What are the cartoons that defined the 90's?

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Roverjo

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I was born in the 80's, which I suspect is the main reason that I have such a clear sense of the biggest and most important toons from that era. He-Man, Transformers, GI Joe, Thundercats, MASK, Jem, just to name a few, the most common thread I suppose being shows inspired by toy lines.

But for some reason, I can't get a clear picture in my head of the most major cartoons from the 90's. I know I watched many of them. But for some reason it seems like so long ago (and I guess was such a different decade) that I'm having trouble recalling what stood out.

When you think of the animated shows that defined the 90's, what comes to your mind?
 
When I think 90s cartoons I usually think of these guys:

- Batman: TAS
- Tiny Toons Adventures
- Spider-Man: TAS
- X-Men: TAS
- Darkwing Duck
- Goof Troop
- Bonkers
- The Tick
- Earthworm Jim
- Bobby's World
- Eek the Cat
- Pinky and The Brain
- Animaniacs
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic SatAM
- Super Mario Bros.
- Power Rangers (Not a cartoon but it definitely was a huge 90s kids property)
- Beast Wars
- Pok'e Mon
- Digimon
- Rug Rats
- Dragon Ball Z
- Ren & Stimpy

I know theres more but I can't think of them right now, but those are just a few when I think cartoons from the 90s.
 
Let's see, being a 90s child I watched most of them. There's the Sonic cartoons. I remember the 90s Marvel cartoons as well as Batman:TAS. Then there's the original nicktoons, from Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy to Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold, CatDog, and SpongeBob. And of course there's the Cartoon Cartoons which started with Dexter's Lab. And there's also the WB cartoons: Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Tinytoons, and Pinky & the Brain. As for anime there was Pokemon, Digimon, and Dragonball Z. That sums up my childhood aside from the early 2000s.
 
Whenever I hear the words "90's cartoons" I think of these. Sonic satam, Captain N, Swat Kats, Tiny toons, Bonkers, Darkwing Duck, Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, Earthworm Jim, Super Mario 3, Catdog, Batman Beyond, and Case closed.

I would like to name more but i cant think of any at the moment.
 
I say that these defind the '90's:
  • Rugrats
  • Ren & Stimpy
  • Pokemon
  • The Disney Afternoon
  • Batman TAS
  • Animanics
  • Tiny Toons
  • Power Rangers (live-action)
  • Dexter's Lab
I am not saying these just because they are my faves or anything (I honestly was never into some of these). I am saying these because of popularity.
 
When I think 90's cartoons, I think of the return of creator-driven stuff. I think of the stuff Nick and Cartoon Network came up with.

-Ren and Stimpy
-Rugrats
-Rocko's Modern Life
-Angry Beavers
-Hey Arnold!
-CatDog
-Dexter's Lab
-Powerpuff Girls
-Ed Edd n' Eddy
-Cow and Chicken
-The Simpsons
- etc.

And also Pokemon, of course.
 
The Simpsons was the most definitive cartoon of the 90's for obvious reasons.

Beavis & Butt-head was probably the second most definitive cartoon of the 90's, it paved the way for adult animation on cable, as well as becoming a pop-culture phenomenon, hell, even kids that didn't grow up in the generation of them know who Beavis & Butt-head are, they became house hold names.

Ren & Stimpy helped define that just because an animated series is targeted at children, doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by adults. It also walked the line towards adult humor a lot, something you don't see in this day and age in childrens animation.

South Park later pushed what shows like Beavis & Butt-head had done, they took that and pushed it to its extremes. It could be said that South Park also helped define adult animation in the 2000s too judging from the major influence its raunchy humor has had on Family Guy, Drawn Together, just about any series on Adult Swim. Its animation style definitely helped pave the way for Flash on television, after South Park became a pop culture phenomenon, it showed that just because a series had incredibly crude animation, people would still watch it.
 
Assuming we're sticking to just television cartoons (not movies), the definitive 90s cartoons for me would be:

- The Simpsons: the title-holder for *the* 90s cartoon. The show was at its peak, and changed how cartoons would be viewed (well, for awhile).

- The various "Silver Age" Warner Bros. cartoons: Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and the Batman and Superman Animated Series all were high points of 90s animation.

- Ren and Stimpy: drew a big adult audience, *and* made bathroom humor a regular part of animated fare to this day (unfortunately).

- South Park: toward the end of the decade, but also drew big adult audiences and pushed the envelope for TV in general (let alone cartoons).
 
The cartoons of WB were a favorite to a lot of people. It was called the Silver Age for a good reason. Cartoons of that quality in the style are not found too often anymore. Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, etc. and as far as I can see none are running anymore

The 90s also gave way to the coming of Pokemon. It is quite a phenomenon when I think about how I was a small child and in school the others would pretend to be battling pokemon which at the time didn't know the name of, and to this day it is still popular. Another anime that was popular, at least from how I heard discussions of was Sailor Moon. There were a few other animes I was into that I don't necessarily have to list. Pokemon is one of the few that still runs.

