LOC 74- Top 50 Cartoons of the 80's

[Nunyerbiz]

I vaguely remember Danger Mouse from it's Nickelodeon run in the early/mid 80s... Primarily I remember that my dad enjoyed it more than I did and would insist on keeping it on when I was ready to channel flip... Guessing I was too young at the time to catch on to that trademark snappy British wit.

[Quantum Vagina]

Alright, here we go! I'm going to post the next 5 entries, and then in an hour or two, I'll post the Top 5! GO GO GO!

[Quantum Vagina]

#10 –Garfield and Friends

(87 Points) 6 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #4 - goflyblind

GAAAARFIELD!!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/LD_KMpBNB80" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/LD_KMpBNB80</a>

Release Date:  1988

Just the Plagarism
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Feature Syndicate and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with reruns airing until October 7, 1995. The show's seven seasons make it one of the longest running Saturday morning cartoons in history, with most lasting no more than two or three seasons.

Regular segments feature both Garfield and U.S. Acres, a lesser-known comic strip also created by Davis. The latter was retitled Orson's Farm for foreign syndication, as that was the name of the comic strip outside of the United States.

A total of 121 episodes were made, each consisting of two Garfield segments and one U.S. Acres segment, totalling 242 Garfield segments and 121 U.S. Acres segments. All episodes have been released in the U.S. on five DVD sets by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The first season aired in a half-hour format. In the second season, it switched to an hour-length format, showing two episodes each week. However, in the show's last season, the second half-hour of the show featured either an episode from the previous season or one of Garfield's TV specials.

Episodes were filled with puns and non sequiturs, and often lapsed into complete absurdity (such as the US Acres short "Over The Rainbow", in which Roy's quest to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow leads him instead to a Let's Make A Deal-style game show complete with Rod Roddy announcing). Running gags were frequent, throughout either single shorts (such as in the Garfield short "The Creature That Lived In The Refrigerator, Behind the Mayonnaise, Next to the Ketchup and to the Left of the Cole Slaw!", in which the name of said creature is spoken repeatedly), or entire seasons (the Klopman Diamond is mentioned in many, many episodes). U.S. Acres characters would frequently make unexplained cameo appearances in Garfield shorts, and vice-versa. For example, the "Giant Radioactive Mutant Guppies" that Garfield and Nermal flushed down the sewer resurfaced in the U.S. Acres quickie that immediately followed, and then one asks the others if they could maybe get on the Muppet Babies, which at that time preceded Garfield and Friends on the CBS Saturday Morning lineup. There was even some mild satire, particularly in the form of the "Buddy Bears", which spoofed such saccharine cartoons as The Get-Along Gang and Smurfs.

The seventh season (1994–1995) was the last one because CBS wanted to cut the budget (and in fact, CBS's Saturday morning cartoon lineup would be mostly replaced by CBS News Saturday Morning two years later, which eventually evolved into the Saturday edition of The Early Show). The production company nixed this proposal, so they mutually agreed to cease production, even though Garfield and Friends had still been doing very well in the ratings.

Quantum Vagina’s take - Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh… really? THIS is what you guys put at #10? I mean, I suppose I should be thankful it isn’t higher, but come ON, REALLY?

[Quantum Vagina]

#9 –Grave of Fireflies

(91 Points) 4 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - Tripe H Redux, Charles Hussein Castle

It’s not anti-war, I swear!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hxv9ghINEhs" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/hxv9ghINEhs</a>

Release Date:  1988

Just the Plagarism
Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓 Hotaru no haka?) is a 1988 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata and animated by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka. It is commonly considered an anti-war film, but this interpretation has been challenged by some critics and by the director. The film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara and Akemi Yamaguchi. Predominantly set in Japan during World War II, the film tells the story of Seita, a young boy who has to take care of his younger sister Setsuko when their mother dies.

Grave of the Fireflies received positive reviews from film critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times considered it to be one of the best and most powerful war films and, in 2000, included it on his "Great Movies" list. Two live-action remakes of Grave of the Fireflies were made, one in 2005 and one in 2008.

Grave of the Fireflies author Akiyuki Nosaka said that many offers had been made to create a film version of Grave of the Fireflies. Nosaka argued that "t was impossible to create the barren, scorched earth that's to be the backdrop of the story." He also argued that contemporary children would not be able to convincingly play the characters. Nosaka expressed surprise when an animated version was offered. After seeing the storyboards, Nosaka concluded that it was not possible for such a story to have been made in any method other than animation and expressed surprise in how accurately the rice paddies and townscape were depicted.

Isao Takahata said that he was compelled to film the novel after seeing how the main character, Seita, "was a unique wartime ninth grader." Takahata explained that any wartime story, whether animated or not animated, "tends to be moving and tear-jerking," and that young people develop an "inferiority complex" where they perceive people in wartime eras as being more noble and more able than they are, and therefore the audience believes that the story has nothing to do with them. Takahata argued that he wanted to dispel this mindset. When Nosaka asked if the film characters were "having fun," Takahata answered that he clearly depicted Seita and Setsuko had "substantial" days and that they were "enjoying their days." Takahata said that Setsuko was even more difficult to animate than Seita, and that he had never before depicted a girl younger than five. Takahata said that "n that respect, when you make the book into a movie, Setsuko becomes a tangible person," and said that four-year olds often become more assertive, self-centered, and try to get their own ways during their ages, and he explained that while one could "have a scene where Seita can't stand that anymore," "that's difficult to incorporate into a story." Takahata explained that the film is from Seita's point of view, "and even objective passages are filtered through his feelings."

