Top 10 TV Cartoons of the 80’s…

Hey, everybody.

Self-professed animation nerd here; with a birthday in the 80s.

So, what child of the 80s didn’t enjoy a plethora of syndicated animation (with the toys, VHSes, comic books, and occasional story books that went with them)?

Grab a bowel of sugary cereal and some milk, grab your favorite action figure, Cabbage Patch Kid, or stuffed animal and travel with me back to my childhood with some of my favorite animated series’; in the form of a “Top 10.”

*This is for FIRST-RUN 80’s cartoons. Memories of the “U.S.A. Cartoon Express” and reruns of old favorites from the 60s-70s might be explored in a later list, depending on how many reads this can get.

10. “THE PAW PAWS”/”PAW PAW BEARS” (Hanna-Barbera)

“The Smurfs” may have been incredibly huge in the 1980s. I was one of very few who was NOT a fan.

Nonetheless, the popularity of “The Smurfs” prompted their creators at Hanna-Barbera to try time and again to recreate their success with a plethora of other “cute” Saturday morning cartoons (in much the same way that the same “Hanna-Barbera” saw the success of their own “Scooby-Doo” in the late 60s and tried to reproduce its success with any number of cookie-cutter teen sleuths, and anthropomorphic sidekicks, in the 70s).

At any rate, even if I only enjoyed a couple of episodes of “The Smurfs,” even I could pick a personal favorite “cute” cartoon.

Enter “The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera” and my introduction to “The Paw Paws”/”Paw Paw Bears” (the show’s title card and theme song disagree with one another).

“The Paw Paws” pitted a village of (almost stereotypically Native American) Bear braves against a wicked trio of Native-American-knockoff Bears calling themselves “The Meanos” and led by Dark Paw. No matter what half-baked scheme Dark Paw came up with, however, Princess Paw Paw could use her Mystic Moonstone to awaken the village’s personal “Megazord” in the forms of Totem Eagle, Totem Turtle, and the mighty Totem Bear. Other “good” Paw Paws included Laughing Paw, Brave Paw, and Trembly Paw.

A group of cartoon bears in (almost offensive) Native American get-up did wind up on Sunday mornings; yet, something about the concept hooked me (it could be that, at about three, I was crushing on the princess). Anyway, of everything for Warner Archive Collection to turn around and actually release, imagine my surprise when, in the Summer of 2019, “The Paw Paws” could join my DVD collection to be enjoyed all over again…

9). THUNDARR, THE BARBARIAN (Ruby-Spears).

“In 1994, a runaway comet hurdles between Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction! Man civilization is cast in ruin!

2000 years later, Earth is REBORN! A strange new world rises from the old; a world of SAVAGERY, SUPER-SCIENCE, and SORCERY!...”

A). I think those of us who were born at the time all SLEPT through such a cataclysmic event…

B). 3094 was just so awesome that savagery, “science” (technology), AND sorcery could all coexist SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Such was the premise of ABC’s (later rebroadcast on NBC) “Thundarr the Barbarian.”

I was introduced to THIS one by sheer accident as it debuted in 1980 and I wouldn’t be born yet for another four years.

Nevertheless, one day, I was in “Movie Outpost” as my very first video-rental chain. I had correctly recognized a VHS box for “Filmation’s Ghostbusters;” then, somewhere in its near vicinity, was a box showing an animated blonde swordsman…

I couldn’t (really) read (much) yet and thought that I had stumbled upon yet another “He-Man…” VHS that I hadn’t rented yet. I was mistaken; and was pleasantly surprised by what I had found instead.

The VHS that I had found of “Thundarr” consisted of either 5 or 6 episodes; and prepared me for the day when TNT would very briefly pick up reruns or when I could occasionally catch other episodes on Cartoon Network. Other than that, I was afraid I’d never find a chance to see the entire series.

…Instead, it became the FIRST series of DVDs that I would purchase from Warner’s Made-on-Demand DVD arm, “Warner Archive Collection;” then the recent Bluray releases as well.

