Was pre-90s American animation ever serious?

yes there were some cartoons that were serious. An example would be Superfriends in the 1970's. There was also Star Trek The Animated Series. Oh, by the way, I'm new here. I'm from Bryan's site.
 
For the most part, the first season (1987) of the original Ninja Turtles cartoon was just as serious as 2K3. Once the second season hit, though, this tone dissipated almost entirely until the Red Sky seasons (and even then, it didn't feel as natural as the first season did).

Also, weren't there some pretty serious episodes of Real Ghostbusters?
 
Haven't seen Real Ghostbusters in years (I really need to check out those Time-Life dvds) but if I remember correctly, threats were usually treated seriously.
 
There was certainly darker aspects of the show, but it was still first and foremost a comdey, much like the movie it was based on. And unlike most 80's cartoons, it was actually a pretty clever comedy.
 
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