Five Beloved Cartoon Series I NEVER Watched

I talked last month about the cartoon characters which are loved by most people, and yet never really made an impact with me. I knew they existed, but never watched the shows or enjoyed any of the memorabilia surrounding them. Course cartoon series are the same, some I loved and watched every single day. Others I just kind of passed by and despite their popularity just never watched.  If somehow you remember an article I did way way back where I listed my favorite cartoons, there were some glaring omissions.

So since I have  spent so much time talking about the franchises I did watch and love like Superfriends, He-Man, and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, it seems only fair at long last to give these good shows some much deserved attention! And of course I am not bashing these shows, I respect them and their longevity. I'm aware most people love them and if you are a fan of them then fantastic. 

I remember the toys. Thanks to my brother who was a fan of this franchise. I had a Panthor and King Mumra (and his tomb) and…I think the lion guy. What was name? Just kidding it was Lion-O. But I’ll be damned if I ever saw a single second of the actual show. I guess it just didn’t grab me. The show is about a group of cat like humanoid aliens who fight evil on a planet called Third Earth. Not getting it, why are they cats? Yeah it still doesn’t really grab me, but it’s still around obviously people loved it. There are still comics, there was a second series, and a movie was briefly in the works! The show is even considered one of the best animated series of all time, so I’m clearly missing something. One thing I will say, that theme song is fantastic!!

This one is a little cheating since I probably did see an episode here and there. But I never watched the series religiously as I did G.I.Joe which I loved watching every single day. What I did get into was the toys. Man did have a lot of the toys, including an Optimus Prime that I loved. The toys were just awesome, so why didn’t the cartoon grab me? Hard to say really, maybe something as simple as the tine slot it was on, but I knew it enough to recognize Prime’s voice in the Transformers movie and geek out at the “more than meets the eye” line at the end. To bad the second movie was painfully bad.











I’ve mentioned the franchise in passing here and there but never really devoted a lot of attention to it. Why? I never watched the show. I do remember having a figure, or more precisely my brother having it, but even the toys kind of eluded me. Of course this cartoon series was very well done and what it has inspired is just amazing to me. Video games, comic books, reboot cartoon series, CGI movies, live action movies (I did see one of the original movies, the first I believe). I feel sad I missed out on this one, it seems like a really solid show and it’s not often a silly idea becomes a iconic part of pop culture.













 I could argue that I was to old when this show was in on, but i had a friend in college who loved it so I can’t really say that. I knew of the show, which was considered awesome even when it was on, but I never gave it a shot. I think one simple reason is that Batman was never as popular as Superman to me. But since there was also a Superman series that excuse kind of flies out the window. I commend it for what it did, giving is a gritty cartoon which people still remember as one of THE versions of Batman with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill both providing the quintessential Batman and The Joker. And to be honest there isn’t any reason why I never watched this show, it managed to stay faithful to the comics and gave us a cartoon that wasn’t watered down kid stuff like Superfriends had been.














If I haven’t lost you all yet this should do it. This one I have no excuse. I loved the movie and the show was on during Saturday mornings at a time when I was all about Saturday Morning Cartoons. I think my disappointment at the Filmation Ghostbusters cartoon soured me on this a bit. Because I do not remember watching it. At least, not regularly. I think I did catch an episode here or there. Course it’s been talked about so much by others I feel like I’ve seen it. But honestly I was never much into this and unlike the others here, I don’t even think I owned any of the toys! It seems amazing to me that I didn’t love this more, since it keeps the continuity of the movies and treated the characters with respect (though why is Ray fat?). For the record I prefer Coulier’s Venkman. I prefer Lorenzo Music as Garfield. Though I could be wrong with that and I probably shouldn’t open that can of worms. The ghosts were well designed, the stories were well written, and the characters were well developed. Heck as bad as Slimer was even he wasn’t so bad. So why didn’t I watch this growing up? It was on between Pound Puppies and Flintstone Kids….and I think I just figured it out! A time slot issue. Darn it. Guess I was to busy watching Muppet Babies, Pee Wee’s Playhouse and Garfield and Friends.








And one honorable mention that is not a cartoon series but I felt it was finally time to mention it since so many people do love it



That same friend who loved Batman was also a Power Rangers fan, so I was aware of this and even caught an episode or two here and there. And I never got it, why do people love this franchise again? I mean it’s so…silly. But maybe that’s  why people like it, because it’s silly. I’ve gotten the basics by now and I even like the morphing sequence. But the villains are campy, the action is over the top, and the effects are…absurd. Ok the music is kinda kick ass, I see that. I also tried to follow the continuity and gave up pretty fast, who can keep track of this stuff? Guess that’s why Linkara does those videos.  But hey, if you grew i[ with it and love it more power to you! It’s just not for me.







So those are five shows I should really give a chance someday, and I am sorry I missed them when they were first run. One omission is X-Men, which was  a great show but I never would have watched having no interest at all in that franchise. Anyway, what about you guys? Any popular series you missed and never watched? Comment and let me know.