Be Excellent To Each Other

I think there's been a terrible lack of discussion on the many brilliant cartoons that are out there.

I would like to see more discussion of the following:

Avatar
Batman The Animated Series
Justice League
Oban Star Racers

Because they are really very good and frequently better than what passes for adult entertainment most of the time (see Heroes and Lost).

Animaniacs.

Harvey Birdman!

Animaniacs (particularly later series) was quite utterly fabulous. Excellent biting comedy whilst still managing to keep some kid appeal. Particularly good episodes include "Jokahontas" and the "Network Censors".

On a side note Wacky Races and some selected Tom & Jerry's are now on Virgin catchup tv thingum. GOLD!

Samurai Jack was the best cartoon I've seen in ages. Avatar is cool too, really nice style and a good story.

Spongebob is the daddy.

Most of the cartoons I really like are Japanese, particularly Rumiko Takahashi stuff, and people always huff and complain when I go on about them in conversations about cartoons because they're, apparently, not.

The 'Beat-Alls' episode is godlike awesomeness. And the one with Bunny. And the one with the Vat of Boiling Sharks. I got stared at in disbelievingly by an entire cinema full of small children when my ex and I went to see the Powerpuff Girls movie, and I fell of my chair laughing at the bit where Mojo Jojo kicks right off. This is right in the middle of my utragoff phase, you understand.

Tiny Toons could do that on occasion too. The "Rosebud" parody being especially inspired.

Harvey Birdman is super excellent, "Blackwatch Plaid" (the terror alert episode) is one of the better 10 minutes of anything ever.

Slightly more obscure, "Home Movies".

I've never really got into Samurai Jack though everyone tells me its amazing. I don't care for the visual style. Particular episodes of Justice League that have been amazing:

Season one finale
Season two finale
Huntress/Question + Black Canary/Green Arrow one
The one where question discovers the Justice Lords and a town gets blowed up
The one where captain Marvel and Superman have a fight.

And many more.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force!

Urusei Yatsura! No? Ok.

*cough splutter cough* a fellow fan!

JUSTICE LEAGUE & JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED are the best thing to ever be made out of comics ever. Better than ANY movie, better than anything. Fact.

Also because it's about lots of hero's it frees up Superman to be 'just superman' which makes him such a better character. The whole Superman is a dick arc was amazing.

But it hasn't a huge base of supporters here so I've just hunted around on youtube for some examples. Unspoil this for a selection of 3 excellent episodes. They will make you a fan or your money back.

Sealab 2021 is my fave of the Adult Swim stuff.

[quote="Lave"]*cough splutter cough* a fellow fan!

I agree with everything you have said. There was the great ep as well where superman is propelled into the future and meets up with Randall Savage but he's no longer evil. That was brilliant stuff as well. It is without doubt the best series of comic adaptations ever.

I liked the Smurfs and Dogtanian. I could sit and watch either of those for hours still.

If we're going back a bit then Ulysses 31 please.

I'm starting to watch cartoons with the Grimlet, as he likes the colours and the noise. I've not seen much of Avatar, but it's okay. I like Quest a lot and Spongebob appeals to my idiotic sense of humour, but what the fuck has happened to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

I have Johnny Bravo and Cow & Chicken on DVD

classic cartoon network, you got any two stupid dogs?

They haven't released the excellent "Caffeine frosted coffee flakes" episode though

Oh yeah, that one was ace.

It really was one of the consistantly best shows on tv. I can't recommend it enough.

Also End of season spoiler about The Flash:


Two of the three videos I posted have been taken offline in the last 30 minutes. But both had 30,000 odd view before I linked to thenm.. Did me linking to them do that?

I love Cheese.

I think Series 3 of Justice League was a little poor overall but had some great episodes. They didn't quite know what to do with so many heroes. They narrowed the focus for series four and made it wonderful. However the finale was a bit poor. After all the political intrigue it seemed to just fizzle out into a big battle and that's it.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Shame that they dicked about with the awesome title sequence when it turned Unlimited, though (swelling orchestral score with groovy stylised visuals making the JLA look suitably grand and archetypal = good. Wanky wailing MOR guitar = bad).

The World Without Grownups-inspired episode where they're all turned into kids was one of my favourites.

