Good Cartoons / Bad Cartoons

[Mrelia]

In the Cable ala Carte thread, I read the following:
Spike shows pretty benign stuff during the day. It's pretty much non stop Star Trek and as I recall Striperella came (comes?) on after 10PM

I actually take more offense from some of the cartoons run by Nickelodeon (Rugrats' portrayal of parents as easily duped and manipulated by the kids).


This got me to thinking about the cartoons that I allow my six-year old to watch and why. I'll share my list and reasons and would be interested in other takes on toons.


Toons I Like:
Kim Possible - Girl saves the world with help of goofy best friend who's a guy.
Spongebob Squarepants - Spongebob is an innocent. He acts with the best of intentions most of the time. If he does something "bad" it's usually his own conscience that gets him.
Fairly Oddparents / Danny Phantom - Both from the same network and writers. I like the goofy sense of fun. Yes, there's a lot of cartoon-type violence and dumb people. But it's totally silly and unrealistic. Also, in the end the stories come down to friends sticking up for one another.
Bugs Bunny - Hey, I watched these when I was a kid and I turned out OK! Same with Tom & Jerry.
Winnie the Pooh
Madeline

Neutral Toons:
Lilo & Stitch - Though I think Stitch and Co. are cute (especially the cross-dressing alient), there's a lot of name-calling that we have to discuss.
Jimmy Neutron - The characters annoy me and again, lot's of name-calling.
Futurama - She only sees this when she's up late with us on the weekends. My hubby and I like the show. The adult humor goes over the child's head and she usually wanders out of the room in a few minutes anyway.


Toons I Don't Like The Kiddo To Watch:
The Proud Family - I'm sorry, but even if the Dad is a dufus there's no reason for EVERYONE to constantly demean him.
Rugrats - Dumb parents, deliberate mispronunciation and Angelica. I've heard too many imitations of that brat.
Pocohontas - C'mon, if you're going to pick an historical character for a movie...how about having a little respect and actually talking about their real life?


OK, I can't think of any more just now. Your turn.


ETA - Maybe I should have posted this in TV/Movieville, but I figure we're also discussing the toons in a sociological context which broadens the discussion, or some junk like that.

[AgentSun]

toons i watched as a kid:

x-men
spiderman
batman
captain planet
teenage mutant ninja turtles

forget my little pony and all those shows other girls watched. i wanted my comic book cartoons.

[Owlman]

Eek the Cat. Classic.

[faustus]

invader Zim

[Darth Buddha]

The Warner Brothers Batman cartoons, all incarnations. Outstanding.

[faustus]

the future batman didn't grab me

[LT Garrix]

I don't have kids and have only seen a few kids cartoons when visiting the in-laws. I have a 4 year old nephew and here are some of the ones he watches:

Bob the Builder - completely innocuous. teaches lessons of friendship and teamwork. thumbs up.

Caillou - the kid is an annoying whiner. MIL doesn't like it either. Probably wouldn't go in my house

Wiggles - Okay, not really a cartoon. Also innocuous, but incredibly annoying to me as an adult, but not so much as Barney.

Blue's Clues - again, not entirely cartoon, but this is a good one. Teaches critical thinking.

Winnie the Pooh - love his childlike innocence and reinforces friendship

Power Puff Girls - I love it as a return to classic cartoon violence. This is a superhero cartoon that is accessible to all ages. As much as I love superhero cartoons, ones like Batman are too dark for young children.

Looney Toons - the classics. I turned out okay. The violence is so outlandish I see no problems with it.

There are other cartoons that I watched as a teen and watch as an adult, X-Men, Gargoyles, Batman, Simpsons, that are good for older kids, but not the really young ones. I tried to limit this to the 'kiddie' cartoons. I already said what I thought about rugrats. The NickJR stuff has always been good, but regular Nick cartoons that I've seen bits of are not something I'd let my kids watch.

[Mazinkaiser]

Stuff I liked growing up:

Gi Joe
Thundercats
Transformers
Silver Hawks

then I discovered comic books and got into most of those cartoons. I even liked the horrible Avengers cartoon from the late 90's.

[DRD2001]

I don't have kids, but some shows that my friends kids watch that I would restrict or limit are Simpsons and Ren & Stimpy. Mind you, I love the Simpsons, but if I had a child who watched it, I would make sure they understood that this isn't real and any kid who tried to imitate such behavior would get in a lot of trouble. But I don't see my friends doing that with their kids.

As a kid, I loved Johnny Quest, Superfriends and Looney Toons.

[Darth Buddha]

the future batman didn't grab me

He didn't grab me as much as the fact that he and the aged Bruce were a defacto duo.

