Topic: Crappy and Forgotten Cartoons

[shemps#1]

You know what this site needs? An homage to cartoons that were absolutely terrible and have become curios, that's what!

I'll start it off with Hammerman, a 1991 Saturday Morning cartoon based on M.C. Hammer, the first rap megastar. You see, a man named Stanley was given a pair of magical living and talking shoes and transformed into the superhero Hammerman! It's a wonder this show only lasted 13 episodes! Here's one of those episodes, entitled "Rapoleon".

[shemps#1]

This one is more my generation of cartoon viewing. Gen Xers will remember the Super Mario Bros. Super Show featuring Capt. Lou Albano as Mario in both live action and animated form, but before that we had Saturday Supercade. Supercade premiered in 1983 and featured many video game characters from the day. The main cartoon was none other than Donkey Kong.

Here's Pitfall Harry, from of course Pitfall.

Perhaps the weirdest of all was Q*Bert, a 1950's alien?

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

The "Grape Ape" I remember from way back in the 70's is weak, but not necessarily crappy and forgotten ... his doggie buddie's name is Beegle Beagle (how imaginative)

here is an opening and ending credits clip from YouTube

[Seamus]

This one is more my generation of cartoon viewing. Gen Xers will remember the Super Mario Bros. Super Show featuring Capt. Lou Albano as Mario in both live action and animated form, but before that we had Saturday Supercade. Supercade premiered in 1983 and featured many video game characters from the day. The main cartoon was none other than Donkey Kong.

Saturday Supercade, oh hell yes!  And don't forget the Pac-Man cartoon, which wasn't part of the Supercade but got its own half-hour every Saturday morning.  These cartoons coincided with my boyhood video game mania, so I gobbled them up. 

The '50s theme for Q-bert was indeed an odd creative choice. 

[metaldams]

Whether these shows are crappy or not, I haven't seen this stuff in 20 - 25 years, but blasts from the past.

Duck Tales

Tiny Toons

He-Man (my favorite show during the simplest time of my life)

[metaldams]

......and how can I forget?

Muppet Babies

[shemps#1]

Saturday Supercade, oh hell yes!  And don't forget the Pac-Man cartoon, which wasn't part of the Supercade but got its own half-hour every Saturday morning.  These cartoons coincided with my boyhood video game mania, so I gobbled them up. 

The '50s theme for Q-bert was indeed an odd creative choice. 

I forgot to note that the voice of Donkey Kong was Soupy Sales, believe it or not. As for Pac-Man I remember it quite clearly...

Pac-Man came first (1982) and Supercade was an answer to it. Pac-Man was voiced by "Mr. Shirley Jones" Marty Ingles.

[shemps#1]

......and how can I forget?

Muppet Babies

I was about to say that none of toons you posted were necessarily forgotten but then you redeem yourself with Muppet Babies. Interesting story about Muppet Babies; it's gone into the realm of forgotten despite being immensely popular at the time and having a very long run (1984-1991, 8 seasons), especially for a Saturday Morning cartoon. The reason for this is due to lax home video releases over the years, most likely due to copyright issues during the imagination scenes as they typical used footage from movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.

[BeAStooge]

......and how can I forget?

Muppet Babies

Series writer =  Jeffrey Scott [Maurer], Moe's grandson.

From the 12/8/84 episode "Good, Clean Fun" aka "The Muppet Babies Meet The Three Stooges"...

[falsealarms]

Wow, Muppet Babies. I haven't heard that theme song in close to 20 years. Brings back a wave of memories.

That was a catchy theme song, wasn't it?

[Curly4444]

I loved he-man and duck tales. Would come home from a hectic day at school and relax with these gems.

[metaldams]

I was about to say that none of toons you posted were necessarily forgotten but then you redeem yourself with Muppet Babies.

That's the thing, I have no idea what is or isn't forgotten or even what I'd consider crappy..  Most of this stuff is from my childhood , I've discarded it for 20 - 25 years, and I haven't kept up on it's cultural impact since.  It's all just memories to me.  I used to watch Muppet Babies every Saturday morning between watching squash matches. 

Interesting Stooge tidbit there, Brent.  I had no clue.

Non-Stooge related (unless if she appeared with Derita on the burlesque circuit in her early days and I'm unaware of it), but Betty White was the voice of the nanny.

[BeAStooge]

Non-Stooge related (unless if she appeared with Derita on the burlesque circuit in her early days and I'm unaware of it), but Betty White was the voice of the nanny.

Barbara Billingsley (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) was the voice of 'Nanny.'

But on the topic of Betty White, she does have a Stooge connection.  Joe Besser was a guest on THE BETTY WHITE SHOW's 4/11/58 episode.

[metaldams]

Barbara Billingsley (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) was the voice of 'Nanny.'

For years I thought it was Betty White, just assumed, and never bothered looking it up.  Thanks for the correction.

