Ok, first, a few mentions.
1) The show cannot be an anime. While shows like Pokemon and DragonBall Z were my favorites at the time, I won't count them since I classfiy anime different from average cartoons.
2) These are shows that I grew up with in different stages of my childhood. While some of these I would avoid like the plague today, they were my favorites at the time.
3) My list will be different from yours, but to quote Stuttering Craig, "that's why it's a good list."
10. Gargoyles
What do you get when you mix Ahh! Real Monsters and Disney? You get f'ing Gargoyles! Yeah, I wouldn't have thought of it, either! This show was the introduction of the goth world to most kids between the ages of seven and ten! You have Goliath, who leads a group of Gargoyles whose race had been destroyed by humans after some sort of wizard turned them into stone. Goliath and others now live in New York, centuries later and must adjust with the times. Lexington grows a fondness for technology, Brooklyn loves the new age attitude, Hudson discovers the wonderful invention of television, Broadway eats a lot, Bronx is a gargoyley dog, and Goliath must figure out how to separate the good humans from the bad humans.
Yeah, I know it sounds corny now, but it was the biggest thing happening for most kids. I remember pretending to be these characters during recess at school. That's just how awesome it was! Thank you, Disney. Thank you for this wonderful, dark, dramatic, almost evil-looking creation that was ahead of its time. I salute you! 9. X-Men
Here's where the real shit-stopper is... X-men was THE show to watch on Saturday mornings. The story moved pretty quickly, you got to see a whole bunch of unique powers, and you were able to write down the badass one-liners spoken by Wolverine. If none of that gets you excited, then you'd definitely be excited for the fast paced action and the fact that actual fears and dilemmas are played out through each episode. There were no PSAs about drugs or weapons or anything like that, X-Men were too cool to care about the children who watched them.
There was a death in the first episode, which stunned a lot of people. At the time, characters don't "die!" They're beaten, defeated, ran off, or go missing, but they don't die. X-Men were the first ones to put that statement to the side and tell the producers, "screw you!"
Of course, in later seasons things got too confusing and the story went by too quickly. You had villains showing up and disappearing constantly. You had Magneto, the devil, an alien, some space people, etc. Not to mention FOX kept changing the lineup, making it hard as hell to keep up. 8. Spider-Man
The story of a down-on-his-luck photographer gets bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes New York's most responsible and friendly superhero, Spider-Man! Yeah, it makes sense to me! Who gives a damn if anything made sense here!? Who cares that Mary Jane should have realized Peter Parker was Spider-Man when he was disappearing every time Spider-Man showed up to save the day? Who cares how the webbed freak always used to just swing everywhere in the city without necessarily aiming for buildings. Remember the episode when he took a little girl home in the suburbs? There were no buildings around and he was still swinging away on his webs!
Who cares about all that when you have top notch voice acting, awesome action sequences, deep storylines, and awesome villains!? Rhino, pissed off because.. well, I can't remember... but he was f'ing PISSED! Or Scorpion, angry because he was betrayed into becoming a freak. Doc Oct, the Crocodile Doctor, Shocker, and all sorts of villains showed up to thwart the web-crawler and take over the city/world while they're at it. Put in a couple of guest appearances by other Marvel superheroes like Black Cat, Fantasy Four's Human Torch, and most notably, the X-men... you have a recipe for a kickass cartoon show!
I think the only reason the show went off the air was simply because of the screwed up schedule FOX did. Just as they did with the X-Men, they started switching Spider-Man around on us so they could trick us into watching some other crappy shows like Bobby's World or Life With Louie (Note: that show kicked ass, but not more than Spider-Man). I'm not sure what actually did replace Spider-Man, but after the first move, it never got as much viewers as before and it eventually faded into oblivion. Good thing the movie kicked ass! 7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were awesome in my day. Everyone was into them; children, teenagers, even adults! You had what I thought were the original cliched "must haves" in shows that had a group of main characters. Raphael was the tough guy, Michelangelo was the party-dude, Donatello was the tech geek, and Leonardo was the all-around leader.
The show lasted almost forever and it resulted into four video games and even full-length, live-action movie that.. ACTUALLY GOOD! The games were decent for their time and the movie kicked ass, but nothing could ever top watching Rocksteady and Bebop lead a horde of robotic ninjas to defeat the giant, barely legal reptiles that have defeated them time and time again.
