Not by a long shot. Syndicated 80s toons actually had good writing thanks to loser restrictions than what networks forced on production companied in the 60s and 70s.
>Syndicated 80s toons actually had good writing thanks to loser restrictions
Care to give examples? I don't deny your word but I'd like to see that myself.
They did indeed have looser restrictions compared to the 70s and late 60s, but most of the restrictions from the previous era that were removed were related to using TV characters to market products to children. It's why the 80s and 90s had so many cartoons hawking toylines. It didn't have much to do with the actual quality of the writing itself.
They saw the success of this business model on japan. Don't make cartoons of toys or toys as merch for cartoons, make cartoons ads for toys and make money while you're making money.
The fact that our imaginations were stimulated by nothing but ads stuffed with ads is an indictment on the shopping mall we built to replace society.
Japan didn't have anything to do with the decision. It was part of a broader push towards deregulation by the Reagan administration, and while American corporations were starting to look towards Japan for the secrets of their massive postwar industrial success, no one was interested in copying Japan for matters of public policy.
>Don't make cartoons of toys or toys as merch for cartoons, make cartoons ads for toys and make money while you're making money.
That's exactly what the 80s cartoon mentality was, with any exceptions being exceptions and not the norm. Cartoons were designed around how they could sell toys to kids first. Yes, even your favourite ones. It just so happened that Saban adapted some Japanese show about spandex wearing martial arts and it mogged the rest at their own business strategy.
>The few exceptions everyone brings up are the outliers, the crap was forgotten or memory holed.
You're not wrong, but isn't that true for every era?
In terms of animation yes, 1975-1990 is about the worst period in terms of quality of both story and animation.
At least anything from the 50s and lower can claim technological limitations - the 80s are known for simply being lazy.
>1975-1990 is about the worst period in terms of quality of both story and animation.
Barring a few exceptions, it's never really improved in regards to the latter either.
>Syndicated 80s toons actually had good writing thanks to loser restrictions
Care to give examples? I don't deny your word but I'd like to see that myself.
They did indeed have looser restrictions compared to the 70s and late 60s, but most of the restrictions from the previous era that were removed were related to using TV characters to market products to children. It's why the 80s and 90s had so many cartoons hawking toylines. It didn't have much to do with the actual quality of the writing itself.
You guys need to watch Inhumanoids or Visionaries. Easilr better than most 90s cartoons.
In terms of animation yes, 1975-1990 is about the worst period in terms of quality of both story and animation.
At least anything from the 50s and lower can claim technological limitations - the 80s are known for simply being lazy.
absolutely not.
Yhe CRIME of the 80s is simply "none of this is funny." and if it's trying to be funny it's like baby-ass slapstick on muppet babies or something. Honestly - what is the "funniest" 80s cartoon? It doesn't exist, and I mean like a cartoon that is intended to be so.
the early 90s can just openly mog most of everything the 80s could offer. Shows like swat kats, exosquad, batman TAS, xmen, spiderman... They are toyetic on a similar level but the production value and execution is so much better. Save for maybe Real Ghostbusters and early episodes of TMNT. (no coincidence they both survived into the early 90s) but then the real killer is when you start looking at the dedicated funny cartoons.
the CRIME of the 90s as a decade though was birthing the trend of insipid SOL cartoons.
This. People love the 90s but the only time I hear people praising then 80s is if they're old or when complaining about how cartoons just aren't like they used to be.
The 80s had a lot of great movies too. Robocop, Highlander, Top Gun, Predator, Ghostbusters, Bladerunner, Naked Gun etc.
90s was probably better for animated movies though.
Spider-Man and a lot of 90s Marvel cartoons really don't hold up on rewatch. They have good individual scenes but the actual direction is incredibly disjointed, like the shows never had an actual director.
[...]
[...]
You guys need to watch Inhumanoids or Visionaries. Easilr better than most 90s cartoons.
A lot of Transformers episodes have the same problems as 90s Spider-Man. Visionaries is okay but Skeleton Warriors from the 90s is really where it's at for toy shows. Inhumanoids is on par as well.
