Top 5 cartoons introduced to me by "The U.S.A. Cartoon Express;" and 5 introduced to me by "Cartoon Network."

Hello, friends; me again.

And hello to me from 1990 "me;" right around 5-6 years old and hanging out at my late grandmother's for the day with my G.I. Joe's somewhere nearby and a television set tuned to U.S.A. network in front of me. (my sister, ranging somewhere between 2 and 3 years was generally somewhere nearby too).

This sets the scene for where many of my memories of television viewing came from; and certainly sets the scene for how I even knew about the likes of Space Ghost, Huckleberry Hound, Wally Gator, the Herculoids, Jabberjaw, and many other old school Hanna Barbera "favorites" that I would have otherwise missed out on ever getting to know.

"The U.S.A. Cartoon Express" was appointment weekday viewing for me in my younger years (especially right around the time that it picked up the broadcast rights for established favorites like "Fat Albert," "He-Man," "She-Ra," and even "The Paw Paws;" but they're disqualified from the list as I had seen them all elsewhere). However, it ALSO single-handedly INTRODUCED me to time-tested animated classics as I'm talking about a "U.S.A. Cartoon Express" that PRE-DATES the advent of "Cartoon Network" who would then grab up the broadcast rights for anything Hanna-Barbera or Ruby Spears related. (Yes; the Cartoon Express survived beyond "Cartoon Network's" inception by buying up the "DIC" animation library and airing "Real Ghostbusters," "C.O.P.S.," "Jayce," and "Pole Position" alongside the likes of G.I. Joe, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, or TMNT).

Enough about that. Let's go "ALLL ABOAAARD!" for the "U.S.A. Cartoon Express" of MY favorite memories.

*At the time, the "...Cartoon Express" would air "Yogi's Space Race," "Scooby's All-Star-Laff-a-Lympics" and "The New Fred and Barney Show." While I enjoyed these all, I had somehow been introduced to each of their titular characters in reruns elsewhere, so the spin-offs have also dodged the list.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

I was born in '84 and, therefore, I not only missed out on 60's and 70's Hanna-Barbera, I, basically, missed out on the first 2/3 of the 80's for Saturday Mornings on CBS, ABC, and NBC. Luckily, if it was part of the Hanna-Barbera or Ruby Spears library, it would air on the "Cartoon Express" until the end of the 80's.

Therefore, honorable mentions INTRODUCED to me by the "Cartoon Express" included the likes of "Turbo Teen," "Mr. T's" cartoon (before I'd ever seen "The A-Team,") The Trollkins, Jabberjaw, The Go-Bots, The Snorks, Buford, The Galloping Ghost, Wally Gator, Snagglepuss, Magilla Gorilla, Pac-Man, Dragon's Lair, and The Space Kidettes and Young Samson.

On to the first of two lists...

5. CAPTAIN CAVEMAN (AND THE TEEN ANGELS)

"Cavey's" rallying war-cry of "CAPTAIN CAAAAAAAAVE-MAAAAAAAN!" meant that he was about to do something that he thoughts was stupendous (usually, to detrimental results and, occasionally, only to impress the gorgeous Taffy Dare. But always with his heart in the right place).

Captain Caveman, long before he was interconnected with "The Flintstone" spin-offs, was originally part of "The Scooby-Doobies" team on "...Laff-a-Lympics" and his stand-alone series was part of "Scooby's-All-Stars" block. I feel like "Cartoon Express" did the best that they could to honor that connection as they usually aired his series right after "Laff-a-Lympics" or even as an in-between bumper.

Anyway, as you may have guessed from their placement on "Scooby's..." team, The Teen Angels were a group of mystery solvers; and Captain Caveman was their anthropomorphic, laugh-a-minute tag along.

4. DYNOMUTT, DOG WONDER.

Dynomutt and his straight-laced superhero associate, "The Blue Falcon," defended Big City from crime (occasionally helped out by none-other-than Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc crew). "Blue Falcon" (Space Ghost's Gary Owens) could have easily been the show's titular star and a far more successful crime-stopper; if not for the bumbling, bionic 'bot known as "Dog Wonder" (Scooby-Doo's Don Messick).

Again, this mismatched pair had their own series (very close to a send-up of the wacky "Batman" live-action series of the 60's; save the fact that the semi-successful Robin was replaced by the buffoonish Dynomutt). They also competed for "Scooby-Doobies" on "Laff-a-Lympics.

