danreyes1
05-11-2007, 01:09 AM
I'm not talking about the already well-known ageless ones that are good nomatter how old you are or ones that are simply nostalgic, I mean cartoons that, when you think of the basic premise, seem like they shouldn't age very well, but somehow do for whatever reason.
Take Mighty Max. I used to enjoy this show a decade ago whenever I had the chance to catch it on tv. I recently was able to rewatch the whole series, and I was mildly surprised at its quality. Having not seen it in ages, I had forgotten the vast majority of it, so each episode was nearly brand new to me. I enjoyed almost every moment of it.
For one thing, it had plenty of mythological references, something I always like. Norman was supposedly the base for a bunch of mythological heroes over time (Hercules, Thor). Skullmaster and Virgil are both from the mythological continent of Lemuria. One particular episode has Max join forces with classic heroes from all over the world (Beowulf, the Monkey King and two others I;ve never heard of).
The level of nearly adult content was surprising. There were various (offscreen) deaths throughout the series. One episode had a person lose his hand (with a bloodcurdlnig scream). Some things said in it wouldn't get by today's censors ("I will kill you Norman! And then I'll eat your heart!")
It was of course campy, what with the main character's importance comnig from a baseball cap. It had many elements from classic horror b-movies, giving it a certain charm. It had plenty of funny jokes, though some of the pop-culture references are dated (being 14 years old). And it had the obligatory lesson at the end if you're like me and find those things amusing.
My only real gripe with the series is its ending, which essentially restarted the whole series without really resolving the main conflict.
And all this enjoyment out of a series based around a toy! The main character was a smart-mouthed 12-year-old who ran around the world through portals created by his cap with a talking chicken (Fowl, actually) and a Conan wannabe fighting a guy called Skullmaster. You don't expect such a silly-sounding show to be entertaining a decade and a half later, but it truly does.
So now that I've poured my guts about my rediscovered love for this cartoon, what cartoons do you feel have aged surprisingly well?
Take Mighty Max. I used to enjoy this show a decade ago whenever I had the chance to catch it on tv. I recently was able to rewatch the whole series, and I was mildly surprised at its quality. Having not seen it in ages, I had forgotten the vast majority of it, so each episode was nearly brand new to me. I enjoyed almost every moment of it.
For one thing, it had plenty of mythological references, something I always like. Norman was supposedly the base for a bunch of mythological heroes over time (Hercules, Thor). Skullmaster and Virgil are both from the mythological continent of Lemuria. One particular episode has Max join forces with classic heroes from all over the world (Beowulf, the Monkey King and two others I;ve never heard of).
The level of nearly adult content was surprising. There were various (offscreen) deaths throughout the series. One episode had a person lose his hand (with a bloodcurdlnig scream). Some things said in it wouldn't get by today's censors ("I will kill you Norman! And then I'll eat your heart!")
It was of course campy, what with the main character's importance comnig from a baseball cap. It had many elements from classic horror b-movies, giving it a certain charm. It had plenty of funny jokes, though some of the pop-culture references are dated (being 14 years old). And it had the obligatory lesson at the end if you're like me and find those things amusing.
My only real gripe with the series is its ending, which essentially restarted the whole series without really resolving the main conflict.
And all this enjoyment out of a series based around a toy! The main character was a smart-mouthed 12-year-old who ran around the world through portals created by his cap with a talking chicken (Fowl, actually) and a Conan wannabe fighting a guy called Skullmaster. You don't expect such a silly-sounding show to be entertaining a decade and a half later, but it truly does.
So now that I've poured my guts about my rediscovered love for this cartoon, what cartoons do you feel have aged surprisingly well?