# For Dopers who were kids in the 70s/early 80s: your Saturday morning dreamteam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876 "2008-09-10T00:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/61 "2008-09-10T16:34:55Z")
**Charlie Chan & the Chan Clan**. I wonder how that holds up. Didn’t like when a show got transferred into outer space, like the Partridge Family or Harlem Globetrotters. Amazing how **The Jetsons** has endured. A show that consisted of only one season’s worth of episodes produced in 1962 entertained multiple generations of kids (until they finally made more episodes in the late '80s). Unexplainably, I would make it a point to wake up at 7am to watch the **Abbott & Costello** cartoon. HEY ABBBBOOOOOOT!!! Bet the parents loved that. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/62 "2008-09-10T16:35:18Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > So no love for all that weird trippy cocaine-fueled 80’s stuff? Am I the only person in the world who watched _Kid Video_? What the hell was that all about? I remember that and wow did it suck. I remember watching it because it was the only thing on between two other shows. Much more painful to watch, though, were the live action parts of [Hero High](http://www.dvdverdict.com/images/reviewpics/herocap2.jpg). The TV shows was a zany cartoon, then these poor bastards in tights would perform some crappy tune at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/63 "2008-09-10T16:36:13Z")
**Ark II** is on DVD. > [@](#): > > I remember an episode about abandoned children (about 3 of them) the Ark picked up who had developed telepathy. Geek Alert! I remember that episdoe, the Ark’s shields blocked their powers. I liked that because it was one of the few times technology stopped Psi abilities. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/64 "2008-09-10T16:36:39Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > …after that at 6:45am Davey and Goliath. Bliss until Soul Train. Oh, I remember Davey and Goliath! I always watched that show. To this day, “A Mighty Fortress is our God” promptly makes me think of the opening sequence. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/65 "2008-09-10T16:36:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > So no love for all that weird trippy cocaine-fueled 80’s stuff? Am I the only person in the world who watched _Kid Video_? What the hell was that all about? Well, of those of us in the OP’s age-range were probubly not watching cartoons at that point. As we were in college by that point having sex and stuff. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/66 "2008-09-10T16:38:14Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Well, of those of us in the OP’s age-range were probubly not watching cartoons at that point. As we were in college by that point having sex and stuff. 😛 I pity you. Sex you can have anytime- at 16 or at 86- but there was only one time to see _Sigmund and the Sea Monsters_ in first release.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/67 "2008-09-10T16:38:52Z")
I barely qualify as being a “kid in the early 80s,” but one thing I miss in cartoon programming—maybe even to the extent that I think younger generations might be missing out on? Vintage Disney and Warner Bros cartoons. I mean the _old_ ones; ones with wartime refernces that I didn’t catch till years later. The Disney educational cartoons (I learned about reaction time and braking distance from Goofy, before I started losing baby teeth); guys getting blown up, poisoned, sprayed with buckshot, to no ill effect on my psyche; loving details painted in every shade of black and white you can image; Max Fleischer. I can’t help but wonder how much of my personality was formed by—or in reaction to, those old titans in my formative years. What do we have today? Hannah Montana. Live action kids show blocks on saturday mornings. Never thought I’d see the day. Now I recognize the need for change, for progress, for each generation to go it’s own way…but I just can’t help but feel a profound sense of _loss_; the sorrow at something once so great shuffling away unnoticed into the dark. _Sic transit gloria mundi._ ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/68 "2008-09-10T16:39:11Z")
Okay, no one mentions “Run, Joe, Run”, a live-action show about a German Shepherd accused of a crime he didn’t commit, and on the run from the MP’s? (He was a military police dog) He’d help people he came across while staying one step ahead of the dogcatcher. I also liked “Ark II”, “Shazam” and there was some kid’s quiz show where the kids could win big prizes. The movies shown on Kukla Fran and Ollie. Except for Jonny Quest, I was never a big animation fan. StG ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/69 "2008-09-10T16:39:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **Ark II** … that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time… > > I’m sure if I watched it today it’d be cheesier than Wisconsin but I remember liking it and thinking it was a really intelligent series. I loved the jetpack also. I remember an episode about abandoned children (about 3 of them) the Ark picked up who had developed telepathy. Wow, that is also probably the only episode I actually remember. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/70 "2008-09-10T16:51:16Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Okay, no one mentions “Run, Joe, Run”, a live-action show about a German Shepherd accused of a crime he didn’t commit > > StG I remember it well. And there was somebody chasing him like Javert/[who was the inspector on THE FUGITIVE? Gerard?] but with a twist- he knew the dog was innocent. Basically it was The Fugitive for kids I suppose- different cast every week, with some famous faces thrown in. There was also a show that had the same basic plot as NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM except with, obviously, no budget and it was a wax museum. Mainly it was the movie monsters (Drac/Frank/Wolfman) who came to life. Kids from CAPER… trying to remember something other than the title, but I did watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/71 "2008-09-10T16:52:59Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I can’t help but wonder how much of my personality was formed by—or in reaction to, those old titans in my formative years. > > What do we have today? Hannah Montana. Live action kids show blocks on saturday mornings. Never thought I’d see the day. I remember there were also educatioal-type shows I really liked as a kid. I like the Big Blue Marble segments. In particular, I liked the show [3-2-1 Contact](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7S537b7saE&feature=related), particularly because it had the [Bloodhound Gang](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4273oOYy7s&feature=related) and I wanted to be a P.I. too when I was 11. But the staples like vintage Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and Warner Bros. cartoons were still available. Nowadays they’ve been censored all to hell. Speedy Gonzales is a negative steretype and you’d never hear Bugs Say “Get yer cotton-pickin’ hands offa me!” ---