Some critics have viewed Grave of the Fireflies as an anti-war film due to the graphic and emotional depiction of the pernicious repercussions of war on a society, and the individuals therein. The film focuses its attention almost entirely on the personal tragedies that war gives rise to, rather than seeking to glamorize it as a heroic struggle between competing ideologies. It emphasizes that war is society's failure to perform its most important duty to protect its own people. However, director Takahata repeatedly denied that the film was an anti-war anime. In his own words, "[The film] is not at all an anti-war anime and contains absolutely no such message." Instead, Takahata had intended to convey an image of the brother and sister living a failed life due to isolation from society and invoke sympathy particularly in people in their teens and twenties, whom he felt needed to straighten up and respect their elders for the pain and suffering they had experienced during arguably the darkest point in Japan's history.

Quantum Vagina’s take - Never saw this one, so I have no idea what to think. I know several people who’ve watched it, said it was awesome, and that I should watch it, so I might like it. It’s one of those films that’s been on my “To Watch” list forever, and unless things change, probably will be.

[Quantum Vagina]

#8 –The Secret of NIMH

(95 Points) 6 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #4 - ColeStratton, Rainbow Dash

Rats are industrious little buggers, aren’t they?

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

Release Date:  1982

Just the Plagarism
he Secret of NIMH is a 1982 American animated adventure fantasy drama film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 children's novel Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. The film was produced by Aurora Pictures and released by United Artists. The film features the voices of Elizabeth Hartman, Dom DeLuise, Arthur Malet, Derek Jacobi, Hermione Baddeley, John Carradine, Peter Strauss, and Paul Shenar. The "Mrs. Frisby" name in the novel had to be changed to "Mrs. Brisby" during production due to trademark concerns with Frisbee discs. Released to wide critical acclaim, the film was a moderate commercial success. It was followed in 1998 by a direct-to-video sequel called The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, which was made without Bluth's input or consent.

Mrs. Brisby, a shy and timid field mouse, lives in a cinder block with her children in a field on the Fitzgibbons' farm. She prepares to move her family out of the field as plowing time approaches, but her son Timothy has fallen ill. She visits Mr. Ages, another mouse and old friend of her late husband, Jonathan, who diagnoses Timothy with pneumonia and provides her with medicine. Mr. Ages warns her that Timothy must stay inside for at least three weeks or he will die. On her way home she encounters Jeremy, a clumsy but compassionate crow. They both narrowly escape from the Fitzgibbons' cat, Dragon, who is the one who had killed and eaten Jonathan.

The Secret of NIMH was the first feature film to be directed by Don Bluth. In September 1979 he, fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and eight other animation staff left Walt Disney Productions animation department to set up their own independent studio, Don Bluth Productions. The studio worked, at first, out of Bluth's house and garage, but moved to a two-story, 5,500-square-foot (510 m2) facility in Studio City several months later. After completing work on several shorter projects, including a two-minute animated sequence for the film Xanadu, the studio forged a deal with Aurora Productions, a film-making partnership established by former Disney executives.

The rights to the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH had reportedly been offered to Disney in 1972 but turned down. At Bluth, Goldman and Pomeroy's request, Aurora Productions acquired the film rights, and offered Don Bluth Productions a budget of US$ 5.7 million and 30 months to complete the film, tighter in both budget and schedule than most Disney animated features at the time. The studio set out with the explicit goal in mind of returning feature animation to its “golden era”, concentrating on strong characters and story, and experimenting with unusual and often more labor-intensive animation techniques. Bluth believed older techniques were being abandoned in favor of lower production costs, and the only way animation could survive was to continue traditional production methods. Among the techniques experimented with on The Secret of NIMH were rotoscoping, multiple passes on the camera to achieve transparent shadows, and backlit animation (where animated mattes are shot with light shining through color gels to produce glowing areas for artificial light and fire effects), multiple color palettes for characters to fit in different lighting situations, from daylight, to night, to warm environments to underwater. Mrs Brisby had 46 different lighting situations, therefore there were 46 different color palettes, or lists of color, for her. Two modern, computerized versions of the multiplane camera were also manufactured for this production.

To achieve the film's detailed full animation while keeping to the tight budget, the studio strove to keep any waste of time and resources to a minimum. The crew often worked long hours with no immediate financial reward (though they were offered a cut of the film's profits, a practice common for producers, directors and stars of live action films but never before offered to artists on an animated feature); producer Gary Goldman recalled working 110 hour weeks during the final six months of production. Around 100 in-house staff worked on the film, with the labor-intensive cel painting farmed out to 45 people working from home. Many minor roles, including incidental and crowd voice work, were filled in by the in-house staff. The final cost of the film was US$ 6.385M. The producers, Bluth, Goldman, Pomeroy and the executive producers at Aurora mortgaged their homes collectively for $700,000 to complete the film, with an agreement that their investment would be the first money to be repaid.

