SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS 1980s

If you grew up watching cartoons in the 1980s and have an appreciation for the absurd, you will probably want to round up some friends and check out Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s.  You will very likely be stunned at what you used to watch, and you may well need some moral support when you realize how bizarre it all was.  Besides, if your pals have any sense of humor at all, you're bound to get a good laugh out of the experience.

 

This particular box set allows you to relive the glamor of finding adult live-action shows in cartoon form.  What could be edgier than having a kids' show starring Chuck Norris or Mr. T?  What could be more hilarious and adorable than an animated Ed Grimley?  Frankly, kids, A LOT.  How strange it is to go back to these shows we once considered the epitome of cool.  Mr. T and Chuck Norris both do intros to their cartoons (as in live-action spoken intros) before we launch into some intensely dramatic caper led by one of our heroes.  Mr. T is accompanied by a team of dynamic young gymnasts and Chuck is aided by karate proteges.  The attempt to make the action kid-friendly is flimsy at best, and the production values are so low that it seems as though you can actually see the camera jiggling at times.  And what can we say about Ed Grimley?  There really was no way to turn his neurotic, esoteric humor into something children could relate to.

 

The Kwicky Koala Show, The Biskitts, and Flintstone Kids are all benign enough to be enjoyed by actual modern day children, but Monchhichis (whom I once loved so much) are completely freaky.  Oh, they're still cute, but what's with the weird social order and inexplicable plot line?  I swear I looked up once and a Monchhichi's face was actually flashing in the manner of some crazy Pokemon effect.  I can't say I'm entirely surprised that these little guys dropped out of sight for a decade or two.

 

Dragon's Lair, Galtar and the Golden Lance, and Thundarr the Barbarian are all typically overcomplicated superhero cartoons that make for mindless viewing.  I suppose they were passable after school filler in their day, but they're certainly not very thrilling to revisit.  This is the case with the bulk of the collection - you're not going back to timeless favorites, you're watching something that was little more than background noise the first go-round.  As nostalgic as you may sometimes feel for your cartoon-filled youth, this collection might just make you happy to be an adult.