Btw: Anyone remember this? YouTube - Ox Tales - Opening Titles  

 

First off, let me just state, I hate these "Were XX media from the past better then XX media of today?" because they're always filled with nostalgia-glasses covered ignorance. As harsh as it sounds, it's sadly the blatant truth.

Funfact: For every one "Best cartoon ever" you remember from the 50/60/70/80/90s, there's probably a dozen you don't or never even heard of. The reason why you're able to say "the past had better cartoons" is because you're basing your opinion solely on the best a previous era has to offer while comparing it to a minutely small, highly biased sampling of today's animation. Greatness shines through and lasts through the ages, failure gets left behind and forgotten. In 10 years, people will be able to list dozens of "awesome cartoon's from the '00s and say how much better they from the ones in the '10s.

The 70s-90s were the golden age of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Those days no longer exist now, but not because cartoons nowadays are lower quality, but because nowadays we have channels that are specifically devoted to showing cartoons 24/7. Network television and afternoon/morning cartoon blocks are no longer needed or even viable because nowadays kids can watch their cartoons whenever they want. Network TV doesn't have to devote time, money and air-space to kids anymore because they have their own stations they can focus on.

Anime deals with the same "Was XX better during the past?" crap as western cartoons. Just like just about every other form of media.

Somewhat off topic, the irony with Ren and Stimpy was the fact that it was one of the few shows who was so fun specifically because it was so closely watched and dumbed down to childrens. When the guy behind the show was given the chance to make a more 'adult' version of the series, it flopped horribly because it lost out on a lot of the subtleties that made the original series so funny.

Not True, not true, this isn't new and they're gone because network TV gets more revenue from adults (cheaper to make, better returns) and can just shove cartoons to a network specifically made for cartoons. There's no need for Saturday Morning or Afterschool cartoons when you can play them 24/7.

Also, in this entire thread about cartoons, not a single mention about South Park?

 

Hm I really appreciate having channels like Cartoon Network, Boomerang or Animax, but one thing that bothers me is, because they only show cartoons and so much a day, I cannot really tune in most cartoons, because I miss most episodes and don't know what they are about. The other ones where you do not need to see every episode are mostly not that interesting to me. But than again there are still some cartoons which remind me somehow of the style of old cartoons, where you don't need to see every episode because at the end everything is back to normal, but somehow there is still more into them but although I only see an episode every few weeks it's interesting, like Secret Saturdays, although the artwork is more spiky and exaggerated like most cartoons nowadays.

I only wish I could tune into most serieses on Animax, they show so many cool animes, but I never get into them or I see the same episode 5 times over and over because they show reruns all the time.

I just can't seem to know when actually they show which anime, as if they don't have fixed slots. Maybe getting a TV programme magazine would help...

 

Don't they have google in Germany?

Home | Germany Animax

 

Hell yeah it was! Though those cartoons form the 60s like hannah barbarra stuff is just classic.

 

Yeah we do. But I don't spent that much time on TV. Not anymore.

 

Make up your mind then. Your saying in one post that you'd watch shows if you knew how to find them, then your saying that you didn't spend 30 seconds finding out on the internet because you haven't got the time to watch them?

 

Different eras and different generations. It would be like arguing a past era of baseball and its players are "better" than the current one. Makes for a fun little debate, but ultimately futile. Now YOU think YOUR toons are "better" because you probably grew up with them. I'm not saying you can't enjoy certain (or a certain era of) cartoons more than others, but there's no real quantifiable way of saying today's toons are not as good, even if deep down inside this 80's kid and his nostalgia agrees.

There are always too many variables that come into play from one era to the next for there to be a fair side-by-side comparison. It's more of an evolution*, if you will.

Pre-WWII, early Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, pre-1980s:
-offensive stereotypes aside, these were mostly harmless cartoons aimed only at entertaining (featuring a lot of slapstick-type humour). Sure, Disney had their merchandise and theme parks. But you won't see Mickey Mouse all of a sudden rolling out in the Brand New MM Tank the same week its toy equivilant hit store shelves.
-the 1960s saw the beginning the whole Saturday mornings ritual

1984: FCC does away with regulations that prohibit toy companies from broadcasting cartoons based on their products
-the "To Sell Toys" Era begins. We get Transformers, GoBots, GI Joe, M.A.S.K., Thundercats, My Little Pony, Bionic Six, Centurions, The Real Ghostbusters, He-Man/She-Ra, Voltron, Inhumanoids, Visionaries, etc.

