You know, honestly, I've seen most of the new episodes, and I've never seen scooters or mountain bikes. It must have been a one time thing. :\
The only vehicles they use often in the new show is the van (and it's not even used that much.) And a motorcycle. I don't know about Shredder being less scary either. I mean, he was in almost every episode of the old series too, and often came across as pitiful--Splinter was an even match for him by himself, and I recall seeing the turtles kicking shredders butt using pizza ingredients.
In the new show, Shredder rarely gets involved directly, but when he does, he's nasty, and he spends the rest of his time torturing cronies. Plus, he's a friggen alien brain monster, which makes him even more creepy. (But also less appealing, I think)
As for dark vs silly, I agree completely. It makes it very hard to compare the two shows directly, because they're so different in focus. Overall, I find the new show more in line with the comic book, which makes it a little more interesting to me. It's not really a favorite of mine though, I just think it stands out, quality-wise, to a lot of the other newer cartoons.
I haven't seen the new TMNT but I didn't like the original because it was silly. The comic books are seriously dark at times, and shredder is a BAD BAD man.
And Thundarr absolutely rocks. I so wanted an energy sword. How can you go wrong with a big dumb barbarian carrying a light saber with a wookie (oops, sorry, "mok") sidekick? It was all D&D/Star Wars-y
And, I'll say it before anybody else does. Ariel was hot.
I can't say I'm going to lose any sleep over missing any of the 80s cartoons, maybe I'm a bit too old. Excepting the music and cheesy movies though, I'm afraid that little of the 80s that I've revisited has been anything but agonizing. The movies and music of course, being clearly and by far superior to anything made today. Teen Wolf, Rambo, Duran Duran - GENIUS.
Ack, again I'm in the UK, you can buy the entire run of the D&D cartoon in a DVD boxset over here, or pick them up on individual 6 episode discs. Hence why it wasn't included in the poll.
With regards to Voltron, does anyone remember that special episode (or was it a movie?) where the vehicles-team and lion-team met? I caught the last 2/3 of that once as a child, and just remember the villains going through the transformation sequence, and it blew me away.
In regards to TMNT, I liked that one because it was the first show I saw that seemed to have some real back-and-forth with the villains. In hindsight, there wasn't much at all, but I remember that time when the Shredder and Krang were actually able to gather enough energy to succeed in bringing the Technodrome back out of Dimension X at just the last moment, and I was blown away because they'd suddenly and with no warning pulled it out of the fire when they'd failed so often before. And then the turtles were surrounded by dozens of foot soldiers and tanks and the Technodrome's guns pointing at them and...*faints again from hyperventilation*
I had trouble following the comics for TMNT though. Like most comics at the time that were remotely popular, they crossed over somewhat frequently with their related titles (Mutanimals anyone?) and between that and not starting at the beginning, it quickly became hard to read for a kid who only had exposure to the TV series. Although Raph's girlfriend, Ninjara, was HOT! I think she was the first character in furr I ever lusted after, since I was like twelve when I first saw her in the comics...man that brings back memories. And...wait, the Shredder in the new cartoon is an alien brain thing? What, did he fuse with Krang???
I'd love to see Dino Riders again, as that one seemed pretty cool. I remember liking the main villain's design...something about having his head in a fishbowl just seemed awesome at the time. I remember watching that back-to-back on Sunday (I think it was Sunday) mornings along with Robocop the cartoon, Denver the Last Dinosaur (got the MP3 of that theme!), and Widget the World-Watcher (oi, now there was a show that was silly yet heavy-handed in its message. Captain Planet did it better IMHO).
It would be nice to see Pirates of Darkwater again, mostly because I caught maybe the first four episodes and that was it.
Ye gods I barely remember Thundarr at all...
I voted for She-Ra, but mostly because I thought Hordak and the Evil Horde were cool. That and I was always hoping against hope for a crossover episode with He-Man (did we ever find out why She-Ra was sent to Etheria as a baby, since she and He-Man are brother and sister?). Anyone remember that episode (a two-parter I think) where Hordak made that giant ship to attack both Eternia and Etheria, and Skeletor stole it from him since even He-Man couldn't stop it? I remember watching as even the strongest man in the world could barely keep that ship in place and how seeing that just...well...blew me away...man I was blown away a lot as a kid from cartoons...comes from all the suspension of disbelief (which I had, and have, in spades).
Conan the Adventurer did come later, as I remember watching it in the early 90's and it was maybe a year or two old. It still rocked though! I can still sing the theme to that one. I think it was the first show (with a plot) that I saw from beginning to end, though it was great how even at the end
they gave us a few hints that there might be more, as Ram-Amon and whatshername, Mysramyria or whatever, scooped up the remains of the Black Ring and escaped with it.
I could go with seeing Marshall Bravestarr again, though it didn't do much for me. I did like that episode where Tex-Hex (that was his name, right?) was given the "A Christmas Carol" treatment by Shaman, since that seriously showed a lot of his character to see him before Stampede corrupted him, and how in the future
he was dead after he turned on Stampede...a betrayal which was initiated by Shaman showing him that that girl he used to love was on the coach Stampede was going to attack.
