Shows that DO still hold up, in your mind

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punkbunny77

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We've all discussed the shows we loved as kids, but when we got older realized how lame they really were. Well, were there any that were as great as you remember them being?

Here are a few of my choices, with reasons:

The Real Ghostbusters: JMS said from Day 1 he wanted to make this a show that you could love as a kid, and pick up on really great things even as an adult; this show was made for all, and I think it's even better now.

Duck Tales: This show is exactly how I remember it from childhood; almost nothing has changed. When I say "almost", it's because there are some things I love even more now. What's even funnier is the few episodes I hated then....I still really, really do.

Tale Spin: another show that's pretty much exactly as I remember it.

Darkwing Duck: see Tail Spin

MASK: despite the obvious fact that it's little more than a half-hour commercial, the animation is still fantastic, the voice acting is great, and the soundtrack totally rules. My only issue is that Matt Trakker is one wooden SOB...

COPS: Again, little more than a half hour commercial, but what they set to accomplish, they do. Great voice acting, great animation, great score; just great. Although there is one thing that drives me nuts: does Longarm's entire family really have to keep referring to him by his COPS codename?

DCAU: pretty much all the shows, including B:TAS, Batman Beyond, Superman: TAS, Justice League, etc...they all hold up really well. They were written for everyone, and it shows. Animation was decent, too.
 
Beast Wars. I found season 1 for cheap earlier this month and enjoyed every moment of it. The writing is still strong and the animation doesn't look as dated as I thought it would look. Which is odd, because I expected it to date itself badly like G1 did. This is really not the case.

Though I find Rattrap even more awesome now. :D

Also, I do agree with the Disney Afternoon shows dating surprisingly well. Especially Darkwing Duck, which really surprised me.
 
As a general rule, when i revisit an old 80's cartoon from my childhood, it simply feels like i am watching a completely different show than the one i watched as a kid (sometimes it feels like a am watching a badly-written parody of the show i knew and loved). I just don't remember the animation, voice-acting and storylines to have been so crappy.

However, Swedish television recently began re-airing The Adventures of the Gummy Bears. And its actually exactly as i remember it, and i do feel like it's the exact same show as the one i watched as in kindergarden. Sure, the storys doesn't feel nearly as exciting now as the did to the 4-year old me, but the mere fact that i feel like i am revisiting a show from my childhood rather than watching a craptacular show i have never seen before in my life is pretty neat.
 
The New Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh is still fairly entertaining to me. It was never quite up to par with the original shorts Disney did, but I don't think anyone expected it to be. I don't see anything different about it now than I did when I was little.

One show that hasn't aged well, for me personally, is Animaniacs. Pinky and the Brain are still funny, but all the other characters are really irritating. I think part of what kept me watching it was the variety show format, so even though it opened with a Buttons and Mindy cartoon, you'd keep watching because you might see Pinky and the Brain later on. This was a clever way of having to make less good content, although I don't think it was intended as such.
 
The Real Ghostbusters and Alvin & The Chipmunks are two shows that come to mind as cartoons that still hold up today both with story and animation, there are others but these two instantly came to mind as soon as I read the thread title. I remember how startled I was that Masters of the Universe and Thundercats had aged so much when I first purchased the DVD's, these two I was almost certain would still be as good today as they were 20 years ago, but I had forgotten the animation style and it has been years since I have seen either, it was a funny moment for me.

I tried looking at this thread as a pre-1990 question, because animation had changed a lot since the 80's and since the 90's too, but most 90's cartoons I see again usually hold up fairly well and still look pretty good today.
 
Most of the early NickToons (up to Hey Arnold!) still hold up pretty well to me, and not just for nostalgic reasons either. They seem less cliched and more creative than many of the shows I looked back on.

Simpsons, of course, but that only makes sense, given that it was aimed older than when I first started watching it and was able to get more jokes than when I was a kid.

The best episodes of Tiny Toons still hold up. I can watch episodes like "Hollywood Plucky", "Brave Tales of Real Rabbits", "The ACME Acres Zone", "Citizen Max", "Animaniacs!", "Best o' Plucky Duck Day", and more, and still enjoy myself. Truthfully, there are some that haven't aged well for various reasons, but there are just as many that still hold up.

I rewatched a couple Batman The Animated Series episodes on the Batman: Gotham Knight Blu-ray and still thought they were pretty well-done. A lot of that was due to the music and designs, but I found the plots engaging too. I wouldn't mind taking a look at the complete collections if they go on sale or something.
 
Absolutely agreed. If anything, Tiny Toons has aged much better than Animaniacs. I also think Darkwing Duck holds up much better than most Disney shows from the same era.
 
Surprisingly, She-Ra and Bravestarr (though it took some time getting used to that annoying fuzz guy on the latter). Considering that he-man doesnt hold up for me at all, i was shocked that she-ra was a lot more interesting (despite a smaller cast), and Bravestarr was probably Filmation's best show both story-wise and animation-wise (actually, a lot of late-period filmation stuff was pretty well animated, see also pinnochio and the emperor of the night). Also, i was pleasantly surprised to see that X-Men, despite some flaws in the background art, was still as great as i remembered (much better than latter MAU shows like the first season of Fantastic Four).
 
My choices are:

"The Real Ghost Busters" (better than the movies, if I might offend; the movies are enjoyable, but to me, not as good)

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (the classic series, of course)

"Garfield and Friends" (certainly much better than the movies (live action and animated) that came out years later)

"The California Raisins" (quite enjoyable and better than the movies, in my opinion)

"Tiny Toon Adventures" (it is very underrated, but that does not stop it from being a gem)

"Looney Tunes" (I think this is an obvious one; it is one of the most popular cartoon sitcoms of all-time)

"Beetle Juice" (it might not be as great as the movie, but no show is perfect)

"Super Mario Bros" / "the Legend of Zelda" (majorly because the video games these shows are based on still hold as two of the most popular video game franchises of all-time)

"Gumby" (do I even need to say it?)