Late '80s/early '90s:
-toy-based cartoons recieve advocacy group backlash, leading to their decline
-Saved By the Bell changes the game (I never thought that would be something I'd ever say/type in this lifetime) as networks find success with live action shows. This paves the way for shows like That's So Raven, Hannah Montanna, Suite Life, et al.
-most of these possible explanations plus more can be found here
-cartoons in gerenal are far from dead. We still have the Disney Afternoon: Rescue Rangers, Ducktales, Talespin, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles (f*ck yeah!)
-Fox give us Tiny Toons/Animaniacs (we get slightly more mature jokes), and building off the success of the life action Batman movies, Batman: TAS kick starts the DCAU

Late 90s onwards
-toons with a heavy Japanese-influence anime style: Pokemon, Digimon, Beyblade, TF RID + A/E/C (and we're back to the gimmicks + toys!)
[apologies if I'm way off base here. I was busy with school during this time and whatever I did catch I had very little interest in. If someone out there is more up to speed feel free to set straight]

I have watched present-day toons (like Wolverine & the X-Men) and I'm often surprised at just how good they are: much better animation (duh), better action, top-notch VA, solid characters and excellent storytelling. This probably stems from my expectation of "It's new so it must suck compared what I grew up with."

Nowadays, kids have way more entertainment options aside from sitting in front of the tv for hours on end (internet, iPod/media players, video games, an endless number of tv channels), so it's no wonder cartoons are no longer a priority in their lives.

*I realize I'm really generalizing and left out a lot of stuff, but this is to get more of the big picture when looking at the different eras of the North American toons aimed primarily at children

 

Any way to get your hands on a DVR or something similar? I know I personally love being able to set it to record a certain show, and having it available to watch whenever I want. Sadly I don't use it enough as I should since I still end up missing a lot of shows I wanna see.

 

Of Saturday Morning Cartoons, perhaps, but that does not fit with the "Golden Age of Animation," according to Wikipedia and animation historians like Jerry Beck and Jon Cooke of GoldenAgeCartoons.com.

I think of the 70s-80s more as the "Factory Age" of animation, largely thanks to Hanna-Barbera and Filmation cranking out mostly formulaic, mediocre product.

The "Silver Age of Animation" is a term that has received wide acceptance and usage by fans of Warner Bros animation (and is generally accepted by animation historians and those in the industry as well) as it refers primarily to shows from the 90s like Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Tiny Toons and Freakazoid. As I mentioned previously, these stayed true to the Warner Bros' tradition of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. It also applies to shows from The Disney Afternoon, such as Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin.

I actually agree with Tekkaman Blade's assessment because I believe he's referring to new productions not animation in general, and I believe it's accurate. He also didn't mention content-on-demand and digital downloads -- those are seriously impacting TV and cable animation. This is also why Hulu is introducing subscription services. I knew forcing people to watch ads to see free programming wasn't going to work as a viable source of revenue.

Controversial doesn't automatically equal "best." While there's no denying the show's impact on pop culture and its influence on adult animation, the quality of the animation sucks donkey balls.

 

I prefer the 80's cartoon's and TV show's over anything today has to offer.

 

Well today we have Johnny Test so that alone makes the 80's and 90's superior.

 

I miss Eighties and Nineties cartoons. BTAS, Beast Wars, Extreme Ghostbusters, Gargoyles, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Mighty Max, Mummies Alive, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and so on were amazing.

 

Meh. I grew up watching the Hanna-Barbera stuff, so I will always go with that over anything else. Except Rocky and Bullwinkle, which I admit, was god awful animation-wise, but it just boils down to personal taste. The 80's though were primarily an era where cartoon shows were usually just moving toy commercials.

Edit: no mention of Space Ghost Coast to Coast or Tintin is just staggering imo.

