LOC 74- Top 50 Cartoons of the 80's

[CJones]

#33 –Dungeons and Dragons

(34 Points) 4 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #4 - CJones

I failed my saving throw to avoid making this joke.

The level of violence was controversial for American children's television at the time, and the script of one episode, "The Dragon's Graveyard", was almost shelved because the characters contemplated killing their nemesis, Venger. In 1985, the National Coalition on Television Violence demanded that the FTC run a warning during each broadcast stating that Dungeons & Dragons had been linked to real-life violent deaths. The series spawned more than 100 different licenses, and the show led its time slot for two years.

Supposedly the reason why the show was cancelled before it was completed was because some Christian Coalition jackasses complained to the network about how "evil" and "demonic" it was. Much like the same jackasses who protested Harry Potter. I know I saw an interview with the creators of the show, where they basically outright said this, but now I can't find it.

[Tripe]

Yes it's still pretty sharp as far as stories and writing go (even with the annoying '80s-obligatory cute mascot character*), I still love the little bit of music played during the fights and, you know, there was

and

*and there were arguably two of those feckers in this show.

[Johnny Unusual]

I remember thinking it was cool at the time, but I think I was too young to remember much of the writing.  There's another show that's going to be on here (it can't not be with this group) that I might have included if I saw it in the last 20 years that also had a reputation for great writing.  It's also another show that Steve Gerber worked on.  I love that guy (though, of course, he could never go quite as bizarre as his comic books, though he got pretty close with some of the Batman: TAS episodes he wrote.)

[Quantum Vagina]

I just found out I have to go meet some relatives today, so if I post today, it'll be late.

[Tripe]

Well bugger, with my love of mythology and all things French, there was a show I should have included on my list and I completely forgot about it. I really doubt it's showing up here now.

[Pak-Man]

I had something mythical and French on my list. I might be the only one, though...

[Tripe]

Is that a link I should wait to click on until I get home?

[Tripe]

Oh, ok, yeah, it's deviantart so one has to ask (plus I've seen a few of Shelia that were definitely not safe for work, in the process of finding the image I posted).

[Quantum Vagina]

#32 –Heavy Metal

(36 Points) 2 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #6 - McDonald’s

A step beyond Science Fiction

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/B_MzWF8YLhY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/B_MzWF8YLhY</a>

Release Date:  1981

Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian fantasy-animated film directed by Gerald Potterton and produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, the basis for the film. The screenplay was written by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum.
The film is an anthology of various science fiction and fantasy stories adapted from Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, it has a great deal of graphic violence, nudity and sexuality. Its production was expedited by having several animation houses working simultaneously on different segments, including CinéGroupe and Atkinson Film-Arts.

The film uses the rotoscoping technique of animation in several shots. This process consists of shooting models and actors, then tracing the shot onto film for animation purposes. The B-17 bomber was shot using a 10-foot replica, which was then animated. Additionally Taarna the Taarakian was rotoscoped, using Toronto model Carole Desbiens as a model for the animated character. The shot of the exploding house at the end of the Grimaldi sequence was originally to be rotoscoped, but as the film's release date had been moved up from October/November to August 7, 1981, a lack of time prevented this. This remains as the only non-animated sequence in the film.

The film was released on August 7, 1981. The release grossed nearly $20,000,000.
Prior to official release on VHS and Laserdisc in 1996, the film was re-released to select theaters on March 8, 1996 taking in $550,000. The subsequent home video release moved over one million units. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on February 1, 2011 as a Best Buy exclusive and it was later released everywhere on June 14, 2011.

Quantum Vagina’s take - All I remember about this was two lizards humping. From there, you’re on your own.

[Quantum Vagina]

#31 –Ranma 1/2

(36 Points) 2 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #5 - Johnny Unusual

I fell into the Spring of Drowned Sad-Sack.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mX1vLgK49p4" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/mX1vLgK49p4</a>

Release Date:  1989

Just the Plagarism
Ranma ½ (Japanese: らんま½ Hepburn: Ranma Nibun-no-Ichi?, pronounced Ranma One-Half) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from September 1987 to March 1996, and later collected into 38 tankōbon volumes. The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts. As a result of an accident during a training journey, he is cursed to become a girl when splashed with cold water, while hot water changes him back into a boy.

