Did You Have A Saturday Cartoon Ritual? (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

I was just thinking recently of all the great old-time cartoons there used to be on TV on Saturday mornings. .....

Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, Casper (the Friendly Ghost), Superfriends, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, The Perils Of Penelope Pitstop, Josey & The Pussycats, Fat Albert, Star Trek (animated series in 1973), plus many others.

Please add more to this list of cartoons you "old-timers" used to watch every Saturday AM.

And: What is the best cartoon ever?

 

[Shane Bos]

The Transformers is number 1. Also Thundercats, Tom and Jerry, Bug's Bunny, Flintstones, Fat Albert, Can't remember what it was called but the cartoon that was based on the WWF back in the mid 80's.

 

[Dan Hine]

The Transformers is definitely up there. I've got to say that the Xmen cartoon was killer as well. And lets not forget GI Joe. Their multi-episode series were awesome as was the movie!

And I'll admit I was a sucker for the Care Bears. :b

 

[James T]

I use to wake up at about 6:30 in the morning to watch Hercules. After Herc, Captain Planet was on. I know Captain Planet is kinda cheesey, but I liked it. I'd also watch Ninja Turtles and later on, Batman, Spider-man and X-men.

I don't remember Thundercats being on at Saturday. I alwasys thought that Thundercats, along with He-Man(both shows I used to love) were on early afternoons during the weekday.

 

[Grant B]

one of earliest memories is being upset of no cartoons one morning, funeral of one of the Kennedys was on.
boy I was upset!
i still see things in terms of looney toons, it's the way my mind works

 

[Brad Porter]

ABC definitely won my attention later in the morning by alternating Bugs Bunny/Road Runner/Tweety/Sylvester with Schoolhouse Rock! segments. Otherwise, Hanna-Barbera was usually well represented in my viewing patterns (Yogi and Boo-Boo, Huckleberry Hound, Pixie & Dixie, Snaggletooth, Quick Draw McGraw, Hong Kong Phooey, The Superfriends, Dynomutt, The Harlem Globetrotters, The Hillbilly Bears, The Jetsons, Magilla Gorilla, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, etc.) Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids was good.

Then there's the live action shows (Land of the Lost, Shazam!, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, The New Zoo Revue, The Krofft Supershow (featuring Wonderbug!), Ark II (the jetpacks rocked!), etc.) Heck, I even remember watching The Bay City Rollers Show once.

I never though much of the cartoons of the '80's. The Smurfs was just stupid. Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, He-man - they were all commercials for toys. I think I only enjoyed the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon at this point - and Pee Wee's Playhouse, of course.

Brad

 

[Mario Bartel]

I remember anxiously counting down the days to that magical Friday evening in early September when the networks would preview all their new cartoons/shows to debut the next morning. Needless to say, I could hardly sleep that night!

I did the 6:30 AM wakeup call as well, for Felix the Cat. I also never missed Underdog, Mighty Mouse, The Pink Panther and, of course, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlett. Later, I seem to recall being enthralled by the animated version of the primetime show, "Emergency;" I think it was called "Emergency +4."

In Canada, Bugs Bunny and company were usually a Saturday evening phenomenon in the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Comedy Hour, before the 6PM newscast, "Saturday Report," then an hour of The Paper Chase, then Hockey Night in Canada.

 

[Bill Griffith]

I loved Saturday Morning Cartoons.

And is it just me or were they more seriouse back then?

Thunder Cats, Transformers, GoBots, Voltron, GiJoe (Never missed one), Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Most Hanna Barbara cartoons, and there was this one show about some Big giant space ship that, during the opening credits shot this huge beam out of the front of the big ship, that was a cool show.

I can't stand watching Cartoons today, not enough violence and to touchy feely.

 

[Andy Sheets]

And is it just me or were they more serious back then?

Serious about selling toys, maybe

I usually had a twisted mentality about the action shows. The heroes were usually such ridiculous goody-two-shoes that I had to root for the villains. I wanted so badly for Mum-Ra to slaughter the Thundercats that I could almost taste it

Johnny Quest was cool, though. It was an older show and therefore had an edge to it that was lacking in the newer stuff.

The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse was hilarious. I wish someone would put that on dvd, or at least just rerun the damn thing.

The major constant for me was always Looney Tunes. I never got tired of them (until they started censoring them, which just pissed me off), and I like them even more now than I did when I was a kid since I now get all the jokes I was too young to understand back then

 

[Christopher P]

When I was a kid, I used to hate it when sports were on TV saturday mornings instead of cartoons. Now I hate when cartoons are on instead of sports. Can't win.

For the best, my first thought was Transformers, but that might have been because that was the cartoon of which I had the most toys. What a great concept. I also loved Star Blazers.

Chris

 

[Jacinto]

My brother and I used to park ourselves in the dark (it was that early), wrapped in a blanket, just waiting out the last five minutes of the Bass Fisherman until the 'toons started. The only of my favorites that I didn't see listed here yet is Thundarr the Barbarian.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Thunder Cats, Transformers, GoBots, Voltron, GiJoe StarBlazers

All weekday afternoon shows. Don't count

 

[JasenP]

Transformers was on at 6:00 AM on Saturdays. It was the first cartoon we watched after Dr. Snuggles.

 

[Hunter P]

that is starblazers

Some names off the top of my head:
Underdog
Fat Albert
Dudley Do Right
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Dungeons and Dragons
Schoolhouse Rock
Shazam
Isis
Fantastic Four
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Spiderman and Friends
Plasticman
Heathcliff
The Land of the Lost (I didn't like this show but I watched it because I didn't want my Saturday morning to end.)

And of course the slew of WB and HB cartoons.

 

[Craig S]

My cartoon days were back in the mid-60s. Some of my must-sees:

Rocky & Bullwinkle
Jonny Quest
Adam Ant & Secret Squirrel
The Beatles
Hercules (NOT the Disney one)
Bugs Bunny & Roadrunner ("On with the show, this is it!")
Fantastic Four
Spider-Man
Yogi Bear
Underdog

And it wasn't a cartoon, but we never missed "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp"!!

Anyone else old enough to remember the Children's Film Festival? I think it was on during the 60s on CBS at noon. IIRC they ran short films from all over the world. I'd like to see some of those again.

 

[JayV]

The Tick
Looney Tunes (I think it was actually called the Bugs and Roadrunner Show)
Batman
Animaniacs

 

[MarkHastings]

The best thing about Looney Toons is, you loved them as a kid, then you re-loved them as an adult when they became "brand new" to you because you understood all of the adult humor.


I used to LOVE the episode where Bugs Bunny wants to win the Oscar and he asks them to play the film of his best performance...they show the film and there's a picture of a deers head with the words "Stag Film" underneath, then Bugs jumps in front of the screen and yells "NO!!!!". At the age of 5(ish), I just thought his actions were funny, but when I rewatched that episode as a teen, I had a new appreciation of the real humor of that episode.

 

[Mario Bartel]

Anyone else old enough to remember the Children's Film Festival?

I guess those would have been my first painless introduction to foreign film, although I seem to recall most of them were fairly poorly dubbed. And I couldn't stand the Pippi Longstocking films!

 

[Grant B]

my roomate in college came from cucamonga which was so cool because that's where you turn left

 

[ScottR]

I used to watch the Flinstone's Comedy Hour featuring Captain Caveman, Schoolhouse Rock, The Buggs Bunny Show, Spidey and Friends, Fat Albert, The Smurfs, Pac-Man, and of course the ABC Weekend Specials...followed by American Bandstand.