Saturday Morning Cartoons

[EddMarkStarr]

Cartoons are a reflection of the times as well as a testament to the strengths and weaknesses of writers and producers at any given moment. I'm from that generation of kids that grew up surrounded by adults that knew how to tell a good story.

Every decade I look for stories aimed at kids, but written for adults.

CBS was an a roll in 1996 with yet another cool series, "Project G.e.e.K.e.r.", from the same guys that created "Earthworm Jim".
The plot is a future world filled with genetic scrampling on an unbelievable scale. Human DNA is mashed-up with everything else including dinosaur genes.

Into this mix is Project G.K.R., (GeeKeR), creating living weapons out of people!

The goofy-looking character, GeeKeR, is just such a living weapon, a one-man weapons system. But GeeKeR was stolen from his development lab, (before his programming was complete!), by Lady MacBeth - a professional thief, aided by her partner Noah - a dino-human hybrid rejected by the same lab that created GeeKeR.

If any cartoon deserves to be rescued from time and revived as a concept, "Project G.e.e.K.e.R." gets my vote.

 

[ElmosToe]

^ oh my goodness I love Felix the cat!

^ ^ ditto!

 

[ElmosToe]

^ horrifying

 

[EddMarkStarr]

OMG - You've got clips to cartoons I haven't seen in years!

Well you're not the only one with a key to the cartoon library, let m see what I can come up with.
Anyone ready to give it up for, "Super Dave: Daredevil For Hire"?

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Here's a cartoon with a twist, it's in glorious 2-D to a fault! Not even a trace of a third dimension in this series and I love it.

This is the "Lone Ranger" Animated Series that aired Saturday mornings on CBS from 1966 to 1969, concurrently with the CBS live action sci-fi/western, "The Wild, Wild West", starring Robert Conrad. That is an important detail because this awesome cartoon carried forward many of the same plotlines as the live action show, even down to similar villains - like "the Black Widow" played by Agnes Moorehead.

The genesis for this series was in fact the music, starting with the classic Lone Ranger theme of the William Tell Overture. Producers Herb Klynn and Jules Engel of Format Films in Hollywood had the idea of an animated Lone Ranger where the entire musical score was made by a full orchestra. Not just the intro theme but all of the incidental music running through each episode.

The artists at Format Films matched the lush orchestral arrangements with a unique visual style that was totally 2-dimensional yet completely striking in the use of black for shadowing and mood setting. That heavy use of black makes this cartoon a real standout from all other animated shows on television at that time.

See if you agree and pay special attention to the background music. This is Saturday morning entertainment from 50 years ago.

 

[piano1]

Here In Philadelphia we had a live morning show - "Gene London Show". It was followed by cartoons which were Bugs Bunny and friends. Also a fav of mine was "Johnny Quest". I had the hots for "Race".

 

[jbrown329]

The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Loony Tunes, Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Johnny Quest and some others. The cartoons they have today I won't watch.

Shh, I'm hunting wabbits.

 

[tarallucci]

I remember watching Pingu and Art Attack on saturday mornings.

Oh and the Pink Panther.

 

[CharlieMars]

I watched:

The Raccoons
DuckTales
Alvin & the Chipmunks
Gummi Bears
The Flintstones/The Flintstone Kids
The Family-Ness
Bananaman
Danger Mouse
Fireman Sam
The Raggy Dolls
The Moomins
Button Moon
Mr. Men
Pingu
The Simpsons
SuperTed
Ren & Stimpy
Rugrats
Tom and Jerry
Noddy
Paddington Bear
Care Bears
Sylvanian Families
Wacky Races
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