The manga has been adapted into two anime series produced by Kitty Films: Ranma ½ and Ranma ½ Nettōhen (らんま½ 熱闘編?), which together were broadcast on Fuji Television from 1989 to 1992. In addition, Kitty Films has developed 12 original video animations and three films. In 2011, a live-action television special was produced and aired on Nippon Television. The manga and anime series were licensed by Viz Media for English-language releases in North America. Madman Entertainment released part of the anime series and the first two movies in Australasia, before their license expired, and MVM Films released the first two movies in the United Kingdom.

An animated TV series was created by Kitty Films and aired weekly between April 15, 1989 and September 16, 1989 on Fuji TV for 18 episodes, before being canceled due to low ratings. The series was then reworked by most of the same staff, retitled Ranma ½ Nettōhen (らんま½ 熱闘編?) and launched in a different time slot, running for 143 episodes from October 20, 1989 to September 25, 1992. The anime stays true to the original manga but does diverge by keeping Ranma's sex transformation a secret to the high school students, at least throughout most of its length (in both versions, the Kuno family act as if there were two Ranmas). It also does not introduce Hikaru Gosunkugi until very late in the series, and his character is slightly altered, whereas Gosunkugi is an important rival for Akane's affections early in the manga. Instead, the anime introduces its own major recurrent character: Sasuke Sarugakure, the diminutive ninja retainer of the Kuno family. Sasuke fills a number of Gosunkugi's roles in early storylines but is a major character in his own right. The anime also alters the placement of many story arcs; one of the earliest, Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, appears in chapter 56 of the manga but does not appear until the TV series' fifth season. It also contains numerous original episodes and characters not adapted from the manga.

Quantum Vagina’s take - I LOVE Ranma ½. I only watched a bit of the anime, and it was pretty good, but I’ve read the entire series. It’s hilarious, and one of my favorite stories ever. I always find genderbending to be humorous or cute, and Ranma does a fantastic job of making it both. Watch, or, better yet, read it!

[Quantum Vagina]

#30 –Beetlejuice

(37 Points) 3 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #8 - goflyblind

I hope at least one person called him a huge star

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/EO1x632BzSQ" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/EO1x632BzSQ</a>

Release Date:  1989

Just the plagarism
Beetlejuice is an American-Canadian animated television series which ran from September 9, 1989 to October 26, 1991 on ABC and, on Fox from September 9, 1991 to December 6, 1991. Loosely based on the 1988 film of the same name, it was developed and executive-produced by the film's director, Tim Burton. The series focus on the life of goth girl Lydia Deetz and her undead friend Beetlejuice as they explore the world, called The Neitherworld, a wacky afterlife realm inhabited by monsters, ghosts, ghouls and zombies. Danny Elfman's theme for the film was arranged for the cartoon by Elfman himself.

The premise of the animated series was changed from the film to the point where one only superficially resembled the other. In the film, Beetlejuice was the antagonist of the story, called upon to "bioexorcise" Lydia's family from the Maitlands' home. In the series, Beetlejuice and Lydia are best friends. Lydia, being something of a social misfit in the living world, frequently visits him in the afterlife during her free time. The Maitlands, the central characters in the film, are not present in the series. In the film, the afterlife is portrayed as an otherworldly bureaucratic social service office, and for the series, the afterlife was changed to "The Neitherworld," an alternate reality that parodies the living world, with the fact of it being the afterlife only rarely mentioned.

For the cartoon series, many character roles from the film were reassigned to other characters. Beetlejuice plays the role of Lydia's ghostly best friend in place of the Maitlands. Lydia's father, a businessman of questionable ethics, and her mother, an eccentric, self-centered avantgarde artiste, are presented in a more domesticated fashion, more resembling the Maitlands of the film. While her parents in the film were aware of Beetlejuice's existence, they were not aware of his presence in the cartoon.

Quantum Vagina’s take - I vaguely remember watching reruns of it in my childhood. I think. I don’t quite remember. I know the intro looked VERY familiar. I’ll probably scrounge up an episode or two to watch before too long.

