LEGO TMNT Stealth Shell in Pursuit 79102 is a fantastic set, I’m putting that right out front. This set was way more fun to build for me than the Mandolorian Speeder and no, it’s not because it had less finicky pieces (My manual dexterity is fine, thank you!). The builds were relatively quick and simple but they’re engaging enough to make it fun. The variety of pieces also goes a long way to increase the fun of this 162-piece set. Matching up with the TV shows aesthetic, the pieces have a nice mix of blacks, greys and super-bright neon colours. Turns out if you throw in some neon greens, pinks and yellows that I’ll have more fun. Let’s take a look at the set proper.

The two builds are in their own separate bags which is really convenient, helps me keep track of what pieces I need as I build. Like last time, I’m going to build the minifigures first, then move onto the Sewer Skimmer and the Stealth Shell.

These minifigures are great. You get Raphael, who looks amazing as a minifigure. As well as a new head and shell backpack, the printing is great, with little details the character model has to differentiate him from the other 3 Turtles. Fishface uses a method I’ve seen used in the LEGO Star Wars line for thin characters and I love how it turned out. He has crazy robot legs too! The final minifig is the Foot Ninja and is the army builder figure and he’s alright, nothing much to say about a generic black-clad ninja.

The bulk of the Sewer Skimmer is the boat shell and the barrel throwing mechanism but it comes together once you add the little flourishes of detail.

The completed Skimmer looks like a fan boat minus the fan, obviously. The Mutagene Ooze barrels and their launching mechanism are really nice, as well as the neon green flick missiles. It was the simpler out of the two builds but very fun.

The Stealth Shell is the more involved build but still relatively simple. The first part is mainly the cockpit, building the core of the vehicle and the controls.

Adding a bunch of Technic parts to the set allows for the chassis to be solid enough for rugged play. The canopy is also a great bit of design work, having a central structure for the shell components to hinge off of gives it a more angular armoured feel, rather than just a boxy canopy.
The completed Stealth Shell is a Turtle-y awesome vehicle and I could see it working well in the LEGO Super Heroes line as a Batman vehicle. The Technic wheels are nice and chunky and roll freely, which has caused me to idly roll it back and forth on my desk while I’m working. I have no idea why but it feels good. It’s fun, chunky and totally in line with what I imagine to be a TMNT vehicle.

As I said before, I had a lot of fun with this set. The builds are quick but engaging, the LEGO styling of the TMNT aesthetic is fantastic. It’s a robust and dynamic set that can be built quickly and enjoyed within half an hour. I also like that all the TMNT sets have instructions for other vehicles you can build using the set you have, namely through Donnie’s Lab portion of the LEGO TMNT page. All in all, for an RRP of £19.99, I feel this set could be enjoyed by any LEGO fan and I heartily recommend picking it up!

1966 TV Batmobile

Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed. The classic Adam West ride. I have no love for this design but I appreciate its revered status amongst Batmobiles. The swept fins, the black and red, even the pseudo bubble cockpit is iconic and well represented in this tiny scale.

1989 Batman (Hard Nose variant)

The classic Anton Furst design is just as familiar and iconic as its TV predecessor. This is the Batmobile many of us grew up on. Apart from the front end being bulbous and having flames painted on it like a low-rider GOD DAMMIT, HOT WHEELS! A classic design turned into a ludicrous caricature. Like the design but not this execution.

The Batman

I liked The Batman! Honestly, I think the only reason it got a bashing was because it wasn’t Batman: The Animated Series. It was fun, the animation was cool and it played up the gadget oriented aspect of Batman. He even got two Batmobiles! A little sports coupe deal and this sleek and sexy number. It’s a simple design but quintessentially Batman.

The Brave and The Bold

My esteemed colleague, Colin, can attest to the brilliance of Brave & the Bold and I’ll agree wholeheartedly. Everything that was, and is, goofy about Batman was represented in that show and it was glorious because of it. This Batmobile takes cues from some of the classic silver-age designs and the end result is pretty cool. It looks iconic without having to be around for decades.

Arkham Asylum

The 2009 smash-hit game brought us this Batmobile and it shares the same general aesthetic as Batman’s gear in that game. Bat-themed, yes but it’s not overstated. If anything, the design brings to mind a subdued variation of some of the Schumacher era Batmobiles. It had a great moment in the game and is worth space on any Batman aficionado’s shelf.

So, that’s all, Bat-Fans! A quick review, I’ll admit, but they’re Hot Wheels. There really isn’t much I can say about their playability other than “they roll dead good, like!” but if you’re a Batman fan, it’s worth checking these out. I’ll see you guys next time on Mint in Box.

Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!

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 2

And now back to our regularly scheduled list of the 100 Greatest Animated Series of all time.

We pick it back up with numbers 80-61…

80. Space Ghost Coast to Coast: The original Adult Swim show, but it long predates it.  Using the entire Hanna Barbera library for material, Space Ghost Coast to Coast used recycled animation and re-dubbed voices to create a hilarious and random talk show parody.  SGC2C took Space Ghost, the hero of those old Hanna Barbera action shorts and recast him as a washed up buffoon who now host a rinky dink talk show alongside former enemies Zorak, his band leader, and Moltar, his director.  The show had a large number of celebrity cameos featuring the likes of Metallica, Weird Al, Sandra Berndhart, Adam West, and Carrot Top.  The interviews were pre-taped a later synched up with the animation to make it appear as if Space Ghost was actually interviewing him.  The show was wonderfully weird with no regard for continuity or coherence.  The main characters all played off each other perfectly and their scathing banter between each other was gold.  Interviewees were sometimes in on the joke, and other times had no clue what was going on, which were always the best part.  The show also inspired two spin-offs, The Brak Show and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which has surpassed it in both longevity and poularity, but nothing beats the original.

79. Home Movies: Brendon Small’s crudely animated series about a boy who makes lower than low budget movies in his basement with his friends started life on UPN in the late 90’s before being rescued from total obscurity by Adult Swim in 2001.  Home Movies had a visual style that looked like a child drew it with animation to match, but it proved that good writing can save even the crappiest animation.  Home Movies writing and characterization were some of the most sophisticated I’d ever seen, there wasn’t really a bad character in the bunch, each had their own moments to shine, particularly Coach McGurrick, voiced by the great H. Jon Benjamin.  The dialogue, mostly ad-libbed, felt very realistic, right down to the fact that characters frequently talked over each other.  The show lasted four seasons and had a surprisingly emotional finale, I make it a priority to watch the show every time Adult Swim reruns it.

78. Kim Possible: The last good series to come out of the Disney Channel…hell maybe the only good series to come out of the Disney Channel.  Kim Possible’s premise was a simple one, summed up perfectly by the theme song, a basic average girl who’s here to save the world.  Kim Possible was a normal high school girl who doubled as a secret agent saving the world from evil of varying competence.  While the show used that flat, angular look for the characters and backgrounds that I’m not really too fond of, it used them to good effect.  The show’s voice acting and sense of humor also helped make the show so appealing.  The show was kind of similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but succeeded where that show failed in creating a likeable main character.

77. Pirates of Dark Water: Screw Pirates of the Caribbean, this show made pirates cool.  Set on the alien world of Mer, Prince Ren along with his crew Ioz, Tula, and Niddler must collect the thirteen treasures Rule in order to save the planet from being consumed by the deadly Dark Water which kills whatever it touches.  They must find the treasures before the evil pirate lord Bloth can obtain them for himself.  This show was an amazing mixture of action, adventure, and fantasy.  You had a group of heroes who are al deep and likeable on a mission that had real weight to it and a main villain who was very menacing.  The show had a beautiful look to it and the color style was a great unearthly earthly tone, not to mention its epic score.  Of all the Hanna Barbera action series this could have easily been the best, but it’s surpassed by one other that you’ll be seeing on this list.

76. Sym-bionic Titan: Gendy Tartakovsky is one of the undisputed geniuses in the field of animation.  His simplistic character designs and backgrounds were enhanced by his cinematic-style camera work, visual storytelling prowess, and myriad of pop culture influences.  Unfortunately aside from Dexter’s Laboratory his shows never got much mainstream exposure.  Sym-bionic Titan was one of those underrated gems.  Titan was Tartakovsky’s tribute to the giant robot shows made famous by Japan and was about two teens (Lance and Ilana) and their robot ally (Octus), refugees from a conquered planet the hide on Earth who unite to form the giant mecha warrior Sym-Bionic Titan to battle the alien creatures that hunt them.  I’m not normally a fan of traditional/3D animation mix, but it worked really well for this show.  The fight scenes were dope and surprisingly violent, but then again Gendy has always been able to get away with the intense violence.  The writing was extremely strong and could balance humorous and light hearted with dark and dramatic.  I’ve raved before about this show in a previous article so there’s nothing really new to say, except that it ended way before it’s time.

