I was born in 1981... I was a child of the 80's... I grew up (like many children of my age did) spending many hours in front of the television!
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| Dangermouse: The greatest secret agent in the world! Image (c) http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/ |
Back in those days, the programmes that filled the television were made for one reason - simple entertainment!
Now as an adult, I compare the TV shows I watched with the TV shows of today... I have to admit, I will always say the cartoons and programmes I grew up were MUCH more fun, exciting and memorable than ones of today!
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| Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats! |
Unlike children's TV of today, the kind of shows I grew up with usually had some sort of good v evil theme, where the heroes were often utilising magic, technology or special abilites to overcome the threat of the diabolical villans and evil forces that threatened mankind.
Any character that used a weapon in these shows were more often than not equipped with some sort of laser-based armaments, technology was often heavily utilised in body armour or vehicles and special abilities were usually added in good measures to add to the excitement and provide a feasable way to tip the balance of power between the battling forces.
The animation of most of the shows back in that era was very similar to each other... It had a certain look about it, and was often set in space, a distant planet or a different (often futuristic) time.
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| Defenders of the Earth! |
The characters in these shows were tough - they often possessed super-human strength, agility and a very solid sense of right or wrong (right in the case of the heroes, and wrong in the case of the villans).
As well as the strength and abilities, the stars of these programmes used their intelligence to defeat the evil-doers as well.
It was often a villanous trait to be less intelligent than the heroes of the shows - even if the main villan was an intellectual match to the hero, the sidekicks and assistants were usually very stupid, and usually led to the downfall of the villan's plans...
The heroes also seemed to posses good luck when it came to tricky situations - with the bad luck following the evil sides.
It seems on reflection the hidden agenda of these shows was to promote good behaviour. No matter what the show was, you always knew that the star was going to win the battle, save the day and defeat the criminal or anti-hero of the show.
No matter what the political agenda of the shows, the whole idea of the show was simply to entertain the children watching it - and entertain it certainly did!
Cartoons such as He-Man, Thundercats, Pole Position, Visionairies, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Defenders of the Earth, MASK, Transformers, GI-Joe, X-men, Dangermouse, Inspector Gadget, Chip and Dale: Recue Rangers and Superted to mention but a slight few of the awesome programming back in the 80's that I watched enthusiastically as a kid!
I'm sure there are many of you who would instantly remember these shows, (as well as others I haven't mentioned here) and I bet you would be able to sing the theme tune, remember the heroes and enimies in these shows...
It's such a shame that they don't make and broadcast quality programmes like these any more... I, for one think they should bring back classic cartoon viewing for kids nowadays and let them have the same excitement we did as a kid!
Take a trip down memory lane! Click on the following titles to watch the opening themes for the following programmes:
Were there any shows that you watched as a kid I've missed Any other shows I should've mentioned? Please leave your comments below!
- TheLittlerich
