The show that introduced me to Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, the Beegle Boys and a host of other memorable characters. Many of the characters that appeared in DuckTales existed long before this hit show, but for me, this is where I first met them. DuckTales made treasure hunting and adventuring look like the coolest exploits on the planet. The intro was composed of TMS-animated clips from the show, save for the first few seconds. I'm pretty sure everything about DuckTales unbelievably catchy intro song has already been said.
Think Garfield was the original wisecracking feline? Think again. I never read the newspaper comic that inspired this show but I always there to watch the title cat get into all kinds of mischief. Not only was Heathcliff one cool cat, but his friends, the Catillac Cats were, too. How many of your friends drive around in transforming cars and moving bathtubs? I'm not a furry, but even I have admit to be taken aback by Cleo's hotness.
If not for this show's wonderful opening vocal, I may not have ever sat down and watched this show. This is one of those cartoons that is frequently brought up whenever someone is talking about old Nickleodeon. Based on a series of children's books called The Gnomes and the Secret Book of Gnomes, some of the material was edited out of the Spanish original such as scenes that contained some gore. Not that a little censorship stopped the show from spooking kids. What, did you think this show was 100% kid friendly based on the intro? Ha! The finale has got to be one of the biggest tear-jerkers in kid's animation.
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What parent can't relate to their own kid driving them nuts? I guess that's why the Mitchels sent Dennis next door to torment poor old Mr. Wilson. When Dennis wasn't driving Mr. Wilson insane he was saving Atlantis, finding his missing dog Ruff, or cheating to win soccer games. The animation in this opening looks just as fluid as it did all those years ago. I want to say TMS did the animation because of how smooth it looks but I could be wrong on that.
Mighty Mouse existed long before this 1987 incarnation, but this will always be my favorite version of the character. Full of slapstick humor and frequent breaking of the fourth wall, Mighty Mouse The New Adventures was just what Saturday morning cartoons needed at the time simply because it wasn't there. Much of the humor and style of writing seen in Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs can be seen in this very show. Also, Mighty Mouse is the only character on this list that sing his own theme song.
Breaking the previously set 65 episode limit Disney and so many other cartoons were bound to, Darkwing Duck ran for a total of 91 episodes before being cancelled. It told stories of an egotistical crime fighting mallard who also had a bratty, spunky half-pint daughter to raise when he wasn't out battling the likes Megavolt, Negaduck and Bushroot. While heavily following a set pattern in many episodes, Darkwing Duck's execution of said patterns kept it from growing stale. If I may be so bold, I honestly think Darkwing Duck's vocal intro is better than DuckTales.
The things this show did for western animation cannot be underestimated. While pitched as a show for kids, Batman: The Animated Series had writing that was very much geared towards adults. While they couldn't kill anyone on this show, the very issue of death was no skirted around. A few episodes even mention drug use. Such a routine exercise for Batman, stopping a couple of bank robbers looks so incredible in this opening thanks to Shirley Walker's score and brilliant animation from TMS.
After watching so many cartoons with vocal openings, I think I started to forget just how powerful an instrumental tune can be. But cartoons like X-Men remind me that sometimes, you don't need a voice. X-Men's opening introduces all of the X-Men to one of the greatest electric guitar jams of all-time. It also doubles as the X-Men's fighting theme.
Sure, this cartoon left A LOT to be desired but I don't think anyone has anything bad to say about the opening. It has fluid animation and a vocal theme that is super simple to remember. Sing along, everyone!
If you're making of list of why 1990s were awesome, make sure you add Tiny Toon Adventures to that list. At first glance Tiny Toons might seem like diminuative versions of the Loony Tunes cast. And well, yeah, they are, but the little ones are actually going to school to learn the tools of the trade to be cartoon pros from Bugs, Daffy, Porky and the rest of the original Loony Tunes. There are tons of homages to classic Loony Tunes shorts, but Tiny Toons is very much it's own show. The fourth wall is constantly being demolished with a sledge hammer and the show is quite fond of taking jabs at the fine folks of S&P. Heck, they even do it in the opener!
2 comments:
"Sure, this cartoon left A LOT to be desired..."
Well, that's pretty much always the case, isn't it? The ThunderCats cartoon may have had an awesome opening, but watching the episode itself always felt like a slog (at least to me; I'm convinced that almost all the characters speak a half-step slower than normal).
...That said, I still recognize that for what it's worth, the openings for these cartoons are -- for lack of a better phrase -- morphenomenal.
I've never actually watched old Thundercats but I love the 2011 show.
A lot of old shows had great openings. The show runners knew the openings had to be good to grab watchers. Sometimes the opening was the only good thing about some shows.
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