• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

No more Saturday morning cartoons.

The ones that stand out to me were The Herculoids, Space Ghost, Underdog, George of the Jungle, the ones based on DC and marvel comics, and the various WB and HB re-packagings.
 
With cable stations and more picking up the slack where the networks left off, it’s not surprising that the major stations would replace early morning weekend programming with new entries. It’s sad, though, that an entire generation of kids is missing out on lazy Saturdays filled with excellent cartoons like The Smurfs, Muppet Babies, Recess, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby Doo, Where Are You?, Pepper Ann, and much, much more.
Whoever wrote that must be a youngster. My Saturday morning cartoons were The Bugs Bunny Show, Mighty Mouse, Little Lulu and Casper the Friendly Ghost. And all the Hanna-Barbera stuff: Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Jetsons.

Ahhh yes... Saturday mornings were made for sugary cereals, mom sleeping late and dad off to play golf...
I hated sugary cereals. I was always more of a cornflakes, Chex and Cheerios kid.
 
Were Swap Shop and Tiswas before your time? :)

The dedicated teatime programming was great in that it started about 3.45 for the yopunger kids and got more adult as the minutes passed, starting with Rainbow and its ilk and ending up with Grangehill!

The trouble with dedicated kids channels is that (some) children can effectively watch TV all day, whereas in my day once you his about 5.45 in an afternoon you either had to watch the news or go out and play!
Swap Shop was just about before my time.

I do remember bits and pieces of Tiswas, though. Mostly the theme tune. And Sally James. :)
I remember both Swap Shop and Tiswas (and Sally James ;-)), I can also remember Posh Paws the dinosaur and John Craven's jumpers on Swap Shop and the Phantom Flan Flingers on Tiswas. I used to love Saturday Mornings as a young child. For me it was watching either Champion the Wonderhorse or Zorro on the BBC before Swap Shop started. Then I'd channel hop between BBC and ITV watching bits and pieces of the two shows that interested me including cartoons like Battle of the Planets and Godzilla on Swap Shop, the road show with Keith Chegwin and interviews with genuine A list celebrities such as the main cast of the Empire Strikes Back on one occasion (Including Harrison Ford) and then switching over to ITV in time to watch Batman followed by a Canadian show called the Beachcombers. How I miss those days.

Funnily enough I was just thinking about Champion the Wonder horse!

anyone else remember the banana splits?

Were Swap Shop and Tiswas before your time? :)

The dedicated teatime programming was great in that it started about 3.45 for the yopunger kids and got more adult as the minutes passed, starting with Rainbow and its ilk and ending up with Grangehill!

The trouble with dedicated kids channels is that (some) children can effectively watch TV all day, whereas in my day once you his about 5.45 in an afternoon you either had to watch the news or go out and play!
Swap Shop was just about before my time.

I do remember bits and pieces of Tiswas, though. Mostly the theme tune. And Sally James. :)

I'm old enough to remember Swap Shop. Though of course as kids we tended to watch BBC1 after school up until The Six O'Clock news, when we all switched over to BBC2 for the likes of Star Trek, Buck Rogers etc...

Assuming one of those shows were on, and it might be just once a week (ah Wednesday evenings were Star Trek nights)
 
I LIKED X-Men Evo more than the FOX series...

Well, you're wrong :p

No, he's right.

The Fox series was badly animated and horribly voiced ( I wanted to slap the woman who voiced Storm) and just unwatchable, and the only reason the writing "worked" was because they lifted the stories whole from the comics, which were done infinitely better.

I also remember watching and loving Web Woman.
"Insects of the world...small creatures of the cosmos...lend me your powers--NOW!"

The Herculoids, were a part of my Saturday morning, Speed Buggy and The Krofft Supershow, my favorite on that show was Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon were great.

God, I am old. Those shows, except the Herculoids, all started in the mid 70's.

That doesn't mean they were bad...
 
I LIKED X-Men Evo more than the FOX series...

Well, you're wrong :p

No, he's right.
Your opinion.
The Fox series was badly animated and horribly voiced ( I wanted to slap the woman who voiced Storm)
As apposed to Halle Berry, she was fantastic. And X-Men's Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, and Gambit are my definitive voices when I read the comics.
and just unwatchable...
:eek:?
 
Last edited:
I also remember watching and loving Web Woman.
"Insects of the world...small creatures of the cosmos...lend me your powers--NOW!"

