Top Ten Cartoons in the 80s
We all sat in front of the tube watching cartoons while growing up, but today, most of those shows we’ll never admit to having liked (Gummi Bears, anyone?). But there are at least a few that we can still admit to having watched without sounding like we were dorks:
10 Inspector Gadget (1982-1986). What people most remember about this show is the theme song, and of course, when he said “Go go gadget (fill in the blank)!” This clumsy, absent-minded and oblivious detective, along with his dog Brain, battles Dr Claw. Check out the opening of the show in German:
9 Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991). Based on the 1984 megablockbuster Ghostbusters, this series continues the adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Dr. Ray Stantz, their secretary Janine and their mascot ghost Slimer. All the kids in my neighborhood ran around wearing proton packs. Did you know that Arsenio Hall did the voice of Winston?
8 Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1984). Out of all these cartoons, perhaps the only one that taught us any moral values. Bill Cosby’s creation ran for 12 years, far longer than most shows. Who can forget the North Philly Junkyard Gang with Fat Albert, Mushmouth, Dumb Donald and Weird Harold? Hey hey hey!
7 G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983-1987). This show, which made kids want to join the army and fight Cobra, actually had two runs by different companies, after starting off as a mini-series. Favorite character, Snake Eyes, the ninja. Sgt. Slaughter of wrestling fame was a great addition to this cast of characters.
6 Thundercats (1985-1990). Here we follow the adventures of the eponymous team of cat-like humanoid aliens from the planet of Thundera. Thundercats, ho!
5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-96). Four wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes named after Renaissance artists fight the forces of evil from their sewer hideout. Who can forget Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and their mutant rat leader Master Splinter? And, of course, the oh-so-hot April O’Neil.
4 Duck Tales (1986-1991). Huey, Dewey and Louie move in with Uncle Scrooge and outright hilarity ensues. Favorite character: Launchpad McQuack, who crashed every plane he flew. And let’s not forget those crazy masked Beagle Boys, who always tried to steal from Scrooge’s money pit.
3 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1987). By the power of Grayskull, I have the power! He-man and his band of merry men face off against Skelator. The spin-off, She-Ra: Princess of Power, was good too only cause She-Ra was hot. What ruined this show was the addition of Orko, that red alien character brought in for comic relief. My favorite toy was Battle Cat.
2 Transformers (1984-88). Generation 1 lasted from 1984-1987, as the More than meets the eye guys feature the Autobots with Optimus Prime against the Decepticons with Megatron. Anyone remember the GoBots? They actually came first, but when Transformers came around, GoBots got Betamaxed.
1 Voltron, Defender of the Universe (1984-1987). There were two variations of Voltron in the early seasons… the vehicle Voltron and the robotic lions. Haggar the witch split it into five parts, each a large robotic lion. One day Keith, a space explorer, found the parts and reassembled them. With his friends, Voltron was revived to protect the planet Arus once again from evil forces.
Honorable mentions: MASK, Dungeons and Dragons, Superfriends, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling, Heathcliff, Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, Scooby Doo, Smurfs.
Notes about the list: It’s obviously for guys, so I left off Care Bears, Rainbow Brite and My Little Pony. Considering there were literally hundreds of cartoons back in the 80s, this list was extremely difficult to make, and I had to leave off some of my favorites, like Muppet Babies, because the Gunaxin audience would never admit to watching that, even though you did, you pansies. And yes, the Simpsons technically came out in the 80s, but it’s quite clear the difference between that and the above cartoons. For more great cartoons from your childhood, check out Cuzoogle’s list.
Everyone knows that the #1 Superguy…I mean cartoon of the 80’s was Hong Kong Phooey! He’s quicker than the human eye!
hong kong phooey is from the 70’s it was part of the great grape ape hour.
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I could swear I just saw this on Cuzoogle last week.
Great list, but Transformers should have had #1…
Oh come on guys, I know it wasn’t a “cartoon” but how could you leave out ol’ Fraggle Rock?!?!
WHERE THE FUCK IS CAPTAIN PLANET
No TaleSpin? WTF?
This list is for guys? Guess I’m in trouble then. Two X chromosomes here and yet I still watched most of these cartoons when I was younger.
I’M WITH CRUDESPOOGE CAPTAIN PLANET SHOULD BE #1 OR ATLEAST #2 BEFORE TRASFORMERS. AND WHAT ABOUT GUMBY
*PeeWee
No Robotech? Really? List fails then.
I can’t believe there’s no mention of Thundarr the Barbarian. It was violent, evil, and who could forget Ookla the Mok. You’re missing out if you don’t remember.
Nailed it. Voltron was my all time favorite. I was never into the mainstream cartoons that everyone like, even though they were classics. I enjoyed the ones that were more obscure and just had that bit more of a sci-fi feel to it as Voltron did. Defenders of the Earth should have gotten a mention IMHO, but the list is good as is.
Oh and just to inform some of you… Captain Planet was made in 1990, thus does not qualify for a 80s top 10.