 

Calling the 80's the "Factory Age" of animation is pretty apt. Which to me doesn't take away at all from what it was. What I like most about 80's cartoons was the creativity behind them. They weren't all just taking something that was established in some other medium (comics, movies). Though there was plenty of that too. I guess what I mean is that some truely original ideas came out of the 80's that just keep repeating since.... and I miss the creation of new properties. As the years go on there are fewer and fewer attempts at originality. But, those cartoons that stand apart... are head and shoulders over anything we grew up with (the children of the 80's I mean). So I wouldn't say the 80's was the best decade for cartoons, but it was more interesting.

In the 70's Hanna Barbara was king. The 80's was the best age for originality. The 90's was the best age for quality in story telling with the Warner Bro shows. The 2000's were dominated by Japanese imports, CN, and Adult Swim.

No one decade from the last 40 years can clame to be the best age of cartoons. Each has had it's strong and weak points. Since the time I remember starting to watch cartoons with Superfriends back around 1976 at the age of 4.... I've always managed to find some cartoon to love. There have been some dry spells... but the rain always comes back.

The one thing I can give the 80's is that it cemented me as a fan of animation. Transformers was the show that I realised that animation was something I really loved, and not just something I watched.

I've been spending time on a silly little project.... listing all the things I have been "into" over the course of my life. Movies, TV shows, games, cartoons, etc. At first the list was small, somewhere around 100. But, I kept digging deeper and now it's way over 300 strong. Bringing up a few I had completely forgetten about.

For fun I'm going to decide (personally) by the numbers which decade was the best, based on the number of cartoons(series, animated movies, specials, and stop motion) I was into.

70's -13
80's -57
90's -20
2000's -40

 

It's kinda ridiculous to offer up one cheaply-animated show from the last decade as the "best" example of a modern cartoon (which actually isn't too horrible -- it has its moments, especially the Pokemon spoof episodes) and expect it to compare with two decades of animation.

Don't forget SpongeBob and Seth MacFarlane.

I don't think SGC2C qualifies for this discussion because it's not a fully-animated show. It's a miniature live-action set and features live-action guests.

But that's just my personal opinion. I can't detract from the show's awesomeness otherwise.

I have no opinion on Tintin since I've never had the chance to see either animated series. The first series aired in the US before I was born, and the later series aired in the US on cable when I didn't have cable.

 

i like some of the older cartoons, but i like some of the newer ones too. i don't think it is any kind of nostalgic, or anything, i mean, some of them, like exo squad, is still pretty fun to watch, for me, what i like about cartoons, is the continuous story line, those are the cartoons i like. regardless of how "old" the cartoon is. i guess that is why i like things, like anime.

but the cartoons of today, seem to have better continuum *for the most part* then the ones of the 80's and 90's, with a few exceptions.

it has nothing to do with being nostalgic, i either like the show, or i do not, regardless of if it is "old" or not.

 

Actually, I enjoy a lot of the more recent cartoons, such as My Life as a Teenage Robot and Kim Possible. My all-time favorite thus far is Gargoyles. And I'm not really being nostalgic, per se. To me, Saturday mornings in the 70s and 80s had the three big networks at the time (ABC, CBS, and NBC) trying to compete for my attention. Comic books even had ads and two page spreads telling me what new shows were on this season. Hell, there used to be specials on television the Friday right before the premieres showcasing everything. Then Saturday mornings slowly began to die when cartoons were replaced by gardening shows, infomercials, morning shows and other crap that I was (and still am) not interested in watching.

Robotech was revolutionary, but that was anime so it doesn't really count. There were some gems, though. I found the animation in Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and M.A.S.K. to be quite exceptional, even by modern standards.

I never could get into SpongeBob Squarepants...though maybe being forced to play several video games starring him didn't help. I also got fed up of Looney Tunes after watching the same 30 or so cartoons on an endless loop for over a decade. And Hanna-Barbera pissed me off a lot because it as like everyone who worked for them had ADD: they never finished what they started or gave us any kind of resolution. Were the Thirteen Treasures of Rule ever recovered? Did Galtar ever defeat Tormack? I, for one, would like to have known, goddammit.  

Ugh. This.  

Any examples? I'm just curious. The most vile cartoon I can remember was Inhumanoids. Ren and Stimpy also had its share of grossout moments.

 

Bionic Six and Mighty Orbots had some good animation for the 80's as well.

 

Yes. although there was a lot of crap back then.. He-man is absolute crap.

But most of the crap i see on CN is pure trash. There are gems in the turd waste land of every era.