Favorite non-Anime animated shows

[seltzermx]

Personally I love anime, and think its a great medium for interesting character, stories and concepts (GRO, Haruhi, FLCL, etc.) I typically find this lacking in most American cartoons (I used to watch them a lot more).

The only ones that stand out as definetely good, if not great are Justice League, Gargolyes, and the original Beast Wars (not Neo). These are pretty much the only ones I care about, and rewatch to some extent throughout the year.

JL stands out as my favorite. I prefer this over the previous Batman and Superman standalones because I think the varied cast adds more personality to the show. I love the subtle (and not so subtle) ways some of the romances play out and the great overarching plotline that gets played out. I just rewatched "Wild Cards" last night and I was still laughing at the jokes and the genius of this episode. I highly reccomend this to anyone.

I remember watching Gargoyles in my youth and loving it (my pre-anime days). It was dark and creepy, characters actually died, and there were many, many "to be continued" as opposed to simple stand-alone episodes that tended to be the norm back then. The characters were extremely robust and experienced growth throughout the entire series (and the main one was voiced by the awesome Keith David).

I originally started wawthcing Beast Wars because back then a full CGI show was awesome to behold. However the more I watched it, the more I fell in love with the characters. Sure, they were simple, but hey, I was 10. And the world ending storyline seemed epic at the time (heck I still find it interesting, especially how they tied it back to our world timeline). And one of their episodes is in my top ten of all time; the one where *Spoiler* Dinobot dies* end Spoiler. That was an amazing episode and an end truly worthy of such a character.

What about everybody else? Any favorite non-Anime cartoons? Or thoughts on the ones I just mentioned.

[ChubbyHuggs]

Archer is pretty awesome, along with Frisky Dingo.

[Gee-Man]

Megas XLR. The Gurren Lagann of American cartoons. Doesn't hurt that the creators of the show were inspired by Japanese super robot anime. A damn shame it was canceled after just two seasons. It had the perfect mix of awesome robot fighting and great self-referencing humor. I'm pretty sure Megas XLR even pulled out a giant drill and giant hammer at one point.

I agree on JL though. Absolutely loved that show. As a longtime DC fan, I was worried the show was going to be terrible, but for a kids show, they really pulled off some great things in that show. My personal favorite is probably when the Flash and Lex Luthor switch bodies. Lex gets all excited about discovering the Flash's secret identity, but then gets disappointed when he has no idea who the person under the mask is. And the Flash's best attempt at evil? Not washing his hands after using the bathroom.

There are definitely more, but it's early in the morning here and my nostalgia hasn't kicked into full gear yet.

I would list all the shows I loved from the 90's, but I'm pretty sure just about any anime fan can appreciate the awesomeness of those shows.

[PBz0r]

Um, Disney?

The cartoons shown on Dutch television aren't all that special and looking back on it my favourites as a kid all turn out to be Japanese in some way or another. The only western cartoon I went out of my way to watch online in recent years was Dethklok, which is kind of like America's version of Detroit Metal City (but I'm sure you're all familiar with it as most of you live in the US - not to mention that there's a song from the show in Guitar Hero). I guess that was funny, but if someone can recommend me something better I'd appreciate it. I feel like I have never exactly been exposed to the cream of the crop as far as western cartoons go.

[The-Excel]

That Chowder cartoon is pretty funny.

[seltzermx]

I agree on JL though. Absolutely loved that show. As a longtime DC fan, I was worried the show was going to be terrible, but for a kids show, they really pulled off some great things in that show. My personal favorite is probably when the Flash and Lex Luthor switch bodies. Lex gets all excited about discovering the Flash's secret identity, but then gets disappointed when he has no idea who the person under the mask is. And the Flash's best attempt at evil? Not washing his hands after using the bathroom.



YES! The "The Great Brain Robbery" is an amazing ep. Villain: "Aren't you gonna wash your hands?" Flash:"No, cuz I'm Evil". What a great line! And there are so many great ones throughout the show.

I was watching "the Cat and the Canary", and in the scene where Huntress and The Question are being chased by Green Arrow and Black Canary, Huntress asks "can you lose them?", to which The Question replies "like airline luggage". I still smile every time I hear that. :)

And I've heard good things about Frisky Dingo from a friend, and have been meaening to start that up.

[MarlinClock]

Tell me ya guys watched some Spielberg cartoons when you were kids too right?
Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid are still some of the best cartoons ever made.

[Gee-Man]

Tell me ya guys watched some Spielberg cartoons when you were kids too right?
Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid are still some of the best cartoons ever made.

Oh man, I knew I was forgetting some. I loved all three of those as a kid. I heard they recently released Freakazoid on DVD and I'm trying to get my hands on copy.

