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5 Under-Appreciated Cartoons

Who's up for some nostalgia?

By Greg SeebregtsPublished 5 years ago 6 min read
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Cartoons... we've all grown up with them in some way or another. Whether it's a newspaper comic strip, a good movie, or a memorable line; cartoons are a part of almost every kid's formative years. Of course, as new titles are released, the older ones fade into obscurity. With that in mind, I thought I'd do something a little bit different, and possibly, launch a new series covering under-appreciated cartoons.

  1. The name says it all, but let's lay some basic ground rules at the outset:
  2. No anime titles. When I say 'cartoon' I'm referring to animated programs made in the USA. The anime aesthetic is fine, as long as it's not an anime title.
  3. Films and series' both count, as long as they're animated.
  4. No repeat entries. This is important for future installments; essentially if a title appears on this list, it can't be featured on the next one.

Right, with the rules established; let's get on with the list! Here are five under-appreciated cartoons—Enjoy!

5: 'Scooby Doo, Where are You?' (1969 - 1970)

Right to Left: Daphne, Shaggy, Velma, Fred and, of course, Scooby Dooby Doo! - Stuff You Should Know

We all know Scooby Doo, he's a powerhouse of the Saturday morning entertainment block after all. This lovable Great Dane and his pals Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred have been entertaining kids since 1969, and it doesn't look like they'll be stopping anytime soon.

Scooby Doo, Where Are You? was the first series in what would later become the juggernaut that is the Scooby Doo franchise. It originally ran for two seasons from 1969 to 1970.

There's no real plot to this golden oldie, just a series of self-contained stories. The formula is pretty simple; the gang arrives at a particular location, they encounter some supernatural force and investigate, and in the end they capture the 'ghost', and reveal a crook in disguise.

Oh, and the crook has to say some variant of the famous line:

"I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids and your dog!"

Rinse, lather, repeat, and you have a kid's show that's perfect for family viewing. The best part about the show was trying to figure out who the bad guy was. We, the audience, were able to take part in the mysteries, and try to solve the cases too; using the clues provided... although, I still wonder how the so-called 'clues' fit into each mystery most of the time... that's a subject for another day though. Sadly, it seems that Scooby Doo, Where are You? has been all but lost in the juggernaut franchise that it created.

4: 'Josie and the Pussycats' (1970 - 1971)

Josie, Melody and Valerie in Concert - Flickr

Riding the success of Scooby Doo, Where are You? a new series with a similar motley crew of characters appeared. Josie and the Pussycats aired from 1970 to 1971 for 16 episodes.

The show follows a rock band as they end up caught in episodic mysteries—usually while en-route to a performance.

What I liked about this particular show was the humor. Watching Alexandra's schemes to steal the spotlight from lead character Josie was a sort of highlight; specifically because they failed every time—with hysterical results. The cat, Sebastian, is another comic relief character that gets into and out of trouble frequently; resulting in some truly side-splitting scenes.

Josie and the Pussycats was based on the comic book of the same name published by Archie Comics (apparently the same company behind Sabrina the Teenage Witch unless my memory is wrong). The show did relatively well from what I gather, but it was never quite as popular as Scooby Doo and just sort of faded away.

3: 'Courage, the Cowardly Dog' (1999 - 2002)

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" - Unilad

How do I describe Courage, the Cowardly Dog?

Well... Courage is a dog who was adopted by a Scottish lady named Muriel—not gonna lie, I always thought she was Irish—and lives with her and Eustace (her husband) in the middle of Nowhere... no, really that's what the town is called: Nowhere, Kansas. Subsequently, Courage ends up protecting his owners from aliens and other paranormal entities.

I often wondered at the dog's name as a kid. I mean, really; why name him Courage if he's always so scared all the time? Sure, it's better than calling him Coward but... hey... maybe it's a message to kids to face their fears... you think? Hmmm... seems a bit on-the-nose, but okay, let's go with that.

Courage the Cowardly Dog ran for 52 episodes from 1999 to 2002, and was a huge success—becoming one of Cartoon Network's most popular series' at the time. So, what happened? Well, here's the thing; the show is great, but you don't usually see a black comedy/horror show aimed at kids. There are some truly horrifying moments mixed into the comedy, and I guess not everyone appreciates that. Still the show does have a cult following so it's not been completely forgotten.

2: Count Duckula (1988 - 1993)

Vegetarian. Vampire. Duck. that's all ya gotta know! - Retrotvmemories

This is a series that I wasn't really a fan of as a kid, and then it sort of grew on me. The show ran for 65 episodes from 1988 to 1993, and from what I gather it was quite popular. Deviating from the traditional vampire mythos of destruction; the show states that through a special ritual performed once a century, a vampire may be brought back to life.

These reincarnated vampires have no memory of their past lives, and get to start all over again. The latest member of the Duckula family of vampire ducks (that sounded so much cooler in my head) is Count Duckula the 17th but unlike the other members of his family; he's a vegetarian... literally.

During the resurrection ceremony, one of the servants grabbed tomato sauce instead of blood, and mucked up the ritual; resulting in the latest member of the Duckula family preferring vegetables over blood. He's also obsessed with becoming a famous entertainer...

Almost nobody talks about this series anymore, and that's kind of a shame. Sure I wasn't too keen on it myself, but it grew on me enough to keep watching it, and some of the episodes were truly hysterical to watch!

1: 'Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels'

A lesser known Hanna-Barbera title - Hanna-Barbera Wiki

A group of teenagers uncover a caveman frozen in an ice block and thaw him out. The group then goes on all sorts of wacky adventures.

The show ran for three seasons from 1977 to 1980, and joined the likes of Scooby Doo and Josie and the Pussycats on Saturday morning television. Other than that, there's not a whole lot that I can tell you about in terms of success. Now this—much like Count Duckula—was a show that I had to sort of sit down and let it grow on me.

The idea of a caveman with superpowers being thawed out of an ice block, and going on zany adventures with a trio of pretty girls is... very unique. Apart from that, the characters are fun, the music's great, and the humor's pretty good. One of my favorite gags was poor ol' Cavey's flying power failing him, and the line that he would, inevitably say:

"Uh oh! Bad time for energy crisis."

From what I read, this is a reference to a shortage of gasoline at the time.

Fun fact: Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels is a parody—of sorts—of the Charlie's Angels, which was airing at the time.

Final Thoughts

These shows all have their own followings and were all popular at some stage. As to why they dropped off the proverbial grid; I guess that could be attributed to changing times. New shows come out and the audience loses interest in the older ones...kinda sad when you think about it.

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About the Creator

Greg Seebregts

I'm a South African writer, blogger and English tutor; I've published 1 novel and am working on publishing a 2nd. I also write reviews on whatever interests me. I have a YouTube Channel as well where I review books, and manga and so on.

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