**Author:** ![lunar\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lunar\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunar_elf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/72 "2008-09-10T17:00:43Z")
Snorks Smurfs Fat Albert Scooby Do GI Joe [Belle and Sebastian](http://www.johnnorrisbrown.com/classic-nick/belleandsebastian/index.htm) (Had to go google it) I was fascinated with how porridge looked, since that’s all he seemed to eat. My mom constantly reminds me about ‘murfs’ and ‘cooby doo,’ so I musta watched those a lot and couldn’t say the names right. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/73 "2008-09-10T17:02:25Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Ah Space Academy- why can I remember the name “Commander Gampu” and that he was played by Jonathan Harris or that his companion was Loki played by Meeno Peluce who is the brother of Soleil Moon Frye and their other brother played Resolve Wheeler in my favorite miniseries, _The Awakening Land_, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery who played opposite Jonathan Harris in a BEWITCHED episode in which… anyway, but I can’t remember where I left my car keys or the name of the professor who talks to me every night about her daughter in Ohio? I remember we had to do a report on “Your Ideal School” for some class when I was a kid and I based mine on Space Academy. What I thought was cheesy even at the time though were the stars being so obviously Christmas tree light bulbs and in straight lines (I could have made a more believable galaxy on a lite-bright). 😃 Yeah, I think we could reproduce the special effects on that show today for a very low budget, but hell we could say the same thing about the old Doctor Who too. But, Jason has Scotty as th commander. That was too cool. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/74 "2008-09-10T17:03:46Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > … I was never a big animation fan. Then why your location? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/75 "2008-09-10T17:09:04Z")
**BMalion** - Although Nashville could be called “Tunetown”, I like “Toontown”. StG ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/76 "2008-09-10T17:20:22Z")
One that goes back to the 1960’s- _Milton the Monster_. “Six drops of the Essence of Terror! Five drops of Sinister Sauce!..” And now for the (I think) late 80’s- I don’t remember much except that it was ultra-cool & “starred” a cartoon equivalent of Bruce Campbell- _Cadillacs and Dinosaurs._ Trivia note- Dr. Shrinker was Jay Robinson, who played Caligula in \*The Robe \*and \*Demetrius and the Gladiators \*(in which he was killed by Blacula aka The King of Cartoons!) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/77 "2008-09-10T17:21:58Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Okay, no one mentions “Run, Joe, Run”, a live-action show about a German Shepherd accused of a crime he didn’t commit > > StG I remember it well. And there was somebody chasing him like Javert/[who was the inspector on THE FUGITIVE? Gerard?] but with a twist- he knew the dog was innocent. Basically it was The Fugitive for kids I suppose- different cast every week, with some famous faces thrown in. There was also a show that had the same basic plot as NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM except with, obviously, no budget and it was a wax museum. Mainly it was the movie monsters (Drac/Frank/Wolfman) who came to life. Kids from CAPER… trying to remember something other than the title, but I did watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/78 "2008-09-10T17:23:59Z")
Well apart from everything everybody has mentioned so far, I also loved the **Godzilla** animated show, with the team of scientists, the obligatory ‘Wesley Crusher’" type kid, and Godzookie (a “li’l tyke” version of Godzilla, who was still 6’+ high) travelling the world in a ship and fighting monsters. I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned Elektra-Woman & Dyna-Girl yet. And how about the Batman & Robin (& Batgirl & Bat-Mite) animated series that appeared sometime in the late 70s? Anybody else watch that? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/79 "2008-09-10T17:30:40Z")
I loved and I own the DVDs of SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK and would be embarassed to admit how many times I’ve referred to them for rules of grammar/steps in a bill becoming a law/etc… Shows that I didn’t like, however, were those with a moral tale. Examples: ALLEY OOP & FRIENDS: there was a cartoon featuring Alley Oop (a strip before my time), Beetle Bailey, Snuffy Smith and some other Sunday morning cartoon characters. The animation was okay (we weren’t that snobby then) but every single episode had a lesson: bullies are bad, name calling is wrong, friends are good, blah blah. Don’t think 10 year olds don’t know when they’re being preached to. There was also a short lived cartoon series whose name I can’t for the life of me remember. It was about a group of kids- sorta kinda Little Rascals-ish, they were multiracial but the main character was a chubby white kid with glasses, and again, always the “drugs are bad, mkay!” “pickin’ on fat kids is bad, m’kay!” lessons. Anybody know the name of this? Even to a kid it was heavy-handed. And then there was the ultimate in bad preachy cartoons: [Jot](http://www.toonopedia.com/uimages/toons/j/jot.jpg). He was an “anti-cartoon” that would sometimes be put in with the Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was getting ready for school in the morning like 3rd graders weren’t supposed to notice he had an agenda. Poor Jot would do something like put a tack in his sister’s chair and the next thing you know God’s dangling him over the pit of hell and there’s a Bible verse and he repents, and then there’s an ad for Jot finger puppets and prizes. This was when I and most of my friends watching cartoons before school actually got dressed, because once he was over maybe Foghorn Leghorn would come on. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876/80 "2008-09-10T17:34:15Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Well, of those of us in the OP’s age-range were probubly not watching cartoons at that point. As we were in college by that point having sex and stuff. 😛 Hey, the title says “early 80’s”! 1984 is totally early 80’s. And you were totally not having sex and stuff. Don’t lie just so the cool kids will like you. Did you learn nothing from cartoons that had a moral at the end? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-dopers-who-were-kids-in-the-70s-early-80s-your-saturday-morning-dreamteam/462876.md?page=5)