My Top 10 Favourite 90s Cartoons

In this post, we'll be doing something a bit different. I'll be listing and looking at MY own personal Top 10 Favourite 90s Cartoons. This is completely subjective so don't get upset if you don't see a show you loved. As a matter of fact, I may not have ever even seen it, so point them out to me in the comments. *Also keep in mind that my ratings of the cartoons at the end of their individual reviews are objective, while this list is not. Soooooo the ratings might not line up with my rankings.* 

RULES: 

1. No anime (so no Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, etc)

2. Has to have begun and ended within 1990 to 2005 (so no Spongebob Squarepants or Fairly Odd Parents

3. Obviously, had to have been animated. And I mean traditional  handrawn 2D animation. No CGI  or for that matter  stop motion (sorry Reboot)

4. Obviously only TV series.

So without further ado, let's begin!

10. Samurai Jack

Haven't mentioned this one before but I probably will soon enough. I don't even think this one has to be explained, EVERYONE who's watched Samurai Jack has liked it. What's not to like in a show about a samurai who gets sent forward in time and has to adjust to a futuristic world while fighting to get back to his own? The answer to that question is nothing. There is nothing not to like in a show like that. 

09. Batman: The Animated Series

Batman is a great show and everyone knows it. It had some major high points and, despite just being a cartoon and not anything live-action, it was the most ambitious and successful Batman project (outside of the comics) to date. It was cinematic in scope, handled dramatic tension and serious situations better than any other kids show at the time, and it did the original Batman comics justice. Here is the full review for further detail. http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/batman-tas.html

08. Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: TAS benefited from the same genius creative team as the aforementioned Batman: TAS. And they sure brought their A-game here too, with top-notch animation, and gripping stories.Not much else to say. Here is the full review for further detail.  http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/superman-tas.html

07. Dexter's Labaratory

Because of this show, Dexter will forever be a supergenius little boy to me (and not a serial killer forensic scientist). Honestly, this show should've gone on longer as it could've told a lot more stories. It was a pretty simple series but it was fresh and original and especially in the first two seasons, funny. Here is the full review for further detail.  http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/dexters-labratory.html

06. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The TMNT are a group that isn't really defined by any one iteration of themselves. I've grown up with their comics, movies, and multiple versions of their cartoon, and each where great in their own unique way. This variation of them however is really the one that defined them for a generation, and even though it's crazy silly, it's charming and endearing at the same time. It's 100% earned it's long shelf length. Here is the full review for further detail.  http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/08/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles.html

05: The Powerpuff Girls

This was a show that I really wasn't proud of because of its' "girlishness"....but at the same time, it kicks ass for a little girls show and honestly has aged very well.The action was suspenseful and the contrast between the girls superhero and everyday lives was a comedy gold mine. Absolutely can not wait to see the reboot coming out next year, I have high hopes. Here is the full review for further detail. http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/the-powerpuff-girls.html

04:  Garfield and Friends

Garfield and Friends was a show that lasted very long despite having a pretty average size audience. I am totally ok with that because this show can make me laugh like only one other can. (We'll get to that one in the minute). While other shows try to balance multiple genres, this one just does comedy....and it does it REALLY REALLY well. It works here because the characters are just perfect for each other and for us. Best incarnation of Garfiled, hands down. Here is the full review for further detail. http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/garfield-and-friends.html

03: Justice League

JLU was the cartoon everyone was waiting for. It had stories so big that every single episode had to be a 2-parter for the first couple seasons. The combination of all these big-name heroes working together for the first time since Super Friends made it really an epic, must-see show, and it did that in all the right ways. Here is the full review for further detail.  http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/justice-league-unlimited.html

02: Animaniacs

Animaniacs is the funniest production I have ever seen in my life so far, and it probably will remain so for a very long time. Every single episode made me laugh uncontrollably at least once and i think most other kids had this experience. It lasted for 5 seasons which is longer than most, but it definitely ould've lived for longer considering that its' popularity wasn't weaning at all. Here is the full review for further detail. http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/animaniacs.html

A couple honourable mentions: Tiny Toon Adventures, Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Timon and Pumbaa, X-Men: The Animated Series, and Batman Beyond. RIP, you magnificent TV series, you.


NOW A DRUMROLL PLEASE

01: Spider Man:  The Animated Series.

YOU ALREADY KNEW THIS WAS GONNA BE HERE. If you've ever read the full review (http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/spider-man-tas.html) you know that it mentions that this is my favourite show of all time, and I am not lying when I say that. Spider-Man is a crazily relatable and entertaining character and I go nuts for him. So when I saw an adaptation of him that does him in the cartoons PERFECTLY ACCURATE to how he is in his original comics.....I was just blown away.