The Herculoids, were a part of my Saturday morning, Speed Buggy and The Krofft Supershow, my favorite on that show was Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon were great.

God, I am old. Those shows, except the Herculoids, all started in the mid 70's.

That doesn't mean they were bad...

They weren't bad, I loved every cheesy minute of them. I even have Thundarr the Barbarian, Dungeons on Dragons and The Secrets of Isis on DVD.

I guess if you're not old enough to remember having to change channels, three channels, to watch different cartoons and knowing all your friends were doing the same thing, you don't get the sadness of this loss.

My generation didn't have schedules as kids. In the summer we were outside most of the day and only came inside to eat and use the bathroom. We drank water from the hose. At least one person had a dog that everybody loved. We played kickball, even though we didn't have enough people to make up one team; ghost runners took your place when your turn to kick came up again.

We didn't have Soccer Moms, we just had Moms who brought out sandwiches around lunch time, enough for all of us kids. If we were in sports in the summer, like I was in CYO baseball, games were played on Sunday after the last Mass. Unsportsmanlike conduct was NOT tolerated and your own coach pulled you from the game for it; and everyone got a chance to play, it was in the rules.

So Saturday morning was all ours. No coaches, no teachers even our parents left us alone as along as we kept quiet or out of the way. Cartoons were geared towards kids, not adults, except Bugs Bunny, Popeye and Tom and Jerry since they were made much earlier and for adults. The live action shows had moral lessons to teach us.

And the shows were for the very young to early teens; incredibly silly to action packed, simple or complicated (complicated for young viewers). Maybe it is nostalgia that gives Saturday mornings their unwavering appeal to me, but it was a special time. It was event programing made only for kids. There was even a special program that aired the Friday before to preview all the new shows. Who really does that anymore?
 
The Fox series was badly animated and horribly voiced ( I wanted to slap the woman who voiced Storm)
As apposed to Halle Berry, she was fantastic.

Are you kidding? I didn't hear anybody else verbally acting that horribly until I saw Padma Lakshmi in that Star Trek Enterprise episode a dozen years later. She was the main reason the show was unwatchable.
 
The Fox series was badly animated and horribly voiced ( I wanted to slap the woman who voiced Storm)
As apposed to Halle Berry, she was fantastic.

Are you kidding? I didn't hear anybody else verbally acting that horribly until I saw Padma Lakshmi in that Star Trek Enterprise episode a dozen years later. She was the main reason the show was unwatchable.

In the comics, Storm was raised like a goddess by her people. IMHO, The 90's animated series, high born, over the top accented voice is more believable than Halle Berry's almost inexiatant African accent in the first film, which came off as fearful, to the dropping of the accent all together in the other films. If it were up to me, I'd have had Iman play Storm.
 
As apposed to Halle Berry, she was fantastic.

Are you kidding? I didn't hear anybody else verbally acting that horribly until I saw Padma Lakshmi in that Star Trek Enterprise episode a dozen years later. She was the main reason the show was unwatchable.

In the comics, Storm was raised like a goddess by her people. IMHO, The 90's animated series, high born, over the top accented voice is more believable than Halle Berry's almost inexiatant African accent in the first film, which came off as fearful, to the dropping of the accent all together in the other films. If it were up to me, I'd have had Iman play Storm.
She was worshiped as a Goddess. Before that she was a thief on the streets of Cairo. Been a while, but I don't she arrived in East Africa until she was in her early teens.
 
As apposed to Halle Berry, she was fantastic.

Are you kidding? I didn't hear anybody else verbally acting that horribly until I saw Padma Lakshmi in that Star Trek Enterprise episode a dozen years later. She was the main reason the show was unwatchable.

In the comics, Storm was raised like a goddess by her people. IMHO, The 90's animated series, high born, over the top accented voice is more believable than Halle Berry's almost inexiatant African accent in the first film, which came off as fearful, to the dropping of the accent all together in the other films.

The main difference being even a weak-voiced Halle Berry can ACT. The Storm voicer couldn't. She wasn't over-the-top on purpose. That was just the best she could do. Most of the voicers sucked. The Rogue voicer had the dubious distinction of being the least crappy, but the Storm voicer was the hands-down crappiest.
 
I still have the Buddy Bears theme song stuck in my head, twenty four years later.

We are the buddy bears we always get along
We sing we do a little dance we sing a little song
If you ever disagree, it means that you are wrong
Oh we are the buddy bears we always get along!

