DAILY MANIFESTO

Tell GR: What's Your Favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon Of All Time?

Posted on Saturday, May 12 @ 12:00:00 Eastern by Daniel Bischoff

When I was growing up, we didn't have cable. We just had the antenna and that basically boiled our channel options down to the networks and virtually nothing else. I remember one month we randomly started getting Nickelodeon on channel 20. Channel 20 had originally been the darkest static out of the full 80-channel range, so it was like God opening up and revealing the heavens to me and my brother.

Believe me when I tell you that we had our TV watching down to a delicate science. I just described a static channel to you so you know I mean it when I say that we wrung every drop of good TV out of our Saturday mornings:

8:00-9:00 ABC (channel 7) for Recess, Doug and anything else even remotely watchable... Maybe Magic School Bus for a time.

9:00-11:00 FOX (channel 2) Everything awesome, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Spider-Man, Power Rangers, the violent action stuff (no guns in Spider-Man of course, only lasers and bad guys saying they were going to "destroy" Spidey)... and in the later years tons of 4Kids/Saban joint venture anime, including Digimon, Escaflowne, and more.

11:00-Noon WB (channel 28) If we were lucky Warner Bros would come in clear enough to watch. At the very least we caught two episodes of horribly grainy Pokemon that we couldn't hear.

Noon-1:00 CBS (channel 5) Street Sharks and some other bull sh** I can't be bothered to remember because more often than not I had to go mow the lawns by noon.

But seriously, enough about me....

What's your favorite Saturday morning cartoon of all time?

Tags: Tell GameRevolution, Community

Comments

Anthony_Severino
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: May 9th, 2012 at 6:13 am
You're a little younger than I. I loved me some Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and He-Man, but I don't quite remember if they were Saturday morning. I do have good memories of watching horrible WWF Saturday morning shows where the lower profile wrestlers would just beat up on the Brooklyn Brawler again and again, and show promos to get kids pumped for the PPV events. I do remember X-Men, too.

I'll tell ya, though. I've got a kid now and my wife works every Saturday. It ain't like it used to be. There is literally nothing on, for boys or for girls. We end up watching SpongeBob on Nick or sticking on Netflix. When I was growing up, there were too many shows to catch them all, and since there were no DVRs, we had to make sacrifices and be choosy.

Dem' was the good old days.

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Everything you just said, plus X-Men.
When you heard that X-men theme song, if you were a human male, you TOTALLY wanted to get up and start kicking some ass, and in many cases, mimed the act of doing so in the middle of your living room.

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GorillaLips
Joined: May 2012

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
Double that for the Mortal Kombat movie theme song

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shandog137
Joined: Mar 2007

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Papa shango, ricky the dragon steamboat, coco beware->wonderful ladies of wrestling. Enough reminiscing. Thundercats, GI Joe, Jetsons, Flinstones. Not to digress too much but gotta put a mention in for kung fu theatre...five deadly venoms, revenge of the ninja, snake in eagles shadow.

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Alex_Osborn
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: May 11th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
I was all about Digimon :D

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De-Ting
Joined: Nov 2006

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
I was all about Digimon. Weekdays, I watched Beast Wars.

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Beast Wars good, Beast Machines bad.

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Alex_Osborn
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 5:40 am
Agreed. Beast Wars was so awesome! Doesn't really hold up now though... :/

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cyberjim2000
Joined: Feb 2010

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I remembered Ninja Turtles on CBS and X-Men on Fox. I don't remembered much but I did remembered that Wolverine had this creepy crush on Jean or something. There's also the original Dragon Ball, I would catch from time to time.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Wolverine was a serious creep. Scott was always getting pissed off.

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Masterwabbit
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
We're tiny,
We're toony,
We're all a little looney!
etc. etc., and so forth.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Loved that show, but it was weekdays for me.

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xavier_2000_ie
Joined: Jun 2007

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
bravestar, centurions, jayce & the wheeled warriors, Ulysses 31, transformers, M.A.S.K., thundercats, silverhawks, he-man, gi joe,
there are more but i should probably stop now
:)

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StringerBell86
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
DOUG
Power Rangers
Bobby's World
Animaniacs
Batman
X-Men

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Bobby's World was another weekday one for me.

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Alex_Osborn
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 5:43 am
Hah, Bobby's World. I remember that one. I think it was the mom who didn't like cats b/c she was afraid they'd get on the counter and lick the butter :D

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Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show is the king of Saturday morning forever. End of story.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
They ruled when I was a kid. (I'm 49)

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
I still remember old Warner Bros and Tom and Jerry cartoons that allowed black face, those I think are banned from tv now.

