Topic: The 50 Greatest Saturday Morning Cartoons

[nickclone]

If you were born into a world of ubiquitous Internet and television networks devoted solely to cartoons, you should consider yourself very lucky, youngster. Back in the day (like all the way until the ’90s) the only time kids could really vegetate with a block of animation and a block of sugar was Saturday mornings from 8 to noon—when, with a tweak of its nipples, the boob tube would squirt out empty calories for young minds with shows about caped crime fighters, talking animals, tiny blue creatures, and other things that would trip folks out all over again when they discovered reefer. Of course, some of the shows were absolute crap, but young bucks were so happy to be watching cartoons that turd-like quality didn't preclude them from watching. The Complex staff watched it all—even soft-batch shit like The Care Bears Family—so we decided to take a stroll down memory lane to honor the truly memorable shows that aired in the formative time slot. Race out of bed, grab your bowl of sugar and milk, and check out the 50 greatest Saturday morning cartoons...

http://best.complex.com/lists/the-50-greatest-saturday-morning-cartoons/

Interestingly, long, nostalgic read. Check it out.

[shock]

Haha.  This is great.  I don't recognize a lot of the early 80's ones (too young), but I recognize far more than I thought I did.  I got to "Denver the Last Dinosaur" and started singing the theme song even though I never remember ever watching that show in my life.

[Cobra951]

Wow.  What a collection of utter crap burying a few gems:

32. Tom & Jerry
11. Spongebob Squarepants
8. Animaniacs
6. Scooby-Doo (except if Scrappy-Doo is present)
5. Bugs Bunny/Road Runner *
4. Batman: The Animated Series
2. Duck Tales (except it doesn't belong nearly this high up)

I guess I'm too old.  By the time most of those 50 came around, all I could notice is how much worse they were than the older classics, particularly in the animation dept.  It took a while for TV animation to catch up to the best from the past, let alone surpass it.

[K-man]

I'm about to start reading this list.  If the Adventures of Mr. T isn't on here I'm going to be very upset.

[K-man]

OK, Mr. T made the list, but I don't agree with the list at all.

[Xessive]

I'm surprised Johnny Quest didn't make that list.

[Cobra951]

You're right.  That deserves to be on there more than at least half those entries.

[idolminds]

Loony Tunes at number 5? List fails because that should be #1. The great part about those cartoons is they are still watchable when you've grown up. There were a lot of joke in those shows that went completely over my head when I was little, but I get them now and they are hilarious.

As long as you get the unedited versions. CBS started editing out the slapstick "violence" in Bugs Bunny cartoons in recent years, which is fucking sad. Are kids now really that dumb? My parents grew up with this stuff and I don't think they had much trouble with dropping anvils on people or otherwise mimicking the shows.

[scottws]

Remember when cartoons used to be on network TV in the afternoons after school?  I watched Duck Tales daily for years.  It seems like all kids have now is Nickelodeon and Boomerang.

[idolminds]

Oh man, I remember coming home from school ready to watch some cartoons. And the days they got interrupted for a Cubs game...the horror....the horror....

I notice there is a huge rift between cartoons/Saturday morning programs now. Its either Power Ranger/Digimon/Pokemon/whatever fighting type shows, and the rest are dopey/sappy/edutainment stuff with "morals" at the end. Where are the cartoons that are just plain entertaining?

And why did "Pokemon" and "edutainment" sneak through the Firefox spell check without being flagged?

[nickclone]

I thought some cartoons needed to be on the list, but I can't remember if they were on Saturdays or not. I thought Superman should've been on there, Cro and some others that escape me at the moment.

[Pugnate]

I'd put Tom & Jerry at no1.

[Xessive]

I'd put Tom & Jerry at no1.

Definitely! T&J should be a part of every child's youth!

[ScaryTooth]

I love the old Hannah Barbara Tom & Jerry cartoon, but I didn't much care for the chuck jones ones.

And where the hell is, Silverhawks?

[angrykeebler]

it got the right #1 for me...i was obsessed with TMNT as a kid

[PyroMenace]

Anybody watch the Beetlejuice cartoon?

[nickclone]

Anybody watch the Beetlejuice cartoon?

I remember it being vulgar for a kid's cartoon.

[Ace_O_Spades]

How can any show that only had one terribly disappointing season make a list of top 50 cartoons? There is more than one example of this on that list.