DuckTales was practically the perfect cartoon. It took well-known, beloved characters and placed them into a world that was oftentimes as thrilling as an Indiana Jones adventure. The dialog was smart, the villains were diabolical, and the tales were almost always entertaining from start to finish.

When their Uncle Donald goes off to join the marines, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are stuck living with their cranky old Uncle Scrooge in his lavish mansion. Instead of being thrilled to live among the rich and famous, the three ducklings are stuck in an attic room, watched over by an uppity butler. Slowly, over the first few episodes, Scrooge and his nephews grow fond of eachother and eventually they’re constant companions, off traveling the world and constantly saving Scrooge’s fortune from nefarious evildoers.

As solid as the main characters are, the supporting cast is great as well. Each week, Scrooge McDuck and his nephews are joined by Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge’s bumbling pilot, Gyro Gearloose, the wacky inventor, the nanny Mrs. Beakley and her grandaughter Webigail, along with a recurring cast of baddies. Magica De Spell, the Beagle Boys, and Flintheart Glomgold are the ones that appear most often.

I’m happy to report that DuckTales holds up beautifully these days and is still a near-perfect cartoon for any little adventurers-in-training you may have clomping around your house. In fact, DuckTales is the first television show that really hooked my son. Before he could speak, he would say “WooHoo!” (like in the theme song) to indicate that he wanted to watch DuckTales. And to this day, we still break out the DVD sets. Speaking of which, you can find them here:

DuckTales – Volume 1
DuckTales – Volume 2
DuckTales – Volume 3

True confession time: I only saw this a few times back when I was a kid. I stumbled upon it recently because at the age of two, my kid’s already a massive Ghostbusters fanatic and he and I spotted a DVD containing The Real Ghostbusters one day when we were out shopping for cartoons.

Yes, that is a perfectly legitimate father/son activity.

Anyway, the moment he saw it on the shelf, I knew I wasn’t going to get out of the store alive without that DVD in hand.

The Real Ghostbusters is so named because of another Ghostbusters cartoon by Filmation, which was based on a completely different property but presumably put into production to cash in on the success of the movie. In order to avoid confusion, this one was named “The Real Ghostbusters.” Clever, eh?

The main characters from the movies are here, including Ray, Egon, Peter, Winston, and their secretary Janine. But because every cartoon needs a lovable mascot, DiC (the producers) added Slimer as the trouble-making comic relief and foil to Peter Venkman. Plots here are fairly standard 80s cartoon stuff: ghosts and/or other nefarious figures plot to take over the city and/or Slimer gets the gang into some sort of trouble and the Ghostbusters heroically save the day.

The cartoon stands up pretty well today, especially if you’re a Ghostbusters fan to begin with. But the behind-the-scenes stuff is also of interest. Many episodes were written by noted writer J. Michael Straczynski, and at certain points the voice cast included Dave Coulier and Arsenio Hall. In fact, Arsenio Hall was awarded the role of Winston after Ernie Hudson auditioned for it! Crazy…

The set I purchased can be found here:
The Real Ghostbusters – Slimefighters

The Real Ghostbusters is also available by season, or you can go nuts and buy the complete series:
The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection

Alright, this one’s a bit off the beaten path, but it’s one of my all-time favorites. The Hair Bear Bunch is another great Hanna Barbera cartoon that was originally aired in the 70s and was featured on the USA Cartoon Express in the 80s. It borrowed bits from Yogi Bear, except instead of two mischief-making bears in a national park, it featured three mischief-making bears in a zoo. Yogi and Boo Boo were replaced with Hair Bear, Bubi Bear, and Square Bear, while the zoo keeper Mr. Peevly and his assistant Botch stood in for Ranger Smith.

The Hair Bear Bunch first aired in 1971, so it took on many cultural trends of the time, most notably Hair’s…hair. I was watching an episode the other day and couldn’t help being mesmerized by that crazy afro. In addition, the bears turn their cave into a swinging bachelor pad, complete with wet bar, party area, and furniture that looks like something straight out of an Austin Powers flick.

Plots are about what you’d expect: the bears cause trouble by either trying to escape from the zoo or throwing a party in their cave, Peevly intervenes, hilarity ensues. But what I never understood was how and why Square Bear had an invisible motorcycle. I mean, seriously, what in the hell?

