Today's Cartoons

[EuphemismForSex]

I find this image representative of the state of cartoons today.



I'll take Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog over Adventure Time and Pony's or whatever any day. Avatar is the only cartoon I'd choose to watch from this generation. Don't get me wrong, there are quality cartoons out there, basically most of the DC stuff, but none really stuck with me like they did before. Sara Bellum is still hot to me. Courage still scares the shit out of me. I still own Exo Squad on VHS, and no VHS player. Ren and Stimpy still make me go "WTF am i watching, is this for kids?". And Dexter's "Deedeeeeeeeeeee!" still makes me smile to myself like an idiot. I still watch SM TAS when I get home late from work (only time it airs, apparently), and that was old even when I was watching cartoons as a kid. (21 now)

[T Hedge Coke]

All eras that've had cartoons have had good cartoons, and with luck this will continue into the future.

It's a world of Thing ring do your thing and row row fight the power! Some top shelf, some stuff that falls short. The thing to do is just pay more attention to the good and to avoid pretending there was some golden era that needs memorializing or reproducing.

[Vibranium]

watched a couple episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man last night...I liked it, humor is a bit goofy but it fits

the Dr Doom episode had some lulz in it

I liked Spectacular Spider-Man but was not a fan of the art and absolutely hated their version of Venom, Eddie Brock and Peter Parker are NOT friends

[Sailor Moon]

I find this image representative of the state of cartoons today.



I'll take Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog over Adventure Time and Pony's or whatever any day. Avatar is the only cartoon I'd choose to watch from this generation. Don't get me wrong, there are quality cartoons out there, basically most of the DC stuff, but none really stuck with me like they did before. Sara Bellum is still hot to me. Courage still scares the shit out of me. I still own Exo Squad on VHS, and no VHS player. Ren and Stimpy still make me go "WTF am i watching, is this for kids?". And Dexter's "Deedeeeeeeeeeee!" still makes me smile to myself like an idiot. I still watch SM TAS when I get home late from work (only time it airs, apparently), and that was old even when I was watching cartoons as a kid. (21 now)

Uh, you know that first picture has quite a few characters from before the '90s, right? If you were to actually cut them up into their respective eras, they'd probably look pretty similar to the "modern" picture you posted there (not quite as bare bones maybe, but still). Also worth mentioning that second picture seems to only cover shows on CN currently, and not even Avatar, which you mentioned.

Honestly, I find most of the comic book adaptions the weakest among the current crop of toons, except for Brave & the Bold, which was far too math for it's own good. You were too good for this world.

[Mormel]

I find this image representative of the state of cartoons today.



I'll take Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog over Adventure Time and Pony's or whatever any day. Avatar is the only cartoon I'd choose to watch from this generation. Don't get me wrong, there are quality cartoons out there, basically most of the DC stuff, but none really stuck with me like they did before. Sara Bellum is still hot to me. Courage still scares the shit out of me. I still own Exo Squad on VHS, and no VHS player. Ren and Stimpy still make me go "WTF am i watching, is this for kids?". And Dexter's "Deedeeeeeeeeeee!" still makes me smile to myself like an idiot. I still watch SM TAS when I get home late from work (only time it airs, apparently), and that was old even when I was watching cartoons as a kid. (21 now)

I'd like to point out that the top part of the image features characters from various decades from the 1940s onward, while the lower part only has characters from the past decade (I guess). Pretending that the Flintstones, Scoobie, Droopy, and Yosemite Sam are contemporaries of Johnny Bravo, Dexter, and the Power Puff Girls is quite a stretch, even if CN used to air them back-to-back.

I remember those CN Cartoon Cartoons like Johnny Bravo, Cow&Chicken and Courage, as well as the Nicktoons, garnering a lot of criticism back in the late 90s. Cartoons I watched as a kid were considered too 'crass' or 'gross' by older generations; they were 'drawn ugly' or 'too abstract'; they were 'inappropriate'. I remember all the criticisms. It added to the experience of watching them, because it felt like I was tasting a 'forbidden fruit'.

[Sailor Moon]

Eh, Cow & Chicken. Tried to rewatch that recently, and I couldn't even finish a full episode. I don't remember being too fond of that back then, though. Courage has held up fairly well, but I don't know, it feels like it's lost something to me. Haven't watched Johnny Bravo in a long time; I keep forgetting about that until someone mentions it. One show that I think definitely keeps up is Rocko. They started re-releasing the seasons over here, and they're as good as ever.

For all the handjobbing that the '90s get for animation, I rarely ever see my favorite mentioned: Aeon Flux. Probably too weird and experimental for most, but such a wonderful series. I find myself going back and rewatching my DVDs of that all the time.

