my childhood of 80's/ 90's cartoons...

recently on the Ray Foley show I heard some 'lazy radio', in the form of 80's themes tunes from well known cartoons and TV shows. this got me thinking about my own viewing habits as a child and encouraged me to look up some of the golden oldies. I was instantly hit across the head with a nostalgic bat when 5 mins of theme tune surfing on YouTube, turned into 1 hour. I'm not talking about Transformers or He-man, while all classics, they are all dealt with on other blogs. I'm talking about some of the lesser known ones. I'm talking about cartoons such as Visionaries, Toxic Crusaders and Captain N-the Games Master. 'Captain who?', I hear you cry. well read on and hopefully you'll be reminded of getting up on Saturdays at 7am just to watch the likes of...

Visionaries
I think this was my favourite. I can't remember if I had it on VHS or watched if on telly, but it kicked ass. let's face it, who wouldn't want to be a knight and turn into the animal that they had on their chest. well, unless the animal was a mollusk(?) or beetle. there was only 1 series made (13 episodes) and it aired in 1987. the premise was the planet Prysmos was stripped of all it's electronic technology and set back to medieval times. kind of like a recession!! then Merklynn (no copyright infringement here) gave the knights magical powers. each knight got a magical totem power which allowed them to transform into an animal, based on their personality. some of these knights also had staffs which gave them additional powers. I also remember having the action figures which were very similar to GI Joe. even 21 years on it's still brilliant!...


Centurions
this is one that I can't remember much on, probably because I was 3 when the cartoon was broadcast in 1985/86. the heroes in this case, were a trio. Max Ray...sea commander, Jake Rockwell...land specialist and Ace McCloud...air expert. note the way their names are a reflection of what they do.....yes, very smart.....
they wore special suits called 'exo frames' and when they shouted 'POWER EXTREME' they were fused with various weapons and gadgets turning them into part man, part machine! believe me, for a 3 year old this was the shizzle (yes. I said shizzle). their various enhancements assisted them in various ways. Ace McCloud flew around the skies shooting missiles. Jake Rockwell had to walk, but he had kick ass cannons and demolition gadgets. and Max Ray had stuff that would get him through the water really fast with torpedoes n' stuff.....weak. I think when they were giving out the suits he got the short straw. he'd be pretty useless if the forces of evil struck a couple miles inland! the bad guys in this case were Dr. Terror and his sidekick Hacker, who were cyborgs and commanded an army of robots. I think this is a great idea for a cartoon and again, the action figures were great. they had attachments that you could put on any part of their bodies........take your minds out the gutters...



Toxic Crusaders
this is another one from the Saturday mornings that I remember quite well. Based on B movie the toxic avenger, it's story is familiar. a nerd falls into a barrel of toxic waste and transforms into a monster with superhuman size and strength. it came along around the same time as Captain Planet (1991-ish), another pollution conscious cartoon that wanted the kids to get the message and save the world. well it sank in.......i recycle! the main character, Toxie, had a mop that communicated with him by squeaking and pointing (it got dumped in the toxic waste as well). but it was full of bad puns and cheesy phrases such as 'lets clean up this mess', when talking about the bad guys. but still great. it's yet another cartoon that had a great collection of toys...



Bucky O'Hare
this is one that I think I saw on live and kicking, the Saturday morning kids show that ran from early to late 90's. but that's another day's discussion. it followed Bucky with his team of crime fighting friends through space, against the evil toads. looking at it now it looks like they took a little inspiration from well know warner bros. characters. the main similarities between Bucky and bugs bunny, the other between dead eye duck and daffy duck. other than that all i remember is that it had a kick ass theme song...



Chip N' Dale; Rescue Rangers
this was another cartoon that was on Saturday/ Sunday mornings, and like most of the Disney cartoons, it was was class. And like all the Disney cartoons it had a great theme song. this starred 2 chipmunks (as i'm sure you know) that originally appeared in old short Disney cartoons, usually annoying goofy or Donald duck. in rescue rangers they were usually getting themselves in trouble but always managed to save the day.....those little rascals.
Chip was the leader of the operation and was like an Indiana Jones type character. Dale wore a Hawaiian shirt not unlike magnum PI, but he was a bit careless. they fought the gangster-like 'fat cat' with a hardy little flea called zipper, Monty the mouse (who, for some reason i remember being drunk a lot?) and Gadget Hackwrench. I think she was the brains behind the operation and always invented cool weapons and gadgets (as the name suggests). anyway, have a look at the clip and see if you can remember...