KOCHI: The good old unadulterated fun from watching cartoons of the 90’s, and before, can never be replaced, no matter how many filters snapchat comes up with. Kids today will never know the fun of fighting for the remote with siblings, over which cartoon channel to watch first. The best thing about these cartoons, it wasn’t just fun to watch, but we learnt an incredible lot from these tiny characters. From rooting for Jerry to win Tom and his bully cat pals, to thinking perhaps Tom was the better of the lot, we have all grown up - or have we? Join us as we take a fun trip down the nostalgia lane, as we list ten cartoons we miss watching the most, from the stone-age Flintstones to butt-kicking Powerpuff girls, plus some interesting behind-the-scenes trivia.
Dexter’s Laboratory
What this orange-haired munchkin of a boy does in his secret laboratory all day, we’ll never know, but boy was it fun to watch him do ‘scientific’ experiments to create red buttons while DeeDee ran amok destroying everything in sight! Interspersed with Mom and Dad-focussed episodes, and let’s not forget nemesis Mandark, Dexter’s laboratory was great fun to watch! Yet how a young lad managed to keep a cavernous lab hidden behind a book-shelf a secret from his parents for so long is a mystery in itself.
What we learnt: Never underestimate your sister. And also, Science is amazing!
BTS trivia: Dexter was voiced by women! Yes, voice actress Christine Cavanaugh, even won an Annie Award for her performance. When she retired she was replaced by Candi Milo, another voice actress.
Looney Tunes
The Looney Tunes had something for everyone. It had so many characters you simply could NOT have a good time watching them. Bugs Bunny getting away from his hunters with witty banter, dumb cat Sylvester trying to eat up cute bird Tweety, Porky pig just being plain goofy - for some special reason most of us continue to love these comedy shorts even as adults. Each cartoon ends with a character going, ‘That’s all Folks’!
What we learnt: Quick-thinking and witty banter can always save you from being killed by your enemies.
BTS trivia: Almost all the characters were voiced by Mel Blanc - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner etc. He was called the “The Man of a Thousand Voices”
The Powerpuff Girls
Admit it, at least once you and your pals have named yourself Buttercup, Blossom or Bubbles, tying towels on you backs and runs around the house fighting ‘Evil’. These bad-ass kindergarteners always knew how to save the city of Townsville from a host of other regular villains. Boy, aren’t we glad the Professor Utonium accidentally added chemical X while making the girls! Some sugar spice and everything nice, indeed!
What we learnt: Every villain has a story behind why he became so. Remember Mojo-jojo’s story?
BTS trivia: Mojo Jojo created evil male counterparts of the Powerpuff Girls called the Rowdyruff Boys. They were made of snips, snails and puppy dogs’ tails (just like in the nursery rhyme ‘What are Little Boys Made Of?’
Samurai Jack
More than anything else, the opening credits voiceover is what stays in the mind – “Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish Samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me…..” The series follows Jack, sent through time to a dystopian future ruled by Aku, and his quests to travel back in time and defeat Aku before he can take over the world. Great action scenes and in-depth landscapes set this series apart from the others.
What we learnt: In the face of Evil, you can do anything to live BTS trivia: Samurai Jack was inspired by the Frank Miller comic book Ronin, which is also about a samurai who is thrown into the future and must battle a shape-shifting demon. Aku even has the same face-tentacles as the main villain from Ronin.
Tom & Jerry
No description needed, this was hands down the single most loved cartoon ever, enjoyed by kids and parents alike. Enough said.
What we learnt: Karma is real, Tom, it is real.
BTS trivia: Tom & Jerry was created by animation’s most successful ever partnership – William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The duo later formed the studio that gave us The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Smurfs and countless other icons.
Scooby Doo
Scooby-Doo was the first proper cartoon detective show we watched. It was brilliant spending afternoons solving mysteries with the talking Great Dane along with Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy AKA “those meddling kids”, thwarting the plans of criminal masterminds. Amped up toward the final reveal – and the shocking revelation of the bad guy (cue: gasp!) will be someone who we already knew! Though movies came out, none could match the colourful What we learnt: The only real monsters are those that exist inside people. Remove their mask, and you’ll know them.BTS trivia: Velma’s classic line “My glasses... I can’t see without them!” was actually first said by Velma’s voice actor Nicole Jaffe at the first table read. She dropped her glasses and said the line. The writers thought her reaction was cute and threw it into the show.
The Flintstones
Yabba dabba doo!! The Flintstones is every bit fantastic with a innovative premise – placing typical 20th century societal culture to pre-history! The Flintstones and the Rubbles lived in the Stone Age, doing things that we do today, but with the help of animal-powered technology! Pet dinosaurs, a woolly baby elephant as a vacuum cleaner, actual rock for rock music and the coolest vehicles and caves, need we say more! A favourite is the ‘bird carving on stone’ instant cameras.
What we learnt: Animals can do great things – and necessity is truly the mother of invention.
BTS trivia: Barbera, the maker of the show, spent eight weeks pitching the sitcom to potential sponsors and networks. Finally, on his last day in the city, he presented the show to ABC, who took a chance.
The Addams Family
A show about a family that consisted of gargoyles, Frankenstein like butlers, crazy scientists. The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware, or do not care, that other people find them bizarre or frightening. As crazy as the premise sounds, the show made for some extremely fun times and morbid times.
What we learnt: Being different isn’t so bad.BTS trivia: Though morbid and peculiar, the Addams family was considered a model family by critics of that time – a psychologist was quoted saying ‘There wasn’t any bickering. There wasn’t the making a fool of the father or the mother. There weren’t sides drawn between the children and the parents. There was all love, and they still managed to be funny.’