I picked this up in a special deal that my local shop was promoting whereby, for about $35, you buy the 8 basic variant covers and they include a ninth metalized (is that a word) version of the Charlie Adlard cover H. A fine deal. I’m not going to be able to get the Comic Con B&W cover and there’s no way in hell I’m getting the Charlie Adlard B&W 1:200 cover (currently going for anywhere from $400 -$2000, depending on the ignorance of the buyer) and I appreciated the store trying to give the regulars a little discount. All of the covers are beautiful. My favorite is probably Silvestri or Ottley’s. Silvestri got the mood right and the picture fits the epic nature of the 100th issue fairly well. Ottley just drew the hell out of Michonne and I love the expression on her face.

The story itself was absolutely brutal. I felt drained after reading it. A lot of it was expected due to the huge amount of build-up, but the second half of the book is absolutely bleak and doesn’t give you a glimmer of hope. The tension created from the “selection” scene is heartbreaking and more than a little sickening and after knowing these characters, some of them for the past 9 or 10 years that the comic book has been in production, I was hurting right along with Rick.

Half of me hates this book, because it creates such an emotional attachment to these characters and strips it away without pause and with brutal efficiency, but I also love it because Kirkman has created a fictional world where you’re not comfortable. Where you can’t settle in to knowing which characters will live or die or guessing your way at how the Scooby Gang will make it out of this snafu.

Read the issue, then go have a lie-down. You’re gonna need it.

A picture of my haul (forgive the quality of a phone camera):

Left-to-right (Cover designation noted next to artist):
Top Row: Bryan Hitch F, Sean Phillips E, Ryan Ottley G, Marc Silvestri B,
Bottom Row: Frank Quietly C, Todd McFarlane D, Charlie Adlard H, Charlie Adlard (Chromium) L

Not pictured is Charlie Adlard’s Cover A because it is currently on loan to my brother-in-law for reading.

ME BEING PRETENTIOUS AND ARBITRARILY RANKING A BUNCH OF TV CARTOONS

or

THE 100 GREATEST ANIMATED SERIES OF ALL TIME

Part 4

Greetings Toonsters!  We’ve passed the halfway point and are getting ever closer to the coveted Number 1 spot.  But before we get into round 4, let’s do a quick recap of the list so far…

100. YoungJustice/Thundercats (2011)

99. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

98. Mad Jack the Pirate

97. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

96. King of the Hill

95. Beetlejuice

94. Kablam

93. The Smurfs

92. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

91. Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc

90. Rugrats

89. Doug

88. X-Men

87. Static Shock

86. Aqua Teen Hunger Force

85. Cow and Chicken

84. Moral Orel

83. Filmore

82. X-Men: Evolution

81. The Angry Beavers

80. Space Ghost Coast to Coast

79. Home Movies

78. Kim Possible

77. Pirates of Dark Water

76. Sym-Bionic Titan

75. Peter Pan and the Pirates

74. 2 Stupid Dogs

73. Beast Wars

72. The Tick

71. Batman: the Brave and the Bold

70. Muppet Babies

69. Johnny Bravo

68. Teen Titans

67. The Alvin Show/Alvin and the Chipmunks

66. Mighty Max

65. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

64. Courage the Cowardly Dog

63. Roger Ramjet

62. The Critic

61. Goof Troop

60. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

59. Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers

58. Batman Beyond

57. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

56. Recess

55. Liquid Television/What-a-Cartoon Show/Oh Yeah Cartoons

54. Bobby’s World

53. The Fairly Oddparents

52. Aladdin: the Series

51. Daria

50. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

49. TaleSpin

48. Spectacular Spider-Man

47. Hey Arnold!

46. Aeon Flux

45. Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat

44. Tiny Toon Adventures

43. Futurama

42. Underdog

41. Freakazoid

We’re almost there, so let’s quit the lollygagging.

40. Superman: The Animate Series: Four years after revolutionizing Batman, Bruce Timm and crew would apply the same magic to Superman.  Superman: the Animated Series did everything it needed to do with the character and more.  At a time in the comics where Superman was dead, alive, electric, red, blue, and had a mullet, the animated series kept it simple.  It was bright, optimistic, dynamic, and constantly looking ahead, reflecting the central character.  The supporting cast as well represented and could easily hold their own opposite the Man of Steel, especially Lois Lane who’s portrayal here was the best portrayal of the character outside the comic. The show had a booming orchestral score to rival the live-action movie and the acting was strong, passionate, and every actor gave their A-game.  This was one of my first exposures to Superman and the one that continues to hold up today.

39. Invader Zim: Possibly the darkest Nicktoon ever.  From the twisted mind of Jhonen Vasquez came Invader Zim, a series about a power man and painfully inept alien named Zim, whose mission is seemingly to conquer the Earth, when in actuality his superiors just sent him there to get him out of the way.  Zim was mind-blowingly dark and hilarious.  And when I say dark, I mean dark, one of the more memorable episodes had Zim harvesting organs from his classmates and replacing them with “stuff” in an attempt to look normal.  The characters were so dynamic and hilarious absurd, you could quote them endlessly.  Also the little emphasis they put on certain words like “horrible” and “filth” were genius.  The show has rightfully gained a huge cult following and the way it handled dark comedy was the stuff of brilliance.  In fact, if I had to sum up what made this series so good in one word it would be this: GIR.

38. The Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Adventures of the Gummi Bears was the first in a string of animated hits that would make up The Disney Afternoon.  Inspired by the candy of the same name, Gummi Bears was set in medieval times and centered around a group of mystical anthropomorphic bears called Gummi Bears.  These Gummis were some of the last of their race and lived in secret of humans and were only known by a select few: their young friends Cavin and Princess Calla, and their arch enemy Duke Igthorn, who wanted the secret of their GummiBerry Juice which gave the Gummis the ability to bounce like rubber and gave super strength to any human who drank it.  This show would go on to set the trend for future Disney shows to follow.  It presented a unique setting, interesting characters, great character design, top-notch voice cast, and solid animation.  Gummi Bears helped to revitalized television animation and remains a timeless animation classic.  Plus, it gets props for reuniting June Foray and Bill Scott (aka Rocky and Bullwinkle), as Grammy Gummi and Gruffi Gummi respectively.

37. The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show: After Eek the Cat, Bill Kopp went on to create a number of great and off-beat shows that sadly never became as big, and the funniest of those funny cartoon shows was The Schoonukums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show.  Schnookums and Meat was Disney’s attempt to capitalize on the success of Ren and Stimpy, but sadly was cancelled too early, before it could gain the same audience numbers.  The show was divided into three segments: Schnookums and Meat, about a cat and dog duo with a style reminiscent of golden age Tom and Jerry; Pith Possum, about a Batman-style hero and his sidekick Obadiah, who’s look was invocative of what was done on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures ; and Tex Tinstar, a parody of western serials, with looked like a better animated Jay Ward cartoon.  Though different, the three cartoons shared truly excellent animation, with each having their own unique look and style to them.  In addition, the humor was top-notch and relied on visual gags even more than dialogue, which is always a plus in my book.  It’s sad it never built a strong enough following, because this show was an absolute gem.  Plus the pasta it inspired was awesome.