Oh, the ninjas were awesome. It was a little gimmick the show did so the turtles could use their weapons on the bad guys without anyone "really" dying. They did this in hopes that kids wouldn't try it at home. How wrong they were.... how wrong they were. (*Currently flashing back to days when he'd hit his brother with a long stick in Donatello fashion.*)
Bottom line, TMNT was awesome. It was radical. It made you go around and say "cowabunga!" 6. The Simpsons
In the 90s, the Simpsons were everywhere. Especially Bart Simpson. He was the "bad boy" of that generation. Sawing off heads of statues, stealing video games around Christmas time, cheated on major tests and pretended he was a genius, and even being so dastardly enough to lead a group of townsfolk into a nazi-ish march down the street. Ok, maybe he didn't do that, but he was the "bad boy" of the time. All the while Lisa played her Sax, Homer continued to get frustrated with working conditions, Marge taught life lessons or some shit, and Maggie sucked on her pacifier and pooped.
I heard a lot of people claim that the older seasons were better than today. I think this is just because they think everything was better when they were kids. To these people, Bill Nye was better than Dora the Explorer, Rugrats was better than All Grown Up, and Doug was better than Life With Ginger (all true). However, these people just don't see the beauty behind the new seasons like I do.
Remember how Bart always did this over the top things in the early episodes? Well, With just as awesome as those were, we also got a load... a LOAD of crappy episodes centered around "Bart's Heart of Gold." I half expected an entire episode to be featured around Bart helping an old lady across the street because he felt guilty for calling her a hag!
These newer episodes now focus on the entire family. We have Lisa episodes, Marge episodes, Homer episodes, more Bart episodes and even Maggie episodes. Hell, they went further and had an episode for just about every citizen in Springfield! The Mayor, Snake, Krusty, Sideshow Bob, Selma & Patty, Ned Flanders, and even Bart's teacher, Edna!
The newer seasons that give us more and more insight on the workings of Milhouse, Nelson, and others will forever be debated as some of the "worst" seasons because they stray far away from the Simpsons. Maybe people are angry over Bart's popularity declining. I dunno. All I know is that the creators are smart removing the focus from part and placing it around Homer and the rest of the city as a whole. This diversity certainly helps the show grow onto bigger things... such as The Simpsons Movie. (Notice how Homer is on the cover instead of Bart? 90's, that would have been Bart's face. Possibly with a slingshot aiming at us.)
The Simpsons, some loved the early seasons, some love the later seasons. Others, like myself, just loved (and still love) the entire series altogether. 5. Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
When I was a kid, this show was the best thing on TV. It was Mortal f'n Kombat in cartoon format! No longer did we have to wait for the next game to come out to see our favorite characters... no longer did we have to wait for another movie to come out to see our heroes kick some ass... they were there, every Saturday morning, kicking ass like there's no tomorrow.
The likes of Liu Kang, Nightwolf w/ wolfy pet, Kitana, Jax, Sonya Blade, and newly face-turned Sub-Zero are all led by the Thunder God, Raiden to take on the evil that is.. well... almost any Mortal Kombat character you could think of. Scorpion was the first villain they fought (this was around the time Scorpion was a legit "baddie"), but the common foes to our heroes are the Tarkatan warriors. They're pretty much like a mixture of the Foot Clan from TMNT and the Putty Soldiers in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. This was my first time realizing that Baraka wasn't just one lone man. Instead, he was the leader of a horde of the Tarkatan Race (I called them all Baraka).
Looking back now, I couldn't imagine how I could have enjoyed this. The dialogue was bad, the voice actors stunk, and the action was just plain awful. It was more or less you average Justice Leagu-ish episode, just with MK characters replacing DC characters.
Still, the show was a major part of my childhood for the short time it was on (only one season of 13 episodes). When the season got into its later episodes, the USA Network decided to change its timeslot and eventually, the plug. It short, it was awful, it was a terrible show by today's standards.... but man, it was awesome at the time (when you're a dumb kid). 4. Beavis & Butthead
"Beavis and Butt-head are not real. They are stupid cartoon people completely made up by this Texas guy who we hardly even know. Beavis and Butt-head are dumb, crude, ugly, thoughtless, sexist, self-destructive fools. But for some reason the little wiener heads make us laugh."
You know it's good when it's one of the first cartoons to actually need to tell its viewers that it's JUST A CARTOON and that it SHOULDN'T be taken so seriously. I had a lot of fun watching Beavis & Butthead while growing up. It was new, unique, and funny. Very different from Looney Tunes and exceptionally different from the superhero shows like X-men or Batman. In fact, this show was so awesome for what it was, my parents BANNED me from watching it! (Of course, I always did anyway.)
The show was removed from regular cable years ago, but through some amount of amazingness (is that even a word?), it's somehow still known today amongst the children. Beavis & Butthead are one of those shows that'll never die just because of how stupid it really is. The animation was crappy, but the jokes and satire presented in the film.. as well as the real-life 90s attitude amongst teens and adults.. were all there to make the show great.
