar the Barbarian-2 (’80)
-Thundercats-2 (’85)
-Transformers-9 (’84)
-Voltron-2 (’84)

90’s<O</O
-Animanicas -7 (’93)
-Batman TAS –7 (’92)<O</O
-Family Guy (’99)<O</O
-Freakazoid-2 (’95)
-Gargoyles-2 (’94)
-Neon Genesis Evangelion –1 (’95)
-Superman (?)
-The Tick-3 (’94)
-Transformers Beast Wars (’96)
-X-Men (’92)

00’s
-Dukes of Hazzard (?)
-Fairly Odd Parents (’01)
-Inuyasha-3 (’02)
-Invader Zim-1 (’01)
-Justice League-3 (’01)
-Samurai Jack- 4 (’01)
-Teen Titans (’03)

awesome list so far, and quite a few I had to look up...

 

[The_Universe]

Transformers and GI Joe were the rock upon which my childhood was built. The Transformers movie, though in part a travesty, at least had its moments. Unfortunately, the GI Joe movie was total crap. Cobra-la? WTF?

For the years before I was born, I'll second the vote for early Looney Tunes, and Johnny Quest - a great action cartoon. Also, one cannot forget the early Scooby Doo episodes! Classic!

In the '90s, I'll say Batman the Animated Series for overall qualities. That's some of the best TV I've ever seen, cartoon or not. Animaniacs and Tiny Toons were good, as well...but the Simpsons has a special place in every American's Heart.

Currently, I have to say my favorites are Aquateen Hungerforce, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and some of the early episodes of Sealab 2021. Huzzah!

 

[jester47]

60's Spiderman
70's Starblazers (Yamato) or G-Force/Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman
80's Transformers or Robotech/Macross
90's Animaniacs or Simpsons
00's Samurai Jack or Cowboy Bebop

About transformers the movie. Great movie- except for the dinobots. If you watch it now, you can see that they might have been an afterthought. I liked the idea that prime died, because as I recall, Prime was getting pretty stale cause he never got hurt. Prime only got cool cause he went down in the end. It made all the times that he seemed invulnerable SPECIAL rather than part of the course. I loved the cursing in that movie. I love how Ironhide goes down. Including the dinobots as major characters in that movie was a mistake. Leaving them at Autobot City to guard the place would have made sense too.

Aaron.

 

[noretoc]

I grew up on these cartoons too, so I also can't pick just one.

70's Starblazers. (Thought I thought it was 80's but I'll go with the consesnsus)
80's - Man, a bunch. I never, never missed Force Five (the show that had starvengers, Dangard Ace, The spaceketeers, Grandizer, The great space dragon.. ) The old spiderman. Spiderman and his amazing friends. And of course robotech. I loved these.
90's The Tick. Nothing beats it.
2000?? My neice loves inyuasha though.

edit: I also didn;t put the D&D cartoon but I figured that's a given. I saw every show.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Best ever - The Simpsons

70's - G-Force
80's - The Simpsons
90's - Batman TAS
00's - Justice League

 

[fba827]

I can't pick just one from each decade!

My List:

Gargoyles
Conan the Adventurer (not the best but for some reason I just really enjoyed this)
Pirates of Dark Water (if only they could have completed the series )

Runners Up:
He-Man (80s)
ThunderCats
Jackie Chan Adventures
Batman the Animated Series
Batman Beyond
Spiderman (90s)
X-Men The Animated Series (90s)

Honorable Mentions:
Smurfs
Simpsons
Futurama
Ducktales

There may be one or two really good ones I'm forgetting...

My criteria? Varies, but usually some sort of fantasy or escape from reality type basis. Strong characterization. And either real consistency for story immersion (if its a dramatic type cartoon) or else just the ability to make me laugh every single time (if it's more a humorous type cartoon)...

 

[Allanon]

Is there no love here for The Real Ghostbusters, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Bravestar, Starcom, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ?

My list of cartoons I've seen is immense and from mostly all of them I've dowloaded the theme songs, for the nostalgia . I really "wasted" a lot of time on watching them.

My favorite cartoon, for the 80s it would be the Transformers generation 1 + the movie.
For the 90s it would be X-Men, followed by Spiderman and the Tick.

 

[Album Cover X]

My list... hmmm...

80s = Thundercats and Voltron must top the list... I enjoy many of the others listed here... I have the Transformers all on DVD now in futile attempt to recapture my childhood but I now have a hard time not laughing since many of the espisodes are quite silly...

90s = Gargoyles... Top-notch show with a nice mythology remix of sorts... I believe I'm in the minority but I also enjoyed the New Adventures of Johnny Quest...

2000+ = Samurai Jack... If I'm channel surfing and I come across it, I'll stop and watch even if I've seen it 1 or 29 times before... I also LOVED Home Movies...

 

[Gnarlo]

70s: Have to give top honors to Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, exposed me to the classics for many years. In second would be the Scooby Doo shows and The Pink Panther. Oo, oo, also Fat Albert (made me wish I could live in a junkyard and make stuff out of scrap Probably explains my current love for Kids Next Door and Junkyard Wars). Amazing to think back and realize that until 76 or 77, I was watching these in amazing Black and White .

80s: Thundarr gets top spot. Follow that with He-Man, Transformers, and Thundercats, and got to play with all the toys, too, even though I was in college; was nice having brothers 13 years younger than me And Robotech for introducing me to the idea that cartoons could have continuing (adult) stories and romances.

90: Rocko's Modern Life, followed by Freakazoid and Ren & Stimpy

 

[D+1]

It would be easier I think to better subdivide the categories into animated film and animated TV series each by decade. And then further subdivide between actual technical skill of animation and story - many of my favorite animated films/shows are favorites not because of actual animation but because of story/general entertainment value. Much that I would point to as masterfully animated I would NEVER want to suggest was any kind of favorite because their actual entertainment value stank like yesterdays diapers. I'll just list some of what I remember watching and enjoying:

Simpsons (but haven't watched it now for years)
Johnny Quest (original only)
Thundarr!!
Star Blazers (never saw enough of the series to be able to follow the plot for long but always enjoyed it)
Speed Racer (though I never really considered it good enough for any kind of awards)
Rocky and Bullwinkle (et.al. Fantastic writing)
Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show (though it was really Daffy Duck who made me laugh the most)[The earlier incarnation - the later incarnation was chronically unfunny, badly paced, and poorly animated.]
Pink Panther
Animaniacs (clever, intelligent, funny, and decently animated)
Pinky and the Brain

I stopped watching Saturday cartoons in the 80's when it all turned to pre-pubescent, peurile crap. I've seen what my friends kids watch on Cartoon Network, etc. after school and 95% of that is still mindless, peurile crap. Boy do I feel like an old fart now.