36. The Jetsons: The polar opposite of The Flintstones, The Jetsons took the same premise, a typical American family, but this time set it in the future rather than the past.  The show was basically Blondie and Dagwood in the far future (in fact Penny Singleton(Jane Jetson) played Blondie in film and radio), except much more entertaining and creative.  In contrast to Fred Flintstone’s bombastic and oafish personality, George Jetson was bumbling, laid-back, natured and somewhat hapless, a great central character.  The show took full advantage of its setting and was constantly coming up with new and inventive futuristic gadgets.  The animation was solid enough but the writing was where the show excelled.  Like most old cartoons, this show saw a brief revival in the 80’s, but aside from a brighter color scheme and a new character called Orbity, the show wasn’t that much different from the original, keeping the original cast and the same quality storytelling, and as a kid I couldn’t tell the difference.

35. Garfield and Friends: Under the guidance of Mark Evanier, Garfield and Friends brought everything great about the comic strip and added to it.  Garfield and Friends worked so well because Mark understood what Garfield was at its core and never strayed from it.  Plus Lorenzo Music as Garfield was absolute perfect casting.  His mellow and smart allecky tone was a perfect fit for the character.  There was also another show in the mix called U.S. Acres, about a group of animal characters running a farm that was equally as good.  The characters were strong, the designs were great, and the writing was snappy and funny.  Garfield and Friends still remains much more enduring and entertaining than its source material.

34. Duckman: Created by Everett Peck and produced by Klasky Csupo, yes the same people who made Rugrats, Duckman was about the crass, foul-mouth, pornography-obsessed, abrasive, greedy character of Duckman, private dick and family man.  Duckman was certainly the most adult thing to come out of Klasky Csupo.  It’s jokes were more risqué, it’s visual style was very gritty and non-conformist, and it’s characters were more complex and morally gray.  Duckman on its surface looked like another raunchy late-night cartoon, but the show had real heart to it, and the characters, despite being loud and crude, had real vulnerability to them, making them much more relatable.  Duckman had great animation and real layers to it, just a great show all around.

33. Ed, Edd, n Eddy: Coming out of Cartoon Network’s big creator driven animation period of the 90’s, Ed, Edd, n Eddy stood out among the rest with its striking visuals and extremely non-conservative animation.  Ed, Edd, n Eddy stared three boys, all having the roughly the same name, and their various money making schemes.  The core of the show was the dynamic of the three main characters: Eddy was the fast-talking and money-grubbing leader; Edd (or Double D as he’s known) was the whimpy and OCD brainy one; and Ed was the blissfully dim-witted and sci-fi and horror movie obsessed lug.  The trio were distinct, unique, and their personalities were consistent made for great storytelling.  The animation was the high point of the show.  It was fast, fluid, and seemed to be always changing, always re-inventing itself with each new episode.  That can be attributed to the style of creator Danny Antonucci.    It was one of the longest lasting shows on Cartoon Network and never lost what made it good along the way.

32. Bonkers: Of all the shows on the Disney Afternoon, Bonkers was the most underrated.  Originally conceived as an Roger Rabbit series, the new character Bonkers D. Bobcat was used instead.  Bonkers, a former cartoon star turned beat cop was paired with human, Detective Lucky Piquel as they patrolled the streets of Hollywood and tackled toon-related crimes.  It’s easy to see the Roger Rabbit influence in the show, but it may be a little jarring seeing as how the show was fully animated rather than being a live-action/animation mix.  Still, the show worked well.  Bonkers and Lucky were great characters and their classic comedy double act worked well here.  The show was just zany fun and all the toon characters they came up with were inventive and cool to watch.  To date, this show as yet to come out on DVD and that’s a damn shame because this show deserved a wider audience.

31. Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinx: Tom and Jerry may be seen as the definitive cat-and-mouse cartoon, but I would rank Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinx as it’s equal.  Sure the animation wasn’t as great and violence was toned down, but it’s characters had a lot more personality, plus they talked.  Pixie and Dixie were very innocent and wittier and they made perfect counterpoints to Mr. Jinx, ho, while a jerk, was much more dim-witted and hapless.  As with all of Hanna Barbera’s cartoons, Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinx traded in lavish animation for snappy and character specific dialogue.  It’s not the most original premise, but it had a winning approach to it.  I loved those meeces to peeces.  And Mr. Jinx too.

30. Beany and Cecil/The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil: After leaving Warner Bros, legendary animator Bob Clampett went on to create two new characters for television.  Originating as a puppet show called Time for Beany, Beany and Cecil made the jump into animation in 1962.  The show, about a young, bright-eyed, toe-headed buy named Beany and his best friend Cecil, a sea serpent who’s only visible parts are his head and neck, proved to be a major success in both venues.  The show had Clampett’s trademark brand of exaggerated and insane situations and humor and the characters were simplistic, but very likeable.  In 1988, the show was revived as The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil, spearheaded by John Krisfaluci, fresh off Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.  While the show wasn’t as successful, it kept the spirit of the original alive, had great staging and animation, and proved to be even stranger than its predecessor.

29. Scooby-Doo: Where Are You: Scooby-Doo has been one of the most enduring characters in animation history.  He’s had more shows under his belt than any other character not originating in the golden age.  The New Scooby Doo Movies, Scooby-Doo/DynoMutt Hour, Scooby’s All Star Laff-a-Lympics, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, Scooby-Doo/Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour, The All New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show, 13 Ghost of Scooby-Doo, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, What’s New Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue, Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, not to mention a crap load of movies including four live-action ones and a string of imitators such as Clue Club and Jabberjaw!  But for the absolute best, we have to go back to the one that started it all…Scooby-Doo: Where are You.  The show was about a group of four teens and their talking dog, Scooby-Doo (although the fact the he could talk was never brought to attention),  as they solve various mysteries in their town and flee from ghost and monsters, who always end up being a regular person in a costume.  The stories may seem tired by today’s standards, but back then it was fresh and new.  Scooby-Doo: Where are You was definitely the most grounded of the series, feeling more like an actual mystery.  The characters are worked and made up a solid and interesting group that we could follow from show to show.  The show was also a lot more darker than it’s successors, with villains that actually seemed threatening and scary.  The various other shows in the franchise have ranged from creative and entertaining, to mediocre and repetitive, but this is another case of the original being the best.

28. South Park: What once started as a crudely animated 30 minute fart joke, has grown into an award winning, social commentating, crudely animated, 30 minute fart joke.  South Park originated as the short film, The Spirit of Christmas, and became an animated series in 1997.  South Park was famous for its extremely low-budget animation and infamous for its foul mouth and very crude and adult humor, juxtaposed by the fact that the main characters were four young boys.  As the series progressed, the show began to tackle current events and turned into one of the most looked to and quoted pieces of satirical media.  The show is absolutely ruthless in it’s approach, going after everything and everyone typically without bias.  Even when it’s not tackling what’s going on the news, the show has enough funny and interesting characters to build stories off for a long time to come.  It’s rare to see a show evolve in its approach only to get better and better.  There’s a reason why it’s Comedy Central’s number one show.