Thanks guys! Hope you enjoyed this little change and see you next week when I get back to my normal routine!

Dexter's Labratory

Dexter's Labratory was an animated television series that aired for two seasons from 1996 to 1998 before getting a finale movie in '99, "Dexter's Labratory: Ego Trip".....and then getting revived in only 2 years in 2001. The revived series lasted two more seasons, ending in 2003.

The series focused on the exploits of a young boy genius named Dexter who has a labratory in his basement. He carries out scientific experiments there and somehow manages to keep it's existence a secret from his parents.......but not his annoying older sister Dee-Dee. Dee-Dee managed to sneak into his lab almost every episode and would usually try to play with something and end up wrecking it. Dexter's family makes for a funny bunch, his parents are traditional: his mother does the cleaning and is pretty much a neat freak, and his father is a working man who values manliness, family, and paying the bills; and yet they produce the odd pair that is Dexter and Dee-Dee. Dee-Dee adores her little brother, she just is very bad at showing it. Dexter on the other hand seems to despise his sister for being unintelligent, nothing like him, and a danger to his studies.

But, even though they're the focus, it's not just all about this one family. Dexter is a genius however there is one boy his age who can rival him and that is Susan (or as he prefers to be called, Mandark). Mandark parallels Dexter in that, while Dexter uses his gifts to further humanity's knowledge, Mandark is only in science for the potential power it could give him, but he's not gonna go anywhere in the world so long as he has a rival, which is why he's always scheming up ways of disposing with Dexter.

Besides Dexter's family (which never gets a name) and Mandark, there is a recurring cast.  Mordecai is a geek and Dexter's only sorta friend, not quite as smart as him but just as nerdy. Action Hank is the stereotypical action hero and also one of Dexter's biggest role models, that is after the Justice Friends.

The Justice Friends are a blatant parody of the Avengers. You have Major Glory (Captain America), Valhallan (Thor), and Grunk (Hulk). But the absolutely hilarious part about it all is that you almost never actually see them fighting crime, instead their segments focus on their home life, such as picking a TV show to watch, or trying to get a bee out of the apartment they share (yes, they're roommates). It's interesting to note however, that they would later cameo in a couple episodes of the cartoon I reviewed last week (the Powerpuff Girls) and to this day, they serve to many, as evidence that the two shows take place in the same universe or are at least connected.

Dexter's Lab, like a couple cartoons I've reviewed before, followed the format of 3 7 minute segments per episode (and a 1 minute short to round it off). In the first season, the beginning and ending segments of each episode was about Dexter and the middle one would be "Dial M for Monkey" which followed the adventures of Dexter's test monkey.....who also happened to be an international spy with a smoking hot girlfriend.

In the second season, the middle segment switched to following the Justice Friends. But in the revival series, the middle segments tended to just be about Dexter's parents or Mandark or Dee Dee. To be honest, I think that that was a mistake. Having a second show within the show was a really fun concept and though the 2nd half of the series was alright, that was one of the reasons why I and many others don't really consider it as good as the 1st. Now, don't get me wrong, the 2nd half still had the character chemistry that made the original so clever and hilarious (I actually think they did Mandark better than before, elaborating more on his backstory of having hippie parents that don't approve of his evil). However, the middle segments were always a let down, and the biggest mistake of all was not having a grand finale.


In Ego Trip, Dexter travels through time to the future, where Mandark has taken over the world and he has to team up with several future versions of himself to stop it. This is a very dramatic concept and yet they still get a roar out of you. Honestly, this was a perfect finale and it was made less important by adding 2 more seasons afterwards. The episode the series ultimately did end on was just a boring old run of the mill episode about Dee-Dee and Dexter going to the zoo. Nothing special.

Overall, though the second two seasons weren't as good as the first, it was still an ingenious kids' cartoon and definitely worth checking out if you haven't already. 90/10.  And if you're an old fan, try the new comic book series by IDW, they're adapting all of the original Cartoon Network Cartoon Cartoons (including epic crossovers that I'll talk more about later).




Not sure what I'll be reviewing next week, so be prepared for anything!

The Powerpuff Girls

  The Powerpuff Girls aired for 6 seasons from 1998 to 2005 and was one of many series that went by the "two 11 minutes segments per episode" format that grew more and more popular around its time. The series, despite having a very girly seeming name, was packed with action and plenty popular with boy's crowd too (myself included). It is considered to have gotten worse with the later seasons (particularly season 5 and 6) and i'd be inclined to agree, but that's not to say it wasn't still GOOD, just not as much so.

 
  The series followed the lives of Blossom (the intelligent, responsible one), Bubbles (the innocent, childish one), and Buttercup (the angry tomboyish one), three girls who would spend their days in kindergarten, and their afternoons and weekends fighting crime on the streets of Townsville, They had been created by Professor Utonium, who just was lonely and wanted some daughters but who accidentally created superheroes.