You know, now that I think about it, those three cartoons show how much today's cartoons suck. All three had hilarious adult commentary and subtext that you wouldn't get as a kid. I remember watching some old Animaniacs and catching all the innuendo and double entendres that I missed when I was younger. Today's cartoons are way too squeaky clean for their own good.

[Gee-Man]

That Chowder cartoon is pretty funny.

Actually, I find myself to be a fan of Flapjack (Did the same guy make both Chowder and Flapjack? They have similar styles). Probably the only modern cartoon that I genuinely enjoy. There's something hilarious about this idealistic little boy being surrounded by the scummiest people on the planet. Some of the humor and innuendo reminds me of old shows like the Animaniacs and Freakazoid as well.

[Mad March Harris]

Home Movies.

Brendon Small just did a guest appearance on a podcast I listen to and god damn I wish I was into metal. The guy does the writing and the music of Metalocalypse and he can shred fiercely.

[HoodedMiracle]

Lemme see...

Freakazoid

Courage the Cowardly Dog

Samurai Jack

Ed, Edd & Eddy

Rugrats (pre-teenage phase)

Angry Beavers

The only other one I can think off is this one on Cartoon Network about some girl from the city ending up living on a near-deserted island with some natives. One of them, the one acting like a princess, had a turtle. That show was awesome.

Still, for me, it's a tie between Samurai Jack and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Courage always hit the right notes for me, while Samurai Jack had an incredible amount of energy at any one time.

[deathbymoe]

Futurama!!!

[Setre]

Rocko's Modern Life, Freakazoid, and Batman: The Animated Series will always be my favorite cartoons. I also found Ed, Edd, & Eddie quite enjoyable as well as Powerpuff Girls in my later years. Yes those two shows were stupid (and one was aimmed at girls) but I still enjoyed them all the same.

I also love the classic Looney Tunes and Tiny Tunes, both sucked up so much time as a child.

[Karmacon]

i don't know if these count but yo gabba gabba, dinosaurs, and reboot

stuff i use to watch as a kid though, thunder cats, he-man, x-men . . . i was a tom boy

[Setre]

reboot

Oh shit, I forgot ReBoot! That was good stuff.

[Altercation]

The lack of the Spectacular Spider-Man and Batman Beyond (because at least one person mentioned B:TAS) is frightening, especially considering how absolutely fantastic the Spectacular Spider-Man is.
Besides that, prizes go to Futurama, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Mega XLR (RIP), Invader Zim, the Pinky and the Brain and... what else?
Oh right. Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Hell yeah.

[The Amazing Shenazin]

I'm a big fan of all those classic 90's cartoons, including Ren and Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Dexter's Lab Animaniacs etc

as far as more recent cartoons go, I was a big fan of Teen Titans and Megas XLR, it still makes me sad to think that those shows are canceled, they ended waaaaaaaay too soon (especially Teen Titans)

also Invader Zim was awesome and the last cartoon I ever watched on Nickelodeon

EDIT: oh and can't forget The Venture Brothers

[KarenGellender]

Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, Jem and the Holograms, She-Ra: Princess of Power, X-Men:TAS, and probably a ton that I'm forgetting.

'80s cartoons rocked; it was like the age of American Shoujo cartoons.

[The-Excel]

I'm fairly sure my favorite animated series of all time is Popeye. No other character ever used violence as a first resort. Popeye violence was over-the-top before over-the-top was cool. Not to mention the early shorts were very fluidly animated, but only when something was falling after it was punched.

[ShortyBoo]

As a kid, my favorite cartoons were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, My Little Pony & Care Bears. Now it's most of the shows on Adult Swim, but especially ATHF, Venture Bros. and Metalocalypse. I also love The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park and Archer.

[gricomet]

Home Movies and Futurama are legit great series. I grew up on Dangermouse so I love that too. Alot of the DC animated stuff is good too, Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited in particular.

[The-Excel]

I watched that show once. Wasn't that great.

[BenHuber]

Until we fix this spam problem it's nice to know you guys are taking it well, at least. :D

[MarlinClock]

Eh, I've seen worse. One place I frequent used to have spam bots trying to join it by the dozens daily.

[erhein35]

Of course the undisputable spongebob.

[Smiley]

This thread brings back memories. I have so many shows I grew up on that are just awesome. aside from the awesome ones that I have been mentioned (like pinky and the brain, animatiacs and freakzoid (my favorite :D)) I used to watch a show called histeria. It probably didn't age well and I think it might have been canceled because animaniacs was way better but it was like history as told by characters with issues. one on my favorite characters of the show was a boy who who only new how to yell everything he said, he was like Leonitus before 300 except not as epic lol.
The most recent animated show I enjoyed was Superjail, that show is just full of pure win. lol