During the film's production, Aurora contacted Wham-O, the manufacturers of Frisbee flying discs, with concerns about possible trademark infringements if the "Mrs. Frisby" name in O'Brien's original book was used in the movie. Wham-O rejected Aurora's request for waiver to use the same-sounding name to their "Frisbee", in the movie. Aurora informed Bluth & company that Mrs. Frisby's name would have to be altered. By then, the voice work had already been recorded for the film, so the name change to "Mrs. Brisby" necessitated a combination of re-recording some lines and, because John Carradine was unavailable for further recordings, careful sound editing had to be performed, taking the "B" sound of another word from Carradine's recorded lines, and replace the "F" sound with the "B" sound, altering the name from "Frisby" to "Brisby".

Quantum Vagina’s take - I really love this movie. Mrs. Brisby is adorable, and a wonderful character, with tons of depth and complexity. And really, all of the other characters are, as well. I never knew Wil Wheaton was in it, either, which makes the movie even more awesome. Dom DeLuise is, as always awesome. If I have one issue with the movie, it’s that I wish it was longer. 82 minutes isn’t enough time for that much awesome.

[Quantum Vagina]

#7 –Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

(98 Points) 7 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #5 - Pak-Man

Heroes in a Half-Shell

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/q6jQIul9x8w" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/q6jQIul9x8w</a>

Release Date:  1987

Just the Plagarism
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe due to controversy at the time) is an American animated television series produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson. The pilot was shown during the week of December 14, 1987 in syndication as a five-part miniseries and began its official run on October 1, 1988. The series featured the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created in comic book form by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The property was changed considerably from the darker-toned comic, to make it more suitable for children and the family.

The initial motivation behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was that, upon being approached to create a toy line, Playmates Toys was uneasy with the comic book characters' small cult following. They requested that a television deal be acquired first, and after the initial five-episode series debuted, the California toy company released their first series of Ninja Turtles action figures in the summer of 1988. The two media would correspond in marketing style and popularity for many years to come.

David Wise and Patti Howeth wrote the screenplay for the first five-part miniseries. When the series continued in the second season, comic artist Jack Mendelsohn joined the show as the executive story editor. Wise went on to write over seventy episodes of the series, and was executive story editor for four later seasons as well. Wise left the series partway through the ninth season, and Jeffrey Scott took over as the story editor and chief writer for the rest of the show's run.
The show was in Saturday morning syndication from October 1, 1988 to September 9, 1989. After it became an instant hit, the show was expanded to five days a week and aired weekday afternoons in syndication in most markets, from September 25, 1989 to September 17, 1993.[2] Starting on September 8, 1990 (with a different opening sequence), the show began its secondary run on CBS's Saturday morning lineup, beginning as a 60-minute block from 1990 to 1993, initially airing a couple of Saturday exclusive episodes back to back. There would also be a brief "Turtle Tips" segment in between the two episodes which served as PSA about the environment or other issues. There were a total of 20 "Turtle Tips" segments produced and aired. Beginning in 1994, the show began airing as a 30-minute block until the series ended. The series ran until November 2, 1996, when it aired its final episode.

The show helped launch the characters into mainstream popularity and became one of the most popular animated series in television history. Breakfast cereal, plush toys, and all manner of products featuring the characters appeared on the market during the late 1980s and early 1990s A successful Archie Comics comic book based on the animated show instead of the original black-and-white comics was published throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. Action figures were top-sellers around the world. In 1990, the cartoon series was being shown daily on more than 125 television stations, and the comic books sold 125,000 copies a month.

IGN named TMNT as the 55th best show in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows. While the story diverged heavily from the original conception of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with the universe of the original Mirage comics, the 1987 television series is largely the most notable and popular incarnation and drove the franchise to the phenomenal status it would achieve in pop culture. Retroactively, the cross-over film Turtles Forever established a common multiverse continuity between all Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles variations that existed at the time of the 25th anniversary of the original Mirage comicbooks, primarily focusing on this series, and those of the 2003 animated series. Therefore, while not part of the original canon of the Mirage Turtles, the series can be considered part of the wider official turtles canon. At the time, the series was criticised for its commercialism and violent content.

Quantum Vagina’s take - Who’d have thought such a weird thing could be so popular? TMNT, which is incredibly awesome, has been a long-running franchise, and has been a huge part of tons of peoples’ childhoods, mine included. I remember my MOTHER had a set of figures in the basement that I wasn’t allowed to touch or play with, or open the packages, even.

[Quantum Vagina]

#6 –Inspector Gadget

(99 Points) 7 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #2 - gojikranz

Wowsers!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/71LZhzHgua8" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/71LZhzHgua8</a>

Release Date:  1983

Just the Plagarism
Inspector Gadget is an animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, dim-witted cyborg detective named lnspector Gadget – a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's arch-nemesis is Dr. Claw, the leader of an evil organization, known as "M.A.D."

This is the first syndicated cartoon show from DIC Entertainment (as well as the first from the company to be created specifically for US viewers, along with The Littles). lt originally ran from 1983 to 1986 and remained in syndication into the late 1990s. It continues to air successfully in reruns around the world.

The series was produced by companies in France, Canada, the United States, Taiwan, and Japan. It was a co-production between DIC Entertainment in France (the main headquarters did not move to the US untiI 1987) and Nelvana in Canada; the animation work was outsourced to foreign studios such as Tokyo Movie Shinsha in Japan and Cuckoo's Nest Studio in Taiwan. It was the first animated television series to be presented in stereo.