Thundarr was a loud, boisterous barbarian with little understanding of old Earth who carried the mystic Sunsword as his weapon. Ookla, the Mok, was wookie-type strong creature who couldn’t even speak in discernible English. The vivacious Princess Ariel was their guide through this “new” Earth as her ancestors had lived on “old” Earth; and she was literate enough to read about the older civilization. This trio contended with many evil wizards with “Gemini” being their only iconic “return” enemy; and most of those “wizards” surrounded themselves with mechanical armies to justify Thundarr and company’s rampant destruction of the evil enemy hordes…

By the way, no, the stretch between Thundarr, The Barbarian and his mystic Sunsword and my own parody of “Hanna, the Barberian” and her fabulous Ruby Spears was not a very far one.

8. MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND (M.A.S.K.) (DIC)

Dic Entertainment (Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, Popples, The Littles, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, C.O.P.S.) came out of France and deposited quite a few great cartoons onto North American soil.

ONE such cartoon, proving modestly successful and memorable thanks to a great theme song, the lowkey fusion of the ideas of G.I. JOE (two conflicting groups of human specialists) and Transformers (transforming vehicles), and a great toyline from Kenner was the adventures of philanthropist/super-secret agent Matt Tracker and the men and…woman (“Gloria Baker; Champion Racedriver, Blackbelt in Kungfu…”) of Mobile Armored Strike Kommand (sic).

M.A.S.K. lasted for its standard 65 episode first season; plus a notoriously painful 10-episode second “season” that replaced adventure and intrigue with…racing. From there; thank you, reruns. (Like most of these cartoons, I was born a little too late to remember them from their first runs. Example: I’m almost positive that M.A.S.K. debuted in ’85. I would have been between 4 and 16 MONTHS old! Anyway, I swear that going back as far as 1990 when M.A.S.K. would have been 5 years old, WGN out of Chicago was STILL airing rebroadcasts at around 5:00; just before “Charles in Charge.”)

Tracker and his semi-diverse team of specialists pitted themselves up against the criminal machinations of Miles Mayhem and V.E.N.O.M. (the Vicious Evil Network Of…well, Mayhem…) in their OWN transforming vehicles and super-powered masks on a syndicated basis. Oh; and whilst juggling battling V.E.N.O.M., they constantly had to lowkey babysit Matt’s mischievous son, Scott, and his mechanical sidekick/scooter transportation, T-Bob (a robot SO obnoxious that he manages to unseat Scrappy-Doo, Orko, Filmation’s Bat-Mite, and MAYBE The Thundercats’ Snarf from the throne of being “Most Obnoxious.”)

I had only one M.A.S.K. VHS in my youth, consisting of two episodes. Scott was surprisingly obedient in those two episodes and came and went as soon as the mission started, so I honestly didn’t remember how disobedient the kid was, thereby constantly needing rescued in the middle of a mission, until the advent of DVD when I could watch the WHOLE series.

Back then, the theme song was awesome (still accurate), the toys were good (yep), and it didn’t take much effort from an action cartoon to keep my attention. Rewatching it now, the voice actors constantly sound bored and half-asleep; especially in the first handful of episodes, and Scott and T-Bob are far more detrimental and obnoxious than I remembered. I always liked the computer-call-up scenes when Matt used his computer to “select the M.A.S.K. agents most suitable for a mission;” and my appreciation of seeing those scenes still stands to this day.

7. CENTURIONS: POWER X-TREME (RUBY SPEARS)

A pulse-pounding, memorable intro to set the scene for each adventure. Human specialists. Mechanical exo-frames and weapons systems to super-charge said specialists. Cybernetic villains and their mechanical empires that, therefore, were reasonably expendable beneath animated laser blasts and explosions. Cool stock cutscenes to save a little money on storytelling. “POWER EXTREME!” Oh; and the desk-commander for “The Centurions” who gave them their missions and supplied their weapons was Crystal Kane; a woman for girls wanting to see a woman in a leadership role; and a GORGEOUS woman for the eyes of a young boy to behold.

Okay; I was a little older when I first saw “Centurions.” (Fine; I was fifteen and Cartoon Network had finally moved its way into my local TV market). That being said, even I knew that I was seeing something great for the first time!

The Centurions and their powerful weapons systems did battle with the cybernetic Doc Terror, his assistant, Hacker, and their mechanical armies for the respectable syndicated season of 65 episodes. Their adventures were enough that several two-parters were built in; culminating in a FIVE-PART finale. Throughout a vast majority of the series, there were THREE Centurions specializing in land, sea, and air combat. By the end, they had added another TWO specialists in energy and stealth. (The one bad thing that I’ll say about Centurions is that those particular episodes were WAY out of order. Example: I’m spitballing here but I think that the final two Centurions suddenly began sporadically popping up around episode 35 if not 40. They weren’t INTRODUCED, let alone shown joining the team, until the FINALE [episodes 60-65]).