27. Jonny Quest: This was the shot in the arm Hanna Barbera needed.  So used to making kid-friendly cartoons, Jonny Quest burst onto the scene as an intense and engaging action cartoon.  The title character, Jonny Quest, was a young adventurer traveling the world with his super scientist father Dr. Benton Quest, bodyguard Race Bannon, adoptive brother and best friend Hadji, and pet dog Bandit.  Jonny Quest was ass-kickingly action packed and filled with all that glorious un-politically correct subject matter missing from today’s entertainment.  The show had the look and feel of a comic book and made up for its limited animation with a gorgeous visual style.  It had everything you need in an action cartoon, strong characters, crazy and creative situations, real peril, high stakes, stereotypical minorities, it was amazing.  The show saw a revival in the 80’s and again in the 90’s as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, but none could really match the brilliance of the original.  Truly a show of it’s time.

26. Gargoyles: Disney’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series.  Created by Greg Wiseman, Gargoyles was unlike anything Disney had ever done,l and still has yet to do.  The show was about a race of beings known as Gargoyles, once plentiful in numbers, now rendered almost extinct thanks to human betrayl.  A group of six became frozen in stone by a magical spell and are reawakened a thousand years later in Manhattan by a billionaire named David Xanatos.  The six, under their leader Goliath, resolve to protect their new home from everything from organized crime, mystical creatures, mad scientists, and even other Gargoyles.  I’ve talked at length about it before, but this show was way ahead of its time.  Unlike the other Disney cartoons it was serious, the storylines were expansive and complex, the characters were constantly evolving, the way it drew upon folklore, mythology, and Shakespeare for inspiration was masterful.  Gargoyles could deliver morals but do it in a subtle and entertaining way.  It tackled things like illiteracy, gun violence, and even racism, all while being a kick-ass action show.  Like most of Wiseman’s works, it was cancelled well before its time, it was a show that held so much potential and wasn’t afraid to take risks.  Gargoyles was a masterpiece.

25. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Craig McCracken’s beautifully animated show about a foster home where kids send their imaginary friends after they’ve outgrown them to be adopted by other children was probably the best thing ever done in Flash animation.  This show was the embodiment of joy.  Insanely creative, Foster’s had some of the best character designs ever, really drawing upon the creative minds of children to create the imaginary friends.  The show was rounded out by a great cast of core characters who were very well fleshed out and had real depth to them, especially the lead characters of Mac and his imaginary friend, the outspoken, selfish, manipulating, but otherwise friendly Bloo.  The voice acting was amazing, the writing and stories were hilarious and filled with all the great pop-culture jabs everyone loves.  But the best thing about the series was the look.  The color pallet was gorgeous and vibrant and the staging was truly cinematic.  It was creative, it was visually mind-blowing, it was funny, and it was fun.  You didn’t have to be a kid to see the brilliance in this cartoon.

24. Justice League/Justice League Unlimited: Superfriends used to eb the most well known portrayal of the Justice League of America in the mainstream media, but in 2001, Bruce Timm and crew would once again work their magic with the DC heroes and give us Justice League.  Taking some inspiration from various interpretations of the League in the comics, most notably the Grant Morrison run, Justice League assembled seven of the most recognizable DC heroes and pitted them against the greatest threats known to man.  This series continued the continuity established in the previous Batman and Superman cartoons and brought attention to various other DC heroes like Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Green Lantern John Stewart.  Each episode was about an hour long and typically split up into two parts, making each episode feel like its own mini-movie.  The characters were all engaging and had real life to them, the various ways the characters would interact with each other, as well as their conflicting styles and ways of operating made the stories that much more gripping to watch. In 2004 the show was relaunched as Justice League Unlimited and featured a greatly expanded cast of heroes and villains, and more stand-alone but still interconnected stories.  JLU proved to be even better than Justice League and the second season story-arc alone rivals anything that had ever been done in the comics and was some of the best writing on television.  Justice League and JLU was the exact thing comic book fans had been waiting for, a smart, serious, and fun animated portrayal of the greatest super team of all time.

23. The Flintstones: A true hallmark of Hanna Barbera, and animation as a whole.  The Flinstones, essentially The Honeymooners in a stone-age setting, was revolutionary as being the first prime-time animated TV show.  Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera wanted to re-capture the adult audience they once had and this was the perfect show for it.  The show was written not like a traditional cartoon, but like sitcoms of the time.  The characters dealt with more down to Earth issues played off this pre-historic backdrop with dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers and stuff.  The show had some truly larger than life characters, especially Fred and Barney who would go on to outlive the show itself.  At it’s time, The Flintstones was the first cartoon in a long time to have a firm grasp on both younger and older audiences, and being the first animated sitcom it would go on to pave the way for shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.  It was groundbreaking – or stonebreaking, HAHAHA!  See what I did there, that’s called comedy – for its time, and still holds up today.  The Flintstones is a classic.

22. Quick Draw McGraw: Hanna Barbera’s animated send up of the western genre was a great one.  One of the earliest Hanna Barbera TV cartoons, Quick Draw McGraw was about a good-hearted, semi-competent, but mostly dim-witted anthropomorphic horse sheriff named Quick Draw and his much smarter but laid-back donkey sidekick Baba Looey.  The show one of the original HB stable of toons of the 50’s, long before the quality of their shorts began to drop, so the formula was both fresh and engaging.  Quick Draw, as well as his alter-ego El-Kabong, was a great character.  He wasn’t as passive as Huckleberry Hound or as slick as Yogi Bear, but more a bit-more of a blow hart, which is always fun to watch.  He was always in it to do the right thing, but was just kind of a stubborn moron.  Baba Looey was cool, collected, and the wiser of the duo, so of course he was always ignored.  The show was funny and featured that good, but underrated HB animation.

21. The Powerpuff Girls: Craig McCracken’s breakout show about three super powered little girls still in kindergarten started out life as a short film called The Whoop-Ass Girls, but was toned down and real tooled for Cartoon Network.  The show was one of the absolute best of the creator driven cartoons of the 90’s.  The look was very much of the Hanna Barbera style, but the animation was far better.  The color style of the show was absolutely amazing and could tell a story better than dialogue could.  Not to say the dialogue was bad, far from it, the show was witty as hell and could parody the superhero genre and yet still be a great entry in its own right.  Everything from American comics, to anime, to action movies, was a big influence on this show and the characters very appealing, made all the more better by the top-notch voice acting, Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, and E.G. Daily all did amazing jobs as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup respectively and they played off each other so well.  Powerpuff Girls had the kind of crazy fun missing from superheroes today and still remains a must see for any animation fan.

Well, next week will be the big one, the grand finale of this insane list, the top 20 greatest animated series of all time, including the number 1.  I’ve saved the best for last so get ready to have your feeble minds BLOWN!

