Ask anybody who was born and raised slightly prior to or during the 90’s era and they will tell you that the 90’s produced the best cartoon era period. It also had the best TV shows, best movies for kids(There’s not a person alive that i know 25 years or younger who can’t quote at least one line of “Good Burger“) and some of the most memorable video game consoles(Super Nintendo, N64, Playstation, etc) In a nutshell, the 90’s was the time to enjoy being a kid.
Fast forward to 2011 and modern day cartoons, movies, TV shows, and video games still don’t seem to rival their not so distant predecessors in terms of quality and definitely not longevity. Even some of the better shows post 2000 have had absurdly short runs, seeing maybe three seasons if they’re lucky. Meanwhile, reboots to classic shows have started to run rampant as well as airing shows that ended years ago( The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has been playing almost non stop since it ended) But how many of these treasured shows were actually GOOD?
Netflix has recently been uploading almost every old show and series I used to spend days of my childhood watching. My Inner Child did cartwheels with glee seeing shows like Power Rangers, Big Bad Beetleborgs, And Spiderman the Animated Series all available for my viewing pleasure.
Power Rangers was one of the most repetitive TV shows I’ve watched as of late. There was mild teenage angst, Rita would summon some putties, The Power Rangers would knock them around, almost comedically. Rita would summon a monster, Rangers would morph, and then Rita would ‘make her monster grow!” as the Rangers summoned their Zords to effectively Voltron(another repetitive series) the monster. Plus as it turns out, a majority of the original fight scenes were edited and dubbed over from the Japanese TV Series ‘Super Sentai'(I just blew your mind, admit it) The show eventually moved into some decent(if not occasionally inconsistent) plot development but to rewatch the series at my age is more of a chore than a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Big Bad Beetleborgs, one of my most cherished childhood tv shows, was even worse. I couldn’t make it past 3 episodes. 3 Children, the youngest being maybe 8-9? all gained the power to transform into fully grown adults who suddenly knew karate and fought against villains literally taken out of comic book… I don’t think I need to describe it any further.
Spiderman the Animated Series was probably the best of the three but I was surprised just how little action there was. Spiderman rarely threw a punch, just a lot jumping and swinging around. The story was definitely as good as I remembered it being though.
I’d actually like to give a few more of my favorite shows a summarized breakdown but this post serves as more of an overview to my overall point. Is Nostalgia something that’s better to be remembered or relived? Do I dust off my super Nintendo just because my memory tells me it had some of the best games ever, or do I reconsider because I still won’t be able to beat that one level of Megaman X?(anybody who’s played the game knows which level I’m talking about… Yes, THAT one) Is it even possible to rewatch the same shows I’d enjoyed as a child now that I’m a grown man? Would they still stand up to my current standards of quality entertainment?
I know some would. The Fresh Prince and My Wife and Kids are show that still have me laughing to this day. At the same time I realize that V.R. Troopers was unquestionably dull and that Clarissa never really explained anything in Clarissa Explains it All. Also what does it say about the creativity of younger generations, when the best show a kid’s network can offer is a rerun of one of their old ones? Even Spongebob Squarepants is a product of the (late)90’s.
As much as I want younger generations to be able to enjoy the same shows I enjoyed as a kid, the reality is that kids these days just aren’t entertained the same way. You think you can get a child to watch an episode of ‘Reading Rainbow?’ I think I’d reflexively slap a child who told me they didn’t enjoy the Magic School Bus or Arthur. But then again who knows, maybe those shows wouldn’t be held in such high regard for me if I was to watch them now.
What do you all think? Is nostalgia something best left to memory or should we continue to reintroduce the ‘golden era’ to the young’uns? Constantly rehashing and reinventing rather than creating something more original? Let Me know
I think it’s hit or miss. I love playing old video games, but could not see myself watching and being entertained by All That or Pete & Pete (I never really liked Pete & Pete, anyhow… why did I mention it? I don’t know).
Yeah it’s hard for me to say that shows like ‘Goosebumps’ or ‘Gargoyles’ were great when I can only remember parts of my favorite episodes. After all this was a time when i thought Pokemon was good show *shudders
Honestly, it just depends. Sometimes you can be nostalgic over shows and then revisit them when you’re older and realize they’re terrible. I did that with CatDog and now I have no idea why I even liked the series. Or the opposite can happen. I hated Invader Zim when I was younger but now I love the show. And I thought Power Rangers was really stupid, but (while I still think it’s fairly stupid) I actually respect the show a lot more now. Though that might just be because I like their original sentai counterparts…My friends a pretty nostalgic about Voltron and I couldn’t remember anything about the series other than it’s title and the lions. Watching Voltron now, I think it’s horrendous (the dubbing is just too…bad) and I’ll take it’s original counterpart, GoLion, anyday.
Revisiting the old isn’t a bad thing, but people should always strive to create something new as well. Perhaps people should look at formulas for series that we’re so nostalgic over for a good reference point when working on something new. Whatever people are doing now (especially with animation), it just isn’t working as well.
And I still like pokemon…then again I am a bit of an otaku after all.
Catdog was one of those shows that I hated even as a child. Even the theme song pissed me off. They’re the offspring of a wolf and a bird?? whaaat? lol.And I was lucky to be introduced to invader Zim in high school when I could actually appreciate the humor. Pokemon seemed cool until digimon came out lol then I just couldn’t look at it the same way
They were the offspring of a cat and dog. I’m pretty sure that song lyric was “One fine day was a woof and a purr, a baby was born and it caused a little stir…”. Somehow I still remember most of the words to the song.
Digimon is still the better series. There’s an actual plot and storyline plus the characters are better developed. Still I think for a lot of people pokemon tends to be the more nostalgic series ’cause we were introduced to it first and plus the series still is about Ash and Pikachu just like when we were kids.