Cartoons of the 80’s
April 1, 2006
I stumbled upon a website that has flooded my mind with memories of my early years. A time when my life revolved around television and heroic fictional characters. A time when anything is possible and boundaries of imagination were non-existent.
I was about six when I was fortunate enough to be living with my family in the UK during the Gulf War. Early every morning, I would get up to attend some of the most fascinating British children shows. Now, twenty years laters, I can confidently say that each of those shows had inspired me in one form or another. The following are just a few of my favorites and to this day, I haven’t seen anything that comes close:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
I liked Michelangelo the most because despite his clumsy and immature attitude, he mastered the most difficult weapon: the nunchakus.
Watch the Intro
He-Man & The Masters of The Universe
Adam would pull out his sword, yell, “By the power of Greyskull..”, transform into He-Man then end up beating the living daylights out of evil-doers.
Watch the Intro
Inspector Gadget
If you would’ve asked me, I’d say the coolest gadget would be his car.
Watch the Intro
She-Ra: Princess of Power
When He-Man wasn’t on, She-Ra would be filling in the next day. I’m not sure if the show was intended for female audiences, but I still watched it because she had the same cool sword that He-Man held. In the movie, you find out that He-Man is her twin brother.
Watch the Intro
SilverHawks
A rock ‘n’ roll-themed cartoon that I haven’t watched much of, but oftentimes dreamt about as a kid because I loved fantasizing about being able to fly. Although the show was slow, I would watch and try to examine the engineering that goes into their silver body suits!
Watch the Intro
Centurions
More illogical mechanics. These guys get weapon upgrades beamed from a space station that attach to their suits on demand no matter where they are. “Power.. Xtreme!”
Watch the Intro
ThunderCats
Sword of Omens. Enough said.
Watch the Intro
If you want to reminisce, there’s a lot more at RetroJunk.com. You’ll also find other interesting videos such as Mission Impossible (1966!).
It would be a crime not to mention the abundant Arabic anime/cartoons that I’ve seen too. In fact most would agree, some Arabic dubs are better than the English/Japanese originals (think The Smurfs, Sherlock Hound, etc). I began watching them only later after the liberation and our return to Kuwait hence the reason why I’m not as influenced by them as the ones I’ve watched earlier in my life. If any of you know of a comprehensive classic Arabic cartoon website, please let me know.
Entry Filed under: Cartoons & Anime. Tags: 80s, cartoons, centurions, he-man, inspector gadget, she-ra, silverhawks, teenage mutant ninja turtles, thundercats, tmnt.
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1.
PhotoFlo | April 2, 2006 at 6:00 am
http://melaman2.com/cartoons/singles/mp3/thundercats.mp3
2.
The Stallion | April 2, 2006 at 6:09 am
OMG! Memorries of pre 1990’s KTV and UHF/VHF programming!
Also memorries or the Video Club, Matchmox, IVC, and Al-7izam Al-Azraq stores where I used to go to get video tapes!
3.
Fallen Angel | April 2, 2006 at 9:29 am
Hmmm…I guess the only one I liked was “Kabamaroo”….that show was in the 80s right?
4.
Adorra | April 2, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I didn’t watch any arabic shows when I was younger!
I definitely watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I even have pictures in the costume.
Inspector Gadget <3
The rest was Seseme Street and Barney. Good times!
5.
Sou | April 2, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Ninja Turtles and Thundercats!!!
You’ve brought back SO many memories :’(
6.
SwAiR | April 3, 2006 at 12:13 pm
LOOOL wanasa..
She-Ra was amazing, but her name was embarassing, sounded more like sheera lol
7.
3baid | April 3, 2006 at 2:00 pm
Thank you Photoflow :]
The Stallion, yes I recall my stack of video tapes. I think I had them all memorized too.
Fallen Angel, LOL, I didn’t mention any arabic anime but, yes they were great as well.
Adorra, I had Ninja turtles stuff too :D
Sou, I’m curious, what else have you watched? :P
Swair, LOL! I haven’t thought of her name in that sence.. eww :P
8.
PIß | April 3, 2006 at 6:08 pm
allaah! thekrayat wallaah.. my fave was thundercats, 7adda kan addictive! I used to have a collection of most of their action figures along with the sword of omens, the cat’s lair and mumm-ra’s pyramid… but unfortunately I gave them all away sometime ba3d el ghazo…
check this
9.
Baroque | April 3, 2006 at 8:20 pm
She-Ra!!
OMG!!
i adored that cartoon!!
i loved her hair! ;p
10.
3baid | April 4, 2006 at 2:04 pm
PIB, mashkooora :D
Baroque, LOL! Prettier than barbie eh? :P
11.
LaiaLy_q8 | April 4, 2006 at 9:06 pm
thundercats hooooooooooooooooooo
12.
Erzulie | April 6, 2006 at 4:53 am
Kavamaro! I loved that show :) “Ya2kol ya2kol wala yashba3 ninja ninja ninja…”
“Mmmmm!!! Shawman!”
Tawny astaw3ib ena shawman is Chow mein.