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ME BEING PRETENTIOUS AND ARBITRARILY RANKING A BUNCH OF TV CARTOONS

or

THE 100 GREATEST ANIMATED SERIES OF ALL TIME

PART 3

Greetings Toonsters!  Are you ready for round 3 of the list?  Of course you’re not, you feeble minds aren’t ready to be blown, but they will be anyway.  First though, since I neglected to do this last time, a recap of the list so far…

100. YoungJustice/Thundercats (2011)

99. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

98. Mad Jack the Pirate

97. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

96. King of the Hill

95. Beetlejuice

94. Kablam

93. The Smurfs

92. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

91. Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc

90. Rugrats

89. Doug

88. X-Men

87. Static Shock

86. Aqua Teen Hunger Force

85. Cow and Chicken

84. Moral Orel

83. Filmore

82. X-Men: Evolution

81. The Angry Beavers

80. Space Ghost Coast to Coast

79. Home Movies

78. Kim Possible

77. Pirates of Dark Water

76. Sym-Bionic Titan

75. Peter Pan and the Pirates

74. 2 Stupid Dogs

73. Beast Wars

72. The Tick

71. Batman: the Brave and the Bold

70. Muppet Babies

69. Johnny Bravo

68. Teen Titans

67. The Alvin Show/Alvin and the Chipmunks

66. Mighty Max

65. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

64. Courage the Cowardly Dog

63. Roger Ramjet

62. The Critic

61. Goof Troop

And now, on with the show…

60. A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: The big trend in animation in the 80’s and early 90’s was taking beloved cartoon characters and turning them into kids to appeal to a younger audience.  Muppet Babies, Flintstones Kids, Tom and Jerry Kids, Yo Yogi, etc.  They were all of varying quality, but the unquestioned best of the bunch was A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.  Scooby had a long string of cartoon adaptations prior to this, but this was the most different from them all.  The series still stared Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby, and they still solved mysteries and busted guys dressed like monsters, only this time as kids.  But what really made this show so memorable was that it was equal parts continuation and parody.  The show was very self-aware and frequently made fun of the common tropes of the series, from the chase scenes (now complete with dance sequences), to the “meddling kids” line, to Velma saying “Jinkies” every time she finds a clue.  While Shaggy and Scooby remained the same, the others had their personalities altered.  Freddie is still the leader, but is a outspoken dim-wit who believes aliens, vampires, bigfoots, etc are always behind the case of day.  Daphne, playing into the fact that her family was rich,  was now more snobbish, sarcastic, and skeptical, with her catchphrase being “Please, there are no such things as ghosts/monsters”.  Finally Velma, still the brains of the group, was now more quiet, only really talking when a clue had been found.  A new character, a bully named Red Herring, was added to the cast, who Freddie always accused (incorrectly except in one case) of being the monster.  The show was hilarious and still holds up to this day.  The most entertaining incarnation of Scooby-Doo to date.

59. Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers: A staple of the Disney Afternoon, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers took the classic Disney chipmunks, put them in a fedora and bombers jacket and Hawaiian shirt respectively, and turned them into detectives.  They were teamed with new characters Gadget; a female mouse who was a mechanical wizard, Monterey Jack; a burly adventurous mouse with a cheese addiction, and Zipper; a brave and fast little green fly.  Together they solved any crime that went down in the animal world and frequently battled the likes of feline mob boss Fat Cat, and mad scientist Professor Nimnul, their only human enemy.  Rescue Rangers was a lot of fun to watch.  The characters had a great dynamic, especially Chip and Dale, who bickered about practically everything.  The voice acting was also a high point in the show, featuring Tress MacNeille, Jim Cummings, Corey Burton, and Peter Cullen as regulars.  You can’t go wrong with that combination.  Rescue Rangers creative, playful, goofy, and was the best thing they did with Chip and Dale since, well ever.  Plus, it had one of the best theme songs in television history.

58. Batman Beyond: Theoretically, Batman Beyond should not have worked.  A teenage Batman in the future with a techno/rock soundtrack, craziness, but surprise surprise, it not only just worked, but was a brilliant incarnation in it’s own right.  Taking place in a future Gotham improved aesthetically by technological advancements, but still plagued with crime and corruption, Bruce Wayne, now elderly and long past his prime, has passed the mantle of Batman down to former delinquent seeking redemption Terry McGuiness, who in a similar fashion to Bruce, lost his father to criminals.  Batman Beyond took everything that made the previous animated series so good and adapted it here.  Terry was a very deep and fleshed out character, who had his own set of ethics, his own outlook on life, and his own supporting cast.  He was  very different Batman than the one we were used to and the fact that he had the older Bruce Wayne serving as a mentor/father figure made the transition more easier.  The show also succeeded in creating a great rogues gallery for Batman, making them multi-layered and somewhat sympathetic rather than stereotypically evil.  The show didn’t exactly have the same art-deco type design as the pervious one, but a lot the same elements carried over and mixed with elements of Japanese anime and futuristic movies like Blade Runner.  The stories were multi-layered, dark, and didn’t fall into the trap of focusing on stereotypical teen problems.  I could go on and on about this show, but I’ll conclude with saying Batman Beyond is a worthy addition into the Batman mythos.

57. Aaahh!!! Real Monsters: Aaahh!!! Real Monsters did what Monsters Inc would get famous for doing four years after the show was canceled, introducing us to the day to day lives of under-the-bed type monsters.  Created by Gabor Csupo of Klasky Csupo (the same people behind Rugrats), Real Monsters starred three young monsters named Ickis, Krumm, and Oblina who are studying in the Monster Academy, learning to become great monsters.  This was a really creative cartoon.  It succeeded in creating an entertaining universe that these monsters lived in and the rules that applied to them.  Things that were sweet and cute were like poison to them, while ugliness and rot and filth were their normal.  Their assignments were scaring humans and their most common method of transportation was through toilets.  The animation was also top notch, with great use of squash and stretch, especially during the scaring sequences.  It was a great black comedy series with memorable characters and voice acting.  Pixar did it good, but Aaahh!!! Real Monsters did it the best.

56. Recess: Recess was so simply brilliant it was a wonder no one did it before.  It was an entire cartoon set during recess.  The main characters we a diverse group of kids in the fictional 3^rd Street Middle School: TJ; the leader of the group and master schemer and prankster, Vince; the athletic kid, Spinelli; the tough kid, Mikey; the chubby poetic kid, Gretchen; the brainy kid, and Gus; the whimpy new kid.  They were stock types, yes, but entertaining stock types.  The real highlight of the show was the supporting characters who were all basically hyperboles of familiar personalities on school playgrounds like Randall; the tattle-tale, the Ashleys; four snobby rich and popular girls with the same name, Kind Bob; the king of the playground, and the tribal Kindergartners.  There were even characters defined by their niche like Swinger Girl, Guru Kid, and Hustler Kid.  It took all the everyday little things that happen in school and exaggerated them into world shattering issues.  This was one of the last good Saturday morning shows.

55. Liquid Television/What-a-Cartoon/Oh Yeah! Cartoons: Same type of show, three different networks, number 55 for the same reason.  All three were compilation shows, showcasing works from many different animators.  Liquid Television aired on MTV from 1991 through 1994, What-a-Cartoon Show aired on Cartoon Network from 1995 to 2001, and Oh Yeah! Cartoons aired from 1998 through 2001.  It might be strange to add compilation shows to this list, seeing as how they’re hard to judge, but I had to add them due to their importance.  Fact is, these shows are the breeding ground for new talent show what they got and potentially become the future superstars of the animation world.  These three shows combined featured the starts of guys who would go on to revolutionize the animation world and produce most of the shows on this list.  Gendy Tartakovsky, Peter Cheung, Craig McCracken, Mike Judge, Danny Antonucci, Butch Hartman, John R. Dilworth, Rob Renzetti, the list goes on.  It’s a damn shame there aren’t any shows like that on TV anymore, because if the animation world is going to thrive, it needs more imaginative, talented, ballsy creators like these guys, and these shows were the best ways to find them.

