80's Cartoons: An Animated Discussion

Animation in the 80’s was all over the place in terms of quality. I’m sure plenty of cartoon creating studio executives were heard to say, “Kids will watch anything, they don’t know the difference”. Well this kid did and if it was crap, it didn’t make it into my Saturday Morning/Weekday Afternoon rotation. What follows is a discussion of the artistry (or lack thereof) presented in cartoons that were foisted upon me through TV antennas in my youth. Everyone has their own favorites, so this won’t be a complete list, but it will be controversial. Let’s get this show on the road!

I’ll start off by saying that this is not so much an examination of the storylines present in my childhood cartoon viewing, as it is actual character designs I found appealing. Also, I do have a bias against animation styles that include wildly exaggerated features and proportions. It’s easy to draw wild shapes, it takes amazing skill to replicate real world proportions and features. As strange as it sounds, when it comes to cartoons, the more realistic the design and movements, the better. I think for this reason, I have always had a fondness for the cartoon shows that came out of a company called Ruby-Spears.

Where Hanna-Barbera was known for just ripping off the mannerisms and voices of decades old entertainers and dropping them into stiffly animated new characters (ex. The Flintstones = The Honeymooners and Jabberjaw = Curly from The 3 Stooges) Ruby-Spears actually made their mark by bringing formerly printed, pixelated or live action stars into the world of cartoons for the first time. From Punky Brewster to Rambo and The Forces of Freedom, this prolific studio made memorable what Hanna-Barbera cheaped out on with lackluster shows like Gilligan's Planet or Laverne & Shirley In the Army. (Apparently Hanna-Barbera ran over my puppy as a child…a lot of bitterness there.)

For example, did you know that anti-jibber-jabber advocate Mr. T had his own animated adventure show where he teamed with a group of teenage gymnasts to thwart the evil deeds of dastardly villains? Yeah, I don’t get it either. Look, I didn’t say the premise of shows were great, but when you tuned in to Mister T with your bowl of his cereal, it was clearly everybody’s favorite gold-jewelry-wearing tough guy punching a shark!

The same goes for the short-lived animated series, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos. The man, the myth, the legend and his butt-kickin’ mustache were on full display while he battled such baddies as The Claw and winner of the best bad guy name ever, Super Ninja. Ruby-Spears didn’t just focus on movie stars either, they reached into the pages of our favorite comic books and brought legendary super heroes to life.

One program that always had a special place in my heart was The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show. Plastic Man predated Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four in the comics, but had the same ability to morph his body into any shape imaginable. “Plas” as he was called on the show, was sent on missions by a sultry woman with a white streak in her hair called The Chief and had a Hawaiian sidekick named Hula-Hula (who sounded like a dumber version of Barney Rubble, if that’s possible). Also in the mix was his breathy, blonde girlfriend named Penny and eventually Baby Plas, their malleable offspring. This could have easily been a cheap show for a mostly unknown character, but each time “Plas” transformed into a spring or speedboat it looked great and the background layouts were always very detailed.

What really set Plastic Man apart from other shows were the interstitial live-action segments hosted by a wise-cracking actor taking on the role. He would make terrible jokes then transform himself into a basketball or a paper/plastic airplane before sending you back to the cartoon. It was goofy as heck, but I found it so fascinating as a kid. Mark Nobleman did a pretty inspirational interview with the actor who brought me so much joy at this link. Really, anytime a comic book character had a decent interpretation I was glued to the TV. Such was the case with the Ruby-Spears Superman cartoon.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been more impressed with television animation than I was with this show. Coming at the tail end of my fascination with the Super Powers line of action figures, this Superman cartoon blasted onto the Saturday morning scene in 1988 with the bombastic John Williams score and clean-lined character designs that seemed like they had just leapt off the comic book page. Every punch to an alien invader was fluid and every ripple of the cape was mesmerizing. This was the way Superman was meant to be viewed! No disrespect to Christopher Reeve, but no other version live or animated has embodied the character more perfectly than this Ruby-Spears production.

