The ILX Animated Series Poll Results Thread is part of this complete breakfast

66. Doug (Nickelodeon and ABC)
40 points, 5 votes, 0 firsts

doug was my other favorite show as a kid--used to air in a block with rugrats.

doug also missed my ballot but i did vote it in the theme song poll and it holds a warm place in my heart primarily on the strength of musical band The Beats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7c3bQQmwVE

i have a The Beats fan poster on my wall at the office (may have posted it in the other thread). the problem w/ doug ultimately is that in hindsight it's such a slight show. coming of age about a day-dreamy shy boy. my fave char was the beatnik sister. the love interest (patty mayonnaise) from my memory had no personality at all.

when disney got ahold of it, it lost the zany charm that made it special. flattened the characters and dulled the humor.

tbc i loved doug + rugrats as a child a lot but i tried to make my ballot stuff i might actually want to watch again and there was so much other nostalgia fuel vying for attention.

it still brings me a lot of joy to think about, and i haven't tried re-watching, but there was a lot of fun mythology (nema tode! quailman!) and the cast of characters was pretty vibrant (aside from patty mayonnaise, who is not much besides a great name).

killer tofu is, of course, all time for me

yeah i still get beets songs in my head from time to time.

i need my allowance! yo-de-lay-ee-hooo!

i remember there being a reoccurring character who was obsessed w/ yodeling. the principal maybe? the show def had an off-beat universe

dougrats

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVY3-Xe8KY

pretty sure the yodeler was the vice-principal Mr. Bone

i remember mr bone -- he sounded like don knotts!

also loved the next-door neighbor who was always bragging that every single thing he owned was "very expensive!"

65. Serial Experiments Lain
41 points, 3 votes, 0 firsts

This was really high in my ballot. Existential philosophy + turn of the century cyber net thriller with flashy psychedelic visuals. Omg it’s amazing

Is it on Netflix?

its on youtube

Ive never seen that but Ive heard people talk about it. I might give it a watch!

This comment in the wiki is bemusing: "Ueda had to answer repeated queries about a statement made in an Animerica interview.[4][6][7] The controversial statement said Lain was "a sort of cultural war against American culture and the American sense of values we [Japan] adopted after World War II".[8] He later explained in numerous interviews that he created Lain with a set of values he took as distinctly Japanese; he hoped Americans would not understand the series as the Japanese would. This would lead to a "war of ideas" over the meaning of the anime, hopefully culminating in new communication between the two cultures. When he discovered that the American audience held the same views on the series as the Japanese, he was disappointed."

Haha that's great

It's a very quick watch. I don't remember many details anymore but I recall being swept up in the mood of the whole thing. fairly different from Ghost in the Shell, which explores some similar areas

64. Sailor Moon
42 points, 3 votes, 0 firsts

I'll always have a soft spot for Sailor Moon, which was an important show for me growing up. The plot of the English dub was enough to hook me, but it was watching some of the subbed Japanese episodes (borrowed from a friend) that really opened my eyes. One, I realized there was this secret wealth of great shows that were never aired in the US. I absolutely loved the tape trading culture of anime and how everything was so hard to find. Two, it was the first time I paid attention to cultural differences, which eventually bloomed into a love of travel

That said, near zero desire to go back and rewatch it

62T. Gumby
44 points, 3 votes, 1 firsts

62T. Xavier: Renegade Angel
44 points, 3 votes, 0 firsts

61. Liquid Television
47 points, 3 votes, 0 firsts

60. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
49 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts

I watched this because the internet seems to adore it, but I except for the episode the introduced us to Bo’s dads (which is genuinely excellent episode and easily the funniest of the series), I had a hard time enjoying it. I still contend that Catra is the protagonist in a Lucifer/Paradise Lost register.

77. The Critic
rewatched a few episodes for this poll. the first episode involves jay dating an actress who viciously dumps him when he gives a bad review of her acting. the other episode i watched ended with a parody of the crying game revelation scene with the woman secretly being barney the dinosaur. yeah, this hasn't held up. i remember the Shockwave™ episodes being even worse.

76. Rugrats
i remember some parents of young children being superfans of this in rec.arts.tv. i thought it was just ok. good theme song.