Outside of toy shows though, there's no competition with the likes of BTAS, ReBoot and 90s TV specials like Red Planet and Invasion America.
>They have good individual scenes but the actual direction is incredibly disjointed, like the shows never had an actual director.
That's what made them great kids cartoons, because kids are too young to give a frick about some arts major's idea of film theory, and the disjointed direction unironically kept kids hooked wondering what was going to happen next.
It's wrong to put that blame on Doug. Original Doug was a perfectly palatable show and actually shouldn't be compared to Disney's Doug. Recess and Proud Family are too spicy to be considered Doug-likes. Weekenders and Recess could go into their own genre.
As Told By Ginger, BraceFace, and Pepper Ann are shows aimed at pre-teen girls and are their own genre centered around the woes of female puberty.
Modern cartoons are a lot worse with Steven-likes. Ultra sensitive cartoons with very made in my mind for children, but actually are consumed by an adult Twitter audience.
This. People love the 90s but the only time I hear people praising then 80s is if they're old or when complaining about how cartoons just aren't like they used to be.
When people praise 90s cartoons, they typically are referring to Disney and Cartoon Network's golden age. I also see Rugrats conveniently missing and early Rugrats was the most popular show before Spongebob came on the scene.
Maybe not, like, "funny haha" but a lot of "that's a funny life situation" shit.
Is Mr. Dink turning into a Monster in doug's dream b/c grill "funny"? It's a funny idea to write into some gay cartoon show for kids on some brand new cable network you just were hired at.
>80s >captain planet
First off, captain planet is based as frick, it even talks about products that don't test on animals which is fricking rad. Whenever the theme song came on my kid ass popped off. Captain planet fricking owns. I can't really speak for the others because I grew up in the 90s. But I didn't care for most of these, but they probably meant something to other people. Unlike you I don't actively look for ways to shit on other people's happiness.
This guy again, now that I actually paid more attention to the thread -
https://i.imgur.com/Krhg8J1.png
Were the 80s, the worst decade in cartoon history?
OP are you moronic? Captain planet came out like 5 years after everything else there. It's a 90's show. They even had to change the intro because Linka couldn't be from the Soviet Union anymore, so they made it Eastern Europe instead
Get your shit together
GI Joe had some weirdly cynical and saterical episodes like Cobra hijacking all satellite signals so they could monopolize selling advertising time. You can write it off as a toy commercial and act like your gay Nickelodeon coming of age show was better, but that's being dishonest.
No, the 60s and it isn't even a joke. There's a reason Hanna Barbera rose to be the successful juggernaut that dominated TV in the 70s: the 60s were THAT bad
Nah, the 60s and 70s were way worse than anything before or after it.
The 2010s is such a disappointment, it came off to a good start with a lot of break-out shows that felt like they were pushing the envelope for what animated shows can be doing on networks. Shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, Bojack Horseman, RIck and Morty seemed like the begining of a new age (regardless if you liked them or not) but the momentum just died off and nothing else really came of it. Networks just got lazier and lazier, relying less on experimenting, trying new things or pushing for quality, but just relied more and more on safe, cheap, low quality and easy-to-produce content that would be as mass appealing as possible.
Only two of those shows you listed are solid throughout. That's Gravity Falls and Bojack Horseman. They concluded before they could fall into decay. Rick and Morty is not revolutionary and is just a reddit favorite, Adventure Time is not good throughout and Regular Show shouldn't even be listed.
No, the 60s/70s were. But that's a close second place.
But six of those were awesome.
Yeah because you were a kid who didn't know any better. Most of these have aged poorly
You aged poorly
Not by a long shot. Syndicated 80s toons actually had good writing thanks to loser restrictions than what networks forced on production companied in the 60s and 70s.
The early to mid 80s sucked
>Syndicated 80s toons actually had good writing thanks to loser restrictions
Care to give examples? I don't deny your word but I'd like to see that myself.
GI Joe ARAH had writers like Steve Gerber
"Web World" episode of Transformers.
>loser restrictions
Frick no, you're pulling this out of your ass. The few exceptions everyone brings up are the outliers, the crap was forgotten or memory holed.