Could this maybe be "Kids's TV" instead of Cartoons? Only, imagine if nobody but you had ever seen Bagpuss and you wanted to say 'Hey, Bagpuss was great! Remember that?', but you couldn't because it wasn't a cartoon. I mean, if Bagpuss wasn't so passe like it is.

So anyway. Ulysses 31, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman, Space Ghost, Sealab, ja, all that stuff.

I like Perfect Hair Forever and 12 Oz. Mouse but they're very easily ignorable as 'a load of bollocks'. I don't think they are. Oh, and Tom Goes To The Mayor had its moments.

Better than any of those however, is Terrahawks, which is the most superbly entertaining kids' show ever, and newly available in complete fom on DVD.

Oh, and there's the superb Star Fleet X-Bomber which sadly isn't out on DVD and won't be until about March (with a *chance* for January). I have it at my house, famously, should anyone want to ask for an invite to come see it. This would be an example of being cryptic, where getting to see Star Fleet is your prize for deciphering my fiendish riddle.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You were right.

Zelda scared the fuck out of me

Cryptic, vague and requiring of trust, but right. That's what I DO, baby. That's my mission statement

I should really go fix an A/V sync issue with my copy, and then, if anyone is interested I WILL HAVE A SPARE ROOM FOR YOU TO STOP IN. *nods encouragingly at Joans, Goatboy and others*

@Grim: LOL. Er, me too. And most of the monsters in fact.

First person to send me a nice grovelling PM can have a free, legit 'Vol. 1' Terrahawks DVD, containing the first 4 brilliant episodes. My 'complete collection' arrived today at last

Ren & Stimpy.

Thanks for the offer (will there still be ice cream?), but I have a crappy copy of my own made from the US tapes. I don't think this is as good as the ones you have, but I'll probably wait until they come out on DVD (assuming I live long enough), before I watch them again.

Mine is a crappy copy too, possibly even the same crappy copy Joans It just was like fucking gold dust trying to find it on-line for years, so just wanting to share the wealth.

Someone tell Zardoz to stop suggesting my favourite things in 'What are Good Things?' threads before I can think of them, because it's making me feel sad.

Yes, I believe we've already reminisced about how much fun it was to search for Star Fleet and have pages of Star Trek stuff come up.
Still, march you say? Oh, well.

You know, I think I would go out of my way to avoid watching Terrahawks again.

Terrifying heads.

So I appreciate it, but no thanks.

This thread should be strictly cartoons as that is what it is supposed to be about. It's not just kids' tv as the cartoons aren't necessarily kids tv despite being shown at kids' times and on kids channels. Um. Actually that kind of makes it kids' tv doesn't it? Damn.

Ja - Kid's TV Since you wouldn't find Lost there, and you equally wouldn't find Cow & Chicken in Lost's time-slot.

OOOOO. Invader Zim!

Exactly and you'd never see a Cartoon in prime time.

I mainly wanted to talk about how amazing Justice League was really. And Avatar. The storylines of which are often far better than the likes of the adult prime time shows.

Right, which is why 'Cartoons' is disingenuous, since it's the content rather than the form. Thanks for backing up my point Dudley, appreciate it.

At university, a friend told me that there is an episode of JLA that basically goes like this:

JLA kick out Batman
JLA discover Batman has already long-since worked out how to kill/trap all of them, should he ever need to.
JLA become a bit fucking nervous and ask why.
Batman says "I'm a man in a costume, and you can all fly and travel in time and stuff. I'm not a fucking idiot."
JLA admit he has a point and cautiously welcome him back in.

This is why I love Batman. Did that episode really take place and if so, could you tell me which one it is please, so I ould seek it out?

Hmm, I think thats actually a comic book. But themes pop up in JLA. That or I missed it.

Oban Star Racers, despite not taking place in my grandmother's hometown, looks really quite good... unfortunately I've never had the time to sit down and watch it properly.

Batman: TAS is the greatest superhero cartoon ever, not to mention the best rendition of Batman ever.

Dexter's Laboratory is also marvellous incarnate.

Ren and Stimpy fans are well advised to track down the mature follow-up series, the Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon. I posted a link to Fire Dogs 2 quite a while ago, very disturbing and funny stuff.

Also, Fairly Odd Parents has replaced (more recent series of) the Simpsons for me.

I like that modern cartoon with the grim reaper in it.

Need it!

HLP PLZ

Youtube it, that's what MA did before. And yes, heh, very erm, adult.