I didn't have much affection for Gummi Bears. The plot of Duke Eggthorn just wanting to try and get the gummi bears and failing was done to death. The best episode for me was where he and that younger gummi were trying to escape from that Clint Eastwood-knockoff when Eggthorn stiffed the guy. I loved his line though: "Go ahead, take my pay."
Likewise, it'd be nice to see M.A.S.K. again as I remember so little about that...just part of the song, that it was about vehicles (and the leader had what seemed to be a flying DeLorean...and yet he never went back to the future ), and that the bad guy was named Mayhem.
Ghostbusters I really liked, but I lost interest in that, not because the show got worse or anything, but just because my younger brother liked it much more than me, and sibling rivalry ran strong during the early years...not that I even realized that at the time, but still.
Anyone remember Cops and Crooks? I know it was early 90's, but it seemed kinda cool, what with the cops with cyborg abilities and stuff.
I wish we had Visionaries here, it seemed cool. Likewise, anyone remember Supernaturals? It didn't have a show that I knew about, but those action figures seriously rocked! They even had a 1-800 number for a time you could call to hear the characters give short monologues on themselves. I wish they'd had a show.
And I'd really like to see the various incarnations of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show (and The Legend of Zelda) on DVD, even with the first show's live hosting. Does anyone remember that after Capt. Lou and Co. stopped doing that, they had those Bill and Ted-like guys, calling themselves Club Mario? "Satellite surfing is where it's at!"
Thanks to Brakkart for starting this thread! I love nostalgia!!!
I'm actually not that familiar with the comic, I just remember how dark and violent it was. I stopped reading it out of protest at the point where they had some guys with machine guys up and gun down 8 of the turtles mutant buddies in a single panel, including a couple of my favorites. Just reeked of desperation, I thought.
Anyway, the Shredder/Krang thing. Not my favorite plot twist, but I'll give them props for having the guts to do it. Basically, in the new show, Shredder was an Utron (A race of aliens like Krang, rather than him losing his body) super-criminal who wrecked the shapeship that was transporting him for confinement, into the middle of feudal Japan. Eventually, he set up a criminal ninja empire, pretending to be a never ending succession of "Shredders" for generations.
Unlike Krang, he's not an inventor or techno-geek, relying entirely on mercenary scientists and stolen alien tech. He's also a very, very, evil guy, who does a lot of really nasty stuff over the course of the show. Still, he'd be more appealing if he was human...
Speaking of drastically altered characters, Baxter Stockman is Shredders treacherous scientist lacky, who Shredder "punishes" for every failure...he lost a hand, an eye, his legs...the idiot just keeps re-building himself and coming back. I'm not sure what's left of him at this point--1 or 2 internal organs at best.
This thread is reminding me of a lot of old cartoons I'd forgotton about though. "Denver the Last Dinosaur", yeesh.
The Muppet Show is on dvd, but I certainly never thought of it as just a light kid's show. It won several Emmy awards.
As for the poll: I may just be too old too, but my answer is "none of them." To me, '80s cartoons represented one of the lowest points in animation, when cartoons became nothing but 1/2-hour toy commercials.
The quality of the animation was equally wretched in the 70s when I was growing up, but at least the shows weren't being generated by marketing departments.
Things got better in the 90s. I'd love to see the Animaniacs, Duckman, the original Ren and Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, X Men, and Count Duckula on dvd.
It's oh so late, but now my nostalgia has been fired up.
She-Ra - Princess of Power
I'd buy the movie. The show was sillier than He-Man, so it didn't really do that much for me overall. For example, her sword gimmick was fairly lame (she could transform it into all these goofy things, like an Ice Maker) compared to the Sword of Omens, Galtar's Golden Lance, Blackstarr's Power Sword, and so on. She-Ra was very easy on the eyes, though.
Pirates of Dark Water
A really good cartoon, and my #2 choice on the list. The artwork was extremely creative and exotic-looking, and they had a whole quest thing going on that unfortunately was never finished (I believe).
Voltron
Oooh, one of my favorite oldies, although this one really doesn't hold up as well with time. The newer CGI version tried to be hipper (for example, by losing the Princess' mice), but I liked the original animation better. The lions were way cooler than the vehicles.
M.A.S.K.
I liked this one, but it came off like a G.I. Joe knockoff in many ways, and just wasn't as good. Cool theme song.
Bravestarr
I liked this one, too. The gimmick was cool. Eyes of the Hawk! Ears of the Wolf! Strength of the Bear! Speed of the Puma! I'd buy a Bravestarr DVD.
Mysterious Cities of Gold
Never seen it.
Gummi Bears
This was one of Disney's better cartoons. One of the only kiddie shows I'd ever consider watching again, along with earlier Smurfs episodes. Like the Smurfs, it got pretty lame towards the end. Catchy theme song.
Exo Squad
My #1 pick. I remember getting up at 6 a.m. to watch it. Space opera at its finest.
Go-Bots
Nah, this one wasn't nearly as good as its rival, the Transformers.
Conan the Adventurer
This one was pretty good, and I've never much cared for big burly barbarian types. Of course, this one had several other heroes with Conan, and I tended to like them more. But it was pretty good.
Centurions
Hmm, no, this one never really worked for me.
