Hey everyone, welcome to the next batch of awesome cartoons from my list of my absolute favorite animated shows. Let’s continue the list from numbers 79-70.
79. The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog/Sonic SatAm (1993)
When I went to Toys R Us last week, I saw a 12 inch Sonic figure to celebrate for the series’ 20th anniversary. That got me thinking about the older Sonic cartoon series from the 90’s. I couldn’t choose between The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic SatAm, so I chose both.
What I liked about The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the silliness, crazy animation, and Sonic himself. He was cocky, sly, strategic, and always won against the evil Dr. Robotnik and his idiotic robotic sidekicks. In the end of every episode, there was a segment called Sonic Sez, in which Sonic and Tails teaches life lessons to kids. Great show overall.
With Sonic SatAm, it was a much more darker, serious version of Sonic the Hedgehog. It had completely different characters that wasn’t in the video game series, but we still loved them anyway. Dr. Robotnik was fantastic in this show. He was scary, threatening, intelligent, strategic, and voiced by Jim Cummings. Who doesn’t love that? It was such a shame that the show was cancelled after one season. Not only that, but it ending at a cliffhanger ending, which really got me pissed off. Oh well, it was still great and is one of the few cartoons based on a video game that was actually good.
One thing to mention about both of these shows is that Sonic was voiced by the same guy, Jaleel White, whom many of you might know as Steve Urkel from Family Matters. For some of you younger members, he’s the newest contestant of Dancing with the Stars. Patricia and I don’t watch the show at all, but if Jaleel does the Urkel dance, we will watch it every night. We are not joking.
78. The Angry Beavers (1997)
This original Nicktoon got to be one of the most hilarious show I’ve ever seen involving two brothers. Nick Bakay had an amazing chemistry with Richard Horvitz as the beavers Norbert and Daggett. The episodes made them have crazy adventures at their dam, battling an evil voodoo queen, becoming pets to a crazy, yet typical suburban home, becoming astronauts, becoming soldiers, staying up all night, dressing up as a superhero and supervillain, and so much more. Here’s some interesting for you: In the episode “Dumb Waiters”, the beavers become waiters in a restaurant and they bring in a tray of masks. One of the masks is Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold.
One of my favorite characters is Stump, who is literally a stump with a face that never speaks, but seems to be this really cool character. Another favorite is Treeflower, Norbert’s on and off again girlfriend. She’s expressive, unique, and fun. The Angry Beavers is a staple of 90’s Nick shows that you should watch.
77. Daria (1997)
At first I didn’t like Daria since I was more of a Beavis and Butthead fan, but as I watched more and more of the episodes, I came to enjoy it. Daria had a monotone voice and witty humor, which I loved about her. Most people who do monotone voices end up being boring or awkward characters (I’m looking at you Samus Aran fromMetroid: Other M), but it worked perfectly for Daria’s personality. Similar to Beavis and Butthead, it makes fun of suburban life and high school in the 90’s. It would have been nice if they had a Daria doll or maybe a life action movie, but I’m really happy that they released the series on DVD. Here’s to hoping that Daria would make a cameo in the new Beavis and Butthead cartoon.
76. Aqua Teen Hunger Force (2000)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is not only one of the most original and bizarre animated shows on Adult Swim, but one of the best animated shows in our current generation. The first episode takes us through the lives of Meatwad, Master Shake, and Frylock being superheroes fighting crime, but throughout the rest of the series, they just hang out at their house dealing with a bunch of crazy scenarios. Out of the three characters, my favorite is Meatwad, although he’s sort of a ripoff of Cartman with his voice. I also love Carl, their next door neighbor, with his witty remarks, his white wife beater shirt, his blue sweatpants, his green flip-flops, and his golden necklace. I’m hoping to watching the movie real soon and the upcoming sequel.
75. Family Guy (1999)
Many people call this show a South Park or Simpsons ripoff, but there’s more to it than people think. Seth MacFarland is not only brilliant creating a bunch of lovable characters, but poking fun of society and pop culture in a funny and original way. The voice cast is amazing with Seth voicing Peter Griffin, Brian the dog, and the baby in the family, Stewie Griffin, who wants nothing more than world domination and killing his mother Lois. Speaking of Lois, she’s voiced brilliantly by MAD TV’s own Alex Borstein, Meg’s voiced by the sexy Mila Kunis, and Chris is voiced by Seth Green. This is one of the few shows that I’ve heard of that has gotten cancelled and returned on T.V. Not only once, but twice. That’s how popular the show has gotten. Let’s hope that it remains on T.V. for a long, long time.