That puzzling bit aside, this cartoon is classic Hanna Barbera and one of the many reasons I love that studio so much. It’s got the great theme song, the goofball characters, and all the elements that make cartoons so much fun. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get your hands on a legitmate collection of the Hair Bear Bunch. I nabbed a bootleg a few years ago, and the VHS collection has long been out of print. However, you can watch an episode on Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2. The Saturday Morning Cartoons series are awesome collections of some of the best (and, unfortunately, some of the worst) cartoons from their respective decades. I totally recommend picking up one, two, or all of these collections if you’re a classic cartoon junkie like myself.

Aw yeah. This is the good shit.

This cartoon was HUGE when I was a kid. I had (and still have) dozens of He-Man toys, read the books, and rushed home after school to watch the cartoon. It blew my eight-year-old mind.

When Prince Adam raises the Power Sword to the sky and speaks the magic words, “By the power of Grayskull!” he turns into He-Man…the most powerful man in the universe! Christ, just typing that makes me want to churn out some embarrassingly awesome fan-fiction.

The cast of He-Man includes some of the greatest characters ever invented: Ram-Man, Skeletor, Trap-Jaw, Man-At Arms, Beast Man, Orko, Hordac, Teela… The list goes on and on and on.

So how does it hold up? How about fucking awesome?! The He-Man series has been reinvented a few times since the mid-80s, and the series from 2002 was actually pretty decent. But the original is still the best. From the cheesy acting to the stilted animation to the “what did we learn today?” segment at the end, there are fewer cartoons that better represent childhood in the 80s.

The classic He-Man series is available by season, but there’s also a “Best of” collection containing ten episodes, some cool artwork, and interviews with the creators. You can find it here: The Best of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (10 Episode Collector’s Edition).

Duh da-duh da-duh…Duh da-duh da-duh DUH DUH!

We all know the theme song, right? Man, this show made me laugh back in the day. Of course, I was also a big James Bond fan as a child, so Inspector Gadget was right up my alley. Starring an incompetent spy in the vein of Inspector Clouseau, Gadget had all sorts of bionic abilities that he could summon simply by calling out, “GO! GO Gadget _____!” He had the Gadget Coptor, the Gadget ‘Brella, the Gadget Skates, and countless others. What never bothered me as a kid was the fact that Inspector Gadget was smart enough to build all these devices, but a complete dolt otherwise.

Fortunately for him, he had his niece Penny and her dog Brain to help him out on cases, most of which involved the head of M.A.D., Doctor Claw. The premise to the show was pretty formulaic: Gadget would hanging out somewhere in the world with Penny and Brain, Chief Quimby would pop up with a self-destructing mission brief (which would then be used to inadvertantly blow him up by Gadget), Gadget would take the case and accidentally (with the help of Penny and Brain) thwart Doctor Claw. Rinse, repeat.

Honestly, the show doesn’t hold up all that well today. The theme song is still awesome, and some of the episodes are entertaining, but the formula gets old quickly. Ethan couldn’t be bothered to watch more than two episodes. The good news is that Inspector Gadget is available to watch on Netflix Instant Queue or Hulu for free. But if you’re eager to plunk down cash for nostalgia’s sake, you can do so here: Inspector Gadget: The Go Go Gadget Collection.

Time to reach into my collection for some more classic cartoons. This time, let’s talk about the Number One Super Guy: Hong Kong Phooey!

Holy shit, I love that tune! And then there’s this cover version by Sublime. Yes, this is one of the all-time great cartoon theme songs.

As the the lyrics indicate, Hong Kong Phooey is a bumbling superhero who “in reality” is Penry, the police department janitor. When Penry catches wind of crime, he jumps into the file cabinet (you know, instead of a phone booth) and becomes Hong Kong Phooey. Aided by his striped cat “Spot”, HKP cruises the streets in his Phooeymobile and figures out how to capture criminals with the aid of his manual, “The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu”.

It’s fantastic stuff.

Hong Kong Phooey originally aired in the mid-70s, just before I was born, but I was luckily able to catch the show in reruns on the USA Cartoon Express (best cartoon show ever). It’s a Hanna Barbera production from the peak of their run, which means that you’ll recognize voices from other HB productions and the animation has the same (some might argue “shoddy”) style as other HB ‘toons from that period. Either way, I love the show, as does my son. Unfortunately, there were only sixteen episodes of Hong Kong Phooey. The good news is, they can all be purchased in one slick collection right here: Hong Kong Phooey – The Complete Series

As a self-processed “nostalgia whore”, having a son has been a great thing for me. Introducing Ethan to stuff I enjoyed as a kid allows me to relive some of those great times for myself and one of my favorite parts about being a kid was cartoons. This is before cable TV all but destroyed the Saturday morning cartoon phenomenon and when USA’s Cartoon Express was in its heyday, showing a cavalcade of Hanna Barbera classics from the 60s, 70, and 80s.

