Each week I create a 2-2.5 hour block of programming for the family to watch together over a nice breakfast. We call it Sunday Brunch Cartoons, and we’re nearly two years into it without missing a day. I’m releasing a full list of our watch queue, with the hopes that you can think of something really good (or memorably bad) that we should include.
No 70s Hanna-Barbera.
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Plaintext: Title Batman: Caped Crusader Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years Cybersix Gargoyles Infinity Train Mythbusters Hey Arnold! Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Amphibia Animaniacs Scooby Doo; Mystery Inc. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends Gumby Gurren Lagann Mighty Max (Remastered) My Adventures With Superman Sailor Moon Original ReBoot Recess Crash Course Video Games She-Ra Space Patrol Luluco The Owl House Tron: Uprising Star vs the Forces of Evil Rocky & Bullwinkle Sym-Bionic Titan Freakazoid! Teen Titans Bump In The night Looney Tunes Golden Collection Nate Is Late / Oskar et Malika The Big O Unicorn Warriors Eternal Mega Man Megas XLR Motorcity Fraggle Rock Men in Black: The Animated Series Histeria! The Tick Swat Kats Adventure Time: Fiona & Cake Kim Possible Dexter’s Laboratory Star Trek Mobile Fighter G Gundam The Adventures of Salmon Max Captain N: The Game Master Darkwing Duck Danny Phantom Wakfu Kirby: Right Back At Ya Regular Show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Inspector Gadget The Legend of Zelda Underdog (1964) Kid Cosmic Looney Tunes Cartoons Samurai Jack Adventure Time The Loud House King Arthur and the Knights of Justice The California Raisin Show Visionaries Knights of the Magical Lights He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Transformers: Prime Yuu Yuu Hakusho Invader Zim Ducktales Avatar: The Legend of Korra Codename: Kids Next Door Pingu Bill Nye TSG Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Reading Rainbow Wishbone Red Wall Ramen Akaneko Space Ghost Powerpuff Girls Transformers War For Cybertron Dungeons and Dragons Ren & Stimpy Rugrats Super Mario World Fairly OddParents Hilda Moomin Batman: The Animated Series Earthworm Jim Amazing World of Gumball Beakman’s World Rocko’s Modern Life The Real Ghostbusters The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Bravest Warriors Beetlejuice Ruri Rocks Transformers: Beast Wars Courage the Cowardly Dog Rentaghost The Busy World of Richard Scarry Over the Garden Wall Button Moon Cow & Chicken Bocchi the Rock Adventure Time: Distant Lands The Angry Beavers The Trap Door Pinky and The Brain Clone Wars (2003) Avatar: The Last Airbender Gravity Falls A Series of Unfortunate Events Steven Universe Trigun Batman Beyond Bluey Ed, Edd, & Eddy
EDIT: Thanks, Lemmy!!! You’ve all delivered so many really exciting suggestions. There’s enough on my ‘shopping list’ now to keep us going, well, basically forever - but what’s another 10Tb of cartoons among friends?
Here’s the full list of suggestions I’ve collected. In alphabetic order, this time. Thanks again!
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Another I don’t think I saw mentioned - Pinky Malinky! If you’re looking for a slightly deranged but entirely sweet, over the top and extremely fast paced modern one, Pinky Malinky will not disappoint. This show was made with real love lol. And several other weird things I don’t think I have.
Just note, if you’re old, you’ll be laughing at jokes about 3-jokes-back, the entire time. It’s quick, and I usually hate that cuz it usually just hides poor craft. Not here.
Oh don’t think I saw Courage the Cowardly Dog on your list. Haven’t returned to it in a real long time but it was a classic of oddity in its era of course.
We’ve got Courage! Pinky Malinky sounds delightful, adding that. Thanks!
Late to this party but I fear your list will never be complete without Wallace and Grommit and Spongebob Square Pants. You could add Shaun the Sheep too.
I think he might have already seen all of W&G, but it’s been a while. I’ve avoided Spongebob for a long time because it was popular with shitty kids when I was a shitty teenager, but maybe it’s time to let Tom Kenny into my heart.
First handful of seasons are really good, first movie is basically top tier for that kind of humor. Quotable line after quotable line after quotable line, and yet it flows really well. Like you, I had an uphill climb to see it for what it was, my knucklehead younger brother LOVED it. And I mean, for all the dumb stuff I’ve done, that guy ate his boogers, no chance I was taking his taste seriously at the time.
