The Saturday Morning Memorial Animated Series Poll: nominations

I worked on one of the masterpieces of shit — it was called Turbo Teen, about a guy who turned into a car. Not just any car, it was a big muscle car. And the people who wrote that show were such jackasses that ... I remember there was one character who was dancing at a dance in one scene, and this guy called out, “Get it down, Jack!” — the writer evidently couldn't quite remember if it was “Get it on” or “Get down,” and then to just give this ‘80s show an authentic '50s touch, “Jack!” It was just so sad! [Laughter.] Somebody brought in an anti-drug pamphlet that showed on the cover a horribly deformed baby whose head looked like a wad of silly putty that had been mangled, and John hung it up on the door and had it saying, "Oh no, I'm turning into Turbo Teen!" That summed it up nicely.

lol

Mr Ben
Roobarb

Astro Fighter Sunred
Paddy the Pelican

Gummi Bears

Star Wars: Clone Wars (not the 3D one, the 2D series by Genndy Tartakovsky)

Teen Titans Go!

(distinct from Teen Titans, already nominated)

Mike Tyson Mysteries
The Adventures of Tintin (1991)
SNL's TV Funhouse
Mickey Mouse (2013-)

Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids

Dunno if anyone will vote for it, but it should at least get a nom

Some more that sprung to mind:

Dexter's Laboratory
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Johnny Bravo
F is for Family
My Life as a Teenage Robot
Sheep in the Big City
Flapjack
Regular Show
The Big O
Phineas and Ferb

I could be completely wrong about this, but it feels like 00s shows (kid's ones, at least) are being largely overlooked here. I guess they came out at a time when most posters were too old for them, and/or their kids too young/not born yet?

The thread going this long without a Peppa Pig nom is a surprise, I guess.

I watched the first episode of Over the Garden Wall and didn't really like it -- how far should I get into it to get a proper sense of the series?

Future Boy Conan

Any other people reading who want to nominate Czech/Hungarian/Russian cartoons/animated series? I did my small part but there's so much good stuff from the 60s-90s, and I forgot a lot of titles I watched when I was young.

Thank you for reminding me of

Masha and the Bear

My man.

Family guy
American dad
The Cleveland show

Dilbert

The Ricky Gervais show

we don't have to nominate every series

Okay true and I know this will go nowhere, but for a brief moment in the mid '80s, I was definitely going to grow up to be Jana of the Jungle. So...Jana of the Jungle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jana_of_the_Jungle

Also apparently I was so into the cartoon The New Shmoo that for the next decade this one bread recipe my mom made, which involved rolling out a blobby shape, was known in my family as "Shmoo bread."

we don't have to nominate every series, but I'm going to nominate a bunch of stuff I have some kind of childhood nostalgia for without checking if it's actually terrible

British things:

The Trap Door
Mr Benn
King Rollo
Henry's Cat
Captain Pugwash

Not British things:

The Pink Panther Show
The Raccoons

I loved The Trap Door and Ulysses 31, both already nommed.

Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures
Beetlejuice

Oops, Pink Panther Show and Mr Benn already nominated, sorry

fwiw I wasn't trying to say the trap door was already nommed before you did it. i just meant i would have nommed it!

No worries, shouldn't be too hard to dedupe. I will collate nominations to date sometime by the end of this coming weekend, present the list so far, and then set a nomination deadline for stragglers at that time. Glad there's so much interest! This is gonna be a tough poll to really find time to seek out things new-to-me before casting votes. If it seems interesting to do so I will try to prepare sub-rankings of British and anime series.

anyway,

Revolutionary Girl Utena

is not something I have seen all of but I should make sure it gets nominated

Technical question: would the Peanuts specials count as a series? Because I'd like very much to nominate and vote for them, if so.

― my but is not working it kept telling me device not found. (Old Lunch), Thursday, July 25, 2019 8:44 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Great Pumpkin and Christmas both placed in the shorts+features poll so I'm going to say no.

here's some more anime:

macross plus
gunbuster
nadia: the secret of blue water
ghost in the shell: stand alone complex
haibane renmei
now and then, here and there

i remember absolutely nothing about now and then, here and there except that it blew my mind in high school

The Big O

duane!!! thank you for nominating this show, the second season is a work of art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgQVL5RG0DU

with the most Kinks/progge like theme song :)

i... have never heard that theme song before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA7Xl5CtHRM

this is the one i'm familiar with, which is way more elo than kinks

This makes me think I should ask for an additional top 5 OPs ballot from anyone who wants to do that

there's really not enough anime nominated itt

i'm not the person to do it bc i'm really a casual fan of the genre but it does seem like a glaring hole to have like every disney afternoon cartoon from the 90s nominated but comparatively v few anime (obv it would be insane to have an exhaustive anime list too but still)

on that note i'll nominate the totally trashy but still enjoyable:

Attack on Titan
Future Diary
Death Note

also lol wins

Family guy
American dad
The Cleveland show

i wondered how far we could get without any of those being nominated (nb american dad might end up on my ballot)

[q]The Big O was scored by Geidai alumnus Toshihiko Sahashi. His composition is richly symphonic and classical, with a number of pieces delving into electronica and jazz.[17] Chosen because of his "frightening amount of musical knowledge about TV dramas overseas,"[18] Sahashi integrates musical homages into the soundtrack. The background music draws from film noir, spy films and sci-fi television series like The Twilight Zone. The battle themes are reminiscent of Akira Ifukube's compositions for the Godzilla series.[19]

The first opening theme is the Queen-influenced "Big-O!".[20] Composed, arranged and performed by Rui Nagai, the song resembles the theme to the Flash Gordon film. The second opening theme is "Respect," composed by Sahashi. The track is an homage to the music of Gerry Anderson's UFO, composed by Barry Gray.[21] In 2007, Rui Nagai composed "Big-O! Show Must Go On," a 1960s hard rock piece, for Animax's reruns of the show. The closing theme is the slow love ballad "And Forever..." written by Chie and composed by Ken Shima. The duet is performed by Robbie Danzie and Naoki Takao.

Along with Sahashi's original compositions, the soundtrack features Chopin's Prelude No. 15 and a jazz saxophone rendition of "Jingle Bells." The complete score was released in two volumes by Victor Entertainment/[q]

Huh.. Never knew there were three theme songs! 'Yours' is def more ELO, but great all the same.

when i compared it to elo i was trying to not make the obvious flash gordon queen comparison, which i guess even the wikipedia page has lol

I was trying to one up myself but then I couldn’t think of anything worse than the Ricky gervais show

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Fullmetal Alchemist
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimiya

devilman crybaby
kaiba

Undergrads
Mission Hill
One Punch Man
Dr. Katz

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series (YouTube, 2006 ff.)

Clerks: The Animated Series

K-On!
Nichijou
Non Non Biyori
A Place Further than the Universe

feels like the "saturday morning" part of the title is perhaps a red herring. but whattayagonnado. man... there are a bunch of dubious teen-pleasing 90s anime shows I almost nominated but then edited back down since I figured we were only nominating stuff we thought deserved to be in the top countdown. in the late 90s i watched the first 2-4 episodes of virtually every show to which the high school anime club membership had access, and most of em i can't defend or even remember particularly sharply. was such-and-such plot element in tenchi-muyo, yu yu hakusho, blue seed, or 8 eyes? was that romantic misunderstanding in ah! my goddess, here is greenwood, marmalade boy, or kodomo no omocha? all gone now sadly.

but i will add to my earlier anime noms:

Kimagure Orange Road
Ranma 1/2
Fushigi Yuugi

Batman Beyond