I am probably missing some obvious ones, but these are the only ones I can think of right now from the top of my head. I will edit if I think of any other big ones.

Looneytunes/Disneytoons
 
I agree. Darkwing Duck and Ducktales and even Gargoyles are the only Disney Afternoon toons to me that still hold up. I liked Jungle Cubs as well, it's too bad it only lasted 21 episodes.
 
Animaniacs, for one. I still enjoy watching the show even now as an adult. I'm pretty sure nothing can be said about this show that hasn't already been said.

Courage the Cowardly Dog. I still love this show. It got suprisingly creepy for a Cartoon Cartoon.

Kids Next Door: I still adore this show. It had a very tight continuity.

I agree with Darkwing Duck as well.
 
I never heard of Tiny Toons being underrated. It was and is quite popular and talked about fondly even now.

Not to nitpick, but Looney Tunes isn't a sitcom. It's a collection of theatrical shorts. But I agree that even after all these years, they still hold up and are quite entertaining.
 
I have been rewatching a bunch of old shows recently and I have to say that Ducktales and Rugrats still hold up. Ducktales was alright, but it wasn't enough for me to buy the DVD sets. I don't know if I was blinded by nostalgia but Rugrats was still great (as long as Dil wasn't around)
 
The Raccoons hold up pretty well... better than Inspector Gadget which holds up decently enough most of the time.

The Raccoons show more depth of character than most shows who air today.
 
I still enjoy Real Ghostbusters, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and Dungeons & Dragons. Galaxy High is another good one that was a little ahead of its time and holds up well. X-Men is a stellar show that is just as good as most live action shows.
 
Partially seconded. The mediocre segments--mostly the ones with the secondary characters--don't hold up well. Buttons and Mindy, most Slappy segments, some of the Rita & Runt segments, I may as well skip over those completely. But the good episodes, they are even more awesome now than they were back then! Plus, they're a neat glimps into the mindset of the nineties. The celebreties of the day, all the Clinton jokes...

I'll second Darkwing Duck.

And while it was show from my later childhood, ExoSquad was good enough to keep me entertained again college.
 
Since when was Looney Tunes a sitcom?

Anyways, I agree that the best shorts from the Golden Age have aged well, with the exception of those that are based largely or solely on pop culture references. I watch all the special features, and yet some of them are still lost on me.
 
As i have stated many times on this forum, i find Inspector Gadget strangely entertaining, despite the fact that also feel that the show is both dumb and predictable. And i never really cared for it as a child, so im pretty sure it's not a case of nostalgia goggles. I guess that maybe i just find the small main cast of chartacters likable enough to uphold the show on personality alone.
 
As I've been rewatching A! lately so it's fresh in my mind, I would say the ratio of good to bad shorts is about the same between TTA & A!, in all honesty. But I agree that in the end, TTA comes out on top, because A! has the major disadvantage of being formulaic in nature, where we see many of the same gags/elements in every single cartoon like a recurring SNL sketch.

Examples:
Animaniacs: Annoy some random stranger. Granted, the ways they do so are always different, but the plot to many of their shorts, at least in the first season, boil down to this. And in the "Great Wakkorotti" sketches, it's all reused animation outside of the belches themselves.

P&TB: "Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?"/"I think so, Brain, but... [fill in the blank with something out of left field]"

Goodfeathers: "The Godpigeon!" ; "What's funny about me?" parody ; "As far back as I can remember..."

Rita & Runt: "Rita, you seen any cats around here?" ; "Definitely [insert something here]" (Rain Man parody) ; left homeless at the end

Mindy & Buttons: "Why?/Why?/Why?/OK I love you buh-bye!" ; "Call me mommy!" ; in the end, Buttons is punished for something trivial despite saving Mindy from death

Katie Kaboom and Chicken Boo: Both the premises AND punchlines are the same thing every time, just with a different setting or set-up.

The Wheel of Morality: While the morals and comments after "It's that time again..." are always different, this is just recycled animation with mostly the same dialog.

The only recurring sketch that seemed to vary things was Slappy Squirrel, which is probably why I still enjoy them the most, next to the Warners sketches.

It's really a shame. The show can be funny (I do still laugh at many of the innuendos and Marx Bros.-style back-and-forth exchanges, and certain sight gags) but that blatant formulaic nature really sucks the spontaneity and creativity out of things.

Also, animation-wise, Akom took a huge nose dive in this show. I didn't mind some of their work on TTA, but here, a short is almost guaranteed a wash, at least from an animation perspective, if Akom's involved, simply because of how bland it is.
 
Beast Wars has held up incredibly well despite the animation showing its age. It's really just so well-written with deep, interesting characters.

I'd also say He-Man still works for me as well. The animation is cheap and repetitive but it's really saved by the writing (which is much deeper than I expected) and the unique, colorful production designs.

Garfield and Friends has been mentioned but I'd also like to throw in the Garfield Specials as well. The specials and series are only similar in that their lead character is Garfield. The specials are on the whole animated better and get really experimental and even dark at times. The series and specials hold up well on their own merits.

And I have to mention The Simpsons. I can literally rewatch a classic era episode and catch two to three jokes that I missed the first dozen times I watched the episode. The show is just that packed with references and humor.
 
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