I loved “Sally.” I remember kena ana oo khawati inshoof el mosalsal ma3a yaditi oo khalti.
I also like “3adnan wa Leena,” shway 3ateej bes I loved it. Oo a7la shay dashat il museeqa 3ogob “3adnan wa Leeenaaaaaaa…didiririd didiririd…”
:P
13.
7tenths | April 7, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Finally! & I thought I was the only one that didn’t grow up watching Arabic cartoons.. What you did? Dammit! Anyway I was always HeMan & my sister Shera (for obvious reasons), but I also remember spending countless hours imitating Bugs Bunny, shouting ‘Beep Beep’ & trying to memorize all the Carebears.. Maybe it was just me then :P
14.
Ms.Baker | April 7, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Dear 3baid,
I loved how you so wonderfully put this post into a historical context, and tied it to such a huge event in Kuwaiti history. We all each have stories of that time, and tie things like the movies, music or cartoons ( as you have) we were occupied with to it.
LOL, the kids of my generation in Kuwait have our own cartoons and shows imprinted upon us too, since we were tiny tots at a time when KTV2 used to come on and go off at certain times of the day, so each program or cartoon was studied with great attention and was absolutely precious !
OMG Stallion! VIDEO CLUB!! THE WEEKLY TOP OF THE POPS TAPES!
Those were the days….. ;)
MsBaker
15.
3baid | April 7, 2006 at 8:13 pm
Laialy, You called? :P
Erzulie, Yes Kabamaru is classic :) I can’t recall any particular episodes though, I just remember that he loves eating a lot.
7tenths, My favorite looney tunes characters were the road runner :D
Dear Ms. Baker, I remember the KTV2 days quiet well. They had Austrailian cartoons like Blinky Bill!
16.
Ei8 | April 8, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Ahh yes, I was in the UK during that time as well. I watched ALL of those cartoons every single day plus more. We used to tape them and watch them over and over again. We still have the tapes. :D :D :D
My mouth used to water watching the Turtles eat their pizza. I remember the *I CRAVE PIZZA .. NO MORE..* episode like the back of my hand.
Heman and Sheera. I LOVED the villains in that cartoon.
Thundercats!! My brother and I had the toy swords and action figures oo kenna nel3ab Thundercats bil bait. I lovvvve Mumraaa.. the ever living. His sa3abeel was always visible when he opened his mouth to scream or to laugh. :D
Ahhh wonderful, wonderful memories. I’m just so happy I was alive during those times because these days the humour is different and the cartoons are just weird. I know, because I still watch, even though I’m 18. :P
17.
Q80-Chill Girl | April 8, 2006 at 10:07 pm
ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAH
omg this is an amazing collection 3baid :D great memories great cartoons! they don’t make things like that an more
The turtles were a craze :D I liked their cartoon & the movie but still i mostly loved their love for PIZZA & how cute they sound’ed when they were young o kanw ygollon PIZZA PIZZA ;p
He-Man & Sheeeeeeeeeeeerrraaaaa :D lol I LOVED THEM o shera was my perfect lady! ooo I loved this tiny cartoon figure that hides in the episodes & you have to find it,, remember??
GAADGEEEET is amazing too & he used to laugh the crap out of me ;p ,,,,, still to this day i want to see how the villan “with the cat” looks like @.0
SILVER HAWKS eli 9j 9j 9j mashalla 3laik eshloon 6ala3ta :D its a movie as I recal that I watched over & over for like a zillion times! great cartoon lovely animations & certainly a creative idea
Centurions
hmmm ya3ni mo wayd rb3 m3ahum kethr el BYONIC-5 :D the whole byonic family? remember them? man that was a great series too :}
THUNDER CATS ,, THUNDER CATS,, THUNDER CATS HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
Lion-O ,, Shetara & all the rest I had their toys the whole gang! & I used to fight with my cousen for who is SHETARA when we play with our toys
3baaaaaaaaaaid :D i love ur post it certainly brought up a lot of gooooooood memories, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU BIIIIG TIME :>
18.
3baid | April 12, 2006 at 2:46 pm
I’m glad you loved it :D
19.
Mimi | September 15, 2006 at 4:11 am
I watched ALL KIND of cartoons and anime when i was a kid. i watched english french and even some arabic like sindibad and bashar (the bee) which ive been searching about it for a long time. i watched snurfs in arabic which was good but i prefer the french version which was perfect. i luv those cartoons and id watch them again if they’d still be on
20. Cartoons of the 80’&hellip | October 5, 2007 at 9:55 pm
[...] grendizer, jumaro, khomasy, mazinger, sanshero, thomas the tank engine Continuing from the post about my childhood cartoon shows, this time I’m going to mention a few of my favorite Arabic cartoons that I’ve watched [...]
21.
NoNoWa | July 21, 2008 at 1:40 am
Broooooooooooo….great minds think alike!! LOOL!!!
I loved Inspector Gadget and TMNT…Michaelangelo was my fav!! ;) I think I might have actually had a crush on a turle !! LOOL :P