Were the 80s a low point for Animation?

[Warrior Kitana]

I know that several members here dislike most animation of the 1980s. While the animation wasn't as smoothly done, there are some cartoons that are considered classic today such as, The Smurfs, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jem, etc. Granted they did have some good saturday morning shows as well. Disney by most, was considered a wasteland. Many Disney movies during the 80s were considered mediocre and at best forgetable. Despite the negative things that have been said, overall I do have rather fond memories of most 80s cartoons when I was a child. So I ask, do many of you consider the 1980s a low point for Animation.

[Michael24]

I certainly don't. I'd say that at least 75% of the cartoons I like are '80s toons.

[Steve Carras]

ALL of them were bad except Bugs and the JETSOSN revival and even then the 1962 one was the best.

(And John K's MIGHTY MOUSE, most of episodes were good.)


But TINY TOOSN,SIMPSONS,CARBEARS,SMURFS? Just for kids, dude, just for kids.

Now if only Hanna-Barbera would reform and do a Gwen Stefnai or JLo toon,...

[Mandi-chan]

A lot of Disney 80's movies I loved!

I wish they'd show that Jem series on repeats, it looks interesting...

[Zero-V]

ALL of them were bad

That's bull.

Ok, I think it's pretty much understood that I am SICK to DEATH of people bashing the 80's here, If people are now being asked to tone down on bashing The Batman, I think WE'RE entitled to some compensation. BACK OFF the 80's cartoons.

I look at the 80's in the same way I do ECW: They did'nt have the best animation, yeah, they had bad eggs every now and then, but they hid it with the majority of good series and episodes thet produced, anyone who can't see that is just being a flipping narrow-minded cynic. What age are some of you? Every time someone brings up the 80's, you callously bash it like you're five years old

Newsflash, most people would rather give their left testicle to watch the original TMNT than freaking KRYPTO, and that BURNS you does'nt it?

[Leviathan]

Acutally, The 1980's wasn't nearly as bad as the 1970's (The Dark Ages). The 80's was mostly a transitional period which led to a Renaissance of animation and untimately, the Silver Age that's sitll with us.

[Zero-V]

Acutally, The 1980's wasn't nearly as bad as the 1970's (The Dark Ages). The 80's was mostly a transitional period to the current Silver Age.

The 80's were the silver age, what we have now does'nt compare, you get the occasional moments of greatness such as the DCAU arguably, JCA, Ninja Turtles, He-Man, Kim Possible, Fimlore, movies like "Shrek" and, despite my own views on it, cirtical succeses like The Incredibles, (notice how most of these are remakes?) , but then you have the festering pile of crap that actually OUTWEGHTS it like Atomic Betty, 4kids' butchered animes, overated animes, more anime, even MORE anime.....

Oh, and to the person who thought "TIny "Toosn" was an 80's cartoon, you don't know a damn thing, that were more or less produced in the 90's, (Simpsons'' shorts in the 80's were childish)

And of COURSE the 80's cartoons were for children, the cartoons you're wtaching now are also FOR CHILDREN, but unlike the 70's, the 80's not only began opened (or reopened if you count some of the early 50's) the path of more serious mature storylines that would shape what we have now, yes, even in toy commercials, you had "The Problem With Power", and "Splinter No More", and "Dark Awakening", the 80's launced the career of Paul Dini whilst working on He-Man, the 80s' cartoons produced the most commercially succesful toylines ever, Transformers, and Ninja Turtles, and both series were FAR-ABOVE Turbo Teen and Go Bots that some of you narrow-minded twits like to catergorise in just to smegging look big "woah, how mature I am, I'm joining the Toonzone bandwagon parade of 80's bashers, WHOOPIE"

[Fone Bone]

(And John K's MIGHTY MOUSE, most of episodes were good.)

Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse is more accurate since he was the executive producer and John K left after the first season.