[Paul Cousins]

Guys you really need to see the Uncut version of the Batman Beyond Movie Return of the Joker, it will change your mind about the whole BB series.

Also, the episode of Batman Beyond that deal with the B:TAS villians are VERY GOOD!! :cool: (You got to admit that Mr. Freeze's new suit ROCKED!!)

By the way, I recommend these series:

From the 80's

G1 Transformers
G.I. Joe
Jem and the Holograms

Rhino has remastered editions of these three series on DVD Boxsets.

From the 90's

Gargoyles (Seasons 1 and 2)
Batman the Animated Series
Batman Beyond
X-men the Animated Series
Superman the Animated Series
Fox's Spiderman
Exo-Squad (a better mecha war saga than most Gundam series)
Dexter's Lab
Futurama
Beast Wars

Yu Yu Hakusho (the later half of this series is fairly violent)
Inu Yasha (though this may be to violent for children under 12)
Gundam Wing
G Gundam
Outlaw Star
Zoids Chaotic Century/Guardian Force
In the present:

Megas XLR (this is one funny series)
Justice League (Justice League Unlimited premeires at the end of this month.)

Lupin III (though it is from the 70's the modern dub is good)
Cowboy Bebop (this one is a bit mature for children)
Trigun
Case Closed (though this deals with murder mysteries, so it may be a little mature)

Currently not airing but good:

Samurai Jack
He-man Remake

[Darth Buddha]

I take it you didn't care for Beast Machines?

I thought them rather cool...

[Paul Cousins]

I take it you didn't care for Beast Machines?

Beast Wars was good, but Beast Machines was lacking something. Maybe it was such a small cast of characters, besides the drones, for such a large place.

[Craistine]

The cartoons shown on TV in Germany are very very lousy these days!!! :yuck:
If I had a kid I would be afraid that it go daft after watching this dren. :bonk: :loco:
Mostly you are tortured with very fishy flashy cheap junk from Asia. Don´t get me wrong, I´m not talking about good manga style but about all the "Pocemon-and-friends" crap. Sorry but there´s no quality, neither the drawing style *cough* nor the the "story" *double-cough* . :eek2:

Therefore the listing of my fav currently telecasted cartoons is very short:
* Fairly OddParents (in Germany known as "Cosmo & Wanda") -> great humor!
* Masters of the Universe - old (80´s) and new (2002)
* Johnny Bravo and Cow & Chicken
...mmmh that´s it, the rest is sh:censored:

Cartoons I raised up with and enjoy watching them this very day:
* Spiderman - the original series of 1978/79
* Captain Future
* Masters of the Universe - old (80´s)
* X-Men
* Mr. Rossi
* Nick Knatterton (it´s an old and cult German satiric cartoon series)
* Es war einmal...der Mensch (French series, very great and instructive in a non-disturbing way. AFAIK unknown in USA. Translation: "Once upon a time...the human being"

and this is only a short excerpt of the abundant supply of cool cartoons in Germany´s TV history :grumpy:

[TheBladeRoden]

Good Cartoons:
South Park
Jimmy Neutron
Kablaam
Invader Zim
Fairly Oddparents
Family Guy
Futurama
Simpsons
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Birdman Attorney at Law
Sealab 2021
Baby Blues
Dilbert
Cowboy Bebop
The Critic
Duckman
Dr. Katz
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Garfield & Friends
Ren & Stimpy
Rocko's Modern Life
I admit I did watch Rugrats

That's all I can think of for now.

[Saajak]

My brother and I watched He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Voltron (lion, not vehicle), Transformers, GI Joe, and Jem. Although we both hated it, we'd watch Inspector Gadget because it was on right before Voltron.

[generic_screenname]

I thought the point of the thread was to name cartoons that were good and bad for children, not which ones were your favorites.

[Craistine]

I thought the point of the thread was to name cartoons that were good and bad for children, not which ones were your favorites.

but I DO think they are good for children :D (maybe except for Johnny Bravo).

But you´re right, generic_screenname. So here a few cartoons which I think are really good for children:

* Hey Arnold
* Recess (Disney´s große Pause)
* Angela Anaconda
* Disney's Weekenders (Disneys Wochenend-Kids)
* Oggy and the Cockroaches (Oggy und die Kakerlaken)

these are the ones I´m sure be known in the US.

[TheBladeRoden]

well, if my children are anything like me....

[Darth Buddha]

The stuff I named, was stuff I'd be down with kids o' mine watching.

I like some anime -- but I sure as hell wouldn't want the fruit of my loins watching The Ninja Scroll until they were 17 at least!

