DVD Reviews

Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1980s, Vol. 1 – DVD Review

By June L. May 19, 2010, 12:02 GMT

Action. Intrigue. Celebrity stars. Adorable critters. Dude, Saturday mornings are awesome! Be a couch potatoe and relive the trippendicular \'toons of the way cool \'80s! Go mental with Martin Short\'s immortal Ed Grimley, kick butt with Chuck Norris and save the day with Mister T. Take it medieval with "Dragon\'s Lair" and "Galter and the Golden Lance", then travel to an earth reborn from cosmic destruction in "Thundarr the Barbarian". ...more

Time to have a bowl of cereal in front of the television and watch cartoons from the 1980’s in this two disc set from Warner Brothers.  Featuring cartoons from Ruby Spears studio and Hanna Barbera, as well as the last series from cartoon pioneer Tex Avery, this is a nice compilation of some fan favorites. 

I’m in a bit of unknown territory here, as during a good part of the 1980’s I was in transition getting an education and starting my career, and did not see a lot of television.  As a grad student, Saturday morning meant the start of my weekly Library Marathon Research Day, and I had no time for the fun of Saturday Morning Cartoons. 

In my first jobs, Saturday would be just another work day, and as the tasks began at 8am and getting there meant leaving the house at least an hour ahead of time, cartoons were not in the schedule.  In order to review this set properly, I sat down and watched the discs from beginning to end, made notes on my first encounters with these characters and then watched them again. 

Granted, I’ve heard others speak of these shows with great affection and I have listened to their poetic descriptions of meaning and effect and impact on their lives for quite awhile. 

I would finally have a chance to see if Thundarr really captured the essence of post-apocalyptic life on Earth, or if Dragon’s Lair the cartoon was truly a fine introduction to the game.

Watching one cartoon from a series is like reading one chapter from a book.  You get the idea of characters, time and place of the action, and a story.  It might be extremely interesting or entertaining, but it hardly gives a sense of the whole.  However, I did get an idea of what is appealing and memorable for fans of these 1980’s shows. 

Animated Mr. T and Chuck Norris are pretty amazing, with skills and strengths worthy of their real life action personas.  The Flintstone Kids are cute, a bit silly, but with enough “Stone Age” sight gags to make them interesting. 

Dragon’s Lair did bring back memories of the video game, of standing in line forever to get a turn with the techno-wonders of the Don Bluth animated game experience.   The cartoon show has a lot more motion than the game did.  Kwicky Koala has enough Tex Avery goodness to make viewing most pleasurable. 

Thundarr did have an interesting storyline, and does have that kind of Planet of the Apes feel, as recognizable ruins are used in the scenes.  The Monchichi’s and The Biskitts are clever, The Ed Grimley cartoon is simply insane, Galdar and the Golden Lance heroic. 

These are just a few of the things I discovered, and if you are a fan or want to learn about 1980’s cartoons, this set is a good starting point.

Warner Brothers Presents Saturday Morning Cartoons 1980’s DVD is presented on two discs with a running time of 300 minutes.  Eleven cartoon shows are featured, and a special feature “Lords of Light” the history of Thundarr the Barbarian. 

Visit the DVD database for more information.