Waking up with Optimus, G.I. Joes and Pikachu
There was something magical about a Saturday morning
in the mind of a child, waking up at the crack of dawn,
slowly sneaking down to the basement with an entire box
of chocolaty cereal and flipping on YTV, Fox Kids or the
Family Channel and taking your place on the couch to take
in some of the best that animated entertainment has ever
had to offer. The mix of retro classics and shiny new CG
programs combined to give us ‘90s kids a virtual buffet
of cartoons to choose from, providing what many of the
nostalgia-minded may have been the last, and best era of
the Saturday morning cartoon.
Transformers
With last summer’s Transformers: Age of Extinction garnering Michael Bay the sort of hate that is generally reserved for the man who killed your family, it only seems right to take a look back and see how the original 1984 series has held up. Long held by fans as the definitive version of the series, nearly every complaint made against the films stems from some perceived disloyalty that it they have displayed toward the original, which by the sounds of it was the height of inspirational storytelling and a master class in the art of animation.
It’s not… it’s borderline awful. I’m a self-confessed Transformers nerd, have been since I was four, and I was quite excited to sit down with my newly created ability to think critically and relieve some of my childhood adventures with Optimus Prime and the rest of his crew. Not two episodes in did I noticed the first glaring error; three different characters standing in the background with three incorrect paintjobs, and in the foreground the wrong voice coming out of an unmoving mouth.
So I moved forward with the illusion of a good show well and truly shattered and took in five hours or cheesy, clumsily animated and downright cringe-worthy television that reeks of every awful television trope that was available. Characters were introduced without explanation, there was always an irritating human child getting in the way and some of the later plotlines seem like the product of a dangerous combination of narcotics.
There is no doubt that Transformers was a success, the series launched a toy line and sequels that have never ceased production for more than a few months, which happens to be the sole reason that the program existed in the first place. Despite its faults the show is still undeniably charming, and the series’ portrayal of Optimus Prime served to make him one of the most beloved children’s characters of all time, definitely worth checking out by the Allspark don’t believe the hype you read about it online.
G.I. Joe
Keeping with the theme of toy commercials cleverly disguised as children’s entertainment, 1982 saw the premiere of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a program wildly considered the grandfather of the terrible ‘80s animation, reused footage and thinly veiled racism that would become an animation staple in Transformers and other action series that were soon to follow in that era.
Featuring an ever-revolving roster of heroes, with highly creative monikers such as Gung-Ho and Roadblock, all under the command of their leader Duke (most weeks), the Joes were tasked with protecting various recognizable landmarks with zero strategic value from the evil COBRA. It all seems incredibly violent for a program aimed for children but thankfully someone in the writer’s room had a solution, “What if, despite our characters primarily firing guns at each other, nobody ever got shot!” and thus the least bloody war in animated television history began to wage.
While the original series does not carry the same nostalgic weight as Transformers, it has arguably aged better than its mechanical brother, not in terms of graphical fidelity at all, but certainly in the realms of voice acting and storytelling, as long as you can look past the ridiculousness of each individual plot. What really helps this series stand the test of time is the vocal performance of the late Chris Latta, whose screeching, lisping, maniacal take on the Cobra Commander became one of the most iconic vocal performance in television history.
Pokémon
The only program on the list that has never come off the air, the original run of Pokémon that made its debut on North American shores holds a special place in the hearts of many, as it was one of the first real tastes of anime that they were exposed to.
The story of Ash Ketchum setting out on his journey with a newly acquired Pikachu, and the concept of the series itself, is well enough know that most won’t need to it summed up, boy leaves home to catch environmentally powered animals in order to set them against one another in the quest to be the very best.
This concept has barely changed over the last decade, Ash is still 10 and still has his Pikachu, but what helps set the original apart is not only how well it holds up against its animated peers of the time, but against its own latter incarnations as well. A quick Netflix comparison between the two series may surprise some, the writing was better, the characters a little less annoying and the overall story stakes higher in the first season than anything that has been shown to kids in the more recent years.