Inspector Gadget is a famous cyborg policeman with a seemingly endless amount of gadgets he can summon by saying "Go-Go-Gadget" then the gadget's name. The word "Gadget" is actually part of the name, as hinted at in some episodes. Although he has all this equipment, Gadget is ultimately incompetent and clueless (in a manner similar to the Inspector Clouseau character of the Pink Panther series), and overcomes obstacles and survives perilous situations by sheer good luck, with help from his faithful niece Penny and intelligent dog Brain who both must secretly help him solve each case. Even his gadgets often malfunction, which Gadget often deals with by exclaiming that he needs to get them fixed.

Almost every episode of the first season follows a detailed and set formula, with little variation (though many of these elements were tinkered with in season 2). Gadget, Penny, and Brain will usually be doing something together when Chief Quimby calls the top-secret Gadgetphone (a telephone built into one of Gadget's hands). Usually, the call consists of Gadget saying, "Is that you, Chief? You're where? Right away, Chief." Gadget then tracks down Quimby, who is either disguised or hiding, and receives a brief message about the latest caper by Dr. Claw and M.A.D, along with his assigned task aimed at stopping it. Each of these messages self-destructs after reading (a nod to Mission: Impossible), a fact which Gadget always ignores as he crumples the messages up and tosses them away, inevitably getting them somewhere near Quimby where they explode in his face.

The episode then usually takes Gadget to some exotic locale and somehow Penny and Brain find a way to accompany him. Brain keeps Gadget out of trouble from M.A.D. agents (who Gadget usually mistakes for friendly locals; ironically, Gadget often mistakes Brain in disguise for a MAD agent), while Penny solves the case. With the help of Penny and Brain, Gadget inadvertently saves the day, Dr. Claw escapes, and Chief Quimby arrives to congratulate Gadget on a job well done.

Each episode ends (as many cartoons did in the 1980s) with Gadget (and usually Penny and Brain also) giving a public service announcement - in direct contrast with his dangerous job and risk-taking behavior in the show, with most of the tips having a connection with problems Gadget had experienced during the episode. For example in one episode, Gadget tries to hitchhike saying he hopes the approaching motorist doesn't mind him doing so, with the ending PSA making very clear how dangerous hitchhiking can be.

Like many animated television series, Inspector Gadget contains a few running gags – events that occur in almost every episode. At the start of each episode, Chief Quimby stealthily presents Inspector Gadget with a note containing his next mission, the final line of each stating that, "This message will self destruct." (similar to mission briefings in the Mission: Impossible series). As Gadget casually tosses the note away it explodes, leaving Chief Quimby the only one injured. As the series evolves, Quimby, knowing what will be coming next, often attempts to protect himself as he sees the note being tossed, always to no avail.

Another gag involves the inspector's built-in gadgets. While usually faithful in responding to his commands under normal circumstances, often while in desperate need for a specific tool (for instance, something to slow his descent or brace from impact after falling from a building), a different, often useless tool such as a flower will appear from his hat instead. This misfortune is overcome by luck or Brain's quick thinking, saving him from injury. When such glitches occur, Gadget often remarks that he needs to get them fixed.

Yet another gag is how Gadget often mistakes Brain for a MAD Agent, yet ironically often sees the real MAD Agents as friendly locals and Gadget naively trust them without having any suspicion of being MAD Agents.
Quantum Vagina’s take - I completely forgot this series existed, and I have no idea why. I do remember it being friggin’ awesome. I loved watching it when I could, and it was one of the things that made it worth going over to my annoying relatives’ house for. I also remember being really excited for the Matthew Broderick movie, not for the movie itself, which I don’t remember at all, but for the AWESOME McDonald’s toys that came with it. Not technically related, but still awesome.

[Pak-Man]

I contributed to Garfield's success, and I regret nothing. It was the '80s, his comic was still consistently funny, and until the cartoon came out all we had were the 30 minute specials. Suddenly, it was like getting a special every day! Plus it was a great way to kill time between Captain N and The Real Ghostbusters. :^) Never cared much for the US Acres bits, but after a few seasons, it got kind of self-aware, like the writers knew the kids were just tuning in for Garfield.

[Rainbow Dash]

Quantum Vagina’s take - Never saw this one, so I have no idea what to think. I know several people who’ve watched it, said it was awesome, and that I should watch it, so I might like it. It’s one of those films that’s been on my “To Watch” list forever, and unless things change, probably will be.

No one has ever seen this movie twice.

[Quantum Vagina]

Before I post the Top 5, I want to thank everyone for putting up with my haphazard posting schedule. My head's been playing a TON of nasty tricks on me lately, and while it really was a blast to post this list, I don't think I'll be volunteering for the job again, or at least not for a while. Also, don't forget to give me list suggestions for the next LoC, so I can put that poll up and get you guys voting!

Now, without further ado, let's finish off the list!

[Quantum Vagina]

#5 –Muppet Babies

(106 Points) 8 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - goflyblind

Because puppets had childhoods, too, dammit!