I still say that they should bring it back onto MTV today and let the rest of the new generation see just how great shows were back then. Hey, it might even bring some music back to Music TeleVision via the music videos presented throughout the episodes. I know I criticized people for saying stuff that end with "...better in our day." Though MTV and everything on it was 50x better back then.
"Beavis and Butt-head are not role models. They're not even real. They're cartoons. Some of the things they do could cause a person to get hurt, expelled, arrested, possibly deported. To put it another way: Don't try this at home." 3. Tiny Toons Adventures
"We're Tiny. We're Toony. We're all a little looney!" Oh God, how I loved hearing that song when I was a kid. It was the perfect way of opening a cartoon show. The lyrics were great, the music was awesome, and it explained what the show was. It was Looney Tunes, just a kid version. No, because the original Looney Tunes were in the episodes. It was a whole new generation of Looney Tunes with the orginals making special cameos often throughout the series.
Complete with social satire, pop culture references, and the occasional song, the Tiny Toons had my attention to the fullest. I'd watch reruns as much as I'd watch the newer episodes. Babs and Buster Bunny (no relation) were the main characters, but didn't stop the show from highlighting Plucky Duck, Hampton J. Pig, Dizzy Devil, Montana Max, Elmira, and many others on a regular schedule. The characters were classic, the jokes were great, and everything just seemed to click like it had been around since the days of the original Looney Tunes. Some say the original Looney Tunes were funnier, but I say the Tiny Toons were superior.
Just one thing... why didn't Buster or Plucky wear pants? o.O 2. Animaniacs
Sticking with the questionable fashion statements (Dot, anyone?), the next show is the Animaniacs! A show about three random, wacky, crazy, certifiably insane kids created by Warner Bros. Studios and were sealed away out of fear of random destruction of their studios. Every morning, they break from the water tower they lived in, went through their adventures, and would either be caught or (most often) willingly return to their home for the evening. Being set in Hollywood, California, it was guaranteed to see more than a dozen pop culture references, but that's what made the show fun.
There was no story and most 30-minute episode were created by a few short five minute to seven minute to ten minute mini episodes. It wasn't until later when the episodes got longer, but even then, they managed to have at least three mini-episodes per episode.
There was a lot of hidden innuendo in the episodes, which probably caused some parents to get outraged through the whole thing, but I never caught until my later years. The magic of the show were the songs. In most episodes, the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) takes us through some of the most educational songs without the audience even realizing it. The Presidents, the Panama Canal, the US States and Captials, the Word in the English Language, and the Nations of the World are just some of the few songs that are still memorable today. I have proof, too. When I took my U.S. Geography quiz over the states and capitals... all I did was watch and learn this song. I got every capital matched up with its state.
The show was fun. Most parents loved it, almost every kid loved it, and children today are just confused by it, simply because of the pop-culture references that they never had the chance to grow up with. The show was amazing and it was one of my long-time favorites. I bought the DVD set just to relive my childhood. 1. Freakazoid
Pure balls to the wall greatness! Freakazoid was random, funny, loud, obnoxious, clever, self-aware, and everything in between. Sometimes it would follow a story, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes the hero wins, sometimes he doesn't in an amusing manner. Sometimes he's completely dedicated to his duty, sometimes he forgets after being so easily distracted. The show wasn't just funny, it was hilarious!
Freakazoid is a superhero who "lives inside" Dexter's (a computer geek) subconscious. Whenever Dexter yells "freak out," he turns into everyone's favorite and most random superhero we all know. Freakazoid's super strong, super fast, and super insane. Sometimes he'd have to really battle against his foes, sometimes he'd have to outsmart them, but most often, he'd just embarrass them to no end. It wasn't uncommon for Freakazoid to just start yelling at his foe and start ranting, causing the enemy to retreat in shame.
To me, this show was GOD as a kid. It was as though God, herself, had reached down and took Warner Bros. Studios by the throat and said, "CREATE SOMETHING TO ENTERTAIN ME!" That's how awesome I thought this show was.
By combining Animaniacs, SuperMan, the Flash, and a madman, the world received the greatness that was... FREAKAZOID! ....I just orgasmed. HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no specific order)
Road Rovers
Pinky & the Brain
Ahh! Real Monsters
Rocko's Modern Life
Doug
Tom & Jerry
Looney Tunes
Rugrats
Inspector Gadget
ThunderCats
Swat Cats
Street Sharks
Life With Louie
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The marvel cartoons were a fave of mine too. X-men having no PSA's isn't true though. Hate crimes were essentially what the show is all about. The senator builds giant sentinals to kill mutants and are often seen being abused by members of the public who hate what they are.
I'm glad the simpsons didn't get 1st place. It's a good show, but stