::giggle:: I loved that part! That and the part where Kitty called him “fuzzy elf.” I can’t wait to see if the two of them get together. 
My other favorite part was when Kitty was gushing to Jean over how cute Scott was, and Jean said something like, “I don’t know about that. Well, maybe if you look at him at a certain angle.” I love that there’s finally a show where those two aren’t constantly fawning over each other. The old cartoon used to make me nauseous.
Best Cartoons:
Gargoyles-I’m amazed this hasn’t been mentioned yet, but it’s probably the best dramatic cartoon I’ve ever seen. Admittedly it got somewhat ruined by the Goliath Chronicles episodes from the last season, but it’s still a great show. For those that haven’t seen it, it’s on Toon Disney every night at 10:30.
The others probably don’t need in-depth explanation, so here goes…
Powerpuff Girls
The Simpsons
Futurama
Tenchi Muyo!/Tenchi Universe
Batman: The Animated Series
Reboot (third season only)
Worst Cartoons:
Rugrats
Pokemon
Dinozaurs
Cardcaptors
Scooby Doo (gets WAY too much airtime on Cartoon Network)
I really hope they do, 'cuz, like I said, I think they’d make a mighty cute couple.
Heheheh. Yeah, that was a cute scene. (Good lord, how many times can I use the word cute in reference to this show?)
Jean and Scott have always been a little one-dimentional to my mind (although the older cartoon has so many more problems - from the shadows that were totally independant of the light-source, to the absurd preachiness of the dialogue), and that added something.
Kurt’s reaction was even better. Poor blue-boy…
My favs, in no particular order:
The Simpsons
The Tick
Beavis & Butthead
Aeon Flux
MTV’s Liquid Television (premiered Beavis & Butthead and Aeon Flux)
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Tenchi Muyo & Tenchi Universe (I’ve just started watching these and I really like them for some undefineable reason.)
Futurama
King of the Hill
Ren & Stimpy
Family Guy
Any kind of Tex Avery or Chuck Jones cartoon
The Worst:
Scooby Doo (I’ve always disliked this cartoon!)
Hong Kong Phooey
Popeye
Probably all Hannah Barbera cartoons made since 1970.
Any cartoons that were created as part of a toy marketing blitz.
I highly recommend seeing it uncut. I first saw Escaflowne in its entirety on fansub tapes before it was officially brought to the US, and I’ve since seen what they’re broadcasting. The broadcast version is just hideously screwed up. But that’s usually the case for any anime which was made for teens and adults in Japan and is then “repackaged” for kids in the US. When are some of these companies going to get it through their heads that animation is not automatically a children-only ghetto the world over?
– Bob
I have told my 10yr old daughter we live in a Scooby Don’t house. How that show lasted more than one season is beyond me. Shows we love to watch together are Simpsons, Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Hey Arnold, and especially Rocko’s Modern Life. The “Wedgie Boy” episode is a classic. The kid also likes Powerpuff Girls, but I don’t go near it.
I agree with a lot of opinions on the recent Nickleodeon shows. What I see is about 20 scripts that they re-use when they create a new show.
I was amazed to see someone mention Clutch Cargo on here. It was frighteningly bad. Basically it was a series of still pictures, but the character’s lips moved. I’m not sure why small children were even allowed to watch it.
One word: Speed Racer
::oh, damn::
Do these have to be animated? What about children’s shows in general?
[Loved the creative writing of Anamaniacs; truly a fan of puns.]
Also liked Ultraman (don’t ask me why).
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters truly frightened me. Perhaps it was an LSD laced nightmare of Sid and Marty Kroft. Kinda like H.R. Puff-n-stuff. That couldn’t be salvaged even with the Bay City Rollers.
Any takers on New Zoo Review?
DC dopers remeber Ranger Hal?
Romper Room anyone? [I see Sara; I see Bobby; I see that natty haired little bastard who made jokes about “Doo-Bee’s” name; and I see you.] Magic Mirror my ass, that chick was The DEVIL!!!
Some of my faves (in no particular order):
Garfield and Friends - childhood favorite (every Sat morning at 9am!!)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (came on after Garfield)
Beavis and Butthead
South Park
Daria
Animaniacs
Powerpuff Girls
Simpsons
Ren and Stimpy (don’t hate me…I can’t help it)
All the WB characters (gotta love the old school stuff)
Ok - And some of the worst
Any of the cartoon spinoffs where they simply made the characters little kids (i.e. Scooby Doo. Scrappy was obviously a love child of Scooby and Shaggy - any thoughts? :eek:
Pokemon - I watched it before it blew up like it has; now the concept is solely commercial
Rugrats
Dr.Katz
Smurfs
The Tick (I never sat through a whole episode so maybe I missed all the funny stuff but it never held my interest!)
(There are plenty of others but I most likely never watched them enough for it to stay with me.)
::laugh:: Got that right – she hardly ever called my name. (“How can you not see me, hot dammit?! I’m six inches from the screen!”)
One of my friends from elementary school got kicked off Romper Room because she wouldn’t stop dancing on the table. My mom had seen the show that day, and when I met this girl years later my mom was very worried about letting her in our house.
