Toon Zone's Top Ten: Cartoon Series

[Maxie Zeus]

Well, as most of you know, Toon Zone is putting together two "Top Ten" lists: The Top Ten Cartoon Shorts ever made, and the Top Ten Cartoon Series ever made. And we want input from you, the discerning fans of all things animated!

In the first part of the process, we asked the members of the Toon Zone Forums to discuss the shorts and series that they thought would be worthy of being on such a list. (To see the discussion, visit the Best Cartoon Shorts (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16675) and the Best Cartoon Series (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16676) threads.)

In this thread I have put together a master list of all the cartoon series that were proposed. This is not a formal list of nominees. We simply put it up to remind people of some of the possibilities out there.

In the next stage we ask you, the members of the Toon Zone community, to vote for five (5) (and only five) cartoon series; in other words, send us a list of your picks for the five best cartoon series of all time. Using this list (and our patented weighted-voting system, as seen in the Avatar Contests) we will construct a list of the Top 10 vote-getters.

To vote for the Best Cartoon Series of all time, send an email to this address (tzmovieclub@yahoo.com). Be sure to list them in your order of preference. Note that your choices are not restricted to the series listed in this thread; any series, whether listed here or not, is eligible for inclusion on your ballot.

Also, to vote for the Top Ten Cartoon Shorts, see this thread (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17569) at the Termmite Terrace Trading Post.

Voting will open immediately, and close on the night of Thursday, January 31.

[Maxie Zeus]

Aeon Flux: Very adult and nontraditional in both its structure and stories, dealing with topics such as religion and love according to it own rules.

The Angry Beavers: The silly, yet vastly enjoyable foibles of a pair of beaver brothers. Perhaps Nick's best animated show.

Animaniacs: Like Tiny Toons this show works on so many levels, with humor for the kids and inside jokes for the adults.

Astro Boy: Pioneered anime as we know it

Batman: The Animated Series: Strong writing, excellent characters and eye-popping animation cemented the Dark Knight as the hero of our time. Dark, brooding ...yet full of hope.

Batman Beyond: Excellent, and a logical continuation of the Batman story.

Battle of the Planets: Cool action, nice dialogue, cool ships, the most AMAZING soundtracks and wicked weapons.

Big Guy and Rusty: Great Writing, Great Characterization

The Bugs Bunny Show: WB's first animated television show, and the first prime time animated show.

The Bullwinkle Show: Brought smart, roguish satire to TV animation and pitched it at kids.

Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers: Proved high end adventure, quality animation, and wonderful storytelling can co-exist in a world of Care Bears, and He-Man

Cowboy Bebop: Maintains a very high degree of quality across the board. The music and animation never fail to impress and are always top notch. The storytelling is both fresh and mature, but accessible to just about anyone.

Clerks: The Animated Series: A great, off the wall spinoff of the film.

The Critic: This show was funny as hell!

Daria: Possibly the smartest animated show ever. Sarcasm at it's best

Dexter's Laboratory: Loaded with clever stories, and pop culture references.

Downtown: Brilliantly animated and funny

DragonballZ: funny, imaginative, and is enjoyed by kids and adults.

Duckman: Hilariously abrasive and pointed.

DuckTales: Raised the bar for animated adventures.

[Maxie Zeus]

ExoSquad: Probably one of the best action animation series to ever come out of the U.S. It has good animation and excellent writing.

The Fairly Oddparents: Non-stop laugh fest.

The Flintstones: The of the BEST animated Hanna-Barbera shows.

Freakazoid: Likable characters, humorous situations, a little bit of adult humor, and best of all, a fan boy can easily relate to this show!

Futurama: Fine futuristic nonsense.

Garfield and Friends: A great american cartoon worthy of the comic strip.

Gargoyles: A dark and brooding show that combined elements of legends from all over the world most notably from Shakespeare and Native American history.

Gilligan's Planet: It's not as bad as it sounds.

Goldie Gold and Action Jack: Jam packed with action, and Goldie was hot!

Gundam Wing: Anime at its best.

He Man: THE most memorable cartoon of the 80's.

Heathcliff and Dingbat: The best of the Heathcliff shows.

Hey Arnold!: Quite entertaining.

Johnny Quest: The first American action cartoon.

Justice League: Action and has good heroes

Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies: Stood the test of time.

Liquid Television: Some of the finest shorts ever seen.

Men in Black: Hip and cool and jam-packed with humor, aliens, and the coolest technology this side of Jupiter. The show combined elements of the blockbuster movie with the dark and mysterious comic book series and always had us wanting more.

Mighty Max: A show that was very informative, and had cool yet interesting villians, and a remorseless arch nemesis.

The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse: Broke through the cookie cutter cartoon mold at the time

The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Intelligent use of mythology and history in its storyline.

