I was watching saturday morning cartoons probably from around 1985 to 1993 or 1994 or so.
My memory of such things is hazy but pleasant.
Who knows which cartoons I might have been watching back then, and about which I might think to myself, were I to watch them again today, “Hey, that really was a pretty good show!”
If any.
-FrL-
My favorite:
Inch High Private Eye
The same Scooby Doo episodes that my mother watched as a teenager are also loved by my kid.
Can’t get any more timeless that Scoob and the gang.
Timeless, maybe. But utter crap otherwise (as is 90% of Hanna Barbera’s output, and 100% of the output after The Jetsons).
Those that have stood the test:
Rocky and Bullwinkle
There’s nothing from the mid-70s until the 90s that was worth crap.
Jonny Quest!
Those original episodes from the mid-60’s still rock 40 years later.
Don’t hold back there Chuck. Tell us how you really feel.
Super Chicken
My childhood memories are better than your childhood memories! :rolleyes:
The Flintstones have stood the test of time, but they weren’t on Saturday Morning.
I have to second Scooby. I watched them from day one and my kids love em.
Animaniacs from the 90’s would be the other on my list. I think they will always be funny.
No votes for Bugs? The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Hour had all of my favorite WB characters. The 1960s-70s storylines, voices, and artwork beat the crap out of the 3D stuff they put out now.
I’ll have to add another from my younger days- The Beany and Cecil Show. Like Bullwinkle, the humor at times was aimed at the grownups. And they get bonus points for managing to work “your obedient serpent” into the theme song.
Bullwinkle and Johnny Quest were great too.
Scooby was pure crap. Never could sit through an episode of that. Hanna Barbara had the weakest characters and the worst voices of anyone.
I agree that Scooby didn’t age well for me. At all. Used to watch it endlessly, now I can’t even sit through a single episode.
Bugs Bunny aged well.
Surprisingly enough, so did the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. Sure, it’s fairly corny, as only an 80’s era fantasy cartoon written by a Scientologist can be, but I still really enjoy it when I catch an episode. I wish they’d hurry up and release them on DVD over here. Damn you, Brits, and your D&D DVD box set asses. 
I hate Scooby Doo now, but I loved it as a kid and my kid loves it now. I guess that counts as standing the test of time.
But has anyone else noticed that the term ‘Saturday morning cartoon’ doesn’t mean anything now? Kids can watch cartoons any old time of day, any day of the week. Part of me misses looking forward to Saturday mornings to see all of my favorites. Of course my job wouldn’t permit me to actually lounge around and watch them on Saturday.
Bugs Bunny, Rocky and Bullwinkle and maybe a few others are the only ones I can still watch and enjoy now though. Most of what what was on then seems awful to me now (anyone remember Blackstar, Kid Video, Spaghetti and Meatballs, or Pryor’s Place?)
Bugs Bunny is the best, but because they were really shorts for the movies I didn’t include them as Saturday morning cartoons.
The Beany and Cecil Show never got any rerun play and are all but forgotten, so despite their being very well written, I don’t think they have stood the test of time. Depends on how we look at them. I just rented a 3 hours DVD of them 2 weeks ago and the kids & I were entranced.
Bullwinkle is awesome, but check with the younger crowd. My niece and nephew didn’t like them and my kids don’t. I was the only one laughing. Sad, very sad, but somehow they have dated.
Note all the above is strictly unscientific, but it is the small audience I have available to judge these things.
My niece and nephew are 23 & 20 my kids are 8 & 5.
Jim
Smurfs
Scooby Doo
Bugs Bunny
Anybody wish they would show The Gummi Bears again? I don’t know if I’d still like it, but at the time the art was great and the show pretty entertaining.
Going REALLY back,* Crusader Rabbit * is one of my all-time favorites. Super Chicken, Dudley Do-Right, or any one of the Warner Bros. 'toons are also among
my favorites. The theme song for Super Chicken is hilarious.
Even though now I know that Robotech was really the horribly butchered Macross, it’s still a good show. Things that aren’t American really shouldn’t count, though; I know if I watched the Smurfs or Scooby Doo again there’d be nothing there for me.
Only the original shorts were good though. The 70’s versions were crappy (rehashes of Coyote/Road Runner with horrible music…Daffy Duck vs Speedy Gonzales (WTF?))
Except for the when they started traveling in time. Talk about desperation!
Really good cartoons:
[ul]
[li]Warner Bros. cartoons from 40s and 50s[/li][li]Rocky and Bullwinkle[/li][li]George of the Jungle/Super Chicken/Tom Slick[/li][li]Popeye (30s-50s)[/li][li]MGM Tom and Jerry 40s and 50s[/li][/ul]
Cheesy cartoons I miss (though I prolly couldn’t sit through one):
[ul]
[li]Huckleberry Hound[/li][li]Clutch Cargo[/li][li]Space Angel[/li][/ul]
I always loathed Scooby-Doo.