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Whenever I talk to friends the same age as I am, almost 30 years old, I realize the deep imprinting the 80s cartoons left in ourselves. Which cartoons were those that left such a profound mark in my generation?
Dungeons & Dragons
Probably one of the most interesting cartoons from the 80s, Dungeons & Dragons premiered in 1983, and the main reason why it was created was to promote the homonymous Role Playing Game System.
It had something very unusual for the time; emotional appeal. Often characters had personal problems and dilemmas that took them to tears or lack of hope. Despite most of the episodes hadn't much connection between themselves, the growth of the characters in noticeable.
Venger is one of the scariest cartoon villains ever created.
Although its success, the cartoon series had only 27 episodes, and the 28th and last one named “Requiem”, had only a radio version. The script is available in the author's WEBSITE.
Flintstones & Jetsons
Another Hanna Barbera's successes, both series had very similar drawing and characters, despite the fact that they were in two different extremes of human history.
Actually, despite the overall ugliness of these cartoons, together they had a lesson. History changes, technology evolves and things may look easier, but in the end, we are all humans and the conflicts are basically the same no matter if you are in 10000 after or before Christ.
The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that the Jetsons were all thin. How as that possible? Machines did all the physical work for them, and all they had to do was press buttons. George had never to stand up from his chair because Rose - the robotic Maid - would bring him anything he wanted. How could he not get fat?
Superfriends
The Grandpa of “Justice League: Unlimited” wasn't born in the 80s. In fact, this cartoon first aired in 1973 and kept going until 1985.
Considering the fact that the original cartoon is from the 70s, it was not so poorly done. However, there was something that always caught my attention: Wonder Woman never had the hair in the same size between scenes. Recently, Cartoon Network re-broadcasted it, and I had great laughs noticing Wonder Woman's hair flexibility.
Well… and there were also the twins, Zan and Jayna, and their monkey Gleek. Zan's power was the funniest one in the entire League. He could turn into anything as long as it was made from water or ice. I fondly remember the following absurds: ice catapult, ice fan and ice sword. And of course, everything he turned to had his small little talking face, which was very funny when he turned into a bucket of water or a sea wave.
The villains were the best.
The villains had the most interesting powers, and yet, they were so fundamentally moronic that it was impossible for them to beat the Justice League. They made the most possible stupid uses of their power. Once, I remember Sinestro locking the Justice League in a giant egg box; can you image having the power to materialize absolutely anything you want, and yet, all you can think is to lock the enemies in an egg box? Come on…
Red Photonzillion
Zillion first aired in Japan in 1987, with the main purpose of promoting the Master System game with the same name.
It only had 31 episodes, which were even more emotional than Dungeons & Dragons. The main character spends part of the series acknowledged as dead. I remember it had been quite thrilling when he appeared again and told that he had just gone missing.
The main reason why I brought this cartoon to this list is to remember the toys. There were these cool Light Phasers replicas - Light Phasers were the alien pistols the characters used in the series. The Light Phasers came with a photo-receptor shield that made noise if the laser from the Light Phaser hit it. It was awesome from a bunch of kids if they had 4 or 5 of these toys. It meant shooting on each other all afternoon.
Well… I hope you enjoyed this article series. If you didn't visit the other cartoon articles yet, please use the links in the top of this one.
