The 80s and 90s were undoubtably some of the strongest years for cartoons. I was born in 1989, so while technicaly I am a child of the 80s, im much more intune with cartoons of the 90s then I am cartoons of the 80s. I was able to watch stuff in the 90s as they aired, obviously I could not do that with 80s stuff. So I relied on reruns for that. Many believe that in todays age cartoons arent what they once were. That they platoed in the 90s and then carened off a cliff when 2000 came around. While some of this might not actualy be true, lord knows the 90s were much stronger for cartoons then this decade was, theyre are still cartoons that came out this decade or are still out that I think still hold that old cartoon formula we love. Anyway, here my Top 10 Cartoon of the decade from 2000-2010. Keep in mind that in order for shows to make it on this list, they had to have debuted in 2000, not 1999 or anything like that. Thats why shows like Spongebob, Courage the Cowardly Dog. and ED, EDD and EDDY are not on here because that debuted in like 1999. Also, im opting out shows like Futurama and American Dad because I dont think those are the same kind of cartoons that im trying to talk about. also, im opting out stuff on Adult Swim because I dont think they are quite the same catagory. ALSO keep in mind these are more of my favorite stuff then it really is a "Best" because best is opinon based. Chances are, one or two you might disagree with or maybe even flame me about, but hey, its my list. Also, this is not in order of which I like better:
Everyone probaly knows the story. Kid gets a evil babysitter, kid is miserable, kid gets fairy godparents that grant his every wish and Zany adventures ensue. Its kinda hard to pin why I like this show so much, and how it maybe reminded me of some of the shows of the 90s. Maybe its the humor. The humor in this show is pretty silly and juvenile, while some of it can be kinda adult as well. I dont know, maybe its the weird take on the whole fairy godmother thing weve seen in fairy tales. Either way, show is good and is one of the better stuff on Nickelodeon today.
9. Kim Possible
Yeah, remember what I said about possible falming? Well, here. we. go. I am a man. a big strooooong man. and I will admit whole hartidly to loving this show. Its drawn well, the writing is great, the VO is solid, and its actualy funny. In teh void that has become disney channel for many years, this was a suprising glimmer or light to me. I remmeber when Disney had cartoons like Timon adn Pumba, Hercules, Bonkers and all that kind fo good stuff. Since they, they are mostly live action Hannah Montana bullshit and it was nice to see solid cartoons like this still be on their. Well, taht was until they finished season 4 and canceled the show when it was arguably its best. Plus, it had Patton Pswald as a German Supervillian. nuff said.
8. Danny Phantom:
Maybe its the Ghostbuster fan in me, maybe its the way the show is drawn and the style of it, or maybe I think the premise of a Ghost power based Superhero seemed kinda cool. Seriosuly, what would Ghost superpowers be? To haunt a house? But this show was actually really good to me. I thought it was funny, had good action, and was all around solid.
7. Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends:
when you were a kid, did you ever have a imaginary friend? You know, somone who you could talk to when the other kids maybe didnt liek you? well, if your parents didnt take you later to see a shrink, you can probaly understand why this show was so clever in premise. what if you really could create a imgainary friend, and it was real? then, when you grow up, what happens to said friend? well, they go to Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends of course! I multilevel, hundred room Orphanage for friends without a home. What i think I liked most about the show was how creative some of the friends were, or in other regards how simple they were. Bloo was just a simple blue colored hump pretty much, but the character design had some lovablility to it.
6. Total Drama Island.
Originaly aired and created in Canada, Total Dram Island (or TDI) is a show thats a heavy parody of survival shows like Survivor. The island is rpetty much like a summer camp from hell, and the contestants must compelte challenges to earn Invincibility and rewards. They are split into two teams, and the losing team of each challenge must then vote a member of their tribe off at a campfire ceremony (yeah, theyre not trying to be subtle). What I think I liked most about this show is that its one fo the first rated PG cartoons ive seen. Teh show actualy takes the audince seriously, and while the original canadian version has more riskay stuff in it, teh american CN version kinda did some stuff I didnt see in a cartoon before (saying the word "Crap" for one thing.) The show was funny. Th show is part of a kinda trifecta of shows from this company tht were up in Canada but then came down here. If im not mistaken, the show 6Teen was teh first from this company. THat show had a brief run on Nickelodeon, then was cancelled. Then CN brought TDI down from canada to show here, it was a hit, then the company brought 6Teen to CN as well, and that show was I believe popular as well (and one I actually liked as well), but then the company that made both of these shows decided to make a surfing one called Stoked, which to my knowledged bombed. or atleast I didnt think it was good. Cool thing about Stoked and 6Teen were that they used Flash animation to do the show, so it had a distinct visual style. im not sure if TDI is the same thing, it dosent really look it. Anwyay, TDI has cince had two spinoff shows, Total Drama actiona and total Drama World Tour (the latter of which is currently airing new episodes) I kinda feel off of it after TDI, but the spinoffs seem atleast decent.