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

Release Date:  1984

Just the Plagarism
Muppet Babies (also known as Jim Henson's Muppet Babies) is an American animated television series that aired from September 15, 1984 to November 2, 1991 on CBS. The show portrays childhood versions of the Muppets living together in a large nursery in the care of a human woman called Nanny (the whereabouts of their parents are never addressed). Nanny appears in almost every episode, but her face is never shown, only the babies' view of her pink skirt and purple sweater as well as her distinctive green and white striped socks. The idea of presenting the Muppets as children first appeared in a dream sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan, released two months before Muppet Babies debuted, in which Miss Piggy imagined what it would be like if she and Kermit the Frog grew up together.

Muppet Babies was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Marvel Productions. The rights are now held by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Although the episodes were 30 minutes (including commercials), it was typically shown in 60 and even 90 minute blocks during the peak of its popularity. Outside of the United States, the show was distributed by Walt Disney Television.

The Muppet Babies live in a large nursery watched over by Nanny, the only human character in the show that appears on a regular basis. The babies have hyperactive imaginations and often embark on adventures into imaginary worlds and perilous situations from which they are eventually returned to reality by some external event, such as Nanny coming to see what the noise was. They are constantly finding creative ways to entertain themselves and learn to work together to solve problems and survive their wild-imagined adventures.

Each episode included a single storyline. Usually the babies were confronted with a childlike problem, such as fear of the dentist, or a question, such as 'where do muffins come from?' Other times, they were simply finding ways to amuse themselves with old toys or video tape equipment. The babies would then enter into their imaginations, transforming their toys into everything from time machines to pirate ships. Nearly every episode contained one song, and occasionally more than one. After the credits, the episodes would end with Animal shouting out his catchphrase 'Go bye-bye!' usually while Gonzo blasted off into the sky due to some accident he or Animal had caused. When the show aired in its 60 or 90 minute blocks however, Gonzo would instead end the first episode saying "Don't go away, we'll be right back."

Although the program was a cartoon, live-action film sequences were added in unusual moments. When the babies opened a door, box or book, they were often confronted with anything from a speeding train to a space ship. Foreign landscapes in their imagination were usually photos or bits of stock footage which the babies would walk across, interacting indirectly with the film's actors. Though much of the live-action came from stock footage and old black-and-white horror/monster films, more recent films such as Star Wars, Ghostbusters, and Indiana Jones were also played and parodied.

The show was drawn from the babies’ point of view, meaning the babies were always looking up to view the world. Objects like couches and doors were far larger than normal and more momentous obstacles for the babies. As a result of the upward view, the faces of adult characters were never shown. Nanny was only ever seen from the shoulders down as were the adults in the babies’ fantasies. Exceptions were made for Uncle Statler and Uncle Waldorf and a few ‘Muppet style’ adults in the fantasy worlds.

Muppet Babies entered local syndication in 1989, through Hasbro's television distribution unit Claster Television, Inc.. The series ran on local stations until 1992, often on affiliates of the new Fox Network. Syndication rights were sold to Nickelodeon/Nick Jr. (1992–1998), Cartoon Network (1994-1999) and Odyssey Network (1999–2000) in the US with only 96 episodes in regular rotation. In the United Kingdom, it aired in reruns on Playhouse Disney UK, Disney Channel UK, Toon Disney UK, Disney Cinemagic and Nickelodeon UK with all 107 episodes in regular rotation. In the UK, it is best known from its first run on UK TV on BBC 1 on Saturday mornings during Going Live! at 8:15am. The show also aired on Network Ten in Australia. Muppet Babies has been off the air since 2000. In reruns on Nickelodeon and Odyssey Network, the intro was truncated and the 1984 closing was replaced with the 1985 closing.

Quantum Vagina’s take - I feel like I’ve seen this before, but younger me didn’t like it. In all fairness, I wasn’t really into the Muppets until I got older, when I could appreciate how awesome they were. It also doesn’t help that I keep getting it mixed up in my head with that show where the Looney Toons were babies, and so I don’t know which one I actually enjoyed.

[Quantum Vagina]

#4 –The Simpsons

(121 Points) 6 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - ColeStratton

D’oh!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/DX1iplQQJTo</a>

Release Date:  1989

Just the Plagarism
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).

Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 530 episodes and the twenty-fourth season ended on May 19, 2013. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million.

The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time. Time magazine's December 31, 1999, issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 27 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Homer's exclamatory catchphrase "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

The Simpson family first appeared as shorts in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. Groening submitted only basic sketches to the animators and assumed that the figures would be cleaned up in production. However, the animators merely re-traced his drawings, which led to the crude appearance of the characters in the initial shorts. The animation was produced domestically at Klasky Csupo, with Wes Archer, David Silverman, and Bill Kopp being animators for the first season. Colorist Gyorgyi Peluce was the person who decided to make the characters yellow.

In 1989, a team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included the Klasky Csupo animation house. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content. Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching. The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989, with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a Christmas special. "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems. In 1992, Tracey Ullman filed a lawsuit against Fox, claiming that her show was the source of the series' success. The suit said she should receive a share of the profits of The Simpsons—a claim rejected by the courts.

