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)

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 Series, Men 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

Old School Lane presents Kevin's Top 100 Animated Shows (79-70)

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

First Impressions: Assassin's Creed III

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of First Impressions. While Kevin is finishing up his list of his favorite animated shows, I had gotten the latest issue of Game Informer magazine. I read about a lot of great upcoming games, but one that caught my eye was the cover of the magazine showing a glimpse of the third numbered titled, yet fifth installment of the Assassin’s Creed series. Holy crap, does this look epic!

Just like the picture indicates, the story takes place between 1753 and 1783 around Colonial America, specifically Boston and New York, during the years of the American Revolutionary War. It also takes place almost 250 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. This is the first time that the series will not take place around Europe, like the previous games, which brings a breath of fresh air to the series. Gone are the tall, eloquent buildings to climb around like a Medieval Spiderman. Now, you’re leaping from tree to tree, observing the British Redcoats’ movements and strategies.

The main character in the game is not Ezio or Altair, but a new assassin named Ratohnhaké:ton (pronounced Ra-doon-ha-gay-doon) but he calls himself Connor. He’s a half English, half Mohawk man who goes into joining the war after his home was attacked by white colonists. Similar to the previous games, Connor will meet and interact with actual historical figures. In this game, he’ll meet up with General George Washington and join alongside him during the main battles of the war. To replace Assassin’s Creed II’s Leonard da Vinci as the weapon and gadget guy, we have Benjamin Franklin. The same man who invented the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, and bifocals will be your go-to guy for all your necessities to bring about pain to your enemies. 

The gameplay will also differ compared to the other games in the series. Connor’s movement and fighting style is completely different compared to Ezio and Altair’s. There are no hidden blades in the game, instead Connor fights with a tomahawk that looks like the Assassin’s logo and a knife. Instead of a crossbow, Connor uses a traditional bow and arrow. Instead of a portable cannon gun, he has a 18th century revolver. Not to mention attacking and defending are the same button, which makes it a lot easier to control.

Ubisoft promises that this will be the biggest game to date, with massive exploring to do, many tasks to perform along the way, different environmental changes such as introducing snow and rain to the game, and a much deeper storyline. The game comes out October 30th and for anyone who is a big fan of the series, this is one that you should put in your gaming list as a game that you must pick up.

That’s all for today. Thanks for hanging out with us around Old School Lane. Catch you later.

-Patricia