In Nikelodeon shows like The Rugrats, Hey Arnold, and Rocko's Modern Life as well as a few others I can't remember off my head were around, and most of them have disappeared from TV now.

Cartoon Network I do not have much memory of for some reason but most of you have named the cartoons from that era anyway.
 
I don't agree with all of the suggestions in this topic. I think some
people are just listing cartoons they liked as a kid, not cartoons that
really should be listed in this topic. Shows like Disney Afternoon,
Sonic SatAM, Earthworm Jim, Bonkers, CatDog, Dexter and Batman:TAS,
as great shows as they may be, never had the craze surrounding
them as the following shows did.

-Tiny Toon Adventures

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

-The Simpsons

-The Ren & Stimpy Show

-Beavis and Butt-Head

-Rugrats

-Pokemon

-Spongebob Squarepants

These all had a big craze and a giant following of kids and adults,
loads and LOADS of merchandising, and were everywhere from TV,
books, video games, toys and movies. (Although Spongebob's
popularity didn't really get going until 2000 or 2001, so i'm not sure
he should be listed..) I'm tempted to list Power Rangers, but it is
live-action, so I won't.

Whenever people think back or talk about 90's cartoons, these names will pop up.
 
The `90s were defined by Japanese culture. The two most successful children shows from the decade were Power Rangers and Pokemon. All the anime-obsessed teens and 20-year-olds you see these days are as a result of those two shows.

As for adult cartoons, well, The Simpsons, obviously.
 
I would have to disagree with you there. I think the 2000's were defined by anime. Pokemon, if you remember,didn't explode in the US until 1998 and was the only and first anime series to explode over here in the USA, when it first came out, the most popular series over here were all American animation.
 
The 90's was dominated by a little family show called: The Simpsons. Some of my other personal favorites from the 90's include: Tiny Toons, Batman:TAS/TNBA, Beast Wars/Machines, Superman:TAS, and South Park.
 
Was Tiny Toons really THAT big back then? I know it was very popular, but I never remember it being as popular as other series like Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, Beavis & Butt-head or Poke'mon. The other series had much more merchandise than Tiny Toons ever had.

I think Animaniacs was much more of a popular series than Tiny Toons was. Animaniacs was more of a definitive cartoon than TTA.
 
Anime became popular in the first place because of Power Rangers and Pokemon. Power Rangers is basically a show featuring stock footage from Japanese sentai series. And, Pokemon was light-hearted and kid-friendly enough to catch on. With the success of these two shows, networks started investing more money into anime shows like Dragonball.

You have to remember that Pokemon wasn't the first anime aired in the U.S. Shows like Speed Racer and Voltron had already aired. Plus, shows that became popular in the 2000's like Dragonball and Sailor Moon had previously been on syndication in the `90s.

What Power Rangers did was get kids used to the Japanese style. The combination of American shot footage and Japanese stock was a good transition. By the time Pokemon came along it didn't seem "weird" to kids. They were already used to the wackiness of Japan. And the success of Pokemon paved the way for anime in the 2000's.
 
As far as American toon's go, I would say the two that made the biggest impact on the 90's would have to be Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series, but when talking imported Japanese cartoons over to U.S airwaves the Pokemon and DBZ definatly would have to be considered due to their popularity.
 
90's cartoons...there were so many...

US had....
Gargoyles
Batman:TAS
X-men
Sonic (Satam)
Rugrats
Ren & Stimpy
Simpsons
Beavis & butthead
Animaniacs
Pinky & the Brain
Tiny Toons
Freakazoid
Reboot
Transformers: Beast Wars

& even to an extent shows like Darkwing & Ducktales.

Anime there was
The English Dub of DBZ, Sailor moon, Ronin Warriors Pokemon & Digimon.
the there were also the various Gundam series, Tenchi Muyo, Ruroni Kenshin & YuYuhakusho, all of which sadly didn't reach the US till Y2k or later.
 
Not to be an ass, but this is turning into a 'list thread' and nobody likes those.

If you guys are going to post what series you think had an impact, please explain why you think so instead of listing off twenty different series. I'm sure this would make this thread much more interesting to read.
 
Not only is it turning into a list thread, but people are posting shows they liked as opposed to shows that actually defined the decade.
 
Oh yes. I honestly doubt that the animated X-Men series or Gargoyles defined the 90's in any way. Sure they might have large fanbases on rabroad and the internet, but when people think of the 90's they think The Simpsons, not Goliath from Gargoyles.
 
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