Interesting facts about TV shows you watched as a child.

Recently, when searching for a theme song to put on my friend’s blog, I came across some interesting videos. 30 minutes of 80’s cartoon openings, 30 minutes of 90’s cartoon openings, and Top 10 cartoon theme songs from the 80’s. If you were born in the late 70’s to early 80’s and have an hour and ten minutes to kill, you should really watch them all the way through. All but a handful of the 80’s cartoons I remember, but I wasn’t as good with the 90’s stuff. Possibly because I only watched cartoons up until the early part of that decade, but boy did I ever enjoy them. It’s one of those things where you never know how much something shaped your life until you look back and reminisce about it. There were cartoons (and subsequently toys that went with them) I saw that were long ago forgotten, yet I nearly wet my pants with excitement watching their intro. Some of you may be thinking “Well I can just look at lots of that stuff on Retro Junk,” but being surprised by what’s coming next is, and I’m quoting Michaelangelo the Ninja Turtle here, “Radi-cool!” Things I learned by watching these vids:

1. The future is not a very pleasant place – What the hell? Why are there all of these natural disasters that wipe out the entire population, make mankind morph into some sub-human beings, or we will need to be protected by some sort of giant robot (or team of robots) from some evil group? Do these animators know something about global warming we don’t know and they just aren’t telling? It all seems a tad bit ominous for my adult self, but maybe this is why so much of our generation is pessimistic. Oh, and another thing. Why are there little to no minorities in the future. I mean there are a couple of Native Americans and a few Blacks, but that’s about it. No Latinos? Are you kidding me? That I find hard to believe.
2. Plots are utterly ridiculous – Watch an episode of any random cartoon. Does it make sense? If so you should probably take another dose of your anti-hallucinogen or another toke/bump/freebase from your stash because that’s the only way they are plausible.
3. Disney cartoons used to be my life – Reciting the theme songs of four cartoons you haven’t seen in over 10 years without missing a single word would be cause for concern for some, but not me. For me it is a source of pride. Saturday mornings I would wake up extra early to see what new adventures the Gummi Bears would get into. Then during the week I couldn’t get home from school fast enough to tune into Duck Tales, Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers, and Tale Spin (my favorite). New school shows like the Goof Troop and Darkwing Duck never garnered my attention like the others did. The only thing that rivaled my love for these shows was my love for Saved By The Bell. Kelly Kapowski is H-O-T Hawt!
4. This show looks like something I have seen before – She Ra is He Man’s twin sister, they both have castles, they both have swords, they both have morphing animals, they both share their secret identities with only three others (inexplicably not their twin sibling), and both have creepy ghost like creatures as friends. So let me see if I get this right Mr. Executive Producer, you took the entire Masters of the Universe cartoon, slapped a female lead on it, and expected nobody to notice? While I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’m not as dumb as you look. Other noticeable copies include the GoBots with the Transformers, Ghostbusters with The Real Ghostbusters, and a bunch of crappy ripoffs (I’m looking at you Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) with Voltron.
5. Nickelodeon had really good children’s programming – Yeah, I know. Nickelodeon is a kids channel and it should have good programming for that age group but, again, it’s one of those things that you don’t notice until you are far removed from the situation. Live action shows like Today’s Special and Pinwheel were reason enough to watch, but when you throw in gems like Count Duckula, Bananaman, and Danger Mouse I would watch that lineup now. It’s better than most of the programming on television for adults nowadays. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t include the most wonderful cartoon I have ever seen in my life. The Mysterious Cities of Gold is set in the 16th century and is about a boy who traverses the Atlantic Ocean in search of the Americas. Along the way you accompany him as he makes new friends, tries to outwit his enemies, and searches for El Dorado – the mysterious city of gold. Not only was it entertaining, it was also educational. At the end of each show there was a segment documenting real life South America. The Mysterious Cities of Gold makes my top 5 shows of all time and stands the test of time unlike my then favorite G.I. Joe. Not to mention the show had a bitchin’ theme song.

My list was limited to cartoons, but only because they were the shows I had the most interesting facts about. There were lots of interesting shows I didn’t even touch on. Like Batman: The Animated Series (ca. 1992-1995) which I loved, and The Superman: The Animated Series, which I didn’t care for as much, even though they were made by the same people. I am looking forward to seeing some of these treasures adapted into movie franchises, but I am hoping they go the way of Transformers as opposed to the Matthew Broderick Inspector Gadget route. Mine was focused solely on cartoons, yours doesn’t have to be when you List 5 interesting facts about TV shows you watched as a child.

Tags: Bananaman, Cartoons, Count Duckula, Danger Mouse, Disney, Duck Tales, G.I. Joe, Gummi Bears, He Man, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Nickelodeon, Rescue Rangers, Saved by The Bell, She Ra, Tale Spin