74. Astro Boy
one of my votes. one of my first experiences with serial storytelling. the circus episode is engrained in my mind -- i guess my parents had it on tape.

68. TMNT
this was a pleasant comedy show for kid me. i grew out of it before it ended.

64. Sailor Moon
another one popular on usenet, especially among people who knew little about anime but thought they were experts. "some noobs think sailor moon is for adults because it's anime, but it's not REAL anime", etc. i liked the episode where a bunch of main characters died before being brought back. it was a combination of several episodes into one for the english market.

59. Magic Roundabout, The (1965-1977)
49 points, 5 votes, 0 firsts

58. X-Men (Fox Kids, 1992-1997)
49 points, 5 votes, 0 firsts

I voted for this though I'm pretty sure it was a nostalgia trip for me. I wlll say that it was my first sustained exposure to the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix saga (I only read the Claremont comics much later into adulthood), and I ate it up like a kid eating glue.

57. Ulysses 31
50 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts

56. DuckTales (1987-1990)
51 points, 6 votes, 0 firsts

I watched the hell out of DT as a kid. I still remember the episode where the British butler screws up the triplets' baseball game because he doesn't understand the rules. The episodes with Gizmoduck were probably my favorite because I expect he was the Poochie of the era and I didn't know better.

55. Rocko's Modern Life
51 points, 6 votes, 0 firsts

54. Sealab 2021
52 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts

i liked the episode where a bunch of main characters died before being brought back. it was a combination of several episodes into one for the english market.

just two! the last two of the season. they're heartbreaking :(

53. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
52 points, 5 votes, 0 firsts

That said, near zero desire to go back and rewatch it

vinnie! it's worth it! ok there are many not-great sailor moon episodes but idk i also just love to watch it. the villain designs, the outfits, the infinitely recurring transformation scenes, the increasing queerness from season to season. it's like gay comfort food for me.

52. Ivor the Engine
53 points, 3 votes, 1 firsts

also sailor moon has a really compelling narrative about friendship and eternal love and time travel and interdimensional beings and utopian moon kingdoms, it kicks goddamn ass

i love the look of mr benn and ivor. never seen them before today.

51. Hey Arnold!
53 points, 4 votes, 0 firsts

That's the last one for today! Tomorrow, we'll get 50-41, and get to see the handiwork of Lovely Assistant Thermo!

Sealab TOO LOW

Hey Arnold is all-time for me purely on the basis of the episode where Helga goes to therapy

Noteworthy for being a show set in a city (forget if it’s literally New York or just extremely New York-like) when I feel like the suburbs, or at least detached single family housing, were the predominant setting for kid and family shows.

60. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
After the initial arc of adora leaving the horde, there's a series of episodes that are so inconsequential that they could have been 80s she-ra episodes. it does improve once the story kicks back in. haven't made it to season 2 yet. by the way, the first two volumes of noelle stevenson's lumberjanes are well worth seeking out.

57. Ulysses 31
watched an episode for the poll. fascinating SF/F setting, with some surprisingly good animation, but then the need for kid-friendly sidekicks is a big negative. i am guessing daft punk liked it.

56. DuckTales
i was watching the annotated foodfight on youtube, and one of the notes was "you could be watching ducktales right now". a note to keep always in mind.

53. Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
i ranked this pretty highly. a highlight is laura the receptionist, a great creation with a perfect voice acting performance. the recent audible podcast episodes are good too.

She-Ra’s most recent batch of episodes really start going places. Catra is the best character and Scorpia is my strong wife.

i think sealab was the first of the williams street adult swim shows i saw and i've never really revisited it but it seemed very funny to me at the time

vinnie! it's worth it! ok there are many not-great sailor moon episodes but idk i also just love to watch it. the villain designs, the outfits, the infinitely recurring transformation scenes, the increasing queerness from season to season. it's like gay comfort food for me.

ugh brad, you are so good at making me want to listen to and watch things, but I don't think you're gonna get me this time. I have a strong desire to go back and rewatch many specific moments, but there's SO much filler in between those moments. maybe someday an AI can figure out exactly what I liked and only show me that stuff

xp

77. The Critic
Orson Welles voiced by the guy who did Pinky kicks serious ass.

Sealab TOO LOW
FOR REAL