He was right 😌
Isn’t it annoying how hard it is to stay a hater and have good taste?
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack was a fun little CN show that didn’t really get a chance to shine. But it did up launching a lot of careers for some of the more popular creators of shows on the list you’ve already got.
And a fun syndicated cartoon from the 80s was The Adventures of the Galactic Rangers. Its about psychic space cowboys.
I’ve got both on my shopping list, thanks!
Flapjack was my addition too :) great weird little show, hugely underrated.
Edit to add: even the theme song fuckin rips!! My head exploded after I’d watched all of Flapjack like twice, theme song over and over, and then I one day hear - the original. Way older and not even very different. My brain broke.
It seems like you have a massive list already. So here’s a few more!
A few ones I enjoyed (mostly as a kid) which aren’t listed or mentioned:
Conan the Barbarian the Animated Series - very 90’s. I used to record it on VHS
Visionaries - Knights of the Magical Light. - Commissioned to help sell a toy line with holograms (all the rage in the 80s) Cartoon was pretty good quality for the time.
Pole Position- Ulysses 31 (currently seeding btw)- Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors - which are all French Japanese Cartoons scored by Shuky Levy who really encapsulates the sound of an 80’s after school cartoon for me. Even if the plot is a bit meh at times the intro music is absolutely cracking.
Around the World with Willy Fogg - Dogtanian and Three Muskahounds - Spanish Japanese production. Also great theme tunes!
ReBoot - (Ian Gibson who worked on 2000AD developed this. The CG might have aged a bit though! Kids cartoon but had some quite adult reference at the time)
Camp Lazlo - by creator of Rocko’s Modern Life
Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? - Short lived Cartoon Network offereing circa 2002.
No 70s Hanna Barbera? Short formats but I enjoyed Roger Ramjet, Batfink (both not Hanna Barbera) and Topcat (which is but was made in the 60’s.)
Mine I think, is younger than yours but absolutely adores Hey Duggee and Squirrel Club and they are very good with great music. Check out the Space or Music Video episodes in particular.
I’ll throw in Topcat, that was good. I was mostly just being cheeky about that. Great list here, some I do already have. He thinks KOTML sucks, but he likes ReBoot pretty well. Once he got used to the fairly tired aesthetic. I think maybe he’s seen enough Minecraft youtuber crap that he doesn’t really mind basic visuals.
Awesome. Pretty cool he likes ReBoot. Sounds like such a fun breakfast morning. I’ve been trying to do something similar but they’re like little media limpets at toddler age; sticking to one thing and one thing only and of course atm it’s become Mr Tumble (an irritating clown whose schtick is that they dress up and do makaton). So while the weather has been nice I’ve been shucking mine off the rock, so to speak and getting them in the garden. Hope you have fun. :)
Toddlers are a lot harder, quite a bigger bridge to gap between us and where they’re at. You might have better luck with things like Lucas the Spider or Ms. Rachel until they’re old enough for, I dunno, Bluey. From there maybe Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street?
I strongly recommend finishing “She-Ra and the Princess of Power” and/or “Amphibia”.
I’m a sucker for a Strong, Female Protagonist, and really anything by Lee Ostertag (partner of ND Stevenson) or Brennan Lee Mulligan.
(EDIT: Updated name; didn’t know about the name change when I first posted. Added parenthetical connecting second paragraph to the first.)
I did not know Brennan wrote a comic book. Super on-brand for him, excited to give it a go!
We’re definitely going to finish those serie, it’s just that during the week he mainly chooses Mythbusters and so we tend to get through a series very slowly. Especially with juggling over 100 shows, I try to keep them all ‘in the air’!
Looking over the Saturday morning cartoons I grew up with:
The Batman
Xiaolin Showdown (this I remember the most fondly)
Johnny Test (It’s the epitome of Saturday morning cartoons, most engraved in my brain, probably bad actually)
Spider Riders (just for the opening song)
All on my shopping list, thanks!!
Damn, you’ve got a huge list, still I need to recommend Gatchaman, Deadly and if you are into Powerpuff Girls, you need to watch Powerpuff Girls Z.
Most should be easy to find but Deadly I could only find on youtube with terrible quality. Still worth it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PScRdFhd6m4&list=PL4jOVhCe6AUy1N4cY7Fv9pnzMv3SGrHc1&index=2
I hadn’t heard of Deadly or Gatchaman, thanks! I did sleep on PPG Z, glad to hear it’s good! I’ll add them all to my list.