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GorillaLips
Joined: May 2012

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:13 pm
Ha I have an old woody woodpecker vhs tape with mad blackface everywhere

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spartan317
Joined: Dec 2005

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 7:32 am
Ever notice that they got rid of Speedy's cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez?

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 9:54 am
Heard they might make a Speedy Gonzalez movie, maybe Slowpoke might make a cameo.

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
The Far Side. Ohh you mean Television show? X-Men

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
EDD you are from the far side.

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I know its a shame i told a joke you'd actually understand

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
:-)

spam

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spartan317
Joined: Dec 2005

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
Astro boy on channel 19.

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Transformers, GIJoe, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Tigersharks, He-Man, Fat Albert, Gummi Bears,, Spiderman and His Amazing Friends, Bravestar, Thundarr the Barbarian, Inhumanoids. Many of the ones you listed and I didnt were weekday shows. Ninja Turtles was on USA but almost all of these were on Fox.

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Some of you are young as hell from your shows but I also watched them when I got older so kudos.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Remember Star Trek: The Animated Series

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Dont remember that one. Remember Pro Stars with Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky?

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 3:33 am
Pro Stars (1991) had to look that one up.

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spanky1113
Joined: Mar 2008

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Samurai Jack. Channel 55. Cartoon Network.

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Icepick
Joined: Dec 2002

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
the lack of mentions for freakazoid make me weep, at least one person mentioned animaniacs

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
FREAKAZOID another WB show I tried watching but never got on the antennae.

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
I watched them but I was in high school at the time and they were weekdays. Freakazoid episode where him and the cop go into the sewer and its nothing but complaining about poo gas and doody water.

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UghRochester
Joined: Jun 2006

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Nothing like moving those bunny ears around. In the part of PA where I grew up, we only had 8 good clear channels. Channels 2,4,7, 10, 11, 13, 27 and 53. I didn't get to watch much cartoons. Fox (channel 53) and WB (Channel 10) were the main channels to have cartoons. I believe Poke'mon was on WB for me, X-Men was on Fox. Batman was on WB as well. NBC (Channel 11) I don't recall showing any cartoons, just the local news my family always watched. Channel 4 was CBS for us and it showed educational cartoons like The Magic School Bus and Blue's Clues.

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TurinAlexander
Joined: Sep 2006

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Apparently we grew up in the same neck of the woods. I recognize all of those channels.

Also, thread needs more Gargoyles.

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GorillaLips
Joined: May 2012

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Dragonball fersure channel 10 why isn't there any saturday cartoons anymore?
Oh well, I always thought those free preview weekends for the premium channels were better anyways.
Having a full weekend of the Disney channel and Cartoon Network I was watching G.I. Joe and Ducktales for 48 hours straight.

0 1

shandog137
Joined: Mar 2007

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 11:37 pm
Ducktales ftw. Blathering blatherskites

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thedarkstar
Joined: Feb 2011

Posted: May 12th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Channel 12. CBS

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gunseedam
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 3:41 am
starship troopers animated,space goofs,ahh real monsters,angry beavers and ren and stimpy

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daverabbit
Joined: Oct 2008

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 5:11 am
Pretty much everything that was mentioned plus
Dinosaucers
Fantastic max
Reboot
Marsupalami
VR Troopers
Talespin
And best of them all The Tick.

Some might be after school shows, just rambling off whatever I remembered.

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pennpsu
Joined: Sep 2010

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 5:35 am
He-Man, Transformers, GI Joe and Voltron were all AFTER school. Saturday mornings were for Thundarr, the Heruloids, and Space Ghost (The Hannah-Barbera hour) then ROBOTech, and the best of all, the Original SpiderMan series.

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joecross
Joined: Jul 2010

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 9:43 am
THIS. in addition, D&D as mentioned below was great at like 11 a.m., followed up by Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. i also enjoyed Laff A' Lympics, and all the HB stuff.

in the earlier 80s, CBS ran a Saturday show called Blackstarr that was great. the dude used to jump off his flying dragon from as high up as he wanted... and just tuck into a forward roll and land and come up fine.

we lacked a flying dragon in my house. so, of course, i tried this off my bunk bed.

once.

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Alex_Osborn
Joined: Jan 2012

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 5:45 am
Anyone remember The Big Guy and Rusty?

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UpAndAtThem
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 7:16 am
Yes! Short lived but great!