[eta_carinae]

I love Inuyasha (obviously), but I'm not sure I would want a small child watching it. It's kind of violent and sexual at times. When I was a kid, I loved Voltron, Shera, Masters of the Universe (He-man?), and My Little Ponies. Go figure.

[blue]

Oh where are Rocky and Bullwinkle when you need them? Good for all ages.

[shadowshiv]

I really have no problems with any cartoons out there right now. By that, I mean for me watching it. I am 31, so I should be able to discern what is appropriate or not.

If I had a child that was watching, there are certainly a lot that I would not let him/her watch. Examples of course would be Beavis and Butthead, South Park, Futurama(some of the content can be objectionable to younger people), and certainly Kevin Spencer. That is certainly one that children do not need to see.

Cartoons that I watched as a child were as follows:

Scooby Doo(without crappy Scrappy Doo in it!)
Transformers
G.I.Joe
Robotech
GoBots
Bugs Bunny(and all the various Loony Toons cartoons)
Ghostbusters(not the one with the talking car)
Smurfs
Thundercats
He-Man

Lots of others, but I can't think of them right now. :D

[shadowshiv]

Eek the Cat. Classic.

How could I have forgotten about Eek the Cat. That show was awesome! :O

[shadowshiv]

Stuff I liked growing up:

Gi Joe
Thundercats
Transformers
Silver Hawks

then I discovered comic books and got into most of those cartoons. I even liked the horrible Avengers cartoon from the late 90's.

Remember the first episode of the X-Men cartoon, where they had Wolverine using an Australian accent(he is Canadian :D )? :eek:

[shadowshiv]

Guys you really need to see the Uncut version of the Batman Beyond Movie Return of the Joker, it will change your mind about the whole BB series.

Also, the episode of Batman Beyond that deal with the B:TAS villians are VERY GOOD!! :cool: (You got to admit that Mr. Freeze's new suit ROCKED!!)

By the way, I recommend these series:

From the 80's

G1 Transformers
G.I. Joe
Jem and the Holograms

Rhino has remastered editions of these three series on DVD Boxsets.

From the 90's

Gargoyles (Seasons 1 and 2)
Batman the Animated Series
Batman Beyond
X-men the Animated Series
Superman the Animated Series
Fox's Spiderman
Dexter's Lab
Futurama
Beast Wars

Yu Yu Hakusho (the later half of this series is fairly violent)
Inu Yasha (though this may be to violent for children under 12)
Gundam Wing
G Gundam
Outlaw Star

In the present:

Megas XLR (this is one funny series)
Justice League (Justice League Unlimited premeires at the end of this month.)

Lupin III (though it is from the 70's the modern dub is good)
Cowboy Bebop (this one is a bit mature for children)
Trigun
Case Closed (though this deals with murder mysteries, so it may be a little mature)

Currently not airing but good:

Samurai Jack
He-man Remake

Is that episode of BB that you talked about available anywhere? Perhaps for rental or something? :)

[shadowshiv]

My brother and I watched He-Man, She-Ra, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Voltron (lion, not vehicle), Transformers, GI Joe, and Jem. Although we both hated it, we'd watch Inspector Gadget because it was on right before Voltron.

I kind of liked Inspector Gadget. :O

I thought that Penny was cute. Hey! I was a kid, all right? :D

[Paul Cousins]

Is that episode of BB that you talked about available anywhere? Perhaps for rental or something? :)

The movie is titled Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, it takes place after the Batman Beyond series.

If you know who the basic characters of Batman Beyond than you should not have any problems watching the movie. It bridges B:TAS/Batman:WB with Batman Beyond.

There are two versions, a edited version and a uncut version, the uncut version is VERY good.

You can rent/buy it on DVD but make sure it is the uncut version. (Though it is somewhat voilent, but very good.)

[shadowshiv]

The movie is titled Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, it takes place after the Batman Beyond series.

If you know who the basic characters of Batman Beyond than you should not have any problems watching the movie. It bridges B:TAS/Batman:WB with Batman Beyond.

There are two versions, a edited version and a uncut version, the uncut version is VERY good.

You can rent/buy it on DVD but make sure it is the uncut version. (Though it is somewhat voilent, but very good.)

Thanks for the help, Paul. :)

[Paul Cousins]

Thanks for the help, Paul. :)

You're welcome. Also, take a look at the other cartoons I recommended on this thread. Some of them are available DVD so you can rent or buy them.

[shadowshiv]

You're welcome, also, take a look at the other cartoons I recommended on this thread.

I will do that for sure. :)