I like Voltron, Defender of the Universe . very strong.
Oh and BraveStarr was another classic worth mentioning
Wow, I never could handle the teenage mutant ninja turtles.
Fail no robotech!!
I loved Robotech and Voltron!
1. the other ghostbusters
2. jem and the holograms ( blue hair tweener s hot xD )
3. mask
4. visionaries
5. arbegas
6. saber rider and the star sheriffs
7. dinosaucers
8. silver hawks
9. gumby
10. bionic six
Oh and BraveStarr was another classic worth mentioning
What about Dino Riders! Anyone ever watch that…
Great list, obviously a lot of cartoons were left out of the list, and I think Transformers should be # 1 and Thundercats # 2.
The sad thing is that almost half of these cartoons have an awful movie adaptation: Inspector Gadget sucks, Transformers was so-so (I hope the sequel would be better), TMNT has awful adaptations (the first was OK, the sequels suck and the animated one too), and I think that GI Joe adaptation would suck too.
Voltron was *first* the 5 lions. That’s the classic Voltron. Later seasons were the poser vehicles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltron
yeesh.
David is right and the author of this article obviously was not watching enough Voltron to know that the Lions came first, followed by the vehicle version (land air and Sea teams) and then short lived as it might have been there was three robot version that combined to form a voltron as well.
Now this said, good on you fo rputting it in there, easily top three worthy but I think Transformers pretty much should always grab the number one spot.
And I, A Jem and She-ra fan, know this… so the author has no excuse.
Captain Planet? People enjoyed a show where a guy fought pollution? Lame. This list is pretty solid save for the fact that the original TMNT should have been closer to number 1.
This list isn’t for guys, girls’ shows just sucked royally back then.
No THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN? What’s up with that?
Hey dummies. Captain Planet and Tale Spin started in 1990. Therefore, not relevant to this post. Check imdb before you start complaining.
kbai.
they don’t make em like this anymore. Cartoons & tv now a days are crap. sure some programs are in hd but they lack soul, everything is just terrible
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Thanks for pointing out the Voltron snafu, people. A source that claimed to be an expert had it wrong, too, and I listened.
What was the cartoon from the 80’s that had 3 giant robots, each controlled by a person in a small, jet-powered craft that would slot into the head of the robot? Once docked the human could control the entire giant robot to battle the evil-doers with rockets ‘n shit. I was hoping this article was going to reference it. I seem to remember there was even a (typical in those days) goofy monkey that got his own retarded robot at some point during the series.
I actually mentioned this one to my wife the other night and she had never seen it, but it was one of my favorites during early my jr. high school years. I can’t remember the name of the show – if anyone else remembers please speak up. Thanks in advance.
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Wow…where is Robotech?! I thought Fat Albert was more of a 70’s topic cartoon that somehow just lasted into the 80’s when it was already losing its momentum…and Voltron…….weren’t the two versions the: a) the five lions (form feet and legs, form arms and body…and I’ll form….THE HEAD) and b) the multi-intergalactic one, where it seems each galaxy had a ship that when all put together, it forms Voltron…????
Hey, you left out the animated Alf (with Alf Tales)! For those of you who don’t remember, the first half of the Alf hour was his life on Melmac and the second half was Alf Tales, where classic fairytales were redone with the Melmac characters. The animated show was good, although not as excellent as the Alf comic by Marvel. The Alf Tales version of Cinderella is one of the best retellings. Also, the cartoon version had a vastly better theme song than the primetime Alf.
To robotcartoon: sorry, I can’t help you with the title, but the show does sound familiar, so you’re not crazy.
What about Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dogtanian and Willy Fog!
Missing a few more
1. Pirates of Dark Water
2. Saber Riders and the Star Sheriff
3. Starcom
4. Alfred J Kwak
5. Sky Commander
6. Silver Hawk
7. Centurions
8. Tale spin
9. Mazinger Z
10. M.A.S.K
[...] as a child of the ’80’s, cartoons these days suck bag. Gunaxin is just incredible: The Top 10 Cartoons in the 1980’s! He-Man, G.I. Joe, fucking Voltron, hells [...]
[...] Top ten cartoons of the 80s – [Gunaxin] [...]
anyone remember C.O.P.S?
IM LOOKING FOR A CARTOON IN THE 80S THERES A GUY WHO GET INTO A ROBO & THAT ROBOT GETS INTO ANOTHERONE
What about Bravestarr and Lucky Luke.
SAMURAI PIZZA CATS, SABRE RAIDERS, GALAXY RANGERS. just two that you missed out that was kool to watch back in the day.Captain Planet came out in 1990 so that just missed the 80’s.O and DENVER THE LAST DINOSAUR haha. Then Gargoyles, But that didn’t come out till 1994.Arthur And The Knights Of Justice 1992. But yeah… Man i miss those days.
ROBOTCARTOON I think the cartoon you are looking for is called CHALLENGE OF THE GOBOTS,Or Gobots for short. hope you get this.
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