Oh; and while most cartoons at the time used the final 30 seconds to display a moral segment, “The Centurions” used SCIENCE factoids to cap off their adventures. (Sadly, only very few Science Facts made it off of the cutting-room floor when “The Centurions” were released on DVD. Maybe a BLU-RAY can come along and rectify that…)

6. THUNDERCATS (Lorimar-Telepictures).

I am going to take some heat for this; and maybe I deserve some.

“Thundercats is NOT Number 1. It hasn’t broken into the Top 3. It just barely missed the Top FIVE!”

Accurate on all counts; I’m only going by personal enjoyment here as MY list.

The very first season of Thundercats was nothing short of iconic and DESERVES its place in animated lore as the Thundercats navigated their new planet of Third Earth and took on the Evil Mutants of Plundarr and the Metamorphic Mummy god of Evil, Mumm-Ra. Without the success of a Thundercats Season ONE, there may have never been “Silverhawks” or “Tigersharks.”

Lorimar-Telepictures had a great thing going in the first season. They then KEPT it going.

Season 2 introduced three new Thunderian nobles; plus added Snarf’s even-MORE-obnoxious-nephew, Snarfer, to the Thundercats team. This would have been all well-and-good; if the writing were anywhere CLOSE to the same on the stories ever again.

Instead, Seasons 2, 3, and FOUR relied very heavily on Five-Part adventure stories that seemed fairly well-written to kick off either season with an appropriate “bang.” From there, ANY episodes in BETWEEN these five-part serials PALED in comparison to anything that Season One had presented viewers with.

So recycled animation/ideas/stories, slipping writing, and “Snarf-Snarf” finally made Thundercats slightly less memorable to me than it could have been. If Lorimar had seen the greatness of Season 1 and either kept THAT UP or stopped at Season 1 before moving on to “Silverhawks” and “Tigersharks” as distinct nods to a working great idea, “Thundercats” could have ranked higher…

I’m going to break momentum HERE for my honorable mentions, as my TOP five ‘toons are pretty constant whereas the bottom half of the list finds itself in a consistent state of flux…

*FOOFUR (Hanna-Barbera)- (Blue dog and other assorted strays live in house and have the absolute “G”-est of G-rated “adventures.” They occasionally have to avoid the dog catchers and…real estate lady. [Remember; this is an “abandoned” HOUSE that they live in]. Of everything for me to look forward to on Saturday mornings, THIS is what I remember waiting for).

*Filmation’s Ghostbusters (ANYTHING by Filmation had my young attention; and memories of a great youth caused that opinion to stick. I'll still binge these DVDs each October. Besides, FILMATION’s Ghostbusters was the official spinoff to their own comedy series of the 70s. Now, there’s not much to be said for two humans and a Ghostbusting GORILLA, headquartered in an office surrounded by obnoxiously wacky gimmicks, and taking on THE SAME spooks every afternoon for one season [the fact that the *AHEM* “Real” Ghostbusters based on the movies lasted for far too MANY seasons speaks for itself in how commercially successful the two were against one another).

*GALTAR AND THE GOLDEN LANCE (Hanna-Barbera)- (Galtar was a great inclusion to the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera block. My dad and I both really enjoyed watching it together between the animation and writing. With age, “Thundarr…” has taken Galtar’s former spot on the list).

*C.O.P.S. (DIC)- (Baldwin P. “Bulletproof” Vess leads the Central Organization of Police Specialists against Big Boss and his gang of crooks. The opening and closing title sequences were both great; and Hasbro made a great companion line of toys. Oh; also, I was crushing on the C.O.P.S.’s Mainframe and Crooks’ Nightshade).

*Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors (DIC)- (I have REALLY tried to watcht his one again; and, aside from outstanding opening and closing sequences, it has aged the WORST out of all of these. A young Luke-Skywalker-knockoff leads something called “The Lightning League” against Sawboss and a group of vegetable/humanoid hybrids who shapeshift into vehicles).