Also, Dragon Hunters
Bravestar, admittedly the series is kinda meh but the movie is a work of art.
The movie? Thanks for the tip!
Now that I think of it, you might wanna check it out on your own first because it does have some intense and scary scenes iirc.
The kid watched Promare and loved it. How does that stack up? The main thing he likes to feel okay with a film is a happy ending, he can handle some rough stuff along the way.
That’s not even the same list, Legend of Kora isn’t on the Alphabetical one anymore
The second (alphabetical) one is all the suggestions I’ve written down, the first one (shows we already watch) does contain Korra. Sorry it’s hard to find, that was a major misstep.
No worries! You don’t owe me anything :) Just wanted to make sure you saw it and knew there might be issues.
If you haven’t watched the original avatar the last airbender, I 110% recommend it as the next show you watch
I watched it with my then-girlfriend now-wife a little over a decade ago, and then again all the way through with my kid, it’s one of our all-time faves. We watched the leaked film together last weekend, and if they show it in the local theatre, well hell, I’ll see it there too.
- Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers
- Duck Tales
And since it seems like you’re not shying away from shows with some fucked up things kids probably shouldn’t have watched but are kinda formative anyways
- Super Dimensional Fortress Macross
Thanks! The newer DuckTales is in this list, we finished that earlier this year. The older stuff I haven’t gotten to yet. I definitely need to get Chip & Dale, haven’t seen that stuff in centuries, feels like.
We’re fairly permissive with scary/intense stuff, our true north isn’t PEGI or ESRB so much as Don Bluth’s admonition that kids can handle anything, as long as there’s a happy ending. He found Robot Dreams (2023) way more traumatic than Ghostbusters (1984), and that’s just a story about growing apart and making new friends. He’s very self aware, and will tell us when something’s too much to handle.
I should get Macross, yeah. I never saw that one actually. Thanks!
I don’t think of ren and stimpy or space ghost as happy ending shows.
You’ve got me there. I rarely use either, for that reason. R&S is actually out of rotation because the wife doesn’t approve, just yet. Fair is fair, our kid is weird enough as it is.
I’m not really sure about space ghost. The zapping of Zorak that happens pretty frequently is your typical cartoon violence comparable to what goes on in bugs bunny. I’d just want to give it a review before putting it in front of kids.
Ren and stumpy on the other hand can be kind of dark and brutal, especially the later episodes. I’d have similar (or stronger) reservations about aqua teen hunger force, or venture brothers.
ATHF and Venture Bros are out of the question until he’s at least 15. Even then a lot of the humour won’t click until later. Like, there’s an actual pedophile in VB. Give me a little credit.
The action in Space Ghost is mild for his tastes. Wacky violence doesn’t faze him, what really gets to him is bittersweet endings where there’s a happy ending, but not quite the one he expected.
Then you have to skip that one Futurama episode with the dog.
God no. Futurama is one of those ones where I’m just gonna make him wait until he’s ready
Add just a little bit of 60s and 70s Hannah Barbara (Johnny quest, Scooby-Doo, old superhero shows) so that when they are older, you can show them Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law and GOATed of all time animated series The Venture Bros
Venture Bros might be the only reason I’d need to sit through a season of Johnny Quest. This is an extremely solid argument, I think you’ve changed my mind completely!
I forgot to add the caveat when they get older for venture bros. But it’ll just make them appreciate it more when they do see it
Of course, it’s a great series but it’ll be all the better if I don’t have to explain the jokes to his therapist in fifteen years lol
Hey I think you’ve got enough recs already, just wanted to say I’m really enjoying reading your replies. You seem like a good person, and I used to go by Wakko in my youth so you’re obviously cool. That’s all!
That’s super sweet of you, cheers. 😘
100%, agreed that it’s good to at least have the kids be familiar with those classic shows. Scooby-Doo has a ton of versions since their original Hanna Barbera, so OP has options if they want to avoid the original. One I watched recently and would recommend is Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!
The animation style is totally different, which might take some getting used to for OP and their spouse, but the kids should enjoy it. It’s got a solid cast, with the likes of Frank Welker (who’s not only known for his animal voices, but who’s been doing the voice of Fred since the 70s!) and Grey Griffin (sometimes credited as Grey DeLisle, who’s done voices on a significant amount of shows on the list.) Also, its focus is on funny, and it gave me some legit laugh out loud moments.