54. Bobby’s World: From the mind of comedian Howie Mandel came Bobby’s World, a cartoon series about everyday life told from the perspective of the over-imaginative 4-year-old Bobby Generic, voiced by Mandel himself who also voiced Bobby’s father, Howard.  The show was based around Mandel’s stand-up routines and the writers of the show drew upon their own childhood experiences for story and character inspirations.  Being a little kid during the entire run of the show it was easy to relate to situations Bobby went thrugh and the imagination scenes was always cool.  The show had a great mix of familiar characters and realistic storylines, but not too realistic.  Also, the character designs were done by Mitch Schauer, who would go on to create show number 81 on this list, The Angry Beavers.

53. The Fairly Oddparents: Fairly Oddparents spun-off of a couple of shorts from Oh Yeah! Cartoons and was centered around 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his two fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda.  A show where a kid can wish for anything he wants is a hard concept to base a show around, but Fairly Oddparents has been going on strong for over 10 years now.  The show’s animation is fluid and dynamic and the writing is very clever, with great character bits, snappy dialogue, and jabs at pop culture.  Fairly Oddparents continued the legacy of strong Nicktoons and it’s success has allowed creator Butch Hartman to develop two other shows for Nickelodeon, Danny Phantom and TUFF Puppy.  But neither have really reached the heights that Fairly Oddparents has, but that’s a really high bar to pass.

52. Aladdin: the Series: Rarely has the show been better than the movie, but here’s one of those cases.  Aladdin: the Series picks up right where the second movie, Return of Jafar, left off and continues the saga, (yes, I feel secure in calling it a saga), of Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, and the Genie.  The style is the same as in the films, but the animation isn’t as strong, though it’s understandable seeing as how this is a 30 minute regular series.  All the original cast members return except, of course, for Robin Williams as Genie, whom they replaced with Dan “Homer Simpson” Castellanetta.  Aladdin’s transition from big to small screen couldn’t have gone better.  All the humor and action that made the movie so good was done better here and they even gave Aladdin a wide and colorful rogues gallery.  It was a show that was way better than it should have been.  Great cast, great adventure, one of Disney’s best.

51. Daria: Daria began life as a minor character in Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head who, right before the series cancellation, got her own series.  Daria Morgendorffer is a cynical, intelligent, and underwhelmed high school teenager who uses sarcasm and general apathy to deal with the craziness and stupidity that plagues her everyday life.  While having some of the worst and laziest animation I’ve ever seen, the show excels solely due to its writing and characters which are both phenomenal.  The dialogue was fast, scathing, and hilarious.  The show had some of the best cast of characters I’ve ever seen.  They were basically all the same people you know in real life exaggerated to the max but never one note.  Daria was a smart show with a message to get out and it got its point across every episode.

50. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Anyone who knows me isn’t surprised this is on the list, though they may be surprised it’s not higher.  I had to knock it down for the cheap 80’s animation.  Still, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the stand-out show of its era.  The series, based off the comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird about a quartet of turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo), mutated by radioactive ooze and trained in the art of ninjutsu by their rat sensei Master Splinter, took it’s own approach to the action cartoon genre.  When other shows like G.I. Joe and Transformers took themselves seriously, TMNT had fun with itself.  The Turtles were laid back, made jokes, and even broke the fourth wall on more than one occasion, and that worked to show’s benefit seeing as how at the time the most violent you could get away with showing was one character tickling another, TMNT, unlike others, had its witty humor to fall back on.  Rather than a huge cast of interchangeable characters, the four Turtles were core of the show and diverse enough in personality that everyone had their own favorite.  Plus, the soundtrack to the show was killer, and it’s theme song will be forever ingrained in the minds of every kid who grew up in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  The turtles have had a couple more animated outings since then with another on the way, but none have yet to capture the charm and heart of this one.  Turtle Power will never die.

49. TaleSpin: TaleSpin was the first original show for the Disney Afternoon.  Taking the characters from the Jungle Book and recasting them in an adventure series set in the 1930’s.  Baloo the Bear was now an ace pilot working for the Higher for Hire cargo delivery company.  Shere Khan and King Louie were the only other two characters from the original book to be used, the series had it’s own cast of original characters, most notably air pirate Don Carnage.  The show felt like one of those old timey adventure serials, complete with exotic locals, thrilling danger, and stereotyped minorities (though they used animals instead of people, so it’s ok).  It had great characters, great voice acting, and the animation was solid.  The art style had real feeling to it, from the rustic seaside city of Cape Suzette to the exotic locals the show ventured to, the art was simply beautiful.  TaleSpin was just all around great, shame it never got a movie.

48. Spectacular Spider-Man: Marvel’s best cartoon ever.  Ever.  Simple as that.  Not a single cartoon they ever put out before was better than Spectacular Spider-Man.  Instead of following the movie, or sticking painfully close to the comics, the show, chronicling the early super heroics of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, took its inspiration from the early Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider-Man stories and created a fun, dramatic, and engaging series that captured everything great about Spider-Man.  The title character himself was sympathetic, funny, relatable, and heroic, all the things missing from Tobey McGuire’s Spidey.  He was surrounded by great supporting characters and a truly menacing rogues gallery.  The animation was fast, fluid, and breathtaking in some moments.  Spectacular Spider-Man ended way too soon, long before it reached its peak.  The next Spider-Man cartoon has a lot to live up to.

47. Hey Arnold!: Hey Arnold was similar to shows like Doug and Recess, except it felt like more of what those shows should have been.  Hey Arnold centered around the life of 9-year-old Arnold, a boy with and active imagination, wisdom beyond his years and a football-shaped head who lived in New York City.   Hey Arnold’s urban setting is what made this show so cool.  It’s supporting cast was diverse and eccentric, very fitting of New York, with their own unique voices and personalities.  The early episodes of the series were very stylized, complete with colored penciled backgrounds, and were focused solely on Arnold and his trippy day-dream sequences.  In later episodes of the show the animation became more on model and the day-dream sequences were done away with as the supporting characters began carrying their own episodes.  Thankfully the stories remained solid.  Hey Arnold was entertaining, clever, and never pandering.

46. Aeon Flux: Aeon Flux was created by Peter Cheung, who, after coming off Rugrats, wanted to push the limit of what could be done in television animation, and man did he succeed.  The sci-fi series was about master assassin Aeon Flux working to bring down the technologically advanced yet dystopian country of Bregna led by Trevor Goodchild.  The series is famous for its avant-garde visual style and animation, drawing inspiration from Asian and European art.  The way the series played with perspective, color, and character construction were like nothing else on TV at the time, or anything on TV now.  The series also had a very non-linear story structure with continuity rarely ever coming into play.  As a result, it was a very easy show to get into, each episode feeling like its own little production.  Aeon Flux was a show way ahead of its time, yet it fit perfectly with the alternative and innovative mindset of the 90’s animation world.

45. Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat: Until recently I had forgotten this show existed, and I’m glad I found it because it was really cool.  The show is a somewhat modern take on the classic cartoon character of the 20’s created by Otto Messmer and Patrick Sullivan.  Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat took a page out the Fleischer bros. book and substituted snappy dialogue and strong story structure for great, off-the-wall, cartoony animation, and it was great.  It was a pure, unabashed cartoon, not trying to be anything more.  The visual gags, the timing, the squash and stretch, it all worked perfectly.  It felt exactly like a cartoon of the golden era, and this was in 1995.  This show didn’t know the meaning of the word “on-model”.  Maybe that’s why it isn’t so well remembered, but it doesn’t make it any less awesome.  Find it if you can if you’re an animation fan.