75. Peter Pan and the Pirates: Sticking closer to the J.M. Barrie stories than the Disney movie, Peter Pan and the Pirates centered around Peter, Wendy, John, Michael, and the Lost Boys adventures through the magical Neverland and their deals with Captain Hook and his crew.  All the characters were very well represented.  Peter Pan was cocky, adventurous, fearless, and a little selfish, as he should be, and Captain Hook, rather than the exaggerated buffoon he was in the Disney movie, was ruthless, cruel, and was a real threat to Pan, and it helped he was voiced by Tim Curry.  This was one of the earliest shows on Fox Kids and certainly the best before a show about a certain caped crusader debuted two years later.  The writing was creative and original and really took full advantage of the setting.  I’m a big fan of Peter Pan and this show proves why.

74. 2 Stupid Dogs: The title says it all, 2 Stupid Dogs is about…two stupid dogs.  Known only by Big Dog and Little Dog, these two dim-witted canines go through a series of misadventures caused by simple misunderstandings.  The show, while simple-minded, was funny as hell.  Big Dog’s slow, melancholic line delivery coupled with Little Dog’s hyperactivity and fear of cats made for some great comedic bits.  2 Stupid Dogs had a lot of great episodes, most notably the Red trilogy, with the duo pairing with a nearsighted Little Red Riding Hood to parody different fairy tale stories.  Each episode contained two Dogs shorts with the middle segment being a modern update of Secret Squirrel, which was equally cool, but the adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog were the true stars.

73. Beast Wars: Crappy CGI aside, what kid in the late 90’s didn’t love Beast Wars?  It was Transformers but with animals instead of cars and jets and tape recorders.  Instead of the Autobots and the Decepticons there were the Maximals and the Predacons.  Instead of Optimus Prime and Megatron there was Optimus Primal and…well, Megatron.  The show, set in the same universe as the previous Transformers series, but on a more prehistoric Earth.  Optimus Primal led the Maximals against the evil Predacons under the command of Megatron in an intense was.  Where it lacked in animation quality it made up for in writing, characters, and voice acting.  Rather than a multitude of interchangeable characters, the show was more focused on core group, which led to more character based storytelling and development.  The action in the show was insane and the show could get dark really fast.  Characters changed, characters died, it was playing a whole different game from what most other shows were playing.  Beast Wars was absolutely kick ass, especially Dinobot.

72. The Tick: The Tick was based off the independent comic of the same name by Ben Edlund.  The star of the show was The Tick, a large blue-clad superhero with super strength, nigh invulnerability, relentless optimism, and little intelligence.  He and his pudgy, insecure, moth-inspired sidekick Arthur protect the city from various evils like El Seed, Brain Child, Chairface Chippendale, and Handy (an evil hand puppet).  The Tick was absolutely hilarious, and for kids show one of the smartest comedies I’ve seen.  The show was a great send-up to the entire superhero genre with parodies of various heroes from Batman to the Punisher to the Fantastic Four.  The highlight of the show was the characters.  Die Fledermaus, Sewer Urchin, The Civic Minded 5, The Deadly Bulb, Big Shot, Sarcastro, there was no shortage of memorable and hilarious characters, whether recurring or one time, and the Tick was the perfect central character for all this madness.  The Tick was one of the many reasons Fox Kids owned on Saturday mornings.

71. Batman: the Brave and the Bold: As of the time of this writing, the latest animated incarnation of Batman.  Rather than follow the popular grim and gritty style, this cartoon took inspiration from the more light hearted and imaginative Silver Age of comics.  Batman was the star but he was accompanied every episode by a different hero of the DCU.  From the more well known heroes like Superman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman, to up-and-comers like Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, and Firestorm, to the totally obscure like Haunted Tank, the Challengers of the Unknown, and Ambush Bug.  They left no stone unturned.  This show was pure fun.  It knew exactly what it was and played to its strengths.  Batman could be fighting everything from super villains, to mind-controlled dinosaurs, to an army of shark riding gorillas, and it would do it unironically.  The show was a love letter to comic book fans and was packed with easter eggs only they would get, the show would also get with meat with itself and break the fourth wall on occasion.  The show was brilliantly written, the animation was solid, the voice acting was the highest quality and it was entertaining.  While the Bruce Timm-DCAU shows were better made, this show, in terms of pure quality fin, surpasses not just them, but every comic book cartoon ever.

