Blackstar
For those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, there were four things we looked forward to each week. 1) Going outside to play with our friends, 2) morning cartoons, 3) afternoon cartoons and 4) Saturday morning cartoons. It seems that somewhere over the years as Saturdays have become filled with shuttling kids off to sports games and College Football or Golf or other events to show on TV, cartoons have become less and less important. I don't have any way to watch broadcast TV, so I haven't been able to watch this change as it happened. That's why it was such a surprise to see this post by Cory Doctorow regarding the CW being the last broadcast network to do away with the Saturday morning schedule. Yes, there are still kids shows on here and there, but gone is the four or five hour block of fun that our parents probably hated to see us sitting in front of each Saturday.
Back in the day, there were so many shows that I enjoyed seeing. I didn't get a chance to watch every Saturday, but I was happy when I did get to catch an episode here and there. Yes, they were probably just there to get me to convince my parents to go and buy some toy or other but I didn't care. Nowadays, there are entire networks devoted to kids shows all day long, but back then we had morning, afternoon and Saturday morning. Plus all of the shows were "free" - at least if you didn't mind watching commercials - and you didn't need a cable subscription to watch. Here are a few of the shows and characters that I would have never known if it wasn't for networks running Saturday Morning Cartoons.
Thudarr the Barbarian - a classic of post-apocalyptic adventure where Thundarr and his friends Princess Ariel and Ookla the Mok. It is a bit cheesy and has a sort of Color-forms over a static background feel but it was awesome. Don't believe me, take a look.
Thundarr the Barbarian
Dungeons & Dragons - Anyone who was pre- or early teens in 1983 - 1985 and liked fantasy probably saw this one. A group of kids on an amusement park ride are transported into the world of Dungeons & Dragons. It was cheesy and too little kid friendly over all, but it was so cool to see D&D on TV. Here's a clip and a link to the script pdf for the unproduced final episode of the show.
Dungeons & Dragons
Super Friends - Of course Saturday morning was littered with Super Heros of all kinds. Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and untold others all had their slots in the morning lineup, but one of the best was the Super Friends. Yes, the Wonder Twins and their pet monkey were also cheesy, but I can't count how many times my wife and I have said, "Wonder Twin powers activate!". Add in Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and even Aquaman and we are going to have a good time.
Super Friends
Wonder Twin Powers Activate
There were of course many many other shows, some included the many versions of Scooby Doo, others were all new like Blackstar. You also had Bugs Bunny Show/Road Runner Show. In between cartoons we also got edu-ma-cated with probably one of the best shows ever, Schoolhouse Rock!. No matter what you think about TV rotting your brain, it didn't, it doesn't and cartoons should be part of everyone's childhood. Yes, I know that looking back they are all dated and nostalgia has elevated them to a status they might not deserve if looked at for the first time today, but they were all Awesome or Rad or Cool and no one can take that away from me.
Conjunction Junction
I'm Just A Bill
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