A Trip Down Memory Lane Part 2

90′ Cartoons

By Geeky Gem

 

Sometime ago I wrote about how much I love 1980’s cartoons, and I gave you some examples of just a few that I liked. Now I wasn’t only a child of 1980’s, I grew up in the 1990’s too, so here is a list again, in no real order, of just some of the cartoons I loved from the 1990’s. Some of these you may have heard of, some you may not.

 

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

 

Yes, it was a cartoon about killer tomatoes, so what. The cartoon takes place after the The Great Tomato War which was in the film Return of the Killer Tomatoes. However that has not stopped Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen from engaging in his experiments. Gangreen’s ultimate goal is to rule the world and he will not let anyone stop him. But his most successful experiment may very well be his undoing. Tara Boumdeay, a tomato turned human runs away from Gangreen, taking with her her ‘Brother’ the fur-covered F.T., whom she passes off as a dog. They befriend Chad Finletter (nephew of the Great Tomato War veteran, Wilbur Finletter) who, after saving the pair from a tomato attack, gets Tara a job at his uncle Wilbur’s Tomatoless Pizza Parlor. Yes it was a bit odd but it was also really funny.

 

Batman The Animated Show

 

I know I am not allowed to talk about Batman for a while, well at least until Dark Knight Rises comes out but I can have a list of 1990’s cartoons and miss out possibly my favourite one can I? Hopefully Hmsbeefnuts wont be to mad at me so I will keep this brief. As I have touched on the subject many times before, I will simply say, it is a fantastic show. The series was partially inspired by Frank Miller’s comic Batman:The Dark Knight Returns and Tim Burton’s films Batman and Batman Returns.

 Doug

  

Doug was another cartoon that didn’t end with me and my brother fighting over the remote. We loved this show, we watched it all the time. Doug centers on the surreal and imaginative exploits of its title character, Douglas “Doug” Funnie, who experiences common predicaments while attending school in his new hometown of Bluffington. Numerous episodes center around Doug’s attempts to date his classmate Patti Mayonnaise. Again this show was funny and strange.

 

Bucky O’Hare

 

In another Dimension, another Time and Space, A parallel universe was falling on its face, when out of the chaos, who else could it be Bucky Animal Adventures is on S.P.A.C.E. Bucky! Capitan Bucky O’Hare. I am afraid that’s all I can remember without the aid of the internet. Which I think sums up Bucky O’Hare nicely don’t you? Most of the ideas from the comic book were used for the cartoon, with three major differences: Bruce is transported into another dimension instead of killed, Willy can travel freely between Earth and the aniverse, and the omnipotent mouse is nowhere to be seen.

 

Rocko’s Morden Life

Rocko’s Morden Life is based around the surreal. parodic adventures of a Wallaby, Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town. Originally from Australia, the show explores his American life as well as the lives of his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Fillburt, and Rocko’s faithful dingodog, Spunky. The show is laden with adult humor, including double entendes and innuendos along with satirical social commentary. Joe Murray initially created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, who was looking for edgier cartoonists for their new Nicktoons block. It was a funny, edgy cartoon that I loved.

 

Tales from the Cryptkeeper

I liked this cartoon as it was meant to be scary, it was but I love Tales from the Crypt anyway so I loved it. It was dark and different. It was based on the live-action television show, Tales from the Crypt but as it was being directed at children, Tales From the Cryptkeeper was significantly milder than the live-action HBO version. It only ran for three seasons, but that was good enough for me.

 

Pinky and the Brain

  

Pinky and the Brain still makes me laugh out loud when I see it, and was an awesome show. The characters Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show, The Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain were spun off into their own show. Pinky and Brain are genetically enhanced laboratory mice who reside in a cage in the Acme Labsresearch Facility. Brain is self-centered where as Pinky is good-natured but feebleminded. In each episode, Brain devises a new plan to take over the world, which ultimately ends in failure, usually due to Pinky’s idiocy or the impossibility of Brain’s plan. In common with many other Animaniacs shorts, many episodes are in some way a pardoy of something else, usually a film or novel. The opening song is preceded by the following dialogue, which has to be the best two lines ever:

Pinky: “Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?”
The Brain: “The same thing we do every night, Pinky—try to take over the world!”

 

 

Gravedale High

Now this one is one I had forgotten about until now and I remember the first time I watched it thinking, what the heck is this? But it grew on me and it truly was fantastic. Gravedale High was also known as Rick Moranis in Gravedale High, yes kids thats right Rick Moranis. This show only lasted 13 episodes as do many things I like. The show was developed as an animated vehicle for Moranis, who had star appearances in the Ghostbusters etc. The show revolves around the misadventures of human teacher Max Schneider who has unwittingly taken a job at Gravedale High, a school for monsters, near the city of Midtown. Schneider, the only human in the school, presides over a group of ghoulish teenagers that are latest-generation versions of classic movie monsters (many of which had appeared in movies from Universal, coincidentally enough). It was funny as it was a high school full of monsters a bit similar to Galaxy High but that was full of aliens.

 

Rugrats

  

I have to admit I saw an episode of this the other day and it still made me giggle, a fact my boyfriend pointed out was a bit sad. However he sat there and watched it with me. I loved it, the charecters still seem like old friends. I am fully aware that in the 1990’s I became a teenager but this has never stopped me loving cartoons. The show focuses on a group of toddlers and their day-to-day lives, usually involving common life experiences that become adventures in the babies’ imaginations, which is the thing I loved most.

 

Gargoyles

 

Now for something a little dark, I am pleased to say that this was one of the few cartoons I watched with my parents as they liked it as much as I did. The series features a species of nocturnal creatures known as Gargoyles that turn to stone during the day, focusing on a clan led by Goliath. In the year 994, the clan lives in a castle in medieval Scotland alongside humans, until many of them are killed by betrayal and the remainder are magically frozen in stone until the castle “rises above the clouds.” So about a millennium later, in 1994, billionaire (the is always a billonarie) David Xanatos purchases the Gargoyles’ castle and has it reconstructed atop his New York City skyscraper, awakening the six remaining Gargoyles. In trying to adjust to their new world they are aided by a sympathetic NYPD officer, Elisha Maza, and quickly come into conflict with the plotting Xanatos. In addition to dealing with the Gargoyles’ attempts to adjust to modern New York, the series also incorporated various supernatural threats to their safety and to the world at large.

 

And once again here it ends. I hope you enjoyed this list. I am already thinking about cartoons I have liked since the turn of century, so maybe next time it will be cartoon’s from the 2000’s and on.