The key thing that differentiated the eighties from previous decades is that toy companies started comissioning cartoons based on toylines. It was putting the cart before the horse. Writers and animators were shown the toys and asked to come up with stories for them. The cartoon was little more than an advertisement for the toyline.

You talk to people who worked on those shows, they were tired, burnt-out veterans trying to get by, under no illusions about the junk they were cranking out. There was no passion, it was just a job.

That stuff was trash in the eighties, and it's trash now.

The nineties brought something substantially different: creator-driven cartoons. Ren and Stimpy, Batman TAS, Beavis and Butthead, the Simpsons, Aeon Flux among others. There was vision and enthusiasm behind these shows. I lived through both decades and the difference in quality was profound. There was a personal touch that was completely lacking in the artless product of the eighties.

There were definitely some rare gems of animation produced in the eighties, but they are not the eighties cartoons people generally associate with that decade. And likewise there was plenty of forgettable junk that missed the mark produced in the nineties.

Cartoons of today show some continuation of both trends. There are toy driven shows, creator driven shows, and other types of shows. I've seen some that are horrible, a few that were terrific, but I generally don't have the time or inclination to take them all in anymore.

 

<<<<<Misses the good old 70's cartoons. *sigh*

 

There are quite a few 'older' cartoons that I used to watch and still do (anything dealing with DC, Spiderman, BW, and some classic Looney Toons, to name a few), but I'll be the first to admit that some of the shows I loved as a kid sucked, even if I can enjoy them now and then (Captain Planet, Thundercats, DBZ, and Armada for example, not to mention the fact that I can't stand the Pokemon anymore, even original).

At the same time, there are modern cartoons that I can't stand (s3 of Ben 10 AF, Hero:108, and Bakugan for example), and there are some that I think are awesome (The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, original Ben 10, and quite a few others).

It's cool to have opinions on what you like and don't like (everyone does, after all), and if the shows you like are older than the shows you don't, then that's cool too, but claiming that one 'cartoon generation' is superior in every way to another is a little... odd, especially since you aren't the ones that they're making these cartoons for us, AW and a select few others as exceptions (not saying anyone here is making that claim, just my two cents).

 

yes

 

i miss the 80s and 90s man those were the best years!!!!

 

I loved watching cartoons on Saturday morning in the 90s but i was born in '89 so i didn't have the joy of watching the good 80s cartoons like Transformers G1 cuz that phase was pretty much done. anyways idk what u guys r smoking when u say Mighty B, Adventure time and Sponge Bob are good cartoons but whatever it is i think u need to stop and get some rehab or something. i have watched those shows and after 5 mins i had to change the channel b4 my hears bleed. Cartoon Network and Toon Disney (Disney XD) were the main channels i would watch but i would watch Nick also. I remember watching CatDog, Angry Beavers, TMNT, Gargoyles, Bonkers (just to name a few) i still try and find them on youtube for episodes but still no luck. the only good cartoon i will watch now on Nick are Peguins of Madagascar that is about it the other crap the call cartoons can just pretty much go up in flames for all i care. Whenever i am sick and stay up i do watch Gargoyles still on DXD, and nothing rly on CN.

 

no, every one thinks their generation of whatever was the best, sadly, I think that too.

 

2 words: hell yeah!

 

First off, please learn to spell, and second why did you revive a near 2-year old thread?

 

well it beats him creating a new topic based on the same thing lol.

 

exactly and also it is called short hand typing look it up 

 

YES they where and I miss those days soooooooooooo much. It would really be nice if I could wake up on saturday morning again and turn on the tv and watch some GOOD cartoons instead of political crap and crap cartoons.

 

Best cartoons of the last few years:

Transformers: Animated
Transformers: Prime
GI Joe: Renegades
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Young Justice
Adventure Time
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (I've only seen 1 episode so far but it was pretty cool)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Though this was a few years ago but Legend of Korra is comming soon, looks good so far.)

Haven't seen Thundercats yet. But i plan on to when it airs in Canada.

 

Many 80s cartoons were terrible. This is the decade that gave us a show called Little Clowns From Happytown. I can't see any cartoon in the history of animation being worse than that. There are a few cartoons from the decade that I still like. Transformers, TMNT, Pound Puppies and the Biskitts to name a few. I still enjoy He-Man too but I realize the only reason I am able to do so is by putting on a pair of very thick nostalgia goggles. I caught the He-Man She-Ra Christmas special recently. It was my first exposure to that series since I was a kid. I enjoyed it but at the same time I realized what I was watching was incredibly stupid. I knew had I not enjoyed this stuff as a kid I wouldn't be able to sit through it now.
The 90s had some great stuff though. Darkwing Duck, Pinky and The Brain, Freakazoid, Earthworm Jim, Road Rovers and Gargoyles just to name a few.
The thing is there's good and bad in every decade. No decade's cartoons are 100% great or 100% terrible. The trick is finding the good stuff while tuning out the bad.

 

I beg to differ I wasn't crazy about 80's & 90's cartoons with exception of TF G1, beast wars, Tiny toons but that's about it.

 

I was born in 1996, but from '96 to the early 2000's i remember that officially being the cartoons' true golden age. Everything seemed awesome and creative and sprung my imagination like crazy! But i have to agree that even if i was still young enough now, i think i wouldn't enjoy most of the cartoons on today the same way i did with the older ones. Even MLP:FIM wouldn't cut it (because i would be too young to even think about a girl's show), But it seems to be the best, most creative cartoon on today story wise AND animation wise. Attention to the last possible detail is just amazing. It makes some 90's shows even look blank. I've been told that "adventure time" is the best show on. I beg to differ but its just my opinion and i don't judge on what you like (unless of course, you know, if it's gothic violent).

 

Every decade has its strong and weak points, it depends on if somebody would give something a chance to see that fact. Even growing up in the 90's, some of my favorite series came in the last decade. That would be Justice League/JLU, Invader Zim, Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Codename Kids Next Door, The Batman, Beast Machines, and Transformers Animated.

 

the 80s and 90s, did have the most memorable cartoons, but i wouldn't say they had the best, nor would i say that they are better then the ones we have now.

i mean lets face it, plot, continuing stories, and character development, really aren't much of a thing that happened a lot in the 80s, nor the 90's, except for select few ones, like the marvel cartoons of the 90's, and the batman/superman series.

in terms of plot, continuing stories and development of characters, thundercats, clone wars, transformers prime, transformers animated, MLP's, hell, even kim possible, has the 80s and 90's beat.

BUT for some reason these shows just are not as memorable as the ones in the 80's and 90's.

no one is going to remember Speed Racer: The Next Generation; in 10 years.

not like they remember the original at least.

 

now that u mention that i was born in '89 and i am thinking more and more about it and i do remember alot of cartoons that i would watch being on air for more in the early 2000s and i do agree with u that was the true golden age of cartoons cuz i could actually get up early every day and watch a good cartoon instead of just trying to find something decent on just so i could eat breakfeast and right after that get dressed and hop on the computer and do some facebook or youtube for my cartoon "in-take" (like i pretty much do right now)

 

I was born in '93 so Rugrats, The Wild Thornberries, Hey Arnold, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Rocko's Modern Life, Powderpuff girls are a few shows I remember well from my younger days. Those were the real cartoons