44. Tiny Toon Adventures: While so many classic characters were being aged down, Tiny Toon Adventures took a different approach.  Rather than turn the Looney Tunes into kids, we instead got whole new characters, inspired by the classic characters, who were now their teachers at Acme Looniversity, as school where young toons learn to be next cartoon superstars.  The stars were the cool, wisecracking, and unpredictable Buster and Babs Bunny (no relation), the greedy and egotistical Plucky Duck, and his frequent sidekick, the soft-spoken and gluttonous Hampton Pig.  The show had a wide cast of characters each representing as different Looney Tune.  The show helped revive interest in classic cartoony animation, but it always did it with a slight wink to the audience.  The show was mostly made up of multiple shorts with the characters, mainly Buster and Babs, talking directly to the audience inbetween.  The writing was great and found humorous ways to get morals across to children, so we barely noticed it.  The music was also phenomenal, thanks to a number of different composers, including Richard Stone, would go on to use his talents on other Warner Bros cartoons.  Tiny Toons was the first in a long line of animation classics.

43. Futurama: Created by Matt Groeining and David X. Cohen, Futurama is consistently well written but sadly nowhere as popular as its “older brother” The Simpsons.  Philip J. Fry, a dim-witted pizza delivery boy in 1999 New York get’s accidentally frozen on New Years Eve and wakes up in the year 3000.  He then joins the Planet Express delivery crew alongside new friends Leela, a level-headed and bossy female cyclops, and Bender a foul-mouth and hard drinking robot, thus the premise for the show.  Futurama offers us a more realistic version of the future, giving us all the fantastic stuff we’ve always wanted like flying cars and spaceships, yet showing we’re still plagued with the same problems like crime, corruption and general debauchery.  Futurama’s writing has remained consistently hilarious and at times heartfelt over six seasons.  The show indulges in various jabs and homage’s of sci-fi movies, serials, and TV shows of the past and feels very much like a spiritual successor to them, a very sarcastic and raunchy successor but a successor nonetheless.  The show aired on Fox but was cancelled after four seasons, but a strong fanbase kept it alive to the point where the series was renewed on Comedy Central, and unlike another resurrected Fox show, Futurama came back just as strong as ever.

42. Underdog: “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here”!  Those words were heard every episode of this Superman-inspired cartoon series.  Mild mannered Shoeshine Boy would spring into action every time Sweet Polly Purebred was in trouble by popping his Super Energy Pill (another pill popping hero), to become the mighty Underdog.  Just like Roger Ramjet, Underdog made up for it’s limited animation with strong character designs and fun writing.  Each episode was divided into parts, which made the series very suspenseful for kids.  The dialogue was fine, and the fact that Underdog always talked in rhyme never got old.  While his rogues gallery was limited to only two recurring villains, it was fine for the show.  It remained fun and energetic.  A movie was made in 2006 but the less said about that the better.  Just watch the cartoon.

41. Freakazoid: Another in a string of great Warner Bros cartoons, Freakazoid was a parody of the super hero genre, but offered much more than that.  The plot of the show was summed up in the theme song; Nerdy Dexter Douglas gets sucked into the internet, gains superpowers and turns into Freakazoid, a super strong, super fast, and super insane blue-skin, red long-john wearing hero.  Freakazoid, for a kids cartoon, was very hilarious.  The writing was both goof and intelligent, and you can tell it was a fun show to work on.  The characters were just all just as absurd as the show itself and didn’t so much balance out Freakazoid, as they did give him something to bounce off of.  As superheroes became more serious, it was nice to see the seriousness get thrown back in their face in such a loving way.  It was wonderfully cartoony and high energy and continues to hold-up for younger and older audiences.

Come back later for the next 20, when we, and by “we” I mean I, talk about superheroes, bouncing bears, and undersea sponges.

ME BEING PRETENTIOUS AND ARBITRARILY RANKING A BUNCH OF TV CARTOONS

or

THE 100 GREATEST ANIMATED SERIES OF ALL TIME

PART 1

Greetings Toonsters!  The year is almost over and 2012 is just around the corner, so before we all go down in a fiery and horrific apocalypse I thought we’d take a look back at all the cartoons kept us entertained.  That’s right, today we’re going to countdown the 100 Greatest Cartoon Shows of All Time!

Now let me preface by saying, this list was composed entirely by me, no one else.  No voting, no deliberation, no objective opinions, just me, because Extreme Inbetweens is MY damn column.  This isn’t a toonocrasy, this is toontatorship, so you can call me GaDaffy (see what I did there).  Will there be bias, yeah.  Will you people disagree with my choices and blast me for what I put on/left off the list, of course, but then again I never get any comments anyway so whatever, but in any case, if you guys don’t like it, make your own damn list.  Nothing’s stopping ya.

These 100 shows I felt really brought something entertaining to the world of animation.  Some have become megahits and some flew way under the radar.  Some have become cult favorites and some have just been plain forgotten.  But I didn’t just throw the list together all willy nilly, there were three strict rules adhered to, to keep this list fair and balanced…

1. No Golden Age Film Shorts, TV Only: I had to put this one in place early on, otherwise the number 1 would be too obvious (Looney Tunes for those not in the know).  Besides, those are a lot to take in and I wanted to keep this in the world of television.  No Popeye, no Betty Boop, no Mickey Mouse, no Woody Woodpecker, etc.  Not saying they’re great, but they’ve gotten their praise, let’s give the little guys a chance.

2. Only in America: I wasn’t about to try to factor in anime or any other foreign cartoon series.  I’m not opening that can of worms.  As much as I would like to include shows like Cowboy Bebop and Pokemon, I’m keeping this to just cartoons made in the good ol’ US of A.  And yes I’m well aware all of this stuff is animated overseas.  That’s not the point so shut up!

3. If I haven’t seen it, Then it’s a no-go: Obviously I can’t rank or critique any show I haven’t seen before.  That’s not how I roll.  All 100 shows on this list I’ve seen either in it’s entirety or a good chunk of the episodes to give me a clear vision of what the show is about.  So don’t get mad at me if I left something off that you love, I just may not of have seen it.  Or I didn’t think it was good enough, either/or.

So let’s get it started with numbers 100-81…

100. Young Justice/Thundercats: Yes we’re starting this list with a tie…but what a tie!  Young Justice is the latest offering from DC and Warner Bros and continues their long tradition of animation brilliance.  The show is centered around a team of six young heroes (Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis) brought together by a desire to establish themselves out of their mentor’s shadow.  Under the command of Batman and the Justice League, the team takes on the covert missions the high profile League aren’t able to.  Young Justice’s biggest strengths are it’s story telling, voice acting, and characterization.  The main characters are written like real teenagers, with their own unique voices who aren’t above goofing around with each other, but can make the switch to true professionals at a moments notice.  They feel human and you get engrossed in the show because of it.

Thundercats, on the other hand, is a reboot of the 1980’s toy commercial cartoon series.  Rather than be a complete retelling of the series, the show slaps some Tollken-style epicness into it, using pre-established characters in a new and more exiting light.  The show follows the adventures of Lion-O, lord of the once great race the Thundercats, as he and he’s allies try to save their world from the grasp of Mumm-Ra and his forces.  The setting, character designs, and plot have received a welcome update.  The show is engrossing and absolutely beautiful to look at, with some of the best animation on TV today.