They did indeed have looser restrictions compared to the 70s and late 60s, but most of the restrictions from the previous era that were removed were related to using TV characters to market products to children. It's why the 80s and 90s had so many cartoons hawking toylines. It didn't have much to do with the actual quality of the writing itself.
They saw the success of this business model on japan. Don't make cartoons of toys or toys as merch for cartoons, make cartoons ads for toys and make money while you're making money.
The fact that our imaginations were stimulated by nothing but ads stuffed with ads is an indictment on the shopping mall we built to replace society.
I thought Anime mostly followed a more sponsor-driven model, not unlike tv cartoons in the 50's/60's.
Japan didn't have anything to do with the decision. It was part of a broader push towards deregulation by the Reagan administration, and while American corporations were starting to look towards Japan for the secrets of their massive postwar industrial success, no one was interested in copying Japan for matters of public policy.
>Don't make cartoons of toys or toys as merch for cartoons, make cartoons ads for toys and make money while you're making money.
That's exactly what the 80s cartoon mentality was, with any exceptions being exceptions and not the norm. Cartoons were designed around how they could sell toys to kids first. Yes, even your favourite ones. It just so happened that Saban adapted some Japanese show about spandex wearing martial arts and it mogged the rest at their own business strategy.
Power Rangers was 90s
>The few exceptions everyone brings up are the outliers, the crap was forgotten or memory holed.
You're not wrong, but isn't that true for every era?
>1975-1990 is about the worst period in terms of quality of both story and animation.
Barring a few exceptions, it's never really improved in regards to the latter either.
Yes, i bet my ass and balls that in ten years there'll be people bringing up how great the 2000s and 2010s
You guys need to watch Inhumanoids or Visionaries. Easilr better than most 90s cartoons.
Captain Planet was 1990.
Are you serious?
kek frickin boomers
I love Jem
Vilppu has gone on record saying he hated working on Jem
In terms of animation yes, 1975-1990 is about the worst period in terms of quality of both story and animation.
At least anything from the 50s and lower can claim technological limitations - the 80s are known for simply being lazy.
No
more like the best. frick off zoomer.
ok boomer
It was the McDonald’s of animation: trash, but you loved it as a kid.
absolutely not.
Yhe CRIME of the 80s is simply "none of this is funny." and if it's trying to be funny it's like baby-ass slapstick on muppet babies or something. Honestly - what is the "funniest" 80s cartoon? It doesn't exist, and I mean like a cartoon that is intended to be so.
the early 90s can just openly mog most of everything the 80s could offer. Shows like swat kats, exosquad, batman TAS, xmen, spiderman... They are toyetic on a similar level but the production value and execution is so much better. Save for maybe Real Ghostbusters and early episodes of TMNT. (no coincidence they both survived into the early 90s) but then the real killer is when you start looking at the dedicated funny cartoons.
the CRIME of the 90s as a decade though was birthing the trend of insipid SOL cartoons.
This. People love the 90s but the only time I hear people praising then 80s is if they're old or when complaining about how cartoons just aren't like they used to be.
The 80s had a lot of great movies too. Robocop, Highlander, Top Gun, Predator, Ghostbusters, Bladerunner, Naked Gun etc.
90s was probably better for animated movies though.
Visionaries, Inhumanoids and even Transformers season 3 did darker "Toyetic" stories much better, though.
Spider-Man and a lot of 90s Marvel cartoons really don't hold up on rewatch. They have good individual scenes but the actual direction is incredibly disjointed, like the shows never had an actual director.
A lot of Transformers episodes have the same problems as 90s Spider-Man. Visionaries is okay but Skeleton Warriors from the 90s is really where it's at for toy shows. Inhumanoids is on par as well.
Outside of toy shows though, there's no competition with the likes of BTAS, ReBoot and 90s TV specials like Red Planet and Invasion America.
>They have good individual scenes but the actual direction is incredibly disjointed, like the shows never had an actual director.
That's what made them great kids cartoons, because kids are too young to give a frick about some arts major's idea of film theory, and the disjointed direction unironically kept kids hooked wondering what was going to happen next.