[Maxie Zeus]

Nadesico: Funnier then Hell

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Anime at its best.

Pinky and the Brain: Good writing & good character interaction, with just enough sentiment to give the show a real heart.

Pokemon: Children's anime that launched KidsWB and turned it into the powerhouse it is.

The Powerpuff Girls: Balanced the tongue-in-cheek and the cute. Great design work and stories that demolished many time-honored cliches.

ReBoot: Led the way for Computer Animation

Ren & Stimpy: One of the best (and grossest) Nicktoons ever made! EXCELLENT!

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Neatly worked into the standard tournament-battle-format are stories about each of the duelists and the illusions they all hide behind.

Robotech: A show thoughtfully combining great action with some suprisingly adult drama.

Rocko's Modern Life: An enjoyably surreal little 'toon.

Samurai Jack: Excellent animation, varied stories, and a wonderfully subtle soundtrack.

She Ra: The character of She-Ra definitely ranks up there with Wonder Woman, and paved the way for The Powerpuff Girls.

Sheep in the Big City: A spiritual heir to Rocky & Bullwinkle.

The Simpsons: A ground-breaker. At it's best, it had funnier scripts than any live-action sitcom around.

Spider-man (90s): The stories were great, most based off a comic story, and put on the screen very well.

Spongebob Squarepants: Comedy that almost everyone will enjoy.

South Park: This show is just so offensive...but it's always friggin hilarious. The creator's aren't afraid to crack jokes at anyone!

Stressed Eric: A shortlived attempt by NBC to trample over The Simpsons, and it did a good job.

Superman: The Animated Series: reminded us why the Man of Steel was an icon in the first place.

SWAT Kats: Arguably the best rogues gallery in made-from-scratch-animation.

[Maxie Zeus]

Tazmania: Clever stories and fun characters that are worthy of the WB tradition.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: This show has great action, great heroes,Great Villans, and humor all togethor.

Tenchi Muyo &/or Universe : One of the most accessible anime series for a new person to get into.

Thundercats: An eclectic blend of sword and sorcery, sci-fi, comedy, drama, action, horror and adventure, all seamlessly combined. Colourful fun, with just the right amount of kitsch and camp to make you all warm and nummy inside.

The Tick: Superhero satire at its finest.

Tiny Toons: It paved the way and opened the door for the Silver Age of WB Animation.

Tom Terrific: Created, by Gene Deitch, this stylized UPA-like cartoon character and his dog Mighty Manfred were shown as part of "The Captain Kangaroo Show" made in the 50s.

Tom & Jerry: Winning 7 out of 12 Oscar nominations for nearly two decades worth of cartoons.

Toonsylvania: Weird and very funny.

Transformers: Started a legend that's truly more than meats the eye.

Transformers: Beastwars: For creating a great story from the legend, giving it more depth and personable characters.

Trigun: It's fun, it's cool, and it really has something to say.

Two Stupid Dogs: A good "Ren & Stimpy" like show that works on it's own terms.

UnderGRADS: As a college man, I can relate to some of the stuff on the show. Everything else I find is just darn hilarious.

The What a Cartoon Show: Anthology series that launched Dexter, PPG, Jonny Bravo, and others.

X-men: It brought my fav. "super heros" to animation and it wasn't candy coated at all.

[Maxie Zeus]

When we first brought up this topic we asked people to post reasons why their nominees were worthy of being on a Top Ten list. Not everyone complied with this request. Below are some other series that were proposed, but which did not have reasons for their inclusion given.

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
Baby Blues
The Barkleys
Beavis and ButtheadBionic Six
Birdz
Blackstar
Bonkers
Braveface
Celebrity Deathmatch
Channel Umptee-3
Cow & Chicken
Darkwing Duck
Dennis the Menace
The Dick Tracy Show
Earthworm Jim
Ed, Edd and Eddy
Eek!stravaganza
Family Guy
The Flintstones Comedy Show
Generation O!
GI Joe
Goof Troop
Heathcliff
The Humanoids
Hurricanes
I Am Weasel
Inhumanoids
Inspector Gadget
Invader Zim
Jackie Chan Adventures
Jayce & the Wheeled Warriors
Jem
The Jetsons
Johnny Bravo
King of the Hill
Marsupilami
Mask
Mighty Orbots
MSG:
M*U*S*H
Pac Man
A Pandamonium
Plastic Man
Police Academy: The Series
Raw Toonage
Santo Bugito
Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show
Smurfs
Snorks
Space Ghost
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
Spiderman & His Amazing Friend
Superfriends
The Sylvanian Families
TaleSpin
Thundar the Barbarian
Top Cat
Ultraforce
Visionaries
Warplanets
The Weekenders
Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down?
The Woody Woodpecker Show
Wolf Rock TV
X-Men: Evolution