74. Duckman (1994)
The 90’s had a slew of animated sitcoms. Some were great, some weren’t. Duckman was one of those great animated sitcoms. The story was about a duck named Duckman, voiced by Jason Alexander, who is a widowed private detective during the day and lives with his crazy family consisting of his three sons, his sister-in-law, and his mother-in-law. This show makes fun of 40’s and 50’s detective movies in a clever and humorous way. My favorite characters are definitely his partner/best friend Cornfed Pig and the Care Bear like dolls, Fluffy and Uranus.
Similar to Sonic SatAm, this show ends with a cliffhanger after a shocking revelation was revealed and the explanation was cut off. That really pissed me off. This show was animated by Klasky Csupo, the same animation team who created shows like Rugrats, Aaahh! Real Monsters, As Told By Ginger, and Rocket Power, which is interesting since this is one of the few shows that they animated that was not intended for kids. Nonetheless, this show is a lot of fun to watch.
73. The Critic (1994)
Similar to Duckman, The Critic was a great 90’s animated sitcom. Jay Sherman, played by Jon Lovitz, is a typical film critic who has a passion for reviewing movies. The movies he reviews on are parodies of movies that came out at the time such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Lion King, and Silence of the Lambs. One of my favorite episodes is “Dial M for Mother” in which Homer and Bart Simpson made cameos in the show. Jay would make several appearances in the Simpsons as well, which I always enjoy.
The Critic only had two seasons before it was cancelled, which was a shame since it was such a great show that didn’t get the chance it needed to become popular to the viewing audience. But thank God that it was released on DVD and it’s starting to get more noticed by people as a creative and funny show.
72. Dexter’s Laboratory (1996)
I like to call this show the Jimmy Neutron of the 90’s. It involved a boy genius named Dexter who has a laboratory hidden in his room from his family where he conducts his scientific experiments. However, his older, yet dimwitted sister DeeDee always destroys his experiments or tries his concoctions without him knowing. This always results in major catastrophes that Dexter has to always solve. One of my favorite characters is Dexter’s rival Mandark, who is basically an older, smarter version of the main character, but a tad bit goofier. I loved Christine Cavanaugh as the voice of Dexter, but after the 4th season, it was replaced by Candi Milo, who does a pretty good job voicing as him.
The show kinda lost my interest around the 5th season, but I’ll always remember the creative episodes that involved a 50 foot tall DeeDee, Dexter trying to create a serum to age himself to see a movie late at night, Dexter spying on his sister’s sleepover to see why they act the way they do, Dexter trying to learn French, and so much more.
71. Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (2001 for JL) (2004 for JLU)
Previous incarnations of animated shows based on the Justice League were cheesy and campy. But when Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, the great minds who animated and wrote episodes of Batman: The Animated Series andSuperman: The Animated Series put their minds together, you got a dark, serious, action packed, and smartly written animated series based on the Justice League. Characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and so much more were fascinating to watch and to know more about. One of my favorite characters was Gigantica, who kind of reminded me of Jessica Rabbit mixed with Nancy from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. If you’re into dark, serious, and epic animated adaptations of superheroes, then this show is definitely for you.
70. The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley (1988)
This fictional character was created by Martin Short in 1982 and had gained popularity whenever he appeared inSCTV and Saturday Night Life. When Hanna Barbera animated this show in 1988, it had everything that made the sketches great in cartoon form. The show is about Ed Grimley’s crazy adventures with his friends. It had a great voice cast like Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Frank Welker, and Jonathan Winters. Ed Grimley is one of the best iconic characters from the 80’s alongside Pee-wee Herman, Elvira, Ernest P. Worrell, Alf, and Kermit the Frog. His show had a great opening theme and funny episodes.
Do you have any fond memories of these cartoons? Post it in the comments and let us know. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading.
-Kevin
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