SOL cartoons?
Slice of life?
It's wrong to put that blame on Doug. Original Doug was a perfectly palatable show and actually shouldn't be compared to Disney's Doug. Recess and Proud Family are too spicy to be considered Doug-likes. Weekenders and Recess could go into their own genre.
As Told By Ginger, BraceFace, and Pepper Ann are shows aimed at pre-teen girls and are their own genre centered around the woes of female puberty.
Modern cartoons are a lot worse with Steven-likes. Ultra sensitive cartoons with very made in my mind for children, but actually are consumed by an adult Twitter audience.
When people praise 90s cartoons, they typically are referring to Disney and Cartoon Network's golden age. I also see Rugrats conveniently missing and early Rugrats was the most popular show before Spongebob came on the scene.
>90's cartoons
>funny
said no kid in the 90's, ever.
Maybe not, like, "funny haha" but a lot of "that's a funny life situation" shit.
Is Mr. Dink turning into a Monster in doug's dream b/c grill "funny"? It's a funny idea to write into some gay cartoon show for kids on some brand new cable network you just were hired at.
>80s
>captain planet
First off, captain planet is based as frick, it even talks about products that don't test on animals which is fricking rad. Whenever the theme song came on my kid ass popped off. Captain planet fricking owns. I can't really speak for the others because I grew up in the 90s. But I didn't care for most of these, but they probably meant something to other people. Unlike you I don't actively look for ways to shit on other people's happiness.
I want to do so many things to her it's not even real
This guy again, now that I actually paid more attention to the thread -
OP are you moronic? Captain planet came out like 5 years after everything else there. It's a 90's show. They even had to change the intro because Linka couldn't be from the Soviet Union anymore, so they made it Eastern Europe instead
Get your shit together
Yes! Have you seen these 80 shows?
Voltron was kino. He-Man was fine. And the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was decent.
I agree the 90s mog it; Animaniacs alone, man.
>Animaniacs alone
Animaniacs had like four jokes that they kept repeating.
>It's bad because they sold toys
GI Joe had some weirdly cynical and saterical episodes like Cobra hijacking all satellite signals so they could monopolize selling advertising time. You can write it off as a toy commercial and act like your gay Nickelodeon coming of age show was better, but that's being dishonest.
Hey Arnold only got good during the wacky episodes of later seasons. There, I said it. Fricking homosexual pretentious show of ass.
Hanna Barbara is complete ass and the reason boomers hate cartoons
Literally one of the only good shows from the 80s
There was no internet so everything was much more fun
You have to tell us which decade you think had the best cartoons in contrast.
No, the 60s and it isn't even a joke. There's a reason Hanna Barbera rose to be the successful juggernaut that dominated TV in the 70s: the 60s were THAT bad
>Were the 80s, the worst decade in cartoon history?
Companies keep rebooting 80's properties because of people still loving them.
Worst decade is 2010-2020 by a wide margin, what an absolute waste.
Nah, the 60s and 70s were way worse than anything before or after it.
The 2010s is such a disappointment, it came off to a good start with a lot of break-out shows that felt like they were pushing the envelope for what animated shows can be doing on networks. Shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, Bojack Horseman, RIck and Morty seemed like the begining of a new age (regardless if you liked them or not) but the momentum just died off and nothing else really came of it. Networks just got lazier and lazier, relying less on experimenting, trying new things or pushing for quality, but just relied more and more on safe, cheap, low quality and easy-to-produce content that would be as mass appealing as possible.
Only two of those shows you listed are solid throughout. That's Gravity Falls and Bojack Horseman. They concluded before they could fall into decay. Rick and Morty is not revolutionary and is just a reddit favorite, Adventure Time is not good throughout and Regular Show shouldn't even be listed.
I'm not really sure if you understand my post, specifically the "(regardless if you liked them or not)" part.
the 00's to 20's were pretty bad
Imagine all that would've been avoided if John Hinckley Jr. had better aim.
Were the 80s, the best decade in cartoon history?
FTFY