Cartoons get a bad rap. Somewhere along the way, audiences stopped viewing animation as an art-worthy medium for storytelling and relegated it to the back pages of the Sunday morning paper .
In reality, nothing could be more inaccurate or further from the truth. So to get a better idea of what I’m referring to, here are 15 old and classic cartoons that should 100% make a comeback.
‘The Street Sharks’
A team of teenage anthropomorphized crime-fighting sharks who spend their days rollerblading and riding motorcycles?! Where do I sign up!? This show was like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on steroids. Highly entertaining as well as severely underrated.
‘Pinky And The Brain’
One is a genius, the other is insane! Of all the colorful characters to come out of the Animaniacs universe, Pinky and the Brain was by far the funniest and most popular. Just the theme song alone is reason enough to reboot it.
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‘Spawn’
Unless you had HBO growing up, it’s highly likely that you never saw (or even knew about) the Spawn animated series. Make no mistake, this isn’t for kids. HBO’s Spawn was every bit as dark and violent as its comic book inspiration.
‘Extreme Ghostbusters’
There’s no other way to put it, other than to say that Extreme Ghostbusters was ahead of its time. It retained all the humor and charm of its predecessor and packed in a plethora of terrifying new villains.
‘Gargoyles’
The only thing more intriguing than the mythos behind Gargoyles was its impressive and star-studded voice cast. Led by the likes of Keith David and Ed Asner, the conviction instilled into the characters was unlike any series to ever come before it.
‘X-Men’
There are some who say that X-Men was the greatest cartoon to come out of the ’90s, and quite frankly — it’s difficult to argue otherwise. The eye-popping hand-drawn animation of this superhero soap opera remains unmatched to this very day.
‘Mighty Max’
Everyone remembers Polly Pocket but can you recall her historically masculine counterpart, Mighty Max? I sure can. These miniature horror-themed pocket toys were the inspiration behind one of the most exciting albeit short-lived cartoons of the entire decade.
‘King Of The Hill’
When debating the greatest animated sitcom series of all time, most people default to The Simpsons or South Park . And while those two groundbreaking shows are undeniably iconic, neither was able to convey the real-world emotion and hilarity of King of the Hill .
‘Batman Beyond’
Batman Beyond is the Batman of the 21st century. This series helped to usher in a brand new chapter into The Dark Knight’s mythos, one which sees Bruce Wayne as the mentor to young Terry McGinnis — as opposed to Gotham’s watchful protector.
‘Tales From The Crypt Keeper’
Who doesn’t appreciate a good ghost story? These cartoons were scary — the type of tales that stick with you long after you’ve finished watching. Sure, did Tales from the Crypt Keeper imbue its young audience with terrifying nightmares? Undoubtedly. But it was well worth it.
‘Darkwing Duck’
Let’s get dangerous! Darkwing Duck can probably be best described as “Batman meets the Looney Tunes.” DW’s satirically slapstick approach to crimefighting was always able to walk the fine line between cartoon mayhem and comic book gold.
‘Captain Planet And The Planeteers’
With all of the emphasis put on saving the planet and helping to fight climate change, I’m surprised that we haven’t already seen a reboot of Captain Planet and the Planeteers . I’d even be on board with a live-action film, so long as it starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Captain Planet.
‘Recess’
There has never been a series that’s been able to capture the quintessential experience of playground life better than Recess . I’d love to see what TJ and the rest of the gang have been up to after all these years.
‘Batman: The Animated Series’
I know that there have been plenty of Batman series to come after BTAS . What I’m calling for isn’t so much a reboot, as it is a reunion of two of the greatest Batman creators of all time: Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.
‘Reboot’
Reboot is really the story of Mainframe — a digital city of NPCs living (unbeknownst to them) inside a computer game. Every episode, “The User” would input a new game for pleasure, and it was up to Bob, the Guardian of Mainframe, to compete against them in a winner-takes-all battle for the heart and soul of the city.