On February 9, 1997, The Simpsons surpassed The Flintstones with the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" as the longest-running prime-time animated series in the United States. In 2004, The Simpsons replaced The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952 to 1966) as the longest-running sitcom (animated or live action) in the United States. In 2009, The Simpsons surpassed The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet's record of 435 episodes and is now recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's longest running sitcom (in terms of episode count). In October 2004, Scooby-Doo briefly overtook The Simpsons as the American animated show with the highest number of episodes. However, network executives in April 2005 again cancelled Scooby-Doo, which finished with 371 episodes, and The Simpsons reclaimed the title with 378 episodes at the end of their seventeenth season. In May 2007, The Simpsons reached their 400th episode at the end of the eighteenth season. While The Simpsons has the record for the number of episodes by an American animated show, other animated series have surpassed The Simpsons. For example, the Japanese anime series Sazae-san has over 6,000 episodes to its credit.

In 2009, Fox began a year-long celebration of the show titled "Best. 20 Years. Ever." to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the premiere of The Simpsons. One of the first parts of the celebration is the "Unleash Your Yellow" contest in which entrants must design a poster for the show. The celebration ended on January 10, 2010 (almost 20 years after "Bart the Genius" aired on January 14, 1990), with The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice!, a documentary special by documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock that examines the "cultural phenomenon of The Simpsons".

As of the twenty-first season (2009–2010), The Simpsons became the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series, having surpassed Gunsmoke. However, Gunsmoke's episode count of 635 episodes far surpasses The Simpsons, which would not reach that mark until its approximate 29th season, under normal programming schedules. In October 2011, Fox announced that The Simpsons had been renewed for a 24th and 25th season, which means the show will reach at least 559 episodes.

Quantum Vagina’s take - Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only one who thinks The Simpsons still has gas in the tank. Going back and watching old episodes of it, they’re good, but I don’t think that they’re the revolutionary, immaculate pieces of art die-hard fans would have you believe. I think Homer and Co. still have quite a bit going for them. I think the characters are all wonderful and hilarious, like Disco Stu. I love a series that can commit to a one-off joke enough to make him a full character on the show. it’s AWESOME. I was actually REALLY upset that I couldn’t find a decent recording of the show’s intro from the earlier seasons. &*%^ people who film their TV screens. That is NOT OK.

[Quantum Vagina]

#3 –Transformers

(134 Points) 8 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - Darth Geek

More than meets the eye!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TF463RT5tWc" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/TF463RT5tWc</a>

Release Date:  1984

Just the Plagarism
The Transformers is the first animated television series in the Transformers franchise. The series depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea. The entire series was based upon the Diaclone and Microman toy lines originally created by Japanese toy manufacturer Takara, which were developed into the Transformers toy line by American company Hasbro. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons.

Due to the 1992 franchise-wide relaunch under the name Transformers: Generation 2, the original series and its toy and comic book parallels are referred to as Transformers: Generation 1, aka G1. Initially a fan-coined term, it has since made its way into official use as a retronym. Although not a completely new show, new CGI features such as bumpers, alter the appearance of the old episodes.

The Transformers toyline and cartoon/animated series was inspired by the Japanese toyline, Microman (an Eastern descendant of the 12" G.I. Joe action figure series). In 1980, the Microman spin-off, Diaclone, was released, featuring inch-tall humanoid figures able to sit in the drivers' seats of scale model vehicles, which could transform into humanoid robot bodies the drivers piloted. Later still, in 1983, a Microman sub-line, MicroChange was introduced, featuring "actual size" items that transformed into robots, such as microcassettes, guns and toy cars. Diaclone and MicroChange toys were subsequently discovered at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair by Hasbro toy company product developer Henry Orenstein, who presented the concept to Hasbro's head of R&D, George Dunsay. Enthusiastic about the product, it was decided to release toys from both Diaclone and MicroChange as one toyline for their markets, although there were eventual changes to the color schemes from the original toys to match the new series.

By 1984, U.S. regulators had removed many of the restrictions regarding the placement of promotional content within children's television programming. The way was cleared for the new product-based television program. Hasbro had previously worked with Marvel Comics to develop G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero for a three-pronged marketing scheme - the toyline, a tie-in comic book by Marvel, and an animated mini-series co-produced by Marvel's media arm, Marvel Productions, and the Griffin-Bacal Advertising Agency's Sunbow Productions animation studio. Given the success of that strategy, the process was repeated in 1984 when Hasbro marketing vice president Bob Prupis approached Marvel to develop their new robot series, which Jay Bacal dubbed "Transformers."

1986 would prove to be a big year for Transformers, with the summer release of The Transformers: The Movie. The story line is based in the year 2005 and introduces a new cast of characters that were the first to be originally created for the Transformers line, and not derived from other toylines. The new characters were the Autobots Hot Rod, Kup, Blurr, Arcee, the triplechanger Springer, Ultra Magnus, Wreck-Gar, Wheelie, and Blaster's own group of mini-cassette Autobots Steeljaw, Ramhorn, Eject and Rewind. The only new Decepticon was Ratbat, Soundwave's new minion. Other new characters were the ferocious Sharkticons who were owned by a race of evil five-faced robotic aliens called the Quintessons.

Free of the restrictions of television, the movie featured many character deaths (including Optimus Prime, Brawn, Ironhide, Ratchet, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Prowl, and Starscream), as the old guard were wiped out to make room for the next generation of toys. Megatron, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the Insecticons were remodeled into Galvatron, Cyclonus, Scourge and the Sweeps by a planet-sized Transformer known as Unicron. Megatron and Thundercracker clearly became Galvatron and Scourge, but there is debate as to who actually became Cyclonus, Bombshell or Skywarp.

Near the end of the movie, Hot Rod used the Matrix of Leadership to destroy Unicron, save Cybertron and become Rodimus Prime, the new leader of the Autobots, at least until Optimus made his surprise return at the end of the third season. The movie also introduced an adult Spike and his son Daniel.

Quantum Vagina’s take - HNNNNNNNNNNNNNG. Toys. Seriously, I don’t care at ALL that half of the cartoons in the 80’s were toy commercials. You know why? Because those toys were DAMN AWESOME. Being able to play with the toys while watching the shows? DOUBLE AWESOME. And the Transformers? They were possibly the coolest toy concept EVER. You wanna play cars? Cool, I’ll just do a quick rearrange here, and PRESTO! It’s a car. Robots? BOOM, you got it! Seriously, shut up and take my money!

[Quantum Vagina]

#2 –The Real Ghostbusters

(137 Points) 8 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - Pak-Man, gojikranz

More than meets the eye!

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

Release Date:  1986

Just the Plagarism
The Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series spun-off from the Ghostbusters franchise. The series ran from 1986 to 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. "The Real" was added to the title after a dispute with Filmation and its Ghost Busters properties. The series continues the adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, their secretary Janine Melnitz and their mascot ghost Slimer.

There also were two ongoing Real Ghostbusters comics, one published monthly by Now Comics in USA and the other published weekly (originally biweekly) by Marvel Comics in the United Kingdom, and a popular toy line manufactured by Kenner (the toyline lasted longer than the television series itself).

A short pilot episode was produced, but never aired in full. The full four-minute promo was released on Time Life's DVD set in 2008. Scenes of the pilot can be seen in TV promos that aired prior to the beginning of the series. Among differences seen in the promo pilot, the Ghostbusters wore the beige jumpsuits they had worn in the film instead of the color-coded jumpsuits they would wear in the finished series, and the character design for Peter Venkman bore more of a resemblance to actor Bill Murray than the character design seen in the finished series. When he auditioned for the voice of Egon Spengler, Maurice LaMarche noted that while he was asked not to impersonate Harold Ramis, he did so anyway and eventually got the part. LaMarche also noted that Bill Murray complained that Lorenzo Music's voice of Peter Venkman sounded more like Garfield (who was also voiced by Music at the time.) A different explanation for the change of actor for Peter Venkman came from Dave Coulier, who took over the role of Venkman from Music, who expalined that Joe Medjuck a producer on both the original 1984 film and the animated series, wanted the character to sound more like Bill Murray. Ernie Hudson was the only actor from the films who auditioned to play his character in the series; however, the role was given to Arsenio Hall.

At the same time The Real Ghostbusters was being created, Filmation was making a cartoon known simply as "Ghostbusters", which was a revamp of Filmation's 1970s series The Ghost Busters. The character designs by Jim McDermott were dramatically redesigned from the way the same characters looked in the movie.

Although the "Ghostbusters" concept was tinkered with, the finalized show does feature many tie-ins from the films. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man made numerous appearances. During the third season, Walter Peck, the Environmental Protection Agency antagonist from the original film, reappeared. The uniforms and containment unit were redesigned, and Slimer was changed from a bad ghost to a resident and friend, events which are explained in the episode "Citizen Ghost" that flashes back to what happened to the Ghostbusters right after the movie's events. Gozer is also mentioned repeatedly throughout the series, usually in comparison to a ghost they are currently battling (e.g. "Cthulhu makes Gozer look like Little Mary Sunshine").

In 1997, a sequel cartoon entitled Extreme Ghostbusters, was created by Columbia TriStar Television and Adelaide Productions. It premiered on September 1, 1997 and ran for forty episodes until its conclusion on December 8, 1997. Set several years after the end of The Real Ghostbusters, the series opened by saying the team has disbanded due to a lack of supernatural activity. Only Egon remains in the firehouse, along with Slimer, to care for the containment system while teaching classes at a local university. When supernatural events begin occurring in New York, Egon recruits four of his university students as a new team of Ghostbusters, and Janine, also one of Egon's students, returns to manage the office. The original Ghostbusters return for the two-episode season finale to celebrate Egon's 40th birthday, leading to them reluctantly working together with the younger generation to solve one last case.

Quantum Vagina’s take - I know very little about this show, but I know nothing that makes me want to watch it less. I even think the whole title controversy thing was kind of hilarious and probably confused the hell out of many kids and parents at the time.

[Quantum Vagina]

#1 –DuckTales

(142 Points) 8 of 13 Lists - Highest Ranking - #1 - Johnny Unusual

Not ponytails or cottontails!

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

Release Date:  1987

Just the Plagarism
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Disney Television Animation. Based on Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic book series, it premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes. An animated theatrical spin-off film based on the series, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, was released widely in the United States on August 3, 1990. The voice cast from the series reprised their roles for the film.

