Now, they are entering the 1980’s, the decade I knew the best. The cartoons are mostly from the Hanna Barbera / Ruby Spears library.
In the 1980's, the cartoons moved away from the well known characters of earlier decades. It wasn't so much Yogi Bear and friends as it was more action oriented cartoons. Many of the lighter cartoons were blatant product promotions.
The majority of the cartoons here are from the mid to late 80's, when I had grown out of Saturday Morning Cartoons. There were a few I saw an episode or two of, but there were others that I have no memory of whatsoever.
That said, others are sure to remember them. And even if you didn’t, the set is once again a lot of fun. While some may hope for complete series sets of some of the series here, for many, would you really want them?
The episodes on the set are:
Disc One (Total Run Time: 2:15:34)
GOLDIE GOLD AND ACTION JACK - This is a sort of a futuristic female version of Richie Rich in an adventure show. Released in 1981, I have no memory of this.
CHUCK NORRIS KARATE KOMMANDOS - Introduced by a live action Chuck Norris, this Ruby Spears series from 1986 is another adventure series with Norris, along with his ninja and sumo fighter friends fighting evil. Aparently only five episodes were made.
THE COMPLETELY MENTAL MISADVENTURES OF ED GRIMLEY - Martin Short's character from SCTV and SNL got his own series in 1988. It features the voices of most of the SCTV gang (Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara and Dave Thomas) as well as Jonathan Winters, Rene Auberjonois and Arte Johnson. The cartoon also features live action segments with another SCTV character, Joe Flaherty as Count Floyd.
THE FLINSTONE KIDS - From 1986 is this reworking of the Flinstones characters. I remember the Captain Caveman cartoons more than the Flinstone Kids..
MR. T - Much like the Chuck Norris cartoon, this 1983 cartoon features live action introductions with the star of THE A-TEAM (who really deserves a comeback). Like Chuck Norris, Mr. T and a group try to save the world from evil.
Disc Two (Total Runtime 2:09:40)
THE BISKITTS - A cartoon about a group of miniature dogs living in medieval times from 1983.
MONCHHICHIS - I remember the Monchhichi dolls, my sister had them. Yet this 1983 cartoon based on the little monkey like creatures that live in a tree, I have little memory of.
GALTAR AND THE GOLDEN LANCE- A Conan like cartoon from 1985, with wizards and spaceships and dragons. Again, zero memory of this, but Helen Hunt is billed as one of the voices.
DRAGON’S LAIR - A 1984 cartoon based on the laser disc video game that was quite popular in the arcades in the mid 80’s. The cartoon has a bit of the “What do you choose” aspect of the video game.
THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN - A fairly popular 1980 cartoon of a futuristic world (caused by a worldwide catastrophe in 1994). One of the creators calls is Tarzan in outer space.
THE KWICKY KOALA SHOW - A throwback to the earlier days of Saturday morning animation, with wacky animals, this 1981 cartoon may be best known as the final cartoon of the great Tex Avery who passed away during the prodcution.
EXTRAS
There is also a documentary on Disc One, LORDS OF LIGHT - THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN (18:30). This is an overview of the series, with new interviews with the Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.
SHOULD I BUY IT?
Absolutely. While this may not be the golden age of Saturday Morning Cartoons, they sure are fun to watch. Let us hope for a Volume 2 with more recognizable cartons (anyone else want to see PAC MAN again?)
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