As the series shows no sign of going away any time soon, there may still be a chance for it to recapture the former high points, but for now it is the original that stands as one of the best nostalgic journeys you can go on.
Transformers
With last summer’s Transformers: Age of Extinction garnering Michael Bay the sort of hate that is generally reserved for the man who killed your family, it only seems right to take a look back and see how the original 1984 series has held up. Long held by fans as the definitive version of the series, nearly every complaint made against the films stems from some perceived disloyalty that it they have displayed toward the original, which by the sounds of it was the height of inspirational storytelling and a master class in the art of animation.
It’s not… it’s borderline awful. I’m a self-confessed Transformers nerd, have been since I was four, and I was quite excited to sit down with my newly created ability to think critically and relieve some of my childhood adventures with Optimus Prime and the rest of his crew. Not two episodes in did I noticed the first glaring error; three different characters standing in the background with three incorrect paintjobs, and in the foreground the wrong voice coming out of an unmoving mouth.
So I moved forward with the illusion of a good show well and truly shattered and took in five hours or cheesy, clumsily animated and downright cringe-worthy television that reeks of every awful television trope that was available. Characters were introduced without explanation, there was always an irritating human child getting in the way and some of the later plotlines seem like the product of a dangerous combination of narcotics.
There is no doubt that Transformers was a success, the series launched a toy line and sequels that have never ceased production for more than a few months, which happens to be the sole reason that the program existed in the first place. Despite its faults the show is still undeniably charming, and the series’ portrayal of Optimus Prime served to make him one of the most beloved children’s characters of all time, definitely worth checking out by the Allspark don’t believe the hype you read about it online.
G.I. Joe
Keeping with the theme of toy commercials cleverly disguised as children’s entertainment, 1982 saw the premiere of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, a program wildly considered the grandfather of the terrible ‘80s animation, reused footage and thinly veiled racism that would become an animation staple in Transformers and other action series that were soon to follow in that era.
Featuring an ever-revolving roster of heroes, with highly creative monikers such as Gung-Ho and Roadblock, all under the command of their leader Duke (most weeks), the Joes were tasked with protecting various recognizable landmarks with zero strategic value from the evil COBRA. It all seems incredibly violent for a program aimed for children but thankfully someone in the writer’s room had a solution, “What if, despite our characters primarily firing guns at each other, nobody ever got shot!” and thus the least bloody war in animated television history began to wage.
While the original series does not carry the same nostalgic weight as Transformers, it has arguably aged better than its mechanical brother, not in terms of graphical fidelity at all, but certainly in the realms of voice acting and storytelling, as long as you can look past the ridiculousness of each individual plot. What really helps this series stand the test of time is the vocal performance of the late Chris Latta, whose screeching, lisping, maniacal take on the Cobra Commander became one of the most iconic vocal performance in television history.
Pokémon
The only program on the list that has never come off the air, the original run of Pokémon that made its debut on North American shores holds a special place in the hearts of many, as it was one of the first real tastes of anime that they were exposed to.
The story of Ash Ketchum setting out on his journey with a newly acquired Pikachu, and the concept of the series itself, is well enough know that most won’t need to it summed up, boy leaves home to catch environmentally powered animals in order to set them against one another in the quest to be the very best.
This concept has barely changed over the last decade, Ash is still 10 and still has his Pikachu, but what helps set the original apart is not only how well it holds up against its animated peers of the time, but against its own latter incarnations as well. A quick Netflix comparison between the two series may surprise some, the writing was better, the characters a little less annoying and the overall story stakes higher in the first season than anything that has been shown to kids in the more recent years.
As the series shows no sign of going away any time soon, there may still be a chance for it to recapture the former high points, but for now it is the original that stands as one of the best nostalgic journeys you can go on.
