If you know me in real life, or have been reading my blog for a little while now, it might not be a surprise that I was totally nutso for Archie Comics as a kid. We’re talking a cupboard full of Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and the rest.
So imagine my excitement when I happened upon something last weekend while browsing Hulu A-Z. An 80’s cartoon based on the Archies? Could it be true?
You can probably guess what happened next, but if you can’t… it went something like…
“watch 20 minute cartoon. Become slowly paralyzed by the cheesiest, beyond cheesiest thing you have ever seen. Continue denial of the horrible product you are watching by subjecting yourself to learning the “dance of the week.” Turn off cartoon and assume fetal position until the following Tuesday. End.”
So obviously I was a bit traumatized by this pathetic excuse for a cartoon. I mean, I was born in the eighties for crying out loud, the GLORY days of cartoons! So I thought I’d focus day two of TV month with a little cartoon love!
My ultimate favorite childhood cartoons:
1. Animaniacs: I wanted to dress like Dot, act like Wakko, and take over the world with Pinky and the Brain. I loved every little side character they had, and collected every bit of paraphernalia I could find. The only one I didn’t relate to was Yakko. He was tall.
2. The Pink Panther: This was a substantial phase for me. No idea why… but I loved how he could run on his tippy-toes.
3. The Jetsons: Do I need to explain the appeal of airport-style conveyer belts, sassy robot housekeepers, flying to school in a space ship, or Judy Jetson’s wardrobe? Didn’t think so. Plus, Mr. Sprocket was guaranteed to blow a gasket like the teacher on Daria at least once per episode… bonus…
4. Noozles: I had to google this creepy cartoon to remember what it was called. It was vaguely anime, with a magic koala and I think a magic watch as well. There was definitely something in the eucalyptus here, but I sure was drinking the Kool-Aid. See also: Mya the bee: An entirely different cartoon I loved mostly, I think, because it followed Noozles and had an insanely catchy theme song. Powerful noozles indeed!
5. Darkwing Duck: Who, I mean WHO didn’t like this guy? When there’s trouble just call DW…Let’s get dangerous.
Runners up: Inspector Gadget, Gummi Bears, TailSpin, Muppet Babies, Underdog, Tom and Jerry, Doug, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles (for the concept and the gooey pizza, if nothing else), Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Smurfs (only because I so infrequently watched it).
and NO AWARD given to: Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Bobby’s World, Life with Louie
Wondering where your favorite more “mature” cartoons are on this list? Well, that’s a topic for another post, isn’t it? so stay “tooned” for more! (I physically can’t resist typing puns…)
What were some of your favorite cartoons growing up? Were you one of the godforsaken few who knows what the bleep a Noozle is?
Meri
Darkwing Duck!!!!! OMG I had forgotten about that cartoon! I used to love it so much! Haha!
Oh man, I wish kids today had animated shows like we used to back in the day. It’s just not the same, ya know? Life for kids is so different now than it was for us in the late eighties, early nineties. Sigh.
Great post. Brought back memories. 😉
Too bad about the Archie comic show though. That had potential to be kick ass and they ruined it! Boo!
At least I still have my paper comics…
Totally loved The Jetsons….no wait, excuse me…I STILL love The Jetsons! George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, Astro and Rosie!!!! Ahhh, how I wish they would put those old episodes back on TV!
Its incredible how the appeal of the show doesn’t really die when you grow up- I still want the future to be here!
Aww.. this took me back to my childhood. Darkwing Duck was one of my faves too! But, I used to watch a LOT of Tom and Jerry and Popeye.
I think for some reason I was kind of afraid of Popeye- but amazingly I would watch shows often rather than turn them off… just because they came on next 🙂
I LOVED the Jetsons! There was another one that I can never for the life of me remember the title- but it was like bears and I think his name was Ballu and flew a big yellow plane. lol. Oh and Darkwing Duck- omg, my first year of dance we did a routine to that song. LOL.
Good memories!
haha, nice! It was a pretty catchy song!
I googled it– it was called Tale Spin!
I get that one and rescue rangers a bit interchanged, I think… but I watched them both all of the time!
We watched a lot of Nickelodeon growing up, so Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, The Angry Beavers (reminded me and my mom of my 2 younger brothers :P), and CatDog were all on our watch list (we weren’t allowed to watch Ren & Stimpy). We also watched Cartoon Network often, including Cow & Chicken and the classic Looney Toons, the latter of which was what my dad watched growing up and made sure that we were familiar with. Nowadays, the only childhood cartoons we watch are Looney Toons, and that’s just me and my dad and the 24 hour New Year’s marathon. Good times 🙂
I used to watch Tiny toons, and occasionally some loony toons too! Bugs Bunny was my favorite!
The best part was that my dad does impressions of Bugs, Daffy, and nearly all the Looney Toons characters. Needless to say, I laughed a lot growing up 😀
that’s awesome- can you do any of them?
Nope. Just my dad. It’s more his thing than mine.
mine will always be snoopy. hehe. more of a comic than a cartoon though :). i love the Charlie Brown Christmas and Thanksgiving movies. 😀
Oh who doesnt’ love snoopy? I always liked linus too!
