Cartoon #12 is another cartoon I can't really say much about. In the mid 80's Nickelodeon aired a bunch of BBC and Canadian shows, I guess they had lots of slots to fill. I remember mostly enjoying You Can't Do That on Television, which was produced in Canada (and at one time Alanis Morrissette was amongst the cast), but the BBC stuff I just couldn't get into. It started with Danger Mouse, and from that came Count Duckula and...



I have a greater appreciation for British television now. Shows like DR. Who, and Torchwood were mainstays for me while they were on, and other things like Primeval and the In-Betweeners were also shows I liked. But back into the 80's I couldn't watch these shows. I hated the animation, and the British accents were offputting. Not only that, they looked dingy, and even the sound quality sucked. I just couldn't do it. As soon as I saw that Thames logo I knew it was time to change the channel.

So this ones brief. If anyone else remembers them, share your thoughts.

If anyone is still reading this, that is.

Wow. Count Duckula??? What a throwback. Vegetarian vampire duck who hated blood but would go nuts when he ingested some usually with encouragement from Igor. Oh and there was Nanny.

Hey we're almost done here, what will we do after I'm done with the original list?

Why, start a new list of course!

Cartoon #13 is The Herculoids!



The intro is the pretty standard action/adventure montage style of Hanna-Barbera shows from around that time. Originally airing on CBS Saturday mornings in 1967, The Herculoids starred a space family of Zandor, Tara, and Dorno, but the real fun was with their creature pets. You had Zok, a dragon who shot lasers from his eyes and tails (long before sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads). There was Igoo, a rock ape which is as cool as that sounds. Tundro, a ten-legged rhinoceratops or whatever who could shoot fire rocks from his horn (again, as awesome as it sounds). And Gloop and Gleep, two blobs that could morph into whatever the situation required. Not only was it a great show, but it was created by the amazing Alex Toth, who had come to Hanna-Barbera a year earlier with his creation, a little character named Space Ghost, you might have heard of. Toth also did designs for the SuperFriends shows, as well as created other characters such as Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. But Toth was also a legend in the comics industry. I won't talk more about him, just do a google searcg if you're curious.

The Herculoids only lasted one season, but it returned with new episodes in 1980 as part of an hour block of Hanna-Barbera sci-fi cartoons called Space Stars that included episodes of Space Ghost, the Herculoids, and several new creations:

Astro and the Space Mutts


Teen Force


Teen Force may've had one of my first "crushes" in Elektra (who amongst us doesn't have a thing for redheads in the superhero genre?) voiced by BJ Ward. And if that voice sounds familiar you may have also heard her as the voice of Wonder Woman in The Galactic Guardians show, or as Scarlett on GI Joe.



You don't really have to think hard to understand why NBC would want to run a space themed cartoon in 1981, just look at the scrolling graphics in the intro. One of the cool things about these shows is that they often crossed over so Space Ghost may show up in a Teen Force episode. These were all pretty cool in my childhood. Sixty laser blasting minutes of goodness! They also would eventually be in constant rotation on the USA Cartoon Express later on sans the over the top intro.

Man, these are the types of shows I wish still aired on Boomerang. I believe they did in the channels infancy if memory serves me correctly, but nowadays Boomerang doesn't air as much older cartoons as they used Maybe we need a Boomerang 2? Anyway, these are all available on DVD, or even some episodes on youtube, so if you've never seen they're worth checking out IMO.

Now I know how Doctor Fate felt all those years with his Lynda Carter thread. Someone share a cartoon!

One of my favorite cartoons from the 80's was Mighty Orbots, one of the earlier anime cartoons from japan that hit Saturday morning programming back then.

Nope. Can't say I've ever seen that. Anime was something I never really got into unless you count Voltron. I remember Battle of the Planets was on super early on Saturday mornings, like 6 or 7 AM, and I may've caught it on occassion, but it wasn't anything I had to see. The animation style never did much for me.

I know, I know. You've been constantly checking this thread with bated breath hoping for the next cartoon, just waiting with anticipation of the next glorious gabble. Well, fear not true believer because ahere we ago...

Here's cartoon #14...



Wow, that intro sucked. What does 90% of that have anything to do with the show? I honestly don't remember that season 1 intro but I'm kind of surprised it made it to a season two after that. I mean, if I came across that in 1984 at the age of 6 I'm pretty sure I would've checked out way before they even got to the Snorks. You've got colorful talking underwater creatures and you start your intro with a dude in a monastery reading a book about a 17th century ship attacked by pirates? I'm sorry, what's on CBS? Shirt Tales? Talking animals who fight crime? Ok, yeah, I'm watching that instead of some show about some guy reading a book or whatever this is going to be.

Here's the Snorks intro I'm familiar with:



See, took all of two seconds to get to the Snorks. And that show looks fun. Underwater Smurfs. That's how I always described them as a kid. And it's actually a lot more factual than even I realized. Belgian businessman Freddy Monnickendam had helped artist Peyo bring his creation, The Smurfs, to comics, and then to NBC. But Freddy and Peyo had some disagreements on the content, Peyo wanting the cartoon to be faithful to the comic while FM wanted the show to be more modern. This led to a legal dispute that eventually led to Monnickendam seeking to find a cartoon to compete with the Smurfs (at least Belgian waffles are nice). The Snorks first appeared in comic form in 1982 and FM acquired the rights and began the production of this Hanna-Barbera gem.

If you could breathe under water, where would you go?

If you had friends under water, who would you know?

Take notes on brevity, Hamlet. Inquiring minds want to know.

The Snorks were underwater creatures who had snorks on their heads that propelled them through the water when they didn't feel like walking. They included Allstar Seaworthy and his pet octopus named Occy (voiced by Frank Welker), his best friends Dimmy Finster, Casey Kelp (hey, BJ Ward again!), Daffney Gillfin (a young Nancy Cartwright of The Simpsons fame), Junior Wentworth, and Tooter (who could only communicate through honks from his snork). Let's see a Smurf bounce on their head, Peyo!

The Snorks lasted four seasons with over 50 episodes. It was also a constant fixture on the USA Cartoon Express and later as part of the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera Sunday morning block in the ealry 90's. It used to be on the Cartoon Network quite a bit back in the day, but now you'd have to resort to youtube or DVDs. It was a show I liked as kid, and if I came across it I'd probably watch it again. It was a very enjoyable show, kind of a much tamer crosss between Sponge Bob and The Smurfs.

So go along with the Snorks. Swim along with the Snorks. Have some fun with the Snorks.



That's Tooter, not Hootie!

I used to watch Snorks back in the day, it wasn't a bad show honestly. I had a few of the little figurines back then.

The Snorks surprisingly had a lot of merch back in the day. Figurines, dolls, lunchboxes...even boardgames!



Hell, after Reagan pulled all the FCC regulations on adevrtising to children in programming in '83 the floodgates opened. Without that there'd probably be no GI Joe, Transformers, MOTU, etc. None of TV action figures most of us grew up with and watched would probably exist. God bless Ronald Reagan and free market capitalism! Before that companies had to deal with tons of regulations (see the 1969 Hot Wheels cartoon https://tinyurl.com/9xubh6bz) but in 1983 it started with Pacman, and the rest as they say, is history. Yo Joe!