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Friday, July 8, 2011

Sudden Remembrance

I'm crazy tired and I want to go to bed but I wanted to write about this before I forget. And let's face it: when I want to do something, I want to do it now. If I put anything off it just won't get done.

I watched a couple of episodes of X-Men just now. The cartoon. X-Men: First Class prompted me to watch the first two films (I refuse to watch the third one again) and that got me curious about the animated series. I vaguely remember watching it as a kid but I remember very little about it. Because I don't remember it too well that makes me think that I didn't watch it a ton. At the same time, I was only 5 when it started. 

It got me thinking and I couldn't really remember shows that I watched as a kid. I remember being a little bit older and watching stuff my siblings watched. Shows like SNL, Friends, Seinfield, The Simpsons (of course I didn't fully get the humor when I was 9) but I couldn't remember what I watched when I was little. However, thanks to this handy dandy list of animated TV shows from Wikipedia, my memory was jogged and I felt like sharing (in no particular order). Cause I share useless crap. 

Tale Spin 1990-1994 (ages 3-7)
I remember a few select things about this show. The main character (a bear) had the same voice as Baloo from The Jungle Book, there was a girl bear who I always wanted to get together with the main character (they probably did and I just don't remember), she had a son who wore a backwards cap, they flew one of those planes that lands on water, and I watched it all the time. That's it. But I remember loving it and I'd totally watch it again. 

Tiny Toon Adventures 1990-1992 (ages 3-5)
I probably didn't need Wikipedia to jog my memory if I had thought at all before looking at the list but when I saw the name, a rush of memories came flooding back. This was one of my all time favorites and in all honesty I'll probably own this someday just because. Babs, Buster Max... those might be the only names I can remember. But still, it was awesome. I'm guessing I watched reruns closer to 1994ish because I distinctly remember watching the show around the same time one of the specials came out. 

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 1989-1990 (ages 2-3)
I for sure watched reruns of this. There's no way I would remember something from that young. For some reason this show and Tale Spin morph in my head. I have no idea why. I remember the characters in this well though: Chip 'n Dale of course (Dale wore a fur lined leather jacket) and a mouse and her father who's uncontrollable love of cheese got them into a fair bit of trouble. I could also sing a bit of the opening credits for you. 

Garfield and Friends 1988-1994 (ages 1-7)
This was one of the few shows I watched consistently and I will for sure own it someday. I remember watching it every morning before school and when it was over, it was time to leave for school. Generally I wouldn't finish getting ready before it came on and the babysitter, Jodee Dahl, would have to rush to find me socks and shoes. I wonder how old she was and why she wasn't at school cause mine didn't start till about 9:30... weird. Anyway, Garfield was fantastic. He was lazy and so was I. He love lasagna and I probably didn't at that time, but I'm sure I wanted to in order to be like him. Also his mouth didn't move when he talked which I thought was awesome. Then there were the little side shows within the show (the Friends part of it) and I thought it was weird that one of them (the pig?) had the same voice as Garfield. Totally threw me off. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987-1996 (ages newborn-9)
Obviously I didn't watch all of this. And in all honest, I didn't actually watch a lot of it when I did. Shredder scared the crap out of me and I'm pretty sure my only motivation for watching this was because my brother did. Or maybe I thought he did cause by the time I was old enough to watch and remember this show he was probably in high school. I do remember the movie though and that was awesome. I was SO mad when my mom threw it out. 

Batman: The Animated Series 1992-1995 (ages 3-8)
I watched this when I was closer to 7 or 8. Batman was totally my favorite superhero probably because I didn't really watch other superhero shows other than X-Men. I can't remember the name of the woman who worked for Joker, but good grief her voice drove me insane. By far though my favorite villain was Catwoman. Back then if I was a villain, I'd totally use a whip too. Probably not now...

Animaniacs 1993-1998 (ages 6-11)
I didn't know this, but Animaniacs was on Fox from 1993 to 1995 and then the WB from 1995 to 1998. I watched it on the WB. Towards the end I remember thinking I was getting a little too old for cartoons (even thought I remember my siblings sometimes watching it with me and they were 6, 8, and 9 years older), but I couldn't stop watching that show and I was SO sad when it was cancelled. Yacko, Wacko & Dot, Pinkie and the Brain, Good Idea/Bad Idea... It was all awesome. I'm guessing the first childhood show I buy will be this one. There's just no comparing it to anything else. I'm sure the fact that I can remember this one the best has nothing to do with it. 

Gargoyles 1994-1997 (ages 7-10)
I had completely forgotten about this but holy crap I loved it. I didn't watch a whole lot of darker stuff, but this was one. The gargoyles in some city came to life at night and for some reason I found this enthralling. I only remember one non-gargoyle character and there was a lot of sexual tension between her and one of the gargoyles (although I'm sure I didn't call it sexual tension back then). This is something that I remember practically nothing about except that I loved it. 

And there you have it. My list of childhood animated TV shows. Yet after writing about all of those, I still have the X-Men theme song stuck in my head. Let's see if I can fall asleep to that. 

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