Top 18 80s Kids’ Cartoons
Remember when your parents used to tell that your childhood are the best days of your life?
First of all, why did they do that? Were they just jealous? What did they think you would do with that information? What are you supposed to say to that?
Secondly, as much as it hurts to admit it, they were right.
Sure, being an adult has its advantages, right? You couldn’t drive a car, get drunk (legally) or have sex (again legally) when you were a kid.
In fact, you had put up with quite a lot of crap as a youngster, like the whole ‘no you are too young to go the pub’ thing and those tortuous Saturday afternoons spent being dragged around the shops by your mum looking for new fucking shoes for school. (OK, there are a lot worse things about growing up, but these are the only two that are springing to mind at the moment).
The point is, despite all the growing pains, we all cherish our childhoods. Why? Because the world seemed a more exciting place, we guess.
Now, we’ve seen it all before; got the T-shirt. Then, you just couldn’t wait for the next non-school day. You only need to look at the fun we have had compiling these cartoons to tell how important they are to us.We all remember the days spent waiting for the next instalment of He-Man or Transformers.
We chose the eighties (i.e. cartoons which mainly ran during that decade), mainly because most of us grew up then, but also because it seems to be a golden era of cartoons. Or maybe we are getting too excited again. Bloody kids! Anyway, enjoy!
18. Bananaman
Ok, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, but luckily he had the strength of 20 men and a slew of banana-based super powers at his disposal. Great theme tune too.
17. Visionaries
Was it just us, or did the bad knights come off worse in the animals they transform into? What chance does a snail or beetle have against a bear or a lion?
16. Dungeons and Dragons
Did they ever manage to get home?
15. Jem and The Holograms
The girls in the office convinced us to put this in.
14. The Mysterious Cities of Gold
Are these the ugliest cartoon characters ever?
13. Ulysees 31
Question: How do you make Greek mythology even more interesting? Set it in space. Dodgy beard though.
12. MASK
That’s Mobile Armored Strike Kommand to you. Really cool show in which the characters would gain special powers by putting on masks. Cue more merchandising opportunities.
11. Voltron: Defender of the Universe
The best thing about this cartoon series were the toys. Connecting a bunch of cool lion robots together to form a super robot (with questionable resemblance to Transformers) - how good is that? Parents liked it too, as they could stretch out the presents over many occasions. There was actually a couple of series of this show, when they decided to replace the five lions with a ridiculous army of cars, trucks, planes and helicopters.
10. Thundercats
Admit it, you are singing the theme tune right now. It’s surprising how many of the words you remember.
9. He-man and the Masters of the Universe
OK, so it’s just a little camp, but Skeletor has to be one of the most entertaining cartoon baddies. Can’t say the same about He-man, though. Was his voice always that odd? I guess too many steroids.
8. Dangermouse
We’re guessing there are a lot of British readers screaming for this to be number one. It was a sensational show, but we had to make some tough choices.
7. Inspector Gadget
Makes you wonder what other gadgets he has up his sleeves. We’ll let you think of the jokes.
6. GI Joe
Cartoon was almost has cool as the toys. Almost!
5. Spiderman and his Amazing Friends; and Spiderman (1981 animated series)
Who doesn’t love Spiderman?
4. Battle of the Planets
G-Force!! All we have to say is thank God for that R2D2 robot, otherwise we would not have had a clue what was going on. Mind you, with loads of action and cool spaceships, who cares? Didn’t the small one have tourettes?
3. The Smurfs
Quick question: Was Smurfette the only lady smurf? You know where we are going with this.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Whoever came up with the idea to have four mutant turtles being taught how to be ninjas by a giant rat was either on something very good or a certified genius. They just don’t make shows like that anymore.
1. Transformers
OK, so the whole idea was essentially to sell toys, but who cares?
Honorable mention: Astro Boy
Some of you may be screaming ‘WHERE IS ASTRO BOY’. We didn’t forget - this is an 80s cartoons countdown, and Astro Boy was broadcast first in 1963!
My friend HATES and has some odd fear of Spiderman to answer THAT questain…
Tranzor ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!