I remembered being entertained by the dynamics between Blue Falcon and Dynomutt; and I remembered liking the voice that Gary Owen's provided to "B.F." I wouldn't be able to recall a VILLAIN, let alone an episode, if not for Cartoon Network rerunning it far later and, therefore, inspiring me to pick up the DVDs of "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" (Season 1 of "The Scooby-Doo Show" and "Dynomutt.")

3. SPACE GHOST

Space Ghost is a HERO; NOT some campy talk-show-host! (Similarly, Zorak, Moltar, and Brak were but a few of his enemies; NOT his sidekicks!).

Thankfully, "Cartoon Express" aired Space Ghost's original shorts quite frequently or I would have never known him as anything other than an outlandish, moronic talk-show-host. (I have since seen "Space Ghost's" original companion series of "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley" and am also grateful that "Cartoon Express" spared boring me to tears over THAT).

THE Space Ghost tooled around the galaxy in the "Phantom Cruiser," accompanied by twins, Jan and Jayce, and their monkey, Blip. He took on such rogues as Metallo, Spider Woman, and the aforementioned Zorak, Moltar, et al.

There's not much to be added about the new batch of shorts made for 1980's "Space Stars..."

2. HERCULOIDS

Somewhere out in space live "The Herculoids..."

Thus declared the booming baritone of fighting family patriarch, "Zandor" (Jonny Quest's "Race" Bannon Mike Roads).

Zandor and his family lived on and protected the planet Amzot ("Quasar" in the far later batch of episodes). They were aided and abetted in such an endeavor by a pack of super-powered animal allies. The ANIMALS were the titular "Herculoids."

But WHO were the Herculoids, and why did they CHOOSE to pal around with Zandor, his beautiful wife, Tara, and their danger-prone son, Dorno? Why did only Gloop and Gleep (indestructible, amorphous blobs) seem to have a "family" (or any other creature who looked like them)? WHAT bonded them together in the first place?

So many questions; and I suppose that, over the course of the original 36 7-minute shorts (18 full episodes), such questions MIGHT have been explored; but they were just ignored in favor of cranking out the specialty Alex Toth-inspired heroes and villains and the violence in between them (High-minded questions weren't meant for 7-10 year olds that the audience was intended for; or THIS 4-5 year old for that matter).

Like "Space Ghost," Hanna Barbera tried to revamp and repackage "The Herculoids" in 1980 to be a part of "Space Stars;" and, again, the newer episodes weren't "BAD" by any means; but a certain charm WAS missing...

1. HONG KONG PHOOEY

...Who IS that #1 Super Guy...?

...No; it was NOT the loud-mouthed, boorish Sergeant Flint or the easy-on-the-eyes, impossible-on-the-ears Rosemary.

Penry Pooch, "mild mannered Janitor," and unfortunate recipient of the sergeant's temper, WAS none other than "Hong Kong Phooey," a bumbling egomaniac of a "crime-fighter."

He was often tailed by his faithful police cat, Spot, to assist in actually busting the bad guys; plus his all-purpose "Phooey Mobile" and his "Hong Kong Book of Kung-Fu" (which his adversaries constantly allowed him time to read; only for him to STILL mess up the move's instructions). Again, the "Notorious H.K.P." was about 50-50 on his crime-busting success; right around 50% of the time, he'd stumble into making the bust himself; 50% of the time, the hero of the day was Spot (to wit Phooey would take the credit).

...Looking back, I think it was the theme song that had me hooked; and memories of snuggling into the couch with a more-than-accomodating grandmother couldn't be beat...

On to

TOP 5 CARTOONS THAT CARTOON NETWORK INTRODUCED ME TO...

...We're talking about the ORIGINAL "Cartoon Network;" the one that was meant to rebroadcast TIME-HONORED CLASSICS!

NO "Cartoon-Cartoon" Originals!

NO Adult Swim!

NONE of the drek that was introduced after the time-honored classics were forced to disappear to "Boomerang" (only so that Boomerang won't air THEM anymore either)!

...and the Mike Young Productions version of "He-Man...," while quite good, was centered around a franchise that I was WELL familiar with. Sadly, that TOO is out of contention...

Unfortunately, "Thundarr, the Barberian," "Birdman," and "The Galaxy Trio" all deserve to be honored as well; except that I discovered them all on TNT back when the idea of Cartoon Network was still a young sapling and long before it moved into my local market.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

...I take it back; the "He-Man" and "Thundercats" reboots of the early 2000s (the ones meant to HONOR their source material) are hereby honorable mentions. My list; MY rules.