5. SILVERHAWKS (Lorimar)

“Talleeee-Hawwwk!

Wings of Silver, Nerves of Steel…;”

Huh; where am I?

Oh; I’m okay now. (Hey, you’re lucky that I didn’t start subjecting you to the lyrics to M.A.S.K.).

Anyway, “Silverhawks” came to us from the same production company (and voice actors) who brought us “Thundercats.” Quicksilver, Tally-Hawk, and Silverhawks contended with Mon*Star and his evil mob for a respectable season of 65 episodes.

Kenner also had a great line of figures; and now, Super7 has picked up the license…

“Hold up; 130 episodes of Thundercats TRUMPS 65 episodes for Silverhawks; especially when, on technicality, Thundercats was split up into FOUR separate seasons rather than just two!”

…Again, this is MY list.

I honestly preferred the characters on Silverhawks; especially the villains. I also (dare I say) thought that Silverhawks had the better theme song and opening credits.

Following each episode of Silverhawks, the Copper Kidd went through a quiz on space/astronomy that the viewers at home went through as well.

4. FAT ALBERT (FILMATION)

“…Hey hey hey; but what about…?”

Oh; I did promise that this would TRY to stick to the 80s, didn’t I?

“The New Fat Albert Show” did run on CBS Saturday Mornings into the 80s. Besides, around 84, Filmation produced FIFTY new episodes just for syndication. That would be an “80s” toon in my book…

“Okay; cool. But I meant, what about…?”

Oh, yeah; the “Cosby” thing…

I am willing to distinguish between a CARTOON character of “Fat” Albert Johnson and his creator, voice actor, and live-action interfiller of Dr. Bill Cosby. Besides, this was a simpler time in America BEFORE we knew the dark truth about Cosby. And, at the time, “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” were breaking new ground for Saturday mornings.

That being said, yes, it is best to view “Fat Albert…” through the eyes of a child willing to distinguish between the lessons that he learned and taught and the man who brought him into being…

3. BRAVESTARR (FILMATION)

Bravestarr would, tragically, be Filmation Studios’ final cartoon before closing its doors for good.

The same company responsible for “He-Man” couldn’t always be as commercially successful with other franchises. Nonetheless, I appreciated Bravestarr for what it brought to the table. It was quite a bit darker and grittier looking than, for instance, “She-Ra” or the aforementioned “He-Man.” I kind of did appreciate the darker, grittier tones.

I did advise you in a previous post to at least YouTube some episodes for free. I would personally recommend “The Price,” “Tex’s Terrible Night,” “Fallen Idol,” or “Tex, But No Hex.”

2. G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERCIAN HERO (SUNBOW)

“Yohhhh, Johhhhh!”

I heard the battle-cry come from the TV and I KNEW that something epic was about to happen.

G.I. Joe battled Cobra Commander and his forces throughout MUCH of the 80s, be it in first-run or reruns; on the T.V. or in the battlefield of the living room, thanks to Hasbro’s great toyline.

It was one thing to watch G.I. Joe’s animated adventures; it was something else to play them out with figures that I never saw on the T.V. screen (I didn’t start collecting until I was 4 in ’88. THAT was a little late to find Duke, Snake-Eyes, Scarlet, Zartan, or the Chrome-Masked Cobra Commander on the shelves at “Big Wheel.”) It was ANOTHER LEVEL altogether to sit down and begin WRITING OTHER ADVENTURES for G.I. Joe once the established adventures were off the air for the day…

That brings us to…

1. HE-MAN/SHE-RA in an INFINITE TIE (FILMATION)

The first cartoons that I ever watched when I learned how the controller worked and discovered animation.

As I recall, “He-Man” always came on first and taught me morals, to help others in need, and, even with great strength, to use violence as a last resort.

Along came “She-Ra” that I could appreciate for standing up to a greater threat in the form of “The Evil Horde” who actually RULED a majority of her planet. I also appreciated…well…OTHER qualities about her series.

…So there’s my Top Ten list of favorite cartoons to run syndicated throughout the 80s.

Depending on the response to this list, I might one day turn around and do another Top 10 in the form of “Top 5 Cartoons that U.S.A.’s Cartoon Express Introduced Me To and Top Five Cartoons That Cartoon NETWORK Introduced Me To.”

As always, thanks for reading…