These two shows are very different but are number 100 for the same reason, they’re really new.  At the time of this article, both these shows have barely got out of their first season, so it remains to be seen how far they’ll go and if the quality remains.  But if they stay on the track their on, I see nothing but great things to come.

99.  Avengers: Earth’s Mightest Heroes: Let’s pretend that other Avengers cartoon never happened and consider this the first true animated outing of the team.  Since being acquired by Disney, Marvel seems to be getting more serious about animation, and this shows.  Avengers: Earth’s Mightest Heroes, which chronicles the exploits of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful super-team, offers a unique visual style, more fluid animation than what’s been seen in most other Marvel shows, and much tighter writing.  Fan favorite characters like Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk are all beautifully represented and the show is both engaging and action-packed.  If only it had a better theme song.

98. Mad Jack the Pirate:  Around 1997, the great animation renaissance of the 90’s began to peter out, though in those few remaining years there were a number of great shows that never caught on big like other shows of that era like Animaniacs or Ren and Stimpy, or are as well remembered.  One of those shows is out number 98 and comes courtesy of Eek the Cat-creator Bill Kopp, Mad Jack the Pirate!  The show centered around the self centered, greedy, and cowardly pirate captain Mad Jack and his first mate, Snuk.  The show used relied on classic animation gags and top notch voice acting.  The animation was some of the best of that time and writing, while not ground breaking, were entertaining as hell.  It wasn’t afraid to be a cartoon, and that’s an attitude more shows should have.

97. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic the Hedgehog has had quite a few animated outings, but the one that gets the most fan praise is the show simply titles Sonic the Hedgehog(or Sonic SatAM).  The show get’s praise for it’d dark storyline and additions of the Sonic cast roster.  But you know what, they don’t know nothing, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was the superior show.  AoSH didn’t take it’s lead character so seriously, instead focusing on a more cartoony tone with plenty of slapstick action.  Rather than a big cast of characters the show was just focused on Sonic and his sidekick Tails as the bomb around the city of Mobious, eating chill-dogs and foiling the schemes of the bombastic Dr. Robotnick and his bumbling robot sidekicks Scratch and Grounder.  The show was funny, colorful, weird, and fast-paced, prefect for a 90’s Saturday morning.  There weren’t any deep storylines or character development, but you didn’t need them.  The show was fun, the animation was good, and the music was painfully addictive.  Sonic was perfect character to translate into the medium of animation, and this was his greatest showing.  Forget about the rest, this one is the best.

96. King of the Hill:  It’s really rare for lighting to strike twice.  Most creators only get one hit, but Mike Judge was obviously doing something right.  After Beavis and Butt-Head ended, Mike Judge quickly came back to the world of prime-time animation with King of the Hill.  The show centered around The Hill family (Hank, Peggy, and Bobby) of Arlen,Texas and their friends and neighbors.  Compared to Beavis and Butt-Head, KoTH felt a lot more grounded, at least situation wise.  The characters themselves were all bursting with personality, balanced out by straight-shooter Hank Hill.  This show also came the closest to capturing true realism in animation.  There were no beautiful people, no glorified character designs, it chose to showcase the little imperfections of people making them look more lifelike than anything CG has ever done.  KoTH was one of the longest running cartoons of all time, it wasn’t wacky or outlandish, but was able to turn the mundane aspects of life into pure entertainment.

95. Beetlejuice:  Based of the 1988 film of the same name by Tim Burton, the cartoon series took a different approach to the characters.  The show focused on the title character, Beetlejuice, the ghost with the most, and his human friend Lydia  and the chaos that would encounter, mainly due to Beetlejuice’s actions.  The show wasn’t as dark as the movie, and Beetlejuice and Lydia, as well as her parents, were the only characters carried over.  The show had a great warped sense of humor, although the constant puns could get annoying at times, and it’s visuals were very unique.  The animation was very satisfying for it’s time and fit the tone of the show.  It’s one of the few movie-to-cartoon adaptations that, at least to me, surpass the source material.

94. Kablam: The 90’s had quite a few of these cartoon variety shows, Kablam was probably the last, or at least one of the last.  The show’s structure was that of  comic book and was hosted by cartoon duo Henry and June who would provide comedic bits inbetween shorts alongside their friend Mr. Foot(Bigfoot).  The  show had quite a bit of different cartoons but there were four mainstays each utilize a different animation style.  Sniz and Fondue, the traditionally-animated adventures of two roommates, Life with Loopy, the imaginative escapades of a 12-year old girl named Loopy told through her brother Larry done in cut-out animation, Prometheus and Bob, the claymated video diaries of an alien trying to educate a caveman with often painful results, and the most popular segment of the show, Action League, NOW!, a stop-motion animated series featuring a team of action figures who rescue people, or at least try to seeing as how their all idiots.  Action league eventually spun-off into it’s own series, but I’m honoring Kablam for its creativity and being a great animation showcase.

93. The Smurfs: Honestly, I can’t figure out the appeal of this show.  A spin-off of the Belgian comic Johan and PeeWee, The Smurfs takes place in the tiny Smurf village, inhabited by little blue creatures called Smurfs.  The Smurfs are pretty much defined by what they do, there’s Baker Smurf, Painter Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Jokey Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Clumsy Smurf, Smurfette(the only chick), etc, all under the watch of Papa Smurf.  The central conflict comes from their arch-enemy Gargamel, who wants to capture The Smurfs to…do something with them.  The show odd but I give it points for its fantasy setting, voice acting, and strange charm despite the ridiculousness of it.  For its sheer impact on pop culture, Smurfs gets a spot on this list.

92. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: It’s odd how a show this dark and twisted could be marketed to kids, but by God they did it.  Created by Maxwell Atoms the show was a spin-off of a larger show, Grim and Evil, but was cut down to just this one.  The set-up, The Grim Reaper, who for some reason was given a Jamaican accent, after losing a bet with two kids; the blissfully idiotic Billy and the intelligent, dark, and semi-sociopathic Mandy, is forced to become their eternal playmate.  The show was great, with a very dark sense of humor, with the characters dealing with everything from demons to a Red Foxx-like Dracula.  The shows biggest strength was the dynamic between the main characters with Grim always looking for a way to escape his debt, Mandy always being able to manipulate a situation to her favor, and Billy…well..just being a retard.  Insanely dark but insanely fun, Grim Adventures is a worthy addition to the list.

91. Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc: The latest in the long string of Scooby-Doo cartoons, this is one is one of the absolute best.  Rather than take a back-to-basics approach, the show takes a whole new spin on Scooby, giving the show a overarching story and introducing new character development and relationships.  Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo once again make up the core cast.  They still solve mysteries, but now in a small town where they face opposition from adults who are not only in on the ploys, but encourage them to gain tourist attraction.  This is also the darkest series of them all, with an overarching mystery dealing with the disappearance of a previous team of young sleuths and how it ties into the mysteries today.  Mystery Inc is also one of the funniest with clever writing that pokes fun at the show itself and all the tropes it’s created along the way.  Mystery Inc is one of the best cartoons today and is  recommended for fans and non-fans of the series alike.

