Monday, March 19, 2012

Old School Lane presents Kevin's Top 100 Animated Shows (69-60)

Hey guys, welcome back to my list of my all time favorite cartoons. Let’s not waste any time, let’s get back to it.
69. The Little Lulu Show (1995)
The Little Lulu Show tv show photo
Based on the 1935 comic strip by Marjorie Henderson Buell, this HBO cartoon follows Little Lulu and her best friend Thomas “Tubby” Thompkins as they go through their every day lives. In every episode, you get to see Lulu as a stand up comedian, which are always fun to watch. Although there was an anime version of Little Lulucalled Little Lulu and her Little Friends that was out in the 70’s, I like this HBO cartoon better. Also another thing to mention, I wished that Little Lulu had made a cameo appearance at Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
68. The Mr. Magoo Show (1960)
This is one cartoon that was truly unique for its time when Hanna Barbera was king of animation. The adventures of Quincy Magoo, a nearsighted, stubborn retiree was always fun to watch especially since he always had a streak of luck whenever he gets himself out of dangerous situations. Not really much to say except that, similar to Richie Rich, I loved Mr. Magoo’s cameo in the Metlife commercial.
Also the movie adaptation of Mr. Magoo was hilarious and Leslie Nielsen was perfect playing as Mr. Magoo.
67. The Mask: The Animated Series (1995)
In the 80’s and 90’s, we had a slew of animated shows based on movies. Some of them were epic and awesome, others just plain sucked. The Mask: The Animated Series is one of those awesome cartoons. Based on the 1994 movie starring Jim Carrey, which was based on the 1982 comic book, this cartoon had the same main characters, incorporated new memorable characters, and had the same hilarious humor from the movie. Although the show’s Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask wasn’t voiced by Jim Carrey, Rob Paulsen did a really good job in voicing this character. Also another character that was great was the main villain Pretorius, voiced by Tim Curry. Although that animated shows based on movies are a thing of the past, we can always remember the fond memories of some of the great cartoons we got from them. The Mask: The Animated Series was one of them.
66. Felix the Cat (1958)
Based on the original silent cartoon in 1919, this classic cat with his bag of tricks (literally) had a great animated series based on people, even including Felix’s friends trying to steal his bag for their selfish deeds. Although, admittedly this show is nowhere near as good as the classic shorts, but it’s still pretty good. Not much to say about this either, but two things. I really like the 1923 animated short “Felix in Hollywood” in which Felix and Charlie Chaplin were together.
Also, don’t watch the 1988 movie adapation. It sucks!
66. The Maxx (1995)
Based on the cult following comic book series, it follows the story of the Maxx, a homeless man who gets himself in jail constantly in the real world, but in the alternative reality known as The Outback, he protected the Jungle Queen from harm. In the real world, the Jungle Queen is a social worker named Julie Winters who bails the Maxx out of jail. An interesting thing to the storyline is that Julie is not aware of The Outback and that she’s the Jungle Queen in the alternative world, while the Maxx is well aware of both worlds. The main villain, Mr. Gone, is a sick rapist who has a connection with Julie. This sounds complicated, but it’s a interesting animated series and one of the best that MTV ever released.
64. Men in Black: The Series (1997)
Similar to The Mask: The Animated SeriesMen in Black: The Series is a great animated show based on the movie, which was based on a comic book. All the characters from the movie are there, plus new ones, and each episode takes them through a mission involving with maintaining Earth’s safety from aliens. One thing to mention, I really think that Agent L is both kickass and hot! 
63. ALF: The Animated Series (1987)
Similar to Ed Grimley, this iconic 80’s character had his own animated show. This prequel to the NBC sitcom shows ALF in his home planet Melmac and the weird lifestyles and daily activities that they have. If you think that eating cats was odd, then how about trying to wrestle a clam to make it sing to prove your manhood. It kind of reminds me of Shrek and Fractured Fairy Tails in the way they have characters based on fairy tales. An interesting fact on this animated series was that ALF wasn’t even called ALF. His name was Gordon or Gordo by his friends, which makes sense since ALF stood for Alien Life Form and was called that by his Earth family, the Tanners. Overall, this cartoon is really fun to watch and definitely takes you back in the 80’s.
62. Pepper Ann (1997)
This Disney animated show perfectly shows what being a pre-teen was like in middle school in the late 90’s. The story of Pepper Ann involves with every day life involving with the main character Pepper Ann and her friends Milo Kamalani and Nicky Little. This show was so much better than Brand Spanking New Doug in every way. Also, I happen to have a thing for redheads. That’s an added bonus for me!
61. Recess (1997)
This Disney cartoon was like Rugrats for an older audience. It shows the perspective of 5 kids going through elementary school and recess with their stereotypical yet unique student friends, their kind hippie-like teacher, the uncaring principal, the ugly and mean Ms. Fincher, and her tattling student assistant Randall. But what made this show so great was the students had their own government , class system, and laws among the playground led by a 6th grader named King Bob.
The main characters were great; T.J. was the typical leader of the group, Vince was the athletic guy, Spinelli was the badass chick that we all wanted in our group of friends, Gretchen was the nerdy and witty girl, and Gus was the timid, small kid. Overall, it’s nice to look back at a time when Disney once gave us great animated shows as oppose to stupid pre-teen pop star girly shows of today. Today’s Disney Channel shows, well, it whomps! 
60. Pokemon (The Kanto Region) (1997)
Yes, I know. The Pokemon series is still going on and according to what Patricia said, there are now almost 700 Pokemon now? Holy crap, how does anyone keep track on all of them? Anyway, despite the many regions that Ash and his friends have visited and the Pokemon who resided there, my favorite will always be the very first season. The story starts off with Ash Ketchum, a 10-year-old boy who wishes to become a Pokemon master. Along the way, a girl named Misty and a boy named Brock accompany Ash on his journey to defeat 8 gym leaders, earn their badges, and head over to the Indigo League to get closer to achieving to be the best. My favorite episodes were the ones involving the psychic gym leader Sabrina. Whenever someone lost a battle with her, she shrinks them into doll size and puts them in her doll house. That was sick! 
This was one of the most popular anime shows in the late 90’s. In middle school, everyone watched the show and had their Game Boy Colors in their pockets to battle and trade Pokemon during lunchtime. If you didn’t have a Game Boy color with Pokemon Red, Blue, or Yellow, or even watched the show, you were considered a loser. Like Sonic the Hedgehog, this was one of the few cartoons based on video games that was considered good. Also the opening theme song was awesome! 
Do you have any fond memories of these cartoons? Post it in the comments and let us know. Until then, stay tuned as we finish the half way point of my favorite cartoons of all time. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading. 
-Kevin

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