Garfield and Friends was my first exposure to satire and sarcasm.
 
Are you kidding? I didn't hear anybody else verbally acting that horribly until I saw Padma Lakshmi in that Star Trek Enterprise episode a dozen years later. She was the main reason the show was unwatchable.

In the comics, Storm was raised like a goddess by her people. IMHO, The 90's animated series, high born, over the top accented voice is more believable than Halle Berry's almost inexiatant African accent in the first film, which came off as fearful, to the dropping of the accent all together in the other films.

The main difference being even a weak-voiced Halle Berry can ACT. The Storm voicer couldn't. She wasn't over-the-top on purpose. That was just the best she could do. Most of the voicers sucked. The Rogue voicer had the dubious distinction of being the least crappy, but the Storm voicer was the hands-down crappiest.

I thought Cal Dodd was great as Wolverine (even better than Scott McNeil and Steve Blum) and David Hemblam was superb as Magneto (though Christopher Judge was incredible).

I really couldn't stand Xavier and Jean in the 90s show. David Kaye and Venus Terzo blew them out of the water.
 
In the comics, Storm was raised like a goddess by her people. IMHO, The 90's animated series, high born, over the top accented voice is more believable than Halle Berry's almost inexiatant African accent in the first film, which came off as fearful, to the dropping of the accent all together in the other films.

The main difference being even a weak-voiced Halle Berry can ACT. The Storm voicer couldn't. She wasn't over-the-top on purpose. That was just the best she could do. Most of the voicers sucked. The Rogue voicer had the dubious distinction of being the least crappy, but the Storm voicer was the hands-down crappiest.

I thought Cal Dodd was great as Wolverine (even better than Scott McNeil and Steve Blum) and David Hemblam was superb as Magneto (though Christopher Judge was incredible).

I really couldn't stand Xavier and Jean in the 90s show. David Kaye and Venus Terzo blew them out of the water.

Xavier in the 90's show should have played wolverine, the way he growled most of his lines...

I'm ashamed to say Steve Blum never works for me because i always envision Spike Spiegel when i hear his voice.
 
Even during the days of VHS and Beta, it was hard trying to catch cartoons or shows that were on multiple channels which had some of my Saturday morning favorites (or shows I watched every now and then) such as:

*Shazam, the live action show
*Jason of Star Command, the live action show
*Superfriends, when I couldn't realize the cheesiness or thin premises.
*Tranzor Z
*Richie Rich
*The Little Rascals
*Mario Brothers
*Captain N
*Rubik
*Ewoks
*Droids

I'm sure they're more....
 
So what Saturday morning cartoons or live action shows do you remember from childhood?

Well, this is just from memory and reaching back over 50 years for some, and not sure if they were all Saturday only or daily shows (not in chronological order):

Pinky Lee
Howdy Doody
Captain Kangaroo
Fireball XL5
Mighty Mouse
Huckleberry Hound
Yogi Bear
Space Ghost
Colonel Bleep
Crusader Rabbit
Clutch Cargo
Ruff and Reddy
Heckle and Jeckle

The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Jonny Quest were originally once a week primetime shows. Fred Flintstone used to do commercials for Winston cigarettes.

Okay, I was struggling to remember, but you did it for me :). yeah, those were the shows.

Also
Go-Go Gophers
Tom Slick
Roger Ramjet
Space Angel
Bugs Bunny
Mighty Mouse
Super Chicken
Dudley Do-Right
Ummm....
 
As I noted in an earlier post, "The Herculoids" was probably my favorite of the 1960s sci-fantasy Hana Barbera cartoons. Even today, I think it has one of the coolest signature scores as you can hear...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKhIckp4ccY[/yt]

That "wavering", Theremin-like, under melody (or whatever the proper musical term is) still sends nostalgic chills up and down my spine!

Say, do any of you (who remember this show) think it might have been HB's homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom and Venus stories? Something that would evoke a similar feeling of "first generation space opera" but a concept they could call their own and thus not have to deal with royalties? Meh, I'm probably reading too much into it.

Sincerely,

Bill
 
Loved the Herculoids! And Space Ghost! And Beany and Cecil, Fractured Fairytales...Rocky and Bullwinkle. My favorite: Look Boris! Is Moose and Squirrel!

There were shows besides cartoons, too. Sky King, Fury, My Friend Flicka.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top