90.  Rugrats: One of the original three Nicktoons, Rugrats was the biggest show Nickelodeon had before a certain yellow sponge burst onto the scene.  Rugrats looked at the modern world through the perspective of 1-year-old Tommy Pickels and his fellow babies.  Rugrats came from the minds of Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo was created the animation studio Klasky Csupo, which would go on to produce more shows for Nick, but this was their biggest.  In its days, Rugrats was a great commentary on life and how odd the actions of adults are when viewed through the simplistic eyes of a child.  It had a very distinct visual style with exaggerated body proportions on the characters and very warm feeling muted color scheme, but once The Rugrats Movie, those elements were toned down and the writing became, ironically, more child-like.  Still, the show was megahit in the late 90’s, and one of the biggest cartoons of the time, maybe the biggest.  Rugrats wins for great writing, great animation and voice acting in the early days.

89. Doug: It’s funny, when the first Nicktoons were in production, Doug was predicted to be the biggest of the three.  The three that included it, Rugrats, and Ren and Stimpy, thus further proof that no one really knows nuthin’.  Still, Doug was good show.  It centered on the life of 12-year-old Doug Funnie, a pretty average, mundane kid with a big imagination.  The show could get kinda mundane at times, but the best bits were whenever Doug would get lost in his own imaginative interpretations of problems, which could get really twisted at times, but accurately captures the anxiety of being an awkward pre-teen.  Doug had a strong, colorful (and I do mean colorful) cast of characters and a damn catchy and enigmatic score.  Of the little gems of the 90’s.

88. X-Men: Before being completely overshadows by Batman the Animated Series, X-Men was the pinnacle of super hero cartoons.  Based off the uber-popular Marvel comic of the same name, the show was about a team of mutants, people born with genetic abnormalities that give them super powers, assembled to fight to defend a world that hates their kind.  The theme of being a misfit, ostracized and different from normal people is what made the series resonate with a 90’s audience.  It had strong writing and deep storylines for older audiences and kick-ass action and powers for younger audiences.  Though the show’s main failing came from the animation.  It’s highly detailed character designs made it animate poorly and the final season looked even worse, and the show quickly became centered around the character Wolverine, to the detriment of the others.  Still, you can’t deny that it made a huge impact and will always be remembered, especially its theme song.

87. Static Shock: It’s always great to see more diverse representation in our entertainment, but that’s not why Static Shock is on this list.  Based of the comic series by the late great Dwayne McDuffie, Static Shock featured the animated adventures of teenager Virgil Hawkins who, after exposure to an experimental gas, turned into the electrified hero Static.  In a time were super heroes were being taken more seriously than they needed to by, Static Shock never forgot to be fun.   Granted it could get a little preacy at times, but it never stopped being entertaining and Static himself to be a popular and highly appealing lead character.  It had plenty of great action, a great cast of characters and villains, heart, and lots of cameos by other DC heroes like Batman and Superman.  Shame the current comics can’t be just as good.

86. Aqua Teen Hunger Force: What the hell can you say about this show?  It’s…it.  It’s what it is, complete nonsensical, episodes operate without regard for continuity, it’s lead characters are talking milkshake, box of fries, and wad of meat.  A spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, ATHF is the longest running show on Adult Swim, and when the episodes could literally feature anything and the show has nothing resembling a plot it’s easy to see why.  It’s random and the animation is some of the cheapest ever.  ATHF brilliance comes from the fact that it’s so dumb.  It’s an easy show to jump into and the characters are funny enough to hook you with ease.

85. Cow and Chicken: Speaking of dumb being brilliant, Cow and Chicken!  Created by animator David Fiess, Cow and Chicken was one of the most twisted, insane, and beautifully animated cartoons of the 90’s.  The show is summed up by the title; there’s a cow named Cow, and a chicken named Chicken.  They’re sister and brother…yeah, the show doesn’t make any more sense than that.  The show was funny, very funny, with most of the humor coming from general insanity, unique character designs, adult humor, and great visual gags.  It’s a wonder how they got away with half the stuff they did in this show, but I love them for it. Also it had a naked red devil running around.  Like I said, they show didn’t make sense.  The show spawned another cartoon series called I.M. Weasel, but we won’t get into that.

84. Moral Orel: Created by Dino Stamatopoulos, Moral Orel was not only the darkest show on Adult Swim, but one of the darkest in the history of television.  The used a stop-motion style in a send-up of Davey and Goliath, which put in an innocent face of the subject matter.  The show was based in a overly religious somal town called Moralton and stared a young boy named Orel Puffington who always tried to do what he thinks is right thing, but is constantly led astray by the several moral decay of the adults around him.  What made this show so good was how far it was willing to go, and I’m mean really far, not only  just taking jabs at Christianity, but the people who base their lives around it.  Episodes contained themes of unfulfillment, abuse, neglect, bigotry, accepted ignorance, and episodes would usually end with Orel getting a spanking an learning a morally backwards lesson from his father.  Thank God the show was so funny and self aware otherwise it would be utterly horrifying.

83. Filmore!: This show flew completely under the radar and that’s a freaking crime because this show was brilliant.  Think of all the cool police dramas and movies you’ve ever seen, now imagine them set in a middle school and replace things like counterfeit money and grand theft auto with counterfeit baseball cards and bike theft, that’s Filmore!.  The show was about Cornelius Filmore, a former delinquent who was given a chance at redemption and became his school’s greatest safety patrol officer.  Together with is partner Ingrid Third, the two work to clean up the halls of X Middle School of crime.  The shows unique take on familiar detective story tropes was very creative and fun as hell.  Filmore was a cool lead character and the shows clean animation and pop culture references make this one of my favorite shows ever.

82. X-Men Evolution: Marvel has had a long history of getting its ass kicked by DC in the field of animation.  While Bruce Timm took DC’s characters into a bold new direction style-wise, Marvel was lagging behind with overcomplicated designs and underwhelming animation.  But that all began to change in the 2000’s, starting with X-Men Evolution.  Evolution went back to basics with the X-Men making them teenagers again, but now putting them in a high school setting.  You’d think that would drag the show down, but it didn’t, the show still dealt with the same themes, and by season 3 began to resemble the comics more.  What was great about this wasn’t just character designs and animation, but that character development wasn’t just limited to Wolverine, everyone got a chance to grow.  The show took familiar elements of the comics and used them in new ways to set this series apart from everything done before.  It ran for four seasons and while the final two episodes were a bit of a let-down, it didn’t detract from what a great series this was as a whole.

81. The Angry Beavers: The best word to describe this series is “groovy”.  Mitch Scauer’s series about two beaver brothers striking out on their own was colorful, erratic, and wonderfully absurd.  The show had very abstract designs with an appealing eye-popping color scheme to accompany it.  The animation had a very fast paced timing behind it and wasn’t afraid to go totally cartoony.  What also made this show great was the dialogue.  The characters would frequently play with the pronunciation of words and invent their own like “spooty”.  The main characters Norbert (played by Nick Bakay, aka Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and Dagget (played by a post Alpha 5 but pre Zim Richard Horvitz) had great designs and a great dynamic between them.  The show also had a great self awareness, which ultimately got it in trouble, but still, a great series, one of the best of the Nicktoons.

Check back later for 80-61, when we’ll look back at teenage spies and warring robots.