posted
Guess which of these were not a real animated series back in the 1980s, and which I've not made up:
A hidden civilization of legless people who reside beneath the surface of the Earth are in danger. Their artificial sun is dying! A rebellious band of legless children create a magical woman in the form of the legendary surface dwellers, sending her off on a quest to find a way to save the sun. Aiding her are an artificially intelligent ship, two cute little talking immortal animals, two kids from the surface world, and a bronze-skinned warrior guy.
Two acrobatic ursine performers run away from the circus to live in a gator-infested swamp. Hilarity ensues. (?)
A band of tiny, multi-colored aquatic beings reside deep beneath the ocean, having a culture remarkably similar to America in the 1980s, despite the TV series taking place in the 1640s.
An impolite dog who was totally into the Ska scene has his own auto repair shop. He hangs out with dogs who aren't cool like him, but acts nice to them anyway. He may be impolite, but he's not mean!
An immortal vampiric water fowl is reincarnated through a black magic ritual. The latest ritual got botched, so he comes out a harmless vegetarian.
They are the busters of ghosts! But these busters don't trap ghosts, just temporarily make the ghosts intangible. Except, aren't ghosts -already- intangible? Oh, and they have a gorilla who wears khakis who drives their car.
Whenever this all-American boy gets hot under the collar, he becomes his own car, thanks to an accident with an experimental ray beam.
A squeaky clean super-powered rodent's formerly predictable world has gone completely insane. Details at 11.
He's a sarcastic talking wallaby who's totally radical! She's an alien princess who's trying to collect the shards of a broken cosmic key. Unlikely allies, only they can save the universe from a be-visored super-villain hellbent on using the key for his own purposes.
It's Sliders, only with shaggy-haired talking dogs, pursued by a richer-than-God geezer.
A floating Ewok-esque being from a magic land befriends a spunky ex-orphan. Hilarity ensues. (?)
She's a music producer who's secretly her own biggest star, thanks to the sentient computer that can transform her via high tech trickery. She fights for the right of clean, wholesome bubblegum pop music! First against a bunch of angry girl singers, then a group of amoral Euro-pop stars.
He wants to be the best gorilla gangster in the world, but the plucky orphans that befriended him keep bringing out his good side. Darn his heart of gold! Unknown to them, the mad scientist who created him is tracking him down, with an army of evil mutant simians...
posted
Well, there was a verrsion of the Ghost Busters that was not as good as teh REAL Ghost Busters which I liked better. It had this great episode involving ancesters that kept destroying this woman's farm because they were trying to help
Oooo. I love JEM Didn't they have a cartoon version of Punky Brewster? I remember one epsiode where they had to spend a lot of money. Snorks maybe? I don't recognize all of them, but now i want to watch more episodes of jem and sing the theme song very loudly.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I remember the vampiric water fowl LOL. And oh man Jem was so much fun in the day. The rest don't sound familiar.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Third one is the Snorks. Fifth is the sucky Ghostbusters (stupid TV guide in the paper didn't differentiate). I know the next one is real but I can't remember the title.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
1. Spartakus 2. I'll guess real. 3. Snorks 4. You made that up. 5. Count Duckula. one of the greatest theme songs on tv. 6. I'd have sworn fake if everyone else didn't remember it. 7. Never heard of it, but it sounds 80s enough to be real. 8. Mighty Mouse 9. That sounds disturbingly familiar, but I don't know why. Real. 10. Fake. 11. Is that Noozles or Nuzzles or something where the koala comes to life? Sounds real anyway. 12. Jem 13. Uh-uh. You made that up.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea was the English dub of a bizarre 1980s French cartoon. It ran on Nickelodeon for a few years, usually along with Mysterious Cities of Gold and Danger Mouse. It was one of the first "endless quest" type shows I remember where the quest actually did come to an end. (Real series)
Kissyfur was the story of a tiny bear cub and his father, both performers who ran away from the circus to live in the swamp. It had two high-rated prime time specials (there must have been a dearth of good specials those years) before becoming a Saturday morning series. (Real series)
The Snorks was one of multiple attempts to duplicate the success of The Smurfs, but without having to deal with messy issues like creator approval. The opening credits placed the series as happening in the 1640s, making the Snork's society more technologically advanced than any other on Earth at the time. Hmmm. (Real series)
Rude Dog and the Dweebs was a short-lived animated series based on a then-popular merchandise line. I recall parental watchdog groups got really huffy and suspicious about it, though thanks to standards and practices the rudest thing Rude Dog ever did was say "get rude!" during the opening. (Real series)
Count Duckula was a spin-off of the popular Danger Mouse cartoon. It was a bit more sophisticated and adult-oriented than most of the cartoon series seen on Nick at the time, which usually meant it was shown right before the Nick at Nite shows began. Funny show. (Real series)
Filmation's Ghostbusters series was based on a live action show they created back in the 1970s. It was an open secret that the real reason they revived the show in animated form was because of 1984's ultra-popular Ghostbusters movie. The Filmation series ran during the first few years the DIC animated adaptation of the film ran, causing DIC to slap The REAL Ghostbusters on their show. In retaliation, Filmation had an episode where a villainous Ghost Buster who claimed he could trap ghosts for good was revealed to be a dangerous fraud. I remember thinking the gorilla was funny. (Real series)
During the time Knight Rider became an unexpected hit, there was a rush of cheap imitations. One of the cheapest was Ruby-Spears Turbo Teen which many viewers recall to this day thanks to the bizarre premise and grotesque transformation images. *shudder* (Real series)
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures was what you get when you ask Ralph Bashki to revive a once pure and syrupy-sweet TerryToon character. It was a scream, but far too edgy for the network and character owner's liking. Never collected on DVD, but popular in bootleg form. (Real series)
I totally made this one up. But really, doesn't it sound like the shows on back then? (Fake!)
Disney's Fluppy Dogs. Technically this never went beyond the pilot mini-series, but they showed it on The Disney Afternoon syndication package at least a couple times, and as a prime time movie on The Wonderful World of Disney. (Real series)
Punky Brewster: The Animated Series, which set a standard that would not be matched until Paul Dini and Bruce Timm created Batman: The Animated Series. What was that furry thing's name? Glomer? Gomer? Goomba? Gowhilickers? George? (Real series)
JEM...she's truly outrageous, don't yanno! Remains the only 80s cartoon I recall where a hallucinating Vietnam vet featured heavily in a "Very Special Episode". (Real series)
I totally made this one up. But I'd have watched it in a heartbeat. Still would. (Fake!)
posted
I only know Turbo Teen because of Robot Chicken, and frankly, their use of it suggested to me that the series may have jumped the shark.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I didn't lose my TV until the early 90's. But, I didn't remember any of these. However, your recital did underscore why I never replaced the machine.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It occurs to be that there was probably no more morbid cartoon than Pound Puppies. Think about it, they are stuck in the pound, and sure they get out and come back by the end of the day, but can the series finale be anything but the day all of them are put to sleep or perhaps adopted? Heck they could have a killer line for advertisements, "If you don't keep watching us kids, they'll kill us!"
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
That's why the Pound Puppies movie was a flashback to the 1950s, BlackBlade. They couldn't use the modern-day characters from the show...none were left. Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