Do I think the eighties were a low point for animation? No honestly, I don't. I think the seventies were much worse and despite the number of toy-driven show the eighties are when we started to see the glimmer of the animation revolution of the nineties. It's hard to say a decade is bad when you get such shows as Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Chip 'N' Dale's Rescue Rangers, Garfield and Friends, and DuckTales. Even a lot of the toy driven shows were decent and despite having lackluster scripts were creative. Thundercats is an excellent example. The show may be campy and laughable now but it really was kind of a wild premise for a show. Muppet Babies was a terrific show for pre-schoolers. Pee-Wee's Playhouse although not a cartoon had some of the neatest animation on television. The Real Ghostbusters had a great first season even though it turned downhill once Dave Coulier raplaced Lorenzo Music as Venkman. Alf was actually a funny and witty adaptation of the sitcom. And while I disagree with Zero-V about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being a great show even I will acknowledge that the five part pilot was phenomenal.

In the seventies all of the shows looked exactly alike and followed the same premise. In the eighties despite censorship being stifling and cartoons being made for toys rather than art there was some genuine creativity there. Inspector Gadget didn't follow any previously established cartoon formula and didn't even really have a toy line. Not ALL shows were great though. I have a huge dislike for Transformers and the Filmation series (He-Man and She-Ra included were REALLY bad). And the less said about G.I. Joe, Cops, and The Jetsons, the better.

[Zero-V]

Not ALL shows were great though. I have a huge dislike for Transformers and the Filmation series (He-Man and She-Ra included were REALLY bad). And the less said about G.I. Joe, Cops, and The Jetsons, the better.

Err...no, the more said about those shows. The better. Bashing He-Man and She-Ra is an example of the clear cut narrow-minded arrogrance I was talking about, you're not even giving reasons, He-Man had some of the greatest episodes seen in animation, or habve you never SEEN "Teelas' Quest", "The Problem With Power" etc? No, I don't suspect you hav'nt.

A shame that threads like these are brought up, because I often feel like THROTTLING you every time you, one of the more elite Toonzone 80's bashers (when it comes to toy commercials), wander into threads like these, licking your lips, offending people who actually have an objective opinion about those series without remorse nor regret, you relish in thrashing these series every chance you get. That's quite. Quite. Sad.

But in any event, I often agree with you on the series you DO like from the 80's, so I'm not going to get into an argument with you

[TrogdorNyimbhat]

80's were the best animation years. Chip & Dale, Ducktales, TMNT... A very good change from the lifeless 70's ruined by HB's pathetic attempts to get as much money as possible from bad stories and ideas which dominated TV at that time.

[Fone Bone]

Err...no, the more said about those shows. The better. Bashing He-Man and She-Ra is an example of the clear cut narrow-minded arrogrance I was talking about, you're not even giving reasons, He-Man had some of the greatest episodes seen in animation, or habve you never SEEN "Teelas' Quest", "The Problem With Power" etc? No, I don't suspect you hav'nt.

I disagree that He-Man had some fo the greatest episodes seen in animation. I believe I've seen every episode too. It's just been awhile so my memory is faulty.Still doesn't mean I can't dislike it though. I DO remember the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special being pretty bad

A shame that threads like these are brought up, because I often feel like THROTTLING you every time you, the elite Toonzone 80's basher, wander into threads like these, licking your lips, offending people who actually have an objective opinion about those series without remorse nor regret, you relish in thrashing these series every chance you get. That's quite. Quite. Sad.

I don't think I'm an elite eighties basher. The thread asked whether or not the shows of the eighties were a low point for animation and I disagreed and gave some examples of shows that I enjoyed. There are obviously cartoons from the eighties I dislike greatly but since I DID list cartoons from the era I DID like I would hardly call myself an objective basher. I would think a better example of not being objective would be to either HATE all of the cartoons from the era or love them all. Being objective means looking at everything and deciding what does and doesn't have merit.

But in any event, I often agree with you on the series you DO like from the 80's, so I'm not going to get into an argument with you

Boy, I'd hate to see someone you WOULD like to get into an argument with! :anime:

[Sharklady]

> Acutally, The 1980's wasn't nearly as bad as the 1970's (The Dark Ages). <

I agree. The 70s produced a big portion of the most awful cartoon series *ever*, including my nominee for Worst Of All Time (I refer, of course, to ... :shudder: ... 'The Brady Kids.')