70. Muppet Babies: It’s a wonder the Muppets never had more animated outings, considering how good this was.  Kermit, Gonzo, Piggy, Fozzy, Scooter, Rolf, and Animal were the stars of this show, but this time as babies.  Every episode took place in the nursery where the babies lived, but though the imagination of the characters they went everywhere from the worlds of Star Wars to Indiana Jones.  Really, that was the whole premise of the show.  The Muppets used their imagination to create fun scenarios, and it was awesome.  As a young kid, this was my first exposure to movies like Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters.  This show used a lot of stock footage, but it worked in the context of the show.  Plus every episode featured a new original song, so all-in-all, it perfectly captured the fun and spirit we expect from the Muppets.

69. Johnny Bravo: A lot of good shows came out of What-a-Cartoon Show, and Van Partible’s Johnny Bravo was one of them.  Johnny Bravo, a self-described studly ladies man and overall buffoon was the star of the series and episodes revolved around his misadventures and sad attempts to pick up women, and fail of course.  The early shorts only starred Johnny, Johnny’s mother Bunny Bravo, and his neighbor Little Suzy, eventually the series went through a slight visual re-design and introduced the characters Carl, Johnny’s nerdy friend, and Pops, a diner owner and Johnny’s mentor.  The driving source of the humor was Johnny himself and his dim-witted but mostly well meaning actions, the supporting characters weren’t has strong but Johnny I felt picked up the slack.  The show featured excellent animation with great timing acting from the characters.  Plus Jeff Bennett’s voice acting as the title character was always hilarious.

68. Teen Titans: Teen Titans was a unique show, in that it could pull off multiple styles pretty well.  The show, based on the DC Comics series, centered around five young superheroes, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and their leader Robin.  Unlike other super hero cartoons, Teen Titans never got into the non-costumed life of the heroes, rather they were constantly in their super identities.  The show also never brought in the well known adult heroes like Batman and Superman, rather it stayed self contained with the Titans being the only super team, and that approach worked.  The show was visually eye popping, like a mixture of Japanese anime and swinging sixties culture.  As I said before it could pull off multiple styles of storytelling really well.  It could do light-hearted and comedic adventures, insightful character based stories, and heavy dramatic epics.  All four seasons each had an overarching storyline with self contained adventures thrown in the mix.  All five characters had a great dynamic and they never disturbed it by introducing a new member of the team.  It had great music, especially the theme song by Puffy AmuiYumi, great fight scenes, great visual gags, and great atmosphere.  This show rocked.

67. The Alvin Show/Alvin and the Chipmunks: Alvin, Simon, and Theodore have been staples of pop culture for decades.  Long before those CGI abominations, these were the Chipmunks only animated outings.  The Alvin Show from 1961 was very much like the cartoons series of that time, simplistic stories with strong character designs and staging.  Each episode would feature a Chipmunks short, another short series called Clyde Crash-up, and two musical segments.  The musical segments here featured more of the Chipmunks original songs like “Witch Doctor” and “The Alvin Twist”.  In 1983 the characters were redesigned and update for a then current audience.  Alvin and the Chipmunks, later retiled The Chipmunks, featured longer stories with a song injected into the story, only this time the songs were the Chipmunks covered popular song s of the time like Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and Billy Joel’s “For the Longest Time”.  This series in notable for introducing the Chipettes (Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor) into Chipmunks lorre.  What was great about the Chipettes is that rather than just be female copies of the male Chipmunks, they were strong, well developed characters in their own right and could even carry episodes by themselves, which is a rare thing, but they still never overshadowed the Chipmunks, who prove even today they still have staying power.

66. Mighty Max: Mighty Max was a cartoon series from the 90’s based on a popular toyline, which of course means the show would be crap right?  WRONG!  Mighty Max was one of the most brilliant and intense shows of its time.  The show’s protagonist was Max, a preteen who learns his destiny is to save the world as the “Cap-Bearer”, the wielder of a magical baseball cap that can open portals throughout the world and even throughout dimensions.  He’s aided by Virgil, a wise and bookish Lemurian, a creature that looks like a anthropomorphic foul, and Norman, his hulking, sword wielding, definition of badass bodyguard.  His nemesis was the evil Skullmaster (voiced by Tim Curry) who craves the caps power for himself, and was a truly terrifying villain for a kids cartoon.  The show was an amazing adventure series that literally went everywhere, no situation being too out there.  The show was very fun but could go dark very fast, specifically the final episode.  Oh God the final episode.  Max, Virgil and Norman prepare to have their final confrontation with Skullmaster, Norman and Virgil are KILLED, straight up killed, Max tries to battle Skullmaster and loses, and the only way to fix everything is to use the caps power to reverse time, to the very beginning of the series, with Max, still with all his previous knowledge, preparing to relive all the adventures again.  What the hell kids cartoon ever did anything like that.  Mighty Max was the biggest underrated gem of them all.

65. Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures: The 80’s were a dark time for animation, with more emphasis being placed on toy sales than actual quality, but Mighty Mouse: the New Adventures was different than the rest, mainly due to it being spearheaded by animation bad boy Ralph Bakashi.  Mighty Mouse had incredible animation and real acting in the characters.  The show was comedy show with bits of action.  Mighty Mouse’s adventures were absurd and frequently featured parodies of everything from Batman to Alvin and the Chipmunks to modern animation as a whole.  The show was a hub for future stars in the industry like Bruce Timm and John Krisfaluci, Bakashi knew talent when he saw it and together they created one of the most visually appealing shows of all time.

64. Courage the Cowardly Dog: John R. Dillworth’s wonderfully dark, twisted and surreal cartoon about a small pink dog named Courgae who protects his elderly owners from the supernatural more than earns it’s spot on the list.  Courage the Cowardly Dog was based off the short “Chicken from Outer Space”, and if you’ve seen that short you know how perfectly that sums up the entire series.  It was a great black comedy with character designs that were solid and abstract.  The show had a cast of characters that could only work in a setting like this.  Really thinking about it, Courage is a hard show to put into words.  It was cartoony, but not off-the-wall, bouncy, high energy cartoon, rather a slow, deliberate cartoon that always built up its gags to big pay-offs.  The main characters were all balanced and likeable, even Eustece, whos entire purpose for being in the show was to be a dick to Courage and get his comeuppance at the end.  Courage the Cowardly Dog: bizarrely brilliant.

63. Roger Ramjet: Roger Ramjet followed the Jay Ward principle.  Got crappy low budget animation, make up for it with hilarious writing.  Roger Ramjet were the short adventures of Roger Ramjet, an all American superhero with his sidekicks, the youthful American Eagle squadron (Yank, Doodle, Dan, and Dee).  Whenever Roger was in a pinch, he would pop a Proton Energy Pills, which would give him the strength of 20 atom bombs for 20 seconds.  Ach short only lasted for about seven minutes, but told a solid story that wrapped up nicely.  It was fast paced and the gags where all dialogue based, and for a show of its time had pretty snappy dialogue with many pop culture references.  Roger Ramjet is a show that couldn’t work today, making this show all the more special.

62. The Critic: It only lasted for two seasons, but in those two seasons The Critic pretty much defined the 90’s.  The show was about a stocky, bald, and cynical film critic named Jay Sherman who hosted a film review show, Coming Attractions, and frequently put down the latest Hollywood outings with his catchphrase, “It Stinks”!  The Critic was pop culture machine and frequently went for the jugular with Hollywood.  Every episode featured a parody of popular movies or actors of the time and left no one unscratched.  Aside from that, the show had great characters.  Not just Jay, but his boss, the Southern, right-wing, wealthy, and power mad Duke Phillips who predated Alec Baldwin’s character on 30 Rock, Jeremy Steele, Jay’s actor friend who was a parody of the leading action men of the time, Jay’s dad Franklin Sherman, his rum loving, millionaire father who was completely out of his mind.  The Critic may seem dated by today’s standards, but its characters and voice acting brilliance have withstood the test of time.

61. Goof Troop: In 1992, Disney took two of its oldest characters, Goofy and Pete, and relaunched them both in a then new series called Goof Troop.  Goof Troop was like a cartoon version of a TGIF sitcom and gave the two classic Disney characters sons named Max and PJ respectively, (actually they gave Pete a whole family, but those four where the stars).  Goof Troop had all that great classic Disney animation and a slapstick style of humor that works best in cartoons.  Episodes would either focus on Goofy and Pete (where Goofy would be the clueless foil to Pete’s greedy schemes), or Max and PJ (where Max would drag the reluctant PJ on his plans).  With most of the other Disney Afternoon shows having underscores of action and adventure, Goof Troop was unique in that was family oriented.  No race cars, laser, and airplanes, or crimes to be solved, just low-key but high energy adventures of these two families, which was perfectly fine.  Goof Troop would later loosely spin off into the movies A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie making this series unique in that it’s one of the few western cartoons to have characters actually age, and in real time, but it’s hard to say if it fits in continuity.  Still, neither discount from how great Goof Troop was.

Well that’s all for now, stay tuned for the next bath where we look at future families and inept aliens