Last
month I wrote an article for Needless Things in which I discussed the
ever popular craze that was Saturday morning cartoons.
Well,
Saturdays weren’t the only day for cartoons. In fact, in the early
to mid-90's weekday afternoon cartoons were extremely popular. That’s
right - from about 2:00 till 5:00 (ish) you could plop down in front
of the tube and watch a vast variety of your favorite animated shows.
Tiny
Toon Adventures followed child variations of popular Looney Toon
characters. So instead of Bugs you had Buster. Instead of Daffy, his
name was Plucky. And the most appropriate name was Dizzy Devil, of
course this name belonged to none other than the youthful version of
the Tasmanian Devil.
This
wasn’t a rip-off show though. Tiny Toons was very much its own show
incorporating new ideas, characters, and stories.
Animaniacs
was the second Spielberg/Warner Bros. that usually followed the
Looney Tunes inspired show.
Now,
this was something brand new. All new characters with excellent
writing and aimed as much towards an adult audience as it was to
kids. It was very much a variety show, focusing not on a singular set
of characters but many that were unique. Yakko, Wakko, & Dot were
two bothers and a sister that were posed as the main stars of the
show. Along with them though, you had break out characters such as
Pinky and the Brain. Which perhaps are more widely known to the main
stream audience than the main three actually are.
Also
were thrown in characters like Slappy Squirrel, rita and runt,
buttons and Mindy and who could forget Chicken Boo.
On
the flip side of all the silly comedy, you had comic book based
cartoons making a splash in the animated pool.
X-Men
and spiderman were both terrific showcases of their counterparts on
the pages. X-men had one of my favorite openings/theme songs in that
era and today this day it runs through my mind on occasion. The
stories were well written with some being adapted straight from the
pages. Spiderman had a showcase of villains and was probably the most
accurately depiction of the web crawler.
On
the DC side of things you had Batman: The Animated Series. This is
pretty much as perfect as a comic book based property can get. Each
episode leaves you speechless with the near flawless writing and the
depiction of each character.
Villains
have never been more accurately displayed on a screen for the caped
crusader more than this show in my opinion. The voice work is
superbly done with Mark Hamill as The Joker, Richard Moll as Two-Face
and Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight. Possibly, the best part of the
series is the tone it carries. Dark and mysterious with an exciting
opening that gets you prepared for the awaiting story. This show also
has the distinction of being where Harley Quinn got her start. That's
right she was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm specifically for
the show and was later incorporated into the comics as a result of
popularity.
There
was something else special that made an appearance every afternoon.
It was The Disney Afternoon. This group of cartoons shifted but
usually the leader if the pack was Duck Tales. The show centered
around Uncle Scrooge and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, & Louie. It
was a well written show with lots of adventures usually piloted by
the comic relief of Launchpad McQauck. Another show went the more
mystery/detective route with Chip and Dales Rescue Rangers. It was a
pretty different take but fit in well with this afternoon line up.
Joining the two chipmunks were two mice solving the various
mysteries. Another show that spun disney characters in a different
light was the show that focused on Goofy and son Max. Im talking
about none other than Goof Troop.
Other
shows were Darkwing Duck which was an excellent superhero spoof
series. TaleSpin which took the path of turning jungle book into a
air cargo adventure show. However, a show that was my personal
favorite was Gummi Bears. Something about Gummi Bears, from the theme
song to the fact that it was a teenager in a medieval land grabbed my
attention. I loved the different personalities each character had
even though now that I think about it, they very closely resembled
the seven dwarves.
Gargoyles
gets an honorable mention but to be honest I just never got into it.
I would love to watch it as an adult to see what I missed out on.
There
were some other great shows but as with my previous cartoon themed
article this was just an overview of ones that stuck out in my 36
years old brain. Back when I talked about Saturday mornings, I raved
about how the networks made it a big deal. I raved about how many
different cartoons each network provided. What I didn't rave about
was the story telling. Thats because it wasn't there. Saturday
mornings seemed to be more light hearted than afternoons. While,
weekday afternoons was more focused on telling a story. Even the
goofier themed cartoons had some excellent writing behind them.
Now,
you'll notice some shows missing between this article and my Saturday
morning article. There is no mention of Thundercats, He-man, G.I.
Joe, Transformers, TMNT or anything else you’re probably screaming
“but what about,” right now. Those are special enough shows that
they deserve their own separate article which is now on my short
lists of ones to write.
Just
like the Saturday morning resurgence that the network channel WB
provided, they did the same with weekday afternoons. I remember a
Jackie Chan cartoon and some Japanese imports if my memory serves me
correct.
If
you ask me which I prefer, Saturday mornings or weekday afternoons,
I'd probably pick the latter. Mainly, I think because of the comic
book related material and they were just so damn good. Just like the
Saturday mornings, cartoons have long since vanished from the weekday
afternoons that are now filled with talk shows and trash television.
I
do not know the reasoning behind the disappearance of cartoons on
these selected days. I'm guessing we live in a world where everything
is so readily available that there isn't really a need for them. Why
would kids sit down and watch during these times when cartoons are
available at their fingertips through various outlets. There are
generations that will greatly miss what many of us remember all too
well, when going home after school was a portal to animated worlds.
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