How can Pole Position not be on this list!?!?! What about Saturday Supercade? What about WWF Superstars!?!?!
Dangermouse and Inspector Gadget were awful and should be off the list.
And if you are going to include The Smurfs, you might as well throw Muppet Babies on there too!
what was DI X can anyone remember
[...] Gadget, Battle of the Planets, en zelfs smurfen. Je kunt ze allemaal gaan bekijken als je op Top 18 80’s Kids Cartoons klikt. Nummer 18 op de lijst is Bananaman. Misschien ken jij hem, ik in ieder geval [...]
the list is missing technoman, that was so frickin awesome!!!!
@CrazyDiamond
I am an American and I very much remember Dangermouse and Bananaman. You could watch them on Nickelodeon.
Makes me wonder if Transformers would still be number one on the list if it wasn’t just a big hit movie too hmm.. Not that I am saying it was a bad cartoon. Just a thought.
I pretty much watched smurfs, my brother loved he-man. never cared for inspector gadget.
JASON AND WHEELED WARRIORS FFS.
This list is COMPLETELY male-biased. hardly any female targeted cartoons were listed. the three biggest being rainbow brite, strawberry shortcake, and lady lovelylocks. come on now
one word…
CENTURIONS!!!
Did anyone notice that that narrator on Voltron was Peter Cullen the voice of Optimus Prime in Transformers?
Okay by some of complaints I’ve read I assume you should just list every 80’s cartoon you can think of to keep everyone happy. By the way Robotech is the greatest cartoon to come out of the 80’s. However transformers still deserves #1 since they have tried over and over again to recreate it only to fail each time.
here are some more 80’s cartoon most of which DON’T belong on any best list. pound puppies, cabbage patch kids, pacman, sports stars, super friends (aka justice league), new kids on the block( yes they had a cartoon), hammertime( more trash), I think captain marvel had a cartoon but I can’t be sure, and I think there was a cartoon called blackstar.
I made a mistake the cartoon was called Shazaam not captain marvel.
All of those cartoons you guys have listed from Samurai Pizza Cats to Transformers are classics they are what made the 80s and early 90s so good. Today’s cartoons are embrassing to watch and most kids dont even bother with them. I recently got my kids and his mates to watch modern day stuff power gayjers and then got them to watch Thunder Cats they were gluded to thunder cats(camp i know) they stayed. The only thing that comes close is the modern day Spiderman, Batman and Justice league cartoons.
…There was an 80’s Astro Boy series, though. So, you forgot that.
You fail.
Some one please help me.. i am trying to find the name of this cartoon. It was kinda like sailor moon but they rode on poneys, lived in there own lil world……. i have looked everywhere for this please someone help me write me back on my e mail gailnessiscool@aol.com
what about the Chip and Dale Rescue Ranger lol. Duck Tales. I think I seen the Thunder Cats
Although i was born in 1989 i still love these shows. As of right now i own every TMNT, Transformers, Thundercats, and G.I. Joe episodes. about to start on He-Man… i have only seen every TMNT episode(working on the others). The Cartoons of the 80s are, in my opinion, the greatest ever made. Personally I think that TMNT was a better show than Transformers.
Gail-
I think you’re thinking of Moondreamers.
I’ve been trying to find out the name of a cartoon I used to watch when I was a kid, but nobody seems to know what it is or remember anything about it. I think I saw it around 1986-7.
The main charactor was a dog and there was often a wizard that lived in a shed. In one the wizard made a ladder that could reach the moon. Would love to know what the name of this cartoon is called. Anyone know??
I have been trying to find a show i watched in the late 80’s - early 90’s. I remember a kid and a robot? I want to say it took place in a garage or a basement? I think bud bundy did a guest appereance in one episode. Maybe someone can help me out.
does anybody know what the name of the 80s cartoon movie that featured Greek mythology stories. It was told through children that looked like precious moment characters. No dialog, just instrumental music
The cartoon is called “winds of change”
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=20532&p=s
I think it was first a Japanese cartoon and then it was translated
I loved it!
What about “MY LITTLE PONY?”