  There was no lack of villains in the series, with Mojo Jojo (a previous experiment of the Professor's who was a hyper-intelligent monkey now bent on taking over the world) as the most recurring. Besides him, we had Fuzzy Lumpkins, The Gangreen Gang, Princess Morbucks, and *shivers* HIM. Him was the gayest and yet also darkest villain the show had to offer. His flamboyant nature could be switched to an angry, dangerous menace and the drop of the hat, and that was oddly captivating.

  But without a doubt my favourite villains (and also the most underused) would be the Rowdyruff Boys, male dopplegangers of the PPG created by Mojo Jojo and later brought back by HIM. Brick, Boomer, and Butch were hilarious in their interactions with each other, and how they contrasted with the girls, they stole the show every time they appeared, which was not often enough. 

  Besides just the villains, the girls had support from their kindergarten teacher, Ms. Keane. And The (bumbling) Mayor and his assistant, Ms. Bellum (WHO'S FACE WE NEVER GOT TO SEE)

  Overall, the series was hilarious as we saw the girls go through the struggles of your average kid, while having to deal with guys like HIM and Mojo Jojo. Action-packed, yet light-hearted, this one is a classic that definitely deserves the reboot that it's apparently getting next year. 87/100. 

LEMME REPEAT, PPG IS GETTING A REBOOT....AND IT'S NOT GOING TO BE IN SHITTY CGI LIKE THE LAST TV SPECIAL WAS. WOO HOO.....also, next week is Dexter's Labratory. 

Animaniacs

Hmm, this is starting to become sort of an awkward pattern isn't it? Did every (non-superhero or Cartoon Cartoon) 90s cartoon have to focus on animals? Because this one had a full ensemble of them.

Yup, this one's got A LOT to talk about so let's get right into it.

Animaniacs lasted 5 seasons from 1993 to 1998 and it sort of started off the fumes of Tiny Toon Adventures, a show that followed the lives of the Looney Tunes students. I believe I'm in the majority when I say, Tiny Toons was actually really funny, but it's no masterpiece in the way Animaniacs is. I guess it's just that Animaniacs was the same premise as Looney Tunes (ensemble cast of insane talking animals working off eachother in pairs) except, unlike Tiny Toons, it doesn't just use kid versions of all the Looney Tunes, it makes its own.

First thing's first, opening theme is very catchy and animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Extra points to the theme for describing the premise of the show (something that I don't think is done enough nowadays).

Now....onto the big one. The characters. The series is a situational comedy variety show all about pairs of insane animals working off eachother, and do they do that well?

 Well, we have Rita and Runt, a singing cat and a dog who's too likeably dumb to realize she's a cat.

 Pinky and the Brain, a mouse who's smarter than most humans who wants to take over the world and his only friend who is much more idiotic than him and kinda just goes with whatever he says. This duo was so popular, they ultimately got their own spin-off series.

Slappy and Skippy, a grumpy old squirrel who used to do hilarious cartoons and her chipper nephew.

Mindy and Buttons, a little girl who gets into loads of trouble and her dog who always saves her (and injures himself in the process).

The Hip Hippos, a couple of...well hipster hippos...their name is self-explanatory.

 The Goodfeathers, a trio of piegons who think they're in a mafia.

 Chicken Boo, a chicken who tries to fit in with humans through disguises, which no one seems to see through. I thought it was ironic that he wanted to be human the most, yet he was the least human in that he didn't speak.

Katie Kaboom, a teenage girl who turns into a monster and then explodes whene
ver she gets mad (she always confused me, she wasn't even an animal, why was she on this show?)

 And Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, a trio of preteen siblings who are some sort monkey-dog hybrid and appear to live totally randomly and with no comprehension of any reason whatsoever. Now if that isn't the setup for a funny show that will make no sense at all, I don't know what is,

The cartoon worked off the same 3 Segments format that I mentioned earlier in the Garfiled and Friends review (check it out if you haven't already). Every episode was 22 minu

tes long but was made up of 3 segments, each 7 minutes long. Each would deal with a different group of characters.

 Yakko, Wakko, and Dot appeared in every episode as they were sort of the hosts that kept the show going along. They'd been created to be the ultimate comedians but they caused too much havoc so they were sealed away on the studio lot water tower, but they're always escaping and being chased down by the studio staff (Including Doctor Scratchnsniff, the studio shrink, Mr. Thaddeus Plotz, the studio CEO, Hello Nurse, who Yakko and Wakko are in love with, and Ralph, the security guard).  The breakout stars were Pinky and the Brain, who later got their own show, which I actually saw before Animaniacs. My favourites would either be Chicken Boo as he was the only animal who always worked alone, and also one of the only ones to never speak (which is ironic as he's always trying to be the most human) or maybe Mindy and Buttons, just because Mindy is so adorable and Buttons also is unique in that he never speaks.