Thanks to DVD collections, Netflix Instant Queue, and Hulu, (along with some other more nefarious methods, when necessary), Ethan and I have enjoyed hours of cartoons from my childhood. I figured chronicling some of these cartoons might not only be fun for me, but might also loosen some memories for you.

Let’s start out with a show I used to watch after school on one of the cable networks; probably WGN, USA, or TBS. Heathcliff was based on the comic strip of the same name, and the cartoon I watched as a kid – and the one I’ll be referencing today – was actually the second series to be based on that strip. This one was produced by DiC and starred the legendary Mel Blanc as Heathcliff. The cast included Heathcliff’s on-again/off-again partners, the Catillac Cats, headed by Riff Raff and including Hector, Wordsworth, and Mungo. Riff Raff also had a foxy girlfriend named Cleo who lived in a music store. The Catillac Cats were such an integral part of the Heathcliff series that they even had their own standalone segment.

Back to Heathcliff, the premise was pretty standard. Heathcliff is a trouble-making cat who “terrorizes” the neighborhood by stealing from the milkman, swiping fish from the market, and other shenanigans. Other characters included Spike the dog and Heathcliff’s jailbird, Humphrey Bogart-sounding father.

Surprisingly, and unlike many cartoons from that time period, Heathcliff stands up pretty well as children’s entertainment. The animation is pretty representative of the era and there’s enough goofball fun to be had to make the show worth checking out with your kids. Ethan got quite a few laughs out of the DVD we watched, which can be found here: Heathcliff: Terror of the Neighborhood.

I’ll cover some more cartoons (The Hair Bear Bunch, Hong Kong Phooey, and more) in the coming weeks.

Parody done correctly can be an uplifting and artistic view of something that reminds us how great it was.  Parody done wrong, well I can’t think of anything more awful.  Luckily for us, Seth McFarlane not only knows how to do parody correctly, but he’s a huge Star Wars Fan.  And his latest DVD release Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, is a loving and hilarious tribute to arguably the best Star Wars film in the series, The Empire Strikes Back.  All the Family Guy characters reprise their roles from the Blue Harvest parody from a few years ago:  Peter as Han Solo, Lois as Princess Leia, Chris as Luke Skywalker, and Stewie as Darth Vader.  All play the role to a tee adding their own Family Guy twist to them.  And lucky for us, there are a few more surprises waiting inside the DVD.   

As you may have deduced, this film was and is two Family Guy episodes stitched together.  Originally these episodes were supposed to air as a finale to season 7, but got pushed back to season 8.  My guess is the folks at Fox wanted to make a few bucks before the Holidays and released a DVD version before airing it for the masses.  Knowing that you’ll eventually be able to watch this on TV, why would you want to spend $15 on a DVD?  Well there are a few reasons, actually. 

First, the DVD is uncut, and if you haven’t watched Family Guy in its uncensored form, you are missing out.  Listening to Stewie (as Darth Vader) drop the F bomb a few times or hearing Chris (as Luke Skywalker)  yell, “Shit!” before he crashes his X-Wing is priceless.  That and there are more than a few jokes and social references that I am sure will be edited out for TV. 

Second, this movie is funny as shit and perfect for getting together with your buds and laughing your ass off before the rest of the plebes get to.  Imagine you and your buds are over playing New Super Mario Brothers Wii and after an hour of those shenanigans, someone suggests watching a movie.  You could be the hero and watch this film, only take up an hour and be right back gaming.  It’s sweet! 

Finally, Seth McFarlane wonderfully recreates the greatness that is Empire Strikes Back.  Each background scene is almost a shot for shot copy of the original work.  There are even cut scenes that are so true to the original that you forget that you are watching Family Guy.  Watching this film makes you want to go back to your collection and drag out Empire Strikes Back.  It’s a double whammy of awesomeness!

So if you are looking for gift ideas for the nerd in your family, or you are a Star Wars or Family Guy fan yourself, go out and grab this fine DVD.  And may the force be with you!