Before I begin, some assorted comments…
No one answered this I noticed. Bruce Willis was the voice of Bruno.
No, Tex Avery never directed any Tom and Jerry Cartoons. William Hanna and Joe Barbera directed the vast majority of the Tom and Jerry’s (All of them from the 40s and the 50s). Chuck Jones directed a few of them in the 60s after Hanna-Barbera left for television, as well as Gene Deitch.
Of Animated Shorts
Best Cartoon
WB Shorts directed by Tex Avery in the 1930s, Bob Clampett in the late 30s-early 40s, Friz Freling and Chuck Jones in the 50s. Tex Avery’s work at MGM in the 40s (especially Droopy). (And the Bugs Bunny cartoon “The Unruly Hare” by Frank Tashlin.)
Worse Cartoon
It’s tough to say. I don’t run across them anymore, but I didn’t like the so-called Terrytoons, some of the old Paramount stuff like little Lulu, Baby Huey (not to be confused with one of Donald Duck’s nephews, or Huey Newton), ar Heckle and Jeckle.
Animated Television Program
I’m very tempted to split this into several categories, since there is a lot of gems here and a lot of garbage. And targeting Hanna-Barbera here for their crimes against humanity would be a bit gratuitous and too easy!! Of course, Disney is trying their hardest to take that crown away from HB in modern day slock.
Generally, I’d award the top crown honors in American television animation to a little known show called Gargoyles. It had strong, fully developed and interesting characters, surperb storytelling and wonderful animation. However, I’ve never seen the third season when it reportedly turned to crap. (The main producer left the show and nothing went right, I’ve heard). Unfortunately, its been relegated to “Toon Disney,” the network almost nobody has[sup]1[/sup].
Best Cartoons
The Simpsons
Dexters Lab
Courage the Cowardly Dog (I love the animation design of CCD)
Cow and Chicken
I.M. Weasel (There’s a surreal weirdness that I like in these two shows. I don’t know why!)
Animaniacs (and the “Pinky and the Brain”[sup]2[/sup] spinoff, I just love the clever wit)
Duckman
Darkwing Duck
Batman: The Animated Series (also “The Batman/Superman Adventures”)
Tenchi Muyo! (and Tenchi Universe)[sup]3[/sup]
Reboot (all seasons)
Spongebob Squarepants (there’s that strange surrealness again. I really should hate this cartoon, but I like it)
Rocko’s Modern Life
Worse Cartoons
Sailor Moon[sup]4[/sup]
Dragonball Z (the only cartoon to spend 30 minutes arguing about who’s more powerful. I’ve been told much has been lost in the translation)
Family Guy
Pokemon
Sabrina, the Animated Witch
Dinozaurs
much of Disney’s Interchangeable One Saturday Morning
Much of Nickelodeon’s current animated slate.
Scooby Doo (yes Cartoon Network, it’s possible to OD on Scooby. It’s not a pretty sight.)
Much of what’s left of FoxKids’ schedule
Jackie Chan Adventures (It is beyond surreal to have someone whose English speaking skills are rough around the edges to voice-act a cartoon. However, that doesn’t excuse what appears to be a Scooby Doo, or Clue Club retread.)
Too soon to call.
Escaflowne (By the time I got around to see it, Fox pulls the plug on it)
Batman Beyond (it looks pretty good)
X-Men: Evolution. (So far, I’m impressed)
Cardcaptors (So far, I’m not)
Tenchi in Tokyo (I’m not sure whether or not they were doing a self-parody of the franchise. I only watched two or three episodes.)
[sub]1. Only just recently has Toon Disney gained enough viewers to be able to sell commercials to advertisers other than Disney. Disney was only able to exhort twelve hours a day worth of channel spectrum from my cable company.
Not to be confused with “Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain” a scary display of cross-promotional casting.
This is as seen on the Cartoon Network. This show is good enough, I’m considering checking out the ‘uncut’ version on video at the Anime store.
Sailor Moon almost caused me to condemn the entire Anime franchise. It would take me three years to reconsider the genre.[/sub]
See the uncut version. Trust me. Hopefully, they keep the original opening sequence with its gorgeous song, instead
of the one they hacked together for broadcast.
The problem here is that the folks who make Tenchi keep reinventing it every year or so. Same cast of characters, but they keep redefining the dynamics and plot of the story, and in some cases the relationships.
My recommendation: See the original 12 or so episodes of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. This is the original Tenchi OVA series and for most people I know, the definitive Tenchi. There is a DVD set containing the entire series, or you can buy the tapes, which have recently been reorganized to be more affordable than they used to be.
Right behind the original OVAs is Tenchi Universe – when Tenchi proved to be popular in direct sales, they took it to television. They changed some of the events and relationships, but it’s still fairly close to the OVAs. I have friends who think it’s pretty good, but I wasn’t terribly impressed.
Tenchi in Tokyo, in the opinion of myself and my wife, sucks. Period. It started off interesting and promising, but rapidly went downhill and we gave up on it entirely.
The three full-length Tenchi movies, btw, are hard to pigeonhole precisely into which continuity they belong (although the Tenchi Universe fits best), but they are pretty good no matter what.
Just my 2 cents’ worth.
– Bob