Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Old School Lane presents Kevin's Top 100 Favorite Animated Shows (100-90)

Hey everyone, welcome to a very special top # list courtesy of Old School Lane. We were due for a top # list since I posted my Top 10 Pee-wee Herman moments of 2011 back in New Year’s Eve. Kevin worked hard narrowing down his favorite cartoons to 100, but he finally finished it. As for me, I probably won’t get to it just yet, as I’m working really hard on something really, really special for the summer. Anyway, here’s Kevin’s favorite cartoons from 100-90. I hope you enjoy it. 
Regardless on when you werer born, animated cartoon shows have been a part of our childhood in some point in our lives. Whether you watched it for the story, the silliness, the characters, the life lessons, the violence, the jokes, or the animation, we all watched it on Saturday morning while eating our favorite sugary cereal or after school after we finished our homework. Narrowing it down to 100 cartoons wasn’t easy, so please don’t be disappointed that your favorite cartoon isn’t on the list or ranked higher than you would have liked it to. This is my list, not yours. So, sit back and relax as we look at the first 10 of my 100 favorite cartoons of all time.
100. Kappa Mikey (2006)
The story involves with a 19-year-old named Mikey Simon moving to Japan after winning a contest to star in an anime called LilyMu. While the beginning and end covers the footage of LilyMu, the majority of the show involves Mikey trying to fit in the Japanese culture and lifestyles. This cartoon clashes with anime and American drawn cartoons, similar to what Who Framed Roger Rabbit combining Warner Bros. Disney, and Hanna Barbera cartoons into one. It’s got an interesting premise, it’s very clever, and funny as it makes fun of American pop culture, Japanese pop culture, and anime. The characters were interesting, funny, and unique. It also spoofed popular anime shows at the time such as Sailor Moon, Pokemon, DBZ, Naruto, One Piece, Chobits, and HiHi Puffy AmiYumi. 
99. The Secret Show (2006)
Originally released in Children’s BBC in 2006, The Secret Show was shown in Nicktoons in 2007. The show involves two secret agents named Anita Knight and Victor Volt who works for a secret organization called U.Z.Z. alongside Professor Professor and Special Agent Ray. They are against the evil organization T.H.E.M. (The Horrible Evil Menace) led by Doctor Doctor who’s main goal is to, you guessed it, take over the world. I love The Secret Show because it pokes fun of the stereotypical spy series, the characters were great, yet clutsy, and the storylines were funny.
98. Speed Racer (1967)
There were so many versions, remakes, and reimagining of this classic anime, but my favorite will always be the original. The simple premise of Speed Racer competing in races with the Mach 5 was very entertaining and fun. The Mach 5 is one of the most iconic cars in pop culture history; it’s right along side the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters, and the Turtle Van from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show had action, gained a huge cult following, and the characters were memorable, especially Speed Racer.  The relationship between him and Racer X was emotional since in reality you knew that Racer X was Speed’s brother, Rex Racer, and he couldn’t reveal his identity to him. Overall, it’s still to this day a fantastic show.
97. Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990)
The story of 5 kids coming from different countries to save the Earth from polluting villains was indeed a show that still holds well into my heart. It focused on the factspollution was a terrible thing for the planet, always clean up after you litter, memorable characters, and epic storylines. It had a great cast of celebrity voice acts, such as Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, Edward Asner, John Ratzenberger, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Ryan, and so much more. A lot of people found it to be too preachy, but I didn’t think so. I think it had a nice balance of showing the damages of the environment and having a suttle touch to it and talking about why it’s terrible to not be aware of our actions to the Earth. Also the show took risks in adding Linka into the show in a time when Russians were not in cartoons as much since it was the final years of the Cold War. Captain Planet was great; he was like Superman in a way. Although a lot of people don’t like this show, I still find it to be good.
96. The Quick Draw McGraw Show (1959)
Not much to say about this cartoon except that it was a classic Hanna Barbera show, the gags were original and not cliche, which is huge since it’s a western. The characters were funny, the stories were engaging enough, and the jokes were humorous.
95. The Yogi Bear Show (1961)
Not much to say about this either, but the fact that the character of Yogi and Boo Boo were clever, strategic, and sly when it came to stealing picnic baskets from families and campers. Ranger Smith was also a great character as well, although he had always failed in preventing Yogi from stealing baskets from people. Overall, another Hanna Barbera classic.
94. Teen Titans (2003)
Although it was based on the comic book series of the same name, I was first introduced to Teen Titans from the 2003 Cartoon Network animated show. Man, did I ever love it. It was a mixture of a dark atmosphere and a light Japanese-like comedy. It shows Robin as a kickass leader capable of leading a group of young superheroes. It was one of the best animated Robins ever. It was the first time that I was introduced to the main characters Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire and I loved them all. Slade was kickass and he’s one of the best villains ever. The stories were great, the characters were great, and the action were great. Definitely one of the best shows that Cartoon Network ever had. 
93. The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008)
As of now, I have not heard a lot of people say that they like this show. A lot of people have said that they hated and say that Adventure Time was way better. I don’t think that’s true, in fact, I hate Adventure Time. I think that Flapjack is really underrated. First of all, Adventure Time doesn’t make sense to me. With Flapjack, it takes you back to the past around the late 1800’s where pirates and sailors were the norm. I love the character of Captain K’nucles. He was beyond hilarious. I also like the way the show substitutes alcohol with candy and maple syrup. The character of Flapjack was like SpongeBob plus a bunch of people that I actually knew. They were optimistic, enthusiastic, and they had always had a goal set on their mind and wouldn’t quit until they acheive it. Overall, I still find it to be a great show. 
92. The Pink Panther Show (1969)
Similar to the character Yogi Bear, the Pink Panther’s actions speak louder than words, literally. Although he rarely spoke, he gave off a cool, swave, laidback sort of personality which I feel is what makes him awesome. The animation was good, the other characters were good as well, and the theme song is just pure classic awesomeness. This is one of the few cartoons based off a movie series that was unique and different compared to the movies it was based on, which is a plus for me to see some originality. Now if only Nickelodeon can do that to Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.
91. The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy (1988)
Based off the dolls and the book series beginining in 1918, the story of Raggedy Ann and Andy, two rag dolls who came to life when their owners left, would explore into a weird parallel world and save the citizens from an evil sorcerer named Cracklin. It was definitely ahead of its time for toys coming to life similar to Toy Story and Winnie the Pooh
90. The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show  (1983)
What can be said about the Peanuts characters? They are iconic, classic, and smartly written characters with simplistic stories about the ho-hum down-to-earth Charlie Brown and his friends Linus, Lucy, Schroder, Pepperment Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock. Based on the original comic strips by Charles Schultz, it’s transitioned to TV very well, keeping what made the Peanuts strips great. The TV specials and movies were classics and so is this show. 
That’s it for now. Stay tune as we put in more classic cartoons. Do you have fond memories for these cartoons? Post in the comments and let me know. Hope to see you around the Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
-Kevin

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