No Hanna Barbera? You should throw a few in to mix it up. Like a Snagglepuss, one Huckleberry hound, and one Yogi Bear. The first season of Scooby Doo is iconic. Josie and the Pussy Cats was good. 60’s Hanna would include the excellent Johnny Quest. I’d also throw in a singular Space Ghost and Herculoids to break things up.
You make some solid points, if I’m willing to tolerate the California Raisins he should at least see some of these. We’ll do a retro theme one day and hit all of these, likely.
What was the reason for skipping Hanna Barbera (and '70s in particular) to begin with? The limited animation?
Unvarnished snobbery, but yes. The animation.
I found Freakazoid to be hilarious when I was in my teens, even though a lot of the jokes felt like they were written for my parents. It’s a fairly short series too, at least compared to a lot of the other kids shows.
It wasn’t a commercial success because all the adverts were targeted at too young an audience. It should have been presented for what it is, which is goofy and random enough for kids and genuinely twisted enough for grownups.
Freakazoid and The Tick have always been two of my favorite classics
I was worried they wouldn’t stand up, but if anything they’re even better now that I’m old enough to really delight in how strange it is.
I think The Tick was similar, if I recall correctly. I still loved it as a kid.
You have a bit of anime on there but I feel like pokemon and Dragonball z are missing. Simpsons could be added too.
Someone else recommended original Dragonball, and I’m taking that onboard. DBZ is great, but I think for the sake of time I’ll look for that edit I heard of that keeps it all concise and action-packed. As you can see we have a lot of stuff in rotation!
Just a heads up that original run Dragonball contains a bit of nudity (Goku is often naked and they don’t hide it). It’s fairly innocuous but I know not something every parent wants their kids to see.
Good note. His mom has always been pretty casual about nudity, so we don’t really fuss about ((non-sexual)) nudity in media. Bodies are just normal to him, I’m kinda jealous tbh.
I tried watching it with my kids. I phased it out because of Master Roshi. He normalizes some pretty gross behavior and not in a cautionary comeuppance kind of way.
“Okay kids, so the joke is that he’s an unrepentant asshole who enjoys constantly violating other people’s privacy in a sexual way, and they thought that it was funny for women to have to perpetually deflect unwanted advances while also being both sexy and demure at all times, also marital rape laws in Japan were only amended to cover all cases of non-consent instead of just violent ones in 2023. We’ll talk more about that last one when you’re older, the point is that you shouldn’t emulate his behaviour – you know what, let’s just watch anything else”.
This is an important tip. If I start to run Dragon Ball, I might just cut out those scenes entirely, it’s easy enough to do.
I may have missed them in the list but how about
The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack
Chowder
Catdog
Rocket Power
Ren & Stimpy
Doug
As Told by Ginger
The Wild Thornberrys
Johnny Bravo
Sharkey and George
I Am Weasel
I did try a little Ren and Stimpy on him, I think I’m gonna wait a bit on that one - wife’s advice. That said, you’ve mentioned a lot that nobody else has, and I can’t believe I haven’t shown him Doug yet!
Yeh I wasn’t sure on that suggestion but then you had the likes of Courage, Billy and Mandy, Invader Zim etc so thought it was worth a punt.
I feel like I have more rattling around in my head SK if I think of any more over the day I’ll reply again. I grew up on that era of cartoons and have so many fond memories of them!
Do you have Rugrats in there, I feel like that is an obvious choice I can’t see
Thank you!! I can’t believe how fruitful this post was. I also use animated shorts as interstitials between episodes, which I didn’t mention yet. At some point I’ll have to compile a list of my fav indie animators and ask the community what I might be missing. That’s a bigger task though, because I don’t keep a spreadsheet of those!
Whilst I watched a shit load of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network in those days which was full of shorts too my memory of those isn’t as good unfortunately but I’ll keep an eye out for that post in the future in the hopes of some nostalgia!
Oh and sorry - I got a little muddled answering your question, Rugrats is definitely in our rota!
Flapjack is such an incredible show.
Fuck yeh!
My copy of it is old and of poor quality—I will be finding a high quality rip of it and marathoning it tonight. I haven’t seen it in nearly a decade!
I don’t currently have a copy, but after talking about it today I need to find one and watch it again too!
