I also loved these, which don’t hold up as well for older moi:
Mighty Mouse
Tennessee Tuxedo
Underdog
King Leonardo (especially The Hunter. To this day I quote from the following exchange:
Hunter, to King Leonardo: “…That’s a joke, Son.”
King Leo, irritated: “Don’t call me ‘Son!’ Don’t you know I’m KING?”
Hunter, unfazed: “Why, I call everybody “Son”, Sire. That’s a joke, Son.”)
I never much cared for Disney, just never did anything for me. Except for the occasional Donald Duck tantrum.
HATED Hanna-Barbera from Day One. Huckleberry Hound is the first one I remember, unless Ruff & Reddy were also HB. Even as an idiot child I thought they were cheap and inferior.
I never paid much attention to animated Beany & Cecil, but my wife has fond memories of the original puppet version.
Sixty two posts, and I’m the only one to mention Mighty Max, my all time favorite. You all are missing out, look at the voice acting cast! Rob Paulsen, Richard Moll, Tony Jay, and Tim Curry!
Between this, TMNT, and Ghostbusters, the other cartoons couldn’t compete. When I was going through middle school I really liked the after school cartoons too, especially the superhero ones like Spider-Man, Batman, and X-Men.
The only thing I can say for certain is that the cartoons nowadays are awful. Saturday morning is now fun like a funeral.
Tom & Jerry and Road Runner, except that I rooted for the coyote.
Johnny Quest
Some of the stuff they showed on Looney Tunes that didn’t feature main characters, like the one where the guy finds a singing frog in the foundation of a building.
I came here to mention Mighty Max. I don’t know why it seems so few people know about this awesome cartoon.
When i was really young i remember watching those Disney Holiday specials over and over (but the only details i remember is that the valentines day one featured a section that was set to “Don’t go breakin my heart” by Elton John & Kiki Dee) Also remember a cartoon movie with dragons where they had to eat limestone to be able to breath fire and fly (i think) that i had on VHS tape and watched repeatedly.
Also, does anyone remember the multipart series that kicked off Ducktails with the Valley of the Golden Sun story arc. To my young mind that was some epic stuff.
It might be a bit cliched, but to me, in the early 70s, Warner Brothers* cartoons were the only ones that mattered. I truly loved them. All the others, from The Flintstones, to the Jetsons, to Scooby Doo and all the rest, I watched pretty much because they were the only thing on television.
The “laugh and a half, hour and a half” WB cartoons every Saturday morning.
Scooby Doo (including the New Scooby Doo Movies) and most of the rest of the H-B stable.
Woody Woodpecker and the rest of the Walter Lantz stable.
Some Disney shorts (e.g.: Chip & Dale; Goofy).
Peanuts specials.
Fat Albert.
Yeah, I was plane-crazy back then, too.