[Quantum Vagina]

#29 –The Fox and the Hound

(39 Points) 4 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #6 - Quantum Vagina

Friendship overcomes all, including the ability to hold back tears

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OjeRUVbLeII" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/OjeRUVbLeII</a>

Release Date:  1981

Just the plagarism
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 American animated film loosely based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name, produced by Walt Disney Productions and released in the United States on July 10, 1981. The 24th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film tells the story of two unlikely friends, a red fox named Tod and a hound dog named Copper, who struggle to preserve their friendship despite their emerging instincts and the surrounding social pressures demanding them to be adversaries.

The film is directed by Ted Berman and Richard Rich and features the voices of Kurt Russell, Mickey Rooney, Pearl Bailey, Pat Buttram, Sandy Duncan, Richard Bakalyan, Paul Winchell, Jack Albertson, Jeanette Nolan, John Fiedler, John McIntire, Keith Coogan, and Corey Feldman. At the time of release it was the most expensive animated film produced to date, costing $12 million.

Production of the film began in 1977. The film marked a turning point in the studio: Walt Disney's "Nine Old Men" did initial development of the animation, but by the end of production the younger set of Disney animators completed the production process. Wolfgang Reitherman was producer, and championed staying true to the novel, and Larry Clemmons was head of the story team. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston did much of the early development of the main characters. The newer generation of directors and animators, such as Don Bluth (who previously worked on films like Sleeping Beauty and The Sword in the Stone) and started with John Lasseter, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Tim Burton, Brad Bird and Henry Selick. would finalize the animation and complete the film's production. These animators had moved through the in-house animation training program, and would all play an important role in the Disney Renaissance of the eighties and nineties.

However, the transition between the old guard and the new resulting in arguments over how to handle the film. Reitherman has his own ideas on the designs and layouts that should be used, but the newer team backed Stevens. Animator Don Bluth declared Disney's work "stale" and walked out with eleven others to form his own studio. With 17% of the animators now gone, production on The Fox and the Hound was delayed. Bluth had animated Widow Tweed and her cow, Abigail, and his team worked on the rest of the sequence. The exodus of so many animators forced the cancellation of the film's original Christmas 1980 premiere while new artists were hired. Four years after production started the film was finished with approximately 360,000 drawings, 110,000 painted cels and 1,100 painted backgrounds making up the finished product. A total of 180 people, including 24 animators, worked on the film.

Quantum Vagina’s take - I don’t care how hard or tough you think you are, this is figuratively the most heartfelt movie in the history of anything ever, and you cried. Even if it was just the one tear going down your cheek, manly tears were shed while watching this movie. It’s something we all can relate to. It’s a damn good movie, and you cried. Unless you had your tear ducts surgically removed because your eyes were replaced with robotic ones.

[Quantum Vagina]

#28 –An American Tail

(40 Points) 4 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #5 - gojikranz

Direct from the Mouserland

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/kvZfEQ_pMdg" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/kvZfEQ_pMdg</a>

Release Date:  1986

Just the plagarism
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated adventure film directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The film tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they immigrate from Russia to the United States for freedom. However, Fievel gets lost and must find a way to reunite with his family. The film was released on November 21, 1986.

Production began in December 1984 as a collaboration between Steven Spielberg, Don Bluth, and Universal Studios, based on a concept by David Kirschner. Spielberg had asked Bluth to "make me something pretty like you did in NIMH...make it beautiful." In a 1985 interview, Spielberg described his role in the production as "first in the area of story, inventing incidents for the script, and now consists of looking, every three weeks to a month, at the storyboards that Don Bluth sends me and making my comments." Bluth later commented that "Steven has not dominated the creative growth of Tail at all. There is an equal share of both of us in the picture." Nevertheless, this was Spielberg's first animated feature, and it took some time for him to learn that adding a two minute scene would take dozens of people months of work. In 1985 he stated, "at this point, I'm enlightened, but I still can't believe it's so complicated."

During production, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Studios expected to view the dailies and approve all major work on the film, and various outside parties also requested changes here and there. This caused the production to buckle from excessive oversight, and made Bluth feel that he was losing freedom of control over the production process. As the release deadline approached, pressure grew throughout the crew and numerous problems arose, ranging from slower-than-expected cel painting in Ireland to low footage output by some animators. Also, the song writers had written the score much later than originally desired. Suddenly scenes had to be dropped to save time and money and new, shorter scenes had to created to help pick up the story points lost in the process, sometimes making the film's story line look jumbled. Notable cuts include the Mousekewitz family's journey across Europe, a scene in which the Mouskewitzes first meet Tiger and he gets stuck up in a tree, an upbeat song that Fievel was planned to sing while imprisoned in the sweatshop, and a scene which gave greater explanation of the changing of names at Ellis Island. Cuts are also responsible for the baby Yasha's apparent disappearance after the boat trip.