5. Samurai Jack:
If anything, this show is a tour de force of cartoon animation. its tyled to hell and back, and is one of those shows that while im not sure how popular it was, was really great and showed that this medium can be taken seriously.
4. KND (Kids Next Door)
You knwo when you were a Kid and you played Fort and pretended to fight evil. Well, this show was basicaly created off of that notion and skyrocketed to the 10th dgree. Kids that fight adult tyranny, live in a giant tree house fortress, and make weapons otu of everything. Seriously, its as if McGyver had 5 illegitament children. Show was very good and gave a funny outlook at how kids see things. all there stuff is in acronyms and they use this viewing on stuff we adult use For example, to them a Bra is Battle.Ready.Armor. and teenagers go to a "Make out point" kinda place to be tranformed into adults by some machine. Its funny little stuff like this that made the show appealing to me. Because hey, theyre kids! they dont know no better.
3. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy:
Originaly as part of a two part block show called Grim and Evil (which comprised of the main show, Grim adventures and the sub show Evil Concarne (which is also a very good show) ).The Plot of this show is quite creative. Two kids ( a boy named billy and a girl named mandy) have a Hamster that is on its deathbed. The grim reaper appears to take the hamster off to the far beyond. The Girl will not let him have the hamster. The girl makes a deal with the Reaper. IF they can beat him in a game, they will get to keep the hamster. The Grim Reaper, being confident in himself, also throws in that if the kids can beat him, he will be their best freind "Forever and Ever". Needless to say the Grim reper ends up losing and is the kids best friend "Forever and Ever." This then leads to one of the funniest shows ive seen in a good while and lots of trips into the underworld and places like that. The show was just bizzare, but in a good way. It had some of the gross humor that shows like Ren and Stimpy had, but not to that extent. Plus, theres a Jamaican accented Grim Reaper. Pure gold. And it taught us a very important lesson about clowns.
2. Teen Titans:
Probaly one of the only good Superhero based cartoons we got this decade. Obviously based off of the Teen Tians Comicbook series. This show actualy takes the ficiton in a bit different direction. For one thing, in this show they look alot younger and actualy like teenager then they did in the comics (hence teen titans and all that). secondly, the show is heavly Anime influenced in tis animation and makes lots of self-referential humor. This show had very good story arcs (speacilly the last one with all of the sollective villains joining a giant team to take on all the titans) and was very itneresting from beginnign to end. The villians were great, the characters interaction with each other were awesome, the character development was great also, and the show was just all around great IMO. Plus, it was very funny to boot. I would recommend the Episode Episode 257-494 or Don't Touch That Dial . super funny. I would have to say my favorite character would be Raven. I liked her character the most, even if she was the emo goth girl.
1. Megas XLR:
Probaly one of my favorites of the favorites I posted here. heres the Synopsis:
In the distant future, Earth is fighting a losing war with an alien race known as the Glorft. In order to save the planet, the human resistance steals a prototype giant robot from the Glorft and modifies it, renaming it Megas (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System). The idea was to send Megas back to the Battle of the Last Stand, which was the last major offensive fought by humanity against the Glorft. Humanity lost that battle, but the members of the resistance believe that Megas can tip the scales and hand the Glorft a decisive defeat.
Before the plan can be executed, however, an attack by the Glorft forces the human resistance to send Megas back in time. The prototype timedrive, however, accidentally sends the now-crippled Megas (its head was blown off in the attack) all the way back to the early 20th century. Megas languishes in a new Jersey junkyard until it ends up in the hands of two slackers, Coop and Jamie, around the year 2000. Coop turns Megas into a hot rod project and names it XLR, for eXtra Large Robot.
Kiva goes back in time to retrieve Megas, and when she finds she is unable to pilot it because of Coop's modifications, she grudgingly decides to train Coop for fighting
The show parodied anything from Sailor Moon to Voltron. It also made jokes about Videogames, Giant Robot animes and shows, and anything else pop culutre. It was super witty, super funny, and super badass. But apprently it wasnt that popular as CN decided to cancel it after only like a year. Its one fo the few shows I whole heartidly wish theyd bring back or atleast put out on DVD. It is available through XBOX LIve Marketplace. But id rather have DVDs.
Anyway, heres a collection fo funny moments from the show:
If I could name a few more, theyd probaly be Invader Zim, Adventure Time, Life and Times of Jumiper Lee (I have good memories of it, but havent seen it in a while), Justice League Unlimited, and I really like Chowder as well. oh, and i loved Batman Beyond. Was actualy a cool take on the batman thing. If i revised my list, maybe id replace Danny Phantom or TDI. Maybe with Avatar: The Last Airbender. but hey, whatevs.
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