Top 5 Favorite Saturday Morning Cartoons!

What red-blooded American kid didn’t love getting up and watching cartoons every Saturday morning? Below are the favorites of the two little kids of Buddhist Catnaps. Enjoy!

Carl’s Top 5!

• Smurfs - Smurfs were fun!  Little blue smurfs, all sorts of names from Gargamel (not a smurf), Azreal (his cat.. also not a smurf) to smurfette, papa smurf, grandpa smurf … You get the idea.  They lived in houses made from mushrooms.  The other day I saw the trailer for the Smurf Movie.  I don’t think I’ll be running out to see this film but it did make me laugh seeing grandpa smurf hitching a ride in a taxi cab. Sing this, la la … la la la la… la la la la laaaaaa.
• Land of the lost -  Sometimes Josh and I cheat and go beyond our planned title post.  Land of the lost was not a cartoon but did play on Saturday mornings.  It was a fantastic show of mystery, sci-fi and dinosaurs.   This father, son and daughter fall between the cracks of the earth while on a river into this alternate universe.  Each show was an adventure of caveman like people to lizard human people.  Recently there was a Will Farrell Movie about this show but just like the Smurfs its not a movie I’m running out to see.

• He-Man -  I don’t recall if He-man was a Saturday morning cartoon or not.  Damn He-Man was the cats meow!  A prince, the most powerful man in the universe, a lover of big cats, rode cats, rocked the mullet .  He-man was the epitome of every boys dream.  No seriously it was the best cartoon and no cartoon today can live up to He-Man..  So many quality quality characters all with special powers.  Watch the opening theme and tell me that doesn’t hit a weak spot in your heart.

Voltron Defender of the Universe – Five machines that resemble lions and then combine to form one kick ass defender of the universe.  Man I’d pay to see Voltron vs He-man, screw this Alien vs Predator baloney.  I always loved how creative this cartoon was and how they could take five separate characters each with their own well oiled lion machine and then when need be join together (literally) to form Voltron.  I still have my Voltron toy at my parents house… man that is so 40 year old virgin like.

Shazzan -  I don’t recall too much about this cartoon but I do remember the genie would appear when the guy and girl put their rings together to call upon Shazzan.  It was a circular ring that was split in two with the word Shazzan on it.  I do remember the fist bump to interlock the two rings.  Classic!

Josh’s Top 5!

• Star Blazers – I absolutely loved this show. It was about this group of Star Blazers who leave Earth to find another planet to live on and encounter various dangers and enemies. One of the first anime shows to come the US. I wanted to be the hunky young stud pilot. I was really concerned about what happened to them on Earth, why they had to leave etc.  In fact this, along with a below mentioned cartoon, are the first signs of me wondering and questions people’s history, where they came from and how it affected them today. Needless to say I was quite the little historian at age 7.

• Gummibears – Much like Star Blazers this show was somewhat unknown and definitely unappreciated. The story follows these ‘Gummis’ who have been forced out of their realm and live in this Medieval Forrest glen. They had Gummiberry Juice that gave them special powers. Also, much like Star Blazers these were exiled peoples trying to make their way in a new world, and I was also enthralled with their history and where they came from and what forced them out of their home.

• GI Joe- You ever notice how Cobra tank drivers, jet pilots, and submarine commanders always were able to jump out of their respective vessel seconds before a missile strikes. Anyway I loved GI Joe, I played GI Joe’s until about age 13 and was sorely dissapointed in the movie. Also, did anyone ever have your custome made GI Joe? Yep at one point and time you could collect enough Proof of Purchase thingys send them in and then you could fill out all this cool stuff about what combat training they had. Oh yeah, my guy’s name was Pulverizer. Awesome.

• Transformers - Another classic. Loved watching Transformers loved playing Transformers. I remember senior year of high school I would get dropped off at Hurlburt’s and they would play ‘Transformers the New Generation’ or something lame like that. In fact it was so lame that it was actually the old Transformers with this new lame transition between scenes so it made it look like it was new. Anyway the new Transformers movie were awesome.

• Hanna-Barabera Laff-A-Olympics- This was like a Hanna-Barbera greatest hits with three different teams competing in a hilarious Olympics knock-off. One of my all-time cartoon faves, which makes honorable mention for this list (along with Smurfs and Voltron which Carl has already covered) is Hong Kong Phoeey.