Other honorable mentions include "FangFace," "Speed-Buggy," "Clue Club," "Precious Pupp," "Shazzan," "Mightor," "Atom Ant," and "The Hillbilly Bears."

I'm feeling generous and "The Impossibles" and "Moby Dick" can be honorable mentions too.

5. FRANKENSTEIN JR.

HOW was it that there were TWICE as many "Impossibles" episodes than there were of their companion series "Frankenstein Jr.?"

I'll be honest; I have them on DVD now and, honestly, NEITHER of them hold up well.

At the time, I much preferred "Frankie's" shorts as his young buddy, Buzz Conroy, would activate Frankenstein Jr. and the pair would do battle against evil.

It was more colorful, whimsical, and far goofier than, say, "Space Ghost," "Birdman," or "The Herculoids" (but BETTER, in retrospect, than, for example, "The Space Kidettes.") However, it did hold SOME charm.

4. FANTASTIC 4

Hanna-Barbera did WONDERS with the Fantastic 4 cartoon of the 60s! NO Fantastic 4 cartoon, or film for that matter, can come CLOSE to matching its magic (Replacing "The Human Torch" with Herbie the Robot, anyone? Chris Evans as the "Human Torch" as the films' BEST casting decision???)

...Now if only there was anyway REMOTELY possible to work something out between Warner Animation and Marvel Comics to EVER see a DVD release!

3. THE CENTURIONS: POWER X-TREME

Holy...action-packed 80's animation; where was THIS when I was little; and more importantly, WHY was it not, specifically, in West Michigan's animation market???

Also, why, at age 16 when Cartoon Network has arrived in my local animation market, am I hooked NOW???

So many questions, so little time.

"The Centurions" were land, sea, and air specialists (eventually joined by energy and stealth) who utilized any number of exo-frame suits to lay waste to the schemes of Doc Terror, his cyborg assistant, Hacker, and their multitudes of reasonably expendable robots.

Heroes; robot enemies; extended transformation footage to cut in on the hassle of writing/animating; science factoids to cut off episodes; a Kenner toy line to peddle. The Centurions, like so much else, represented so much of what made an 80s childhood so awesome. ...and if I had started watching it THEN, I'd have an excuse to enjoy it so much NOW...

2. THE SUPER FRIENDS

There were so many iterations of the Super Friends to pick from; and I'm choosing ANY season after the abysmal first one.

Yes, I am cutting the Wonder Twins and even Gleek some slack; if only because this argument pits them up against Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog.

I remember FIRST being introduced to the amazingness of seeing Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman on one screen (okay, Superman and Aquaman were invited too). It was "The World's Greatest..." iteration of Super Friends and the episode in question was "The Space Knight of Camelon" wherein Superman was stranded on Camelon and a group of evil knights seeking to overthrow a just monarch convince an amnesiac Man of Steel that HE is their Black Knight.

...Okay; THIS wasn't quite up to par with "Challenge of the Super Friends" and it DEFINITELY wasn't "The Super Powers Team" era of episodes. I was HOOKED. I had to see MORE...!

Then the seasons reset themselves once again and I first had to witness the hour-long, preachy, lower-budget episodes with the original Junior Super Friends...

BRING BACK "Challenge...!" I WANT "The Super Powers Team!" Hell, I PREFER "The World's Greatest Super Friends!"

1. JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS.

Yes!

A trio of gorgeous women as a rock band; AND crime solvers!

I'm a "cat" person myself, so Sebastian fit the bill as their anthropomorphic side kick.

What can I say; after the success of "Scooby-Doo," Hanna-Barbera was DETERMINED to constantly go back to that same formula (The Funky Phantom, Goober and the Ghostchasers, Clue Club, Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, The Amazing Chan...Clan, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, etc.). The first time they tried to repeat their success with the "mystery-solver" trope, it worked the best. And it introduced me to the sights of Josie and Melody.

The biggest defense for the "Josie..." animated franchise is, naturally, its first season of crime and intrigue. The less said about the goofiness of jetting the Pussycats off into outerspace, the better (Although, they DID obviously make it back to Earth in time to connect up with Scooby-Doo and the crew in one of the later episodes of "The New Scooby-Doo Movie.").

So that was my list of favorite cartoon franchises INTRODUCED to me either through U.S.A. Network's "Cartoon Express" or "Cartoon Network."

Thanks for listening and unil next time, SO LONG...