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DarkPaladinX
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 6:21 am
Ok, here's a challenge question...does anyone remember the Dragon Warrior anime? It used to be on Saturday mornings for a brief period of time. I want to say it was on ABC, but I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it was awesome to see it as a little kid...it was even better than the other video game inspired Saturday morning cartoon, Captain N, the Game Master!

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UpAndAtThem
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 7:16 am
In more recent years, I have still enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons.
Megas XLR was great, and it was definitely aimed at people you remember cartoons of the 80's or even 70's.

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thedarkstar
Joined: Feb 2011

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 11:31 am
MegasXLR was AWESOME. I wish more people had watched it. I would have loved to see what cool stuff they would have thought of next. The final two part "Rearview Mirror, Mirror" was excellent.

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spartan317
Joined: Dec 2005

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 7:28 am
The original Speed Racer... I'm with Odious on this... about 90 percent of what's being listed I watched as a teenager and adult...

I miss Dexter's lab... they should bring that one back... Samurai Jack was by far the best of it's time...

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 9:55 am
Cartoon Network with Dexters Lab, Samurai Jack and a few others and then Adult Swim is a great friggin channel.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 10:45 am
God, Dexter's lab was good. Caught the tail end of that when we finally got satellite TV.

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Diabolus
Joined: Nov 2008

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 10:22 am
I watched most of the stuff mentioned by others. Anyone remember that Dungeons and Dragons cartoon? That was cool as s***. Had that big dragon named Tiamat on it.

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thedarkstar
Joined: Feb 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 11:46 am
Hells yeah I remember that! I haven't seen all of them, but my favorite one that I remember was "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow". I had that one taped on VHS and watched it a lot back in the day. It also had one of my favorite dialogue exchanges with the main cast and Venger.

But yeah. Awesome show.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Yup, that and Thundarr the Barbarian were both great fantasy cartoons.

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ReinhardtBII
Joined: Oct 2007

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 11:16 am
A lot of the previous listed, plus my hands-down favorite:
Exo Squad

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
That was on weekday mornings before school, kinda grim for a kids show but thats why I liked it.

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hardygrim
Joined: Mar 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
What about Biker Mice from Mars? That show was awesome! Plus Street Sharks, Karate Kat, Bravestar Dark Wing Duck too many to list...

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ReinhardtBII
Joined: Oct 2007

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
SWAT Cats?

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theoutcast32
Joined: Oct 2005

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
everything plus some samurai pizza cats and ronin warriors (sundays for me).

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theoutcast32
Joined: Oct 2005

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 9:36 pm
and old school cartoon network shows. remember toonami?

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ReinhardtBII
Joined: Oct 2007

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
I thought you said Old school cartoon network?

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visi0nize
Joined: Apr 2011

Posted: May 13th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Favorite Saturday morning cartoon was probably Sonic the Hedgehog, the ABC version that had the character Sally and where Sonic actually did cool stuff and used the rings for power, not the crap, crudely drawn UPN slapstick version. My favorite SUNDAY morning cartoon was Fantastic Max, not sure if anyone remembers that, but I loved it. Another standout Saturday morning cartoon for later on was Recess, such a great show, I was already like 14 when I started watching it, but it was still awesome, very smart show.

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MasterRabbi
Joined: May 2007

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 6:30 am
Transformer and GI-Joe reruns on Fox 55. Stopped running them when I was 8 or so. Wasn't allowed to watch Spider-man and X-men because it was too violent, so I started watching lots of movies.

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LeeScratchFTW
Joined: Nov 2011

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 8:12 am
When I was in the UK, scooby doo, ed ed n eddy, pinky an the brain, biker mice from mars, dexters lab, ren an stimpy (personal fav to this day)... When I was six my family moved to spain, cartoons are different over there, usually japanese imports so doraemon, shin chan an dragon ball z. If I remember correctly shin chan was pretty rude, the dude used to get his dick out an moon people. The spanish loved him.

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Amorphis
Joined: Dec 2010

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
G.I. Joe, Transformers, GO Bots, Ewoks, Droids, Astroboy, Thundercats, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scooby Doo, He-Man, Centurions, Bravestarr, Bugs Bunny...pretty much ones mentioned above.

I used to watch live action shows like Knight Rider, A-Team, Muppets, Fraggle Rock, etc

Nostalgia rules.

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Amorphis
Joined: Dec 2010

Posted: May 14th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Oh and channels, TVO, Fox, Canwest Global, and CBC

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