 Also, on top of the 3 segments, they would also always have a 1 minute gag (just like Garfield's Quickies). They would cycle between "the Randy Beaman kid" who always talked about the outlandish stories his friend, Randy Beaman, would get into. The "Wheel of Morality" which would spit out a moral lesson for the kids which wouldn't be logical in the slightest. And "Good Idea, Bad Idea" where a monotone narrator compared good ideas to similar but worse ideas. If those don't sound funny, don't worry, they're a lot more comical actually watching them.

This show wasn't afraid to make fun of anything and everything. Nothing was safe from their cheesy, but admittedly funny, pop culture references. The characters worked pretty well off their partners and the humor was always pretty good. There was a special episode where they mixed everyone's partners up which was still funny but it just went to show that the partners were meant for eachother, and i couldn't imagine it any other way. Overall, this was a 94, you should see it. If you liked this or have something to say, please comment! Thanks for this and see you guys next week with THE POWERPUFF GIRLS OMG OMG OMG.

Garfield And Friends

 

  GARFIELD AND FRIENDS! This Saturday morning gem of comedy was one of the funniest shows I've seen and a worthy adaptation to the comic strip. It followed a structure I haven't talked about yet, that is the 3 Segments. 3 Segments structure is my favourite for lightehearted comedies such as this, and it does the show a lot of favours, The 22 minute runtime of each episode was made up of 3 segments, each 7 minutes. The first and the last segment of each episode would follow the exploits of Garfield Cat, his owner Jon Arbuckle, and Jon's other pet, Odie Dog. The middle segment (the "Friends" in the title) was based off a less popular comic strip that shared the same page in the newspapers as Garfield; that is, Orson's Farm. Both the Garfield and Orson's Farm segments were jampacked with hilarity and well worth waiting through 8 minutes of spread out commercials over the 30 minute slot.

  Garfield was a stereotype of a slacker; he's fat, all he ever does is eat lasagna (and every other food, besides raisins, he hates those), he hates Mondays, worships the television, and bullies Odie. Now, one sign of the strength of the writing is that ODIE DOESN"T SPEAK. Odie, the deuteragonist of the series, never says anything more than "*pant**pant* YEAH *pant* *pant*", and yet we are able to understand his communication with Garfield perfectly well; he gets irritated, but he's a tad bit too dumbly loyal to stay mad at his only pal. Jon is another character who is defined by his interactions with others, primarily girls and his pets. Jon is a bit of a pathetic, lonely man, he's never had a 2nd date with a woman (EVER), and he treats his pets more like his kids. Regardless of his faults, he's an innocent and likable man who you pity and laugh at at the same time.

  Orson's Farm carried more of an ensemble cast. You had Orson Pig, the straight man (straight pig?) who simply enjoys his books and keeps the farm running smoothly, Roy Rooster, a swindiling con-artist who's always trying new ways to get out of his work and make his friends' lifes living hell, Wade Duck, who is literally afraid of absolutely everything, Bo Sheep, the super chill and mellow dudeeee who's always arguing with his sister, Lanolin Sheep, the super tense overly-competitive clotheswasher (she is literally always washing clothes but none of them wear any, wtf) who's always arguing with her brother, and Booker and Sheldon, twin chicken brothers who just hatched, except for Sheldon who willingly chooses to never hatch, hence the name. *Get it SHELDon, hilarious*

On top of the 3 segments, the show also had a 1-minute "Garfield Quickie" or a 1-minute "Orson's Farm Quickie" every episode. Now the shows are pretty equal, except for the fact that Orson rarely crosses over to Garfield's show, yet Garfield is the special guest star amongst his "friends" every other episode. Mind you, Orson is less of a dominant "main character" than Garfield, but with twice the cast to compete with and half the screentime to work with, he doesn't have the time to be.

Now, I like this show for one reason and one reason only: The humour, It is ALWAYS bang on and can make me laugh like no tomorrow. They break the fourth wall often, which isn't everyone's cup of tea but it is mine, and both shows have great recurring characters. Nermal is the world's cutest cat and both his attempts to show that and Garfield's attempts to mail him to Abu Dhabi after he gets frustrated with him are amusing, to say the least. Orson's Farm was mostly driven by farm conflict, such as Orson's bullying older brothers trying to steal vegetables, or Roy's nemesis, The Weasel, trying to steal and cook the farm chickens. (Or sometimes it would just be Roy being a jerkwad). Garfield was driven by a completely new and different conflict every episode, every segment even. This is a must-watch, I rate it a 92/100,