[Zero-V]

I disagree that He-Man had some fo the greatest episodes seen in animation. I believe I've seen every episode too. It's just been awhile so my memory is faulty.Still doesn't mean I can't dislike it though. I DO remember the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas special being pretty bad

I won't argue there, and I guess I can take satisfacion you're one of few people who hate He-Man, tell me when you ever saw "The Problem With Power" attempted, in any cartoon, before that in a certain decade? By thrashing He-Man, you're thrashing J.M.S, Paul Dini, Larry Ditillo, all of them excellent writers, and all of them contriubted mostly classics. So no, my opinion still stands you're being biased in picking He-Man and She-Ra apart, hell, the very reason The Real Ghostbusters' first season was excellent was because some of the same writers worked on it, and it only improved when he came back

I'd hate to see someone you WOULD like to get into an argument with! :anime:

Check the Batman Begins threads for future references

Toonzone overall, rarly gives the 80's it's due., hell they don't give ANY decade before the 90s' thier due with any hosted sites barring a few examples, it's all favouratism, and that's sad, not just for me, because I'd really like to see, instead of Home Movies super sites, and Cartoon Cartoon pits that are never updated, and dated Tiny Toons fanfiction mirrors, shrines dedicated to Ruby Spheres, shrines dedicated indeed, to Filmation, shrines dedicated to animation that mattered to the product we have today.

[Kurtman]

I don't think so,being a fan of Pirates Of Dark Water and Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers.

[Neo Yi]

80's cartoons were some of the highlights of my childhood. I mean, The Super Mario show! The Super Mario show, I cannot stress how much I'm so much in love with that show. Then there's Care Bears, Ducktales, the original TMNT, it was like a cartoon bonanza for me.
~Neo

[Rook]

> Acutally, The 1980's wasn't nearly as bad as the 1970's (The Dark Ages). <

I agree. The 70s produced a big portion of the most awful cartoon series *ever*, including my nominee for Worst Of All Time (I refer, of course, to ... :shudder: ... 'The Brady Kids.')

Also known as "Attack of the Scooby Doo Clones" era
the one this that will always pissed me off about the old hero and hanna barbara cartoons, was when they kept saying what they were about to do.

Pretty much the only thing that kept my sanity were the movies. Startrek kept my sanity while Star Wars kept my imagination - then pretty much any action film featuring Arnold Schwar...bleh, Chuck Norris and whatever Steven Speildberg was throwing out thoses years.


Hurray for the late 1980's, saved us all.

[Sailor Chibi Otaku]

But TINY TOOSN,SIMPSONS,CARBEARS,SMURFS? Just for kids, dude, just for kids.

Tiny Toons was in the 90s and lasted one year. For the record, The Smurfs first came to life in the 60s.

The Simpsons? Just for kids? You haven't watched The Simpsons, have you? I think you need to do more research on cartoons.

The ORIGINAL Carebears rock. The new, American version is.. I can't explain it. We created The Carebears and I used to watch them every moment they were on.

I find that the 80s had wicked cool cartoons. I grew up in the 80s where getting up early meant something. Same with the early 90s. Now? I always forget that favourites of mine are on early in the morning and on Saturday mornings.

[Zero-V]

Yeah, say what some will also about the later Care Bears movies, but the first was EXCELLENT, and one of the darkest feature length adventures of the franchise, they never quite went that distance with II and III, especially III in any regard.

[Sailor Chibi Otaku]

For the life of me, I ALWAYS thought Champ Bear was orange. He's/she (I only said "she" because his voice actress is Sailor Jupiter herself, Susan Roman) BLUE.

[TrogdorNyimbhat]

The Simpsons? Just for kids? You haven't watched The Simpsons, have you? I think you need to do more research on cartoons.

The early The Simpsons from the 80's were meant just for kids.