80's cartoons

Yes, I came from that time of bad hair, terrible clothes and the cheesiest marketing campaigns known to mankind.

What's worse than that? I miss it. A lot.

Ok, so maybe I don't. Let's face it that what I really miss are the cartoons. When I grew up it was all about Transformers, GI Joe, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and anything involving dinosaurs. Seriously, anyone remember a fancy little show called Dinosaucers?

Yeah, that show was the epitome of what terrible dinosaur shows was all about. And I never missed an episode. In fact, I may have had a crush on the blonde girl. Dear God I just put that out on the internet didn't I?

So 80's cartoons had everything you needed. Saturday mornings were something special. As a child, can you think of a time you didn't get up early on a Saturday morning? You were always awake, even if it was 5am. If that was when cartoons started....that was when you started. They went strong from about 6am until 1pm. You had kids gameshows too! It was a great lineup.

Looking back, I feel that cartoons now are terrible(yes, I am well aware that I am jaded beyond measure. Everyone I know older than me says their cartoons were better than my cartoons). I mean, what is this Yu Gi Oh?

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the media tie in for mass marketing, but that cartoon is nothing compared to say GI Joe or even Denver the Last Dinosaur.

Heck, those were the days when your cartoon got a cereal created after it, not a cartoon made after a trading card game. Let's not even mention what the Yu Gi Oh followers are compared to He Man.

Remember waking up on Saturday mornings to watch your favorite cartoons? Remember when you thought you were too old for them and started doing grown up things? Then do you remember when you tried to get up early to watch the cartoons again and you were disappointed in what you found?

Yeah, that was me.

I couldn't stand what I found. My feelings? Shock. Mortified. I remember watching shows like Ghostbusters, Voltron, and even the occasional episode of Strawberry Shortcake. Although I see Ms Shortcake has made a comeback to Saturday mornings. Either way, I felt like I betrayed my cartoons and let them slip away.

I found shows that in my opinion were poorly animated, and not exactly kid tested mother approved. The humor seems very inappropriate for kids. Watching these shows with my kids surprised me a lot. I can believe what is on the tv, what I cant believe is that I was letting them watch it. Even a lot of kids cartoons, without much to select from, I find myself letting them watch programs that I'm not fully approving of.

Thanks to the improvements on computer hardware, I can even hook up my computer to my tv and watch my favorite cartoons with my kids. They love it too. If I can play it on my computer, I can play it on my tv.

Just to give you an idea of how pathetic I am to my cartoon desires, let me entertain you with a tale. Shortly after I got married, I found a Saturday morning cartoon called Transformers RID. This show was great, not quite what I wanted, but good enough. So I would wake up early and get out my transformers actions figures and play with them while watching the cartoon.

Yeah, I think I can corner the market of recapturing my youth! Those were the actions of a desperate man.

At least now I can remake some of my old Saturday mornings and share them with my kids!