The series is a dramatization of the Duck universe comic series created by Carl Barks. The viewer follows the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his three grandnephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Important secondary characters, that often take part in the adventures, include Donald Duck, Scrooge's pilot Launchpad McQuack and butler Duckworth, the inventor Gyro Gearloose, and the nanny Mrs. Beakley and her granddaughter Webby. The most notable antagonists in the series are the Beagle Boys, the witch Magica De Spell, and the industrialist Flintheart Glomgold. In a typical story, the villains are after McDuck's fortune or his Number One Dime; another common theme is a race after some sort of treasure. Although some stories are original or based on Barks' comic book series, others are pastiches on classical stories or legends, including characters based on either fictional or historical persons. The series is known for its many references to popular culture, including Shakespeare, Jack the Ripper, Greek mythology, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Sherlock Holmes.

The show features the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his great-nephews. The nephews, who were originally living with their uncle Donald, are left in Scrooge's care when Donald joins the Navy.

Though Scrooge is the richest duck in the world, he constantly tries to find ways to increase his wealth. Many episodes involve protecting his wealth from villains who want to rob Scrooge of all his money. The prominent recurring antagonists in the show include the Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell who are always finding ways to rob and swindle Scrooge and his nephews. Scrooge's nemesis in the show is Flintheart Glomgold, who always tries to devise plans to unseat Scrooge McDuck from his "Richest Duck in the World" title. A few of the stories also surround Scrooge's "Number One Dime" which is the source of Scrooge's good luck and wealth. Scrooge keeps the dime in a glass jar in his money vault, and constantly protects it from the villains on the show.

The show's second season saw the addition of characters Fenton Crackshell and Bubba Duck. Along with them came stories that generally shifted away from the globetrotting plots of the first season, and revolved primarily in the contemporary setting of Duckburg. Episodes would feature either Bubba or Fenton but rarely both.

Although Scrooge and his nephews were the show's main characters, some episodes focused on other characters like Launchpad or Gyro. Some members of Scrooge's extended family (The Duck Universe), like Gladstone Gander who had extremely good luck, were also seen in the series. Characters like Gladstone were often seen in the early Carl Barks comic book stories.

The series is notable for being the first Disney cartoon to be produced for syndication, and paving the way for future Disney cartoons, such as Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck, the latter of which is considered to be a spinoff of DuckTales.

A world broadcast premiere television movie (entitled "The Treasures of the Golden Suns") first aired during the weekend of September 18–20, 1987 (date and time varied by market). Since then, it has been shown in the series' regular rotation as a five-part serial. A feature-length movie was released in theatres on August 3, 1990. The hundredth episode (which was also the series finale) aired on November 28, 1990.

The 1987-1988 season of DuckTales consisted of 65 episodes (the standard length for a Disney TV show, as well as the standard length of many 1st season of 1990's TV shows). Two more five-part serials - "Time Is Money" and "Super DuckTales" - premiered as television movie specials in November 1988 and March 1989, respectively. The rest of the second season (fall 1989 - winter 1989) included an additional 18 episodes. In the second season, Bubba the Caveduck and his pet triceratops, Tootsie, and Fenton Crackshell and his alter ego Gizmo Duck appeared. DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp was released in August 1990. Seven final episodes premiered in the fall of 1990 (including three produced for season two but held back for airing, and four produced explicitly for season three), bringing the total to 100 episodes—making DuckTales one of the longest-running Disney shows in terms of number of episodes.

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers was paired with DuckTales in an hour-long syndicated block during the 1989-1990 television season. In the 1990-1991 season, Disney expanded the idea even further, creating The Disney Afternoon, a two-hour long syndicated block of half-hour cartoons. DuckTales was one of the early flagship cartoons in the series.
On October 2, 1995, DuckTales 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 Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.

Huey, Dewey, and Louie all appeared in the drug prevention video Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. Scrooge and Launchpad appeared in Disney's short-lived animated series Raw Toonage (originally aired on CBS in 1992 and 1993).

The show was the most successful of Disney's early attempts to create high-quality animation for a TV animated series (earlier shows included The Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears in 1985). Disney invested a far greater amount of money into the TV series than had previously been spent on animated shows of the time. This was considered a risky move, because animated TV series were generally considered low-budget investments for most of the history of TV cartoons up through the 1980s. Most of the DuckTales episodes were animated in Asia by companies such as Cuckoo's Nest Studios, Wang Film Productions of Taiwan, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha of Japan.

Many critics say that Disney's own animation studio had lost most of its luster during the period from Walt Disney's passing through the 1980s. However, the studio took a number of risks that paid off handsomely, and DuckTales was one of those risks that won big. The studio gambled on the idea that a larger investment into quality animation could be made back through syndication — a concept that worked well with live-action TV reruns, but which had only been used with inexpensive cartoon series that either recycled theatrical shorts from decades past or only featured limited, low-budget animation.

The show was successful enough to spawn a feature film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and a spinoff series: Darkwing Duck. The success of DuckTales also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1988.

Quantum Vagina’s take - If you do not have AWESOME memories of this show, you need to get off the internet RIGHT now and watch the entire thing. This show is so damned cool, there’s just no way to put it into words. I kept the theme song on my friggin’ mp3 player for AGES, and now that I think about it, I have absolutely NO idea why i took it off. I need to put that shiz back on there so I can jam out to DuckTales the entire 8 hour drive to Kansas.