[Mormel]

Eh, Cow & Chicken. Tried to rewatch that recently, and I couldn't even finish a full episode. I don't remember being too fond of that back then, though. Courage has held up fairly well, but I don't know, it feels like it's lost something to me. Haven't watched Johnny Bravo in a long time; I keep forgetting about that until someone mentions it. One show that I think definitely keeps up is Rocko. They started re-releasing the seasons over here, and they're as good as ever.

For all the handjobbing that the '90s get for animation, I rarely ever see my favorite mentioned: Aeon Flux. Probably too weird and experimental for most, but such a wonderful series. I find myself going back and rewatching my DVDs of that all the time.

I thought Rocko was BRILLIANT in its first two seasons, but I never really saw the appeal of seasons 3 and 4. I especially took issue with how much focus there was on the misadventures of Heffer and Filburt, who became something of a comical duo. By that point, the show wasn't really about everyday 'modern life' situations. Season 1 and 2, though, still brill. I probably still have my Filburt avatar saved somewhere... 'Toyn da page, wash ya hands...'

[Mormel]

Oh, Sailor Moon, I just now see that you beat me to the punch by a minute re:that picture. So I guess I owe you a coke:

[Sailor Moon]

Ah, it's been so long I don't even remember, ha. I have the first two seasons on DVD, need to get to watching them.

[Sailor Moon]

Oh, Sailor Moon, I just now see that you beat me to the punch by a minute re:that picture. So I guess I owe you a coke:

Ha, yeah. Thank you, I enjoy my coke.

[rasx]

Just watched the new TMNT cartoon and really enjoyed it, one of my favorite cartoons right now along with YJ.
I think the 80's had the best original concepts, even though their quality was poor. Thats why I like when someone reboots them with better animation.
My favorites:
80's: HE-MAN, Thundercats, Transformers, Galaxy Rangers, TMNT.
90's: Batman TAS, Superman TAS, X-Men TAS, Gargoyles, Beast Wars.
00's: JLA, X-Men evolution

[Steward Ace]

Some great new shows: Phineas & Ferb, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Gravity Falls, Avengers: EMH, Ruby Gloom, Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc, Clone Wars, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gumball...

Jeez folks, how much good Tv can we have at once?

[thwhtGuardian]

I'll take Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Courage the Cowardly Dog over Adventure Time and Pony's or whatever any day. Avatar is the only cartoon I'd choose to watch from this generation. Don't get me wrong, there are quality cartoons out there, basically most of the DC stuff, but none really stuck with me like they did before. Sara Bellum is still hot to me. Courage still scares the shit out of me. I still own Exo Squad on VHS, and no VHS player. Ren and Stimpy still make me go "WTF am i watching, is this for kids?". And Dexter's "Deedeeeeeeeeeee!" still makes me smile to myself like an idiot. I still watch SM TAS when I get home late from work (only time it airs, apparently), and that was old even when I was watching cartoons as a kid. (21 now)

That's largely because you're no longer a kid anymore, it's doubtful you'd like the cartoons you do if it were not for the fact that you were a kid when you first saw them.

[Vibranium]

Some great new shows: Phineas & Ferb, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Young Justice, Gravity Falls, Avengers: EMH, Ruby Gloom, Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc, Clone Wars, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gumball...

Jeez folks, how much good Tv can we have at once?

they always want MOAR!!!

I always liked that Carmen Sandiego cartoon...not the crappy PBS game show

[EuphemismForSex]

Uh, you know that first picture has quite a few characters from before the '90s, right? If you were to actually cut them up into their respective eras, they'd probably look pretty similar to the "modern" picture you posted there (not quite as bare bones maybe, but still). Also worth mentioning that second picture seems to only cover shows on CN currently, and not even Avatar, which you mentioned.

They're all shows that were on CN, so of course there's no Avatar. And even if you did remove the Pre-90's cartoons from the top image, it wouldn't look anything like the bottom. Of course if you removed duplicate characters representing the same show, they'd both be fairly empty, but the bottom even more so. The top image is representative of CN's model back then. They exposed kids to older shows and they were better off for it. "90's cartoons" still very much included the Jetsons and Flinstones, even if they weren't cartoons made in the 90's. I can guarantee you if you ask the average person who was a kid watching cartoons in the 90's, he'd mention cartoons much older than he realized. A stark contrast to today when kids don't have that exposure. I still think it's bizarre and depressing that my younger family members have no idea about the Flinstones, Road Runner and that generation of shows, and even my generation. I remember my dad used to talk about watching them as a kid (a connection lost on my little sister), and my teachers used to be surprised we knew what He-Man was. I guess I figured they'd be on forever after that.

That's largely because you're no longer a kid anymore, it's doubtful you'd like the cartoons you do if it were not for the fact that you were a kid when you first saw them.

No, I just like the cartoons I like. Otherwise I probably wouldn't like Gravity Falls and Avatar... Because I'm "no longer a kid". Would kind of be a pointless thread if we could only like the cartoons we watched when we were children.