Before you start accusing me of owning stock in Ruby-Spears, let me mention some other notable cartoons that are certainly worth revisiting. Denver, the Last Dinosaur was the wacked out story of prehistoric egg that hatched in the late 80’s, giving birth to a teal-tinted dinosaur who was taught how to become radical by an eclectic group of teenagers. Aside from the unforgettable theme song, the solid design work that preserved the 80s through ink and paint was really quite good. The dated fashions of the characters (what was up with that red Foreign Legion hat?) and backgrounds were fully rendered in such a way that you would never know that this was the same company that brought Voltron to American shores just a few years earlier.

While we’re on the topic of Anime, I should also disclose my aversion to most Japanese animation (except for The Guyver, I love that guy!). So everyone in the universe is a skinny, white high school freshman with saucer eyes that fights or collect demons/monsters of some sort? I know I’m generalizing, but tell me the percentage of anime characters that fit that description is below 50% and I’ll eat my hat! That being said, Japan based Sunbow Productions was responsible for arguably the 2 most iconic cartoons of the decade: G.I. Joe: Real American Hero and Transformers, which I watched a ton of. I’ll even throw Jem in there because I dig the fashion on that show. But the distinction of creating cartoons that defined a decade comes with a caveat.

You see, the character designs were definitely toned down for American audiences, with smaller eyes and bulked out bodies. If Duke or Destro had been designed to look like any character from Robotech or Battle of the Planets, their toughness would have been in question for sure. Even Jem which is just one degree away from becoming Anime with all the neon-colored hair, had more subtle facial structures and bodily proportions to keep our western sensibilities happy. So I guess what I’m saying is that much like the American Chinese Food I prefer over traditional cuisine from that region, westernized Japanimation is what I connected with as a kid.

I know I’ve mainly talked about the action based cartoons so far, so let me give some props to everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic singing rodents, Alvin & The Chipmunks. Like an animated version of KIDS, Incorporated, where else could a kindergartner get access to the pop hits of the day without shelling out big bucks for vinyl? “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel? Check. “Beat It” by Michael Jackson? Check “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins? Check and Mate! I’m also man enough to admit that I had a little crush on The Chippettes, so spunky.  Aside from the great tunes, Alvin & the Chipmunks also featured my favorite cartoon crossover of all time.

Well, look who’s back, it’s Mr. T! Yep, bullies steal Dave’s gold pocket watch and The Chipmunks are looking for some muscle to help get it back. As luck would have it they find Mr. T casually dining at a local restaurant and recruit him to help save the day. During the negotiations Theodore tries to steal a french fry off Mr. T’s plate causing the mohawked one to shout, “Hey, you can’t eat those fries!”  Shocked, the chubby chipmunk whines, “Pleeeease, Mr. T”, who shows his playful side by finishing his comment, “…without ketchup!” Awww, that’s a true hero. No wonder we love him so.

I’ll bring this article to a close with praise for cartoon studio DIC. I’m sure you’d remember their tag from the end of your favorite cartoons. They had several that were brightly colored and featured the star of the show, but I always remember the one from 1990 and beyond. It’s the one with a little kid sleeping in his bed next to an open window with a starry sky outside. The camera zooms out and kid’s voice says “DIC”. OK, sounds kind of innapropriate when you explain it. Either way, they were involved in some major league stuff like Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, M.A.S.K., Dennis the Menace and one of my favorites, Dinosaucers. What? You don’t remember Dinosaucers? It was awesome!

Warring factions of humanoid alien dinosaurs in tech suits crash on Earth and continue their war for supremacy. The Dinosaucers/Good Guys recruited a team of teenagers to be their Secret Scouts, while the Tyrannos/Bad Guys opted to rely on their own abilities. The coolest part was that the aliens could “Dinovolve” by smashing an emblem on their chests and transform into their pure dino-forms to battle, which was always exciting. I also applaud the fact that they gave each dino-warrior a distinct costume, when they could have easily given them the same uniform to save animating time. To me the show was like a mash-up of Transformers and Captain Planet, since the Secret Scouts had magic rings that gave them powers, but didn’t take itself nearly as serious as Optimus and the gang. 

That about does it for now. I hope you've enjoyed my exploration of the many animated appearances of Mr. T...er, I mean, television animation. Feel free to share your opinions, battle my point of view and share a few of your favorites in the comments below. DO IT, FOOL!