The film was also plagued by union difficulties. Bluth had agreed to accept $6.5 million to get the film produced (which later grew to $9 million), at a time when Disney was spending around $12 million per film. He knew it would be difficult, but felt it was worth the sacrifice to work with Spielberg on a major project. With the agreement of his employees, salaries were frozen for a year and half. Unlike the former Bluth studios, the new Sullivan Bluth studios were non-union, and when many workers attempted to withdraw from the union, it sparked a battle between Bluth and the union which continued through most of production. It was mostly this struggle that later compelled Bluth to relocate to Ireland, which he felt offered a more supportive atmosphere.

Quantum Vagina’s take - Once again, I remember seeing this as a child. I actually remember Fievel Goes West a little better, and it was pretty cool, but I remember virtually nothing about this film. Can’t go wrong with Spielberg animation, though.

[Tripe]

The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 American animated film loosely based on the Daniel P. Mannix novel of the same name.

If you love the film don't ever read that book, not kidding.

[Quantum Vagina]

#27 –Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers

(41 Points) 5 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #11 - goflyblind

Rodents to the Rescue!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hFXTa2yeYWs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/hFXTa2yeYWs</a>

Release Date:  1989

Just the plagarism
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers is an animated series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Created by Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove, it featured the established Disney characters Chip 'n' Dale in a new setting. The series premiered on the Disney Channel on March 4, 1989, after a preview episode ("Catteries Not Included") was aired on August 27, 1988. The series premiered with a two-hour movie special, Rescue Rangers: To the Rescue, which was later broken up into five parts to air as part of the weekday run. The final episode aired on November 19, 1990.

Rescue Rangers was originally conceived as the first of three new companion shows to Disney's popular DuckTales series, which had more than doubled the ratings among child audiences in its time slots after it debut in the fall of 1987. It, along with TaleSpin and a third series, Double-O Duck (which ultimately became Darkwing Duck), would round out a programming block later known as the "Disney Afternoon" along with the previously established Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears to capitalize on DuckTales' success.

When Tad Stones first came up with the idea for the Rescue Rangers series, Chip and Dale were not part of the show. In the original draft, the main character was an Indiana Jones-type mouse named Kit Colby who sported a fedora and a fluffy collared leather jacket, and the rest of the team included a chameleon, an earlier version of Gadget, and a character resembling Monterey Jack with a different name. When he proposed the show in a meeting with Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the idea was well received except for the character of Kit. At Eisner's suggestion, they replaced him with the chipmunk duo to give the show some established Disney characters to work with. By late 1987, two years before its television debut, the show was announced under its original proposed title of "Chip 'n Dale and the Rescue Rangers".

While Chip and Dale were established characters, in order to bring them into the series only their general appearance and basic personality traits were kept. Unlike their appearances in Disney shorts, in the Rescue Rangers the chipmunk duo are very verbal, with Chip voiced by Tress MacNeille and Dale voiced by Corey Burton. Audio processing was used to speed-up the voice recordings and give the voices a higher pitch, particularly Chip's. The pair were given clothes—Chip the clothing of the original concept Kit, while the goofier Dale was modeled after Magnum, P.I. with his Hawaiian shirt.

The series premiered in 1989 on the Disney Channel before moving into a regular slot in the Disney Afternoon line up the next year. On October 2, 1995, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers began reruns on the Disney Channel as part of a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late-afternoon/early-evening and which also included Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, and DuckTales.

Quantum Vagina - Once more, this has vague memories. The problem with a lot of the shows in this period was that the reruns were always on cable, and all I had was basic public television. Cable was something I got when I went to friends’ houses, and we rarely watched tv. What I remember was good, but I really can’t form an opinion on this show, and I’m taking advantage of a high mood to crank out as many list entries as I can right now, so I’m not able to watch an episode.