YES! Someone else who knows about Mya!! BTW, it was a German cartoon originally, they have stuff all over the place there! Anyways, I also like Spongebob. Not from my childhood, but I really do like him 🙂 And there was Two Stupid Dogs. Now that was a funny cartoon. And stupid. No surprise there!
I had no idea! Its funny how as a kid you only pay attention to certain elements of a show… I can’t remember a thing about the plot, only that theme song!
Yes, the theme song was the best. Now I will have it stuck in my head!
haha I’ll probably have you youtube or download it later to get it out of my head!
ummmm excuse me???? where’s ren and stimpy in this list?
They were the best, most ridiculous cartoon in the world… as well as my all-time favorite.
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ve never seen Ren and Stimpy! Or Rocko’s modern life either.
Loved The Jetsons, Darkwing Duck, and I also grew up watching the X-Men cartoons! I have no idea what Noozle is, but it sounds like I missed out… did I?
haha- honestly, I can’t remember why I liked Noozles- I think maybe because it was pretty and pastel and magical and cute, just like everything else from the eighties…
i loved cartoons as a kid. my faves were Jem and the Holograms, Thundercats and He-Man. so funny to think about that. oh, i liked the Snorks too!
spinning-threads.blogspot.com
I’ve heard so much about Jem but must have missed it due to timing or not having the channel or something weird like that- maybe I’ll start watching it now 🙂
The Jetsons and Scooby Doo were two of my faves! Scooby Doo has been Adam’s favorite for the past 5 years – so it’s fun to watch the same shows with him that I watched while growing up! 🙂
I see Scooby Doo in a totally different way as an adult haha, and I love it now still too. I dressed up as Velma for halloween a few years ago too.
Oh, I do too! For one, Shaggy is definitely a stoner! haha 😉
haha- do you mean anything to do with the huge sandwiches they eat at the end of every episode? Or perhaps the raging hallucinations?
My time was GI Joe, Transformers, He Man, Smurfs and Popeye. And sometimes if theres nothing to choose from I do watch rainbow brite and care bears 🙂
I always liked the auxiliary characters on Rainbow Brite- like the sprites. They were so cute!
Wow. This post took me back. I loved *loved* Josie and Pussycats when I was little. Thundercats were a favorite too. Man, I used to love Cartoon Network, although I did prefer Nickelodeon. 🙂
I loved the comic Josie and the Pussycats, but never saw the cartoon. I’m thinking I probably would have loved it too! The movie with Rachel Leigh Cook and Tara Reid and Parker Posey is pretty funny, too, have you seen it?
My list would share many of those…and I’d only add one: Snorks.
Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I completely missed the Noozles. But I’m older than you (born in the late 70’s) so maybe I missed out on when that was out…
A couple of people mentioned Snorks- what exactly is a snork?
here’s the opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuCq0aZiPT0
Now that song is going to be stuck in my head all day! I’d compare them to the smurfs…only weird looking in a diff way and under water 🙂
They are really cute, I can see why you liked it!
I always loved when someone would draw a caricature of me but I was never into cartoons really as a child
sometimes for me I think it was more about what was on at the time I wanted to watch tv, a routine, more than the shows themselves 😉
Animaniacs! Loved it! Still do, if I can ever find it on…
I found some episodes on some network a year or two ago, and I still thought it was genius- I wasn’t too sure what I would think but it stands the test of time!
Darkwing Duck & Animaniacs were some of my all time favorites as well.
What is it about DW that was such a hit? I can’t even remember the plot, just thinking it was awesome…
Thank you so much for your lovely comment on my blog! I love your blog already 🙂
I grew up without a TV, so I never really watched cartoons. But when we were on trips and stuff I loooved Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo! I also LOVE Tweety Bird, though I can’t say I ever watched it. I just think Tweety Bird is super cute and the name is fun to say too 😉
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
<3
haha! I had a huge tweety bird poster in my room in elementary school, I definitely had a phase…
No idea on the noozle thing?
I like gummybears & Darkwing Duck 🙂
I still have yet to hear from a single person who watched noozles…
I loved The Jetsons and Darkwing Duck (haha the theme song: DARKWING DUCK…let’s get dangeous!)!
Also:
-Carmen SanDiego
-Ducktales
-Gummy Bears
-Gargoyles
-The Flinstones
-Recess
-Doug
The shows kids watch nowadays are NO comparison!
Oh yes- Carmen Sandiego! She was a good counterpart to darkwing duck perhaps…
I loved Jem, Wildfire and Dungeons and Dragons as a kid. Now there are cartoons on all the time…I think that takes away some of the magic of Saturday mornings.
I haven’t seen any of those- but you’re right about it being a special time for cartoons- although for me it was after school that I liked to watch them!
Darkwing Duck, Gummy Bears, Tail Spin, Duck Tales. Eric and I fantasize about getting to watch these again someday with Sylvia. She will probably think they are weird and go in the other room leaving Eric and I to drool over them. Ha Ha!
Just as long as Sylvia doesn’t ever have a teletubbies, wiggles, or spongebob phase…
Loved Animaniacs and Darkwing duck. also liked…um…Tailspin! I had to ask my husband and he knew at “there was a bear and a plane.” Also, chip and dale! I disliked rugrats for sure and HATED ren and stimpy, grossed me OUT. I probably still liked Looney Tunes as the major fave.
I’m so glad to know another Animaniacs fan! I was just rabid over that show…