[shemps#1]

Here we have what was a personal favorite of mine as a child, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N Wrestling. None of the wrestlers voiced their cartoon counterparts and a couple were not even with WWF when the cartoon aired. Brad Garrett from Everybody Loves Raymond provides the voice of Hulk Hogan, who has a full head of hair in the cartoon even though he didn't in real life.

[shemps#1]

...and what would a "Crappy and Forgotten Cartoons" thread on a Three Stooges fan site be without The Three Robonic Stooges?

This has been discussed on the site before so I won't go into too many details, but it ran from 1977-'78 and was a mix of the Stooges, Charlie's Angels and the Six Million Dollar Man. It's just as bad as it sounds. Some people say this one is even worse than the "New Three Stooges" of 1965 but I say they are equally awful.

[metaldams]

I knew Rock 'n Wrestling would come up!  I'm glad Hogan ditched that theme song as his entrance music and took "Real American," (Rick Derringer song and originally the theme of the U.S. Express) instead.

To this day, I still have fond memories of Hogan and Volkoff in space.

[falsealarms]

I don't know if this is considered crappy or forgotten, but I remember this well.

[shemps#1]

I don't know if this is considered crappy or forgotten, but I remember this well

I would consider it crappy but not forgotten. I'm kind of looking for cartoons you might have liked (or not, just remember) that maybe had short runs or for some reason or not are forgotten by even most of the "retro" folks. Hidden gems/turds as it were. Inspector Gadget, He-Man, Ducktales and Tiny Toons still have sizable cult followings. The best would be something you loved as a child but looking back you scratch your head and say "gosh I was stupid growing up if I liked this shit" like me and Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N Wrestling.

Take that episode of HHRNR I posted and compare it to any Ducktales episode and you see what I mean by "crappy". As for the Inspector I liked it alright as a kid but now I see it as awful. With Don Adams providing the voice it makes think of the awful Tennessee Tuxedo. Speaking of which...

[metaldams]

I don't know if this is considered crappy or forgotten, but I remember this well.

Oh Hell yeah!

Anybody remember these Transformer spin offs, the Gobots?

...OK this one was for girls, but my ex-girlfriend once dressed like Jem for Halloween, short skirt, white fish nets and all.  Mada ba satta lada boko la ko toya......

[shemps#1]

Anybody remember these Transformer spin offs, the Gobots?

Oh yeah, I remember that one. In fact, for some stupid reason I watched Challenge of the Gobots and not Transformers. It was fuckin' HARD to find an actual episode of Gobots, so much so that I couldn't find one on youtube in english and ended up finding one on this Chinese (?) website. I can't seem to get it to embed properly here so I'll just give the direct link.

http://www.56.com/u57/v_MjM3MDk5NzQ.html

Would you believe me if I said Gobots actually came before Transformers?

[metaldams]

Oh yeah, I remember that one. In fact, for some stupid reason I watched Challenge of the Gobots and not Transformers. It was fuckin' HARD to find an actual episode of Gobots, so much so that I couldn't find one on youtube in english and ended up finding one on this Chinese (?) website. I can't seem to get it to embed properly here so I'll just give the direct link.

http://www.56.com/u57/v_MjM3MDk5NzQ.html

Would you believe me if I said Gobots actually came before Transformers?

I used to have tons of Gobot figures, again one of those toys probably sold at a tag sale.

Here's the thing overall, while I watched a lot of shows that were then current as a kid, I always, perhaps even more often, watched Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, old Disney shorts, and yes, the Three Stooges with the occasional Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello thrown in.

I just don't think kids today watch stuff that's older than they are, and I get the feeling us kids who grew up in the 80's were the last generation to do so.  A co-worker who's our age mentioned her brother's dating an 18 year old girl who's never heard of Elvis.  That's just insane.

[shemps#1]

I used to have tons of Gobot figures, again one of those toys probably sold at a tag sale.

Here's the thing overall, while I watched a lot of shows that were then current as a kid, I always, perhaps even more often, watched Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, old Disney shorts, and yes, the Three Stooges with the occasional Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello thrown in.

I just don't think kids today watch stuff that's older than they are, and I get the feeling us kids who grew up in the 80's were the last generation to do so.  A co-worker who's our age mentioned her brother's dating an 18 year old girl who's never heard of Elvis.  That's just insane.

Of course you know I also watched the Looney Tunes et. al. and I agree that we are probably the last generation to watch the old cartoons (which were mostly much better than the 80's stuff, which is why they were still on the air). As for the 18 year old who's never heard of Elvis: even in 2011 that's just asinine and the girl is a dope.

[Liz]

I don't know if this is considered crappy or forgotten, but I remember this well.

Yes!!!!  Used to watch this all the time when I was a kid.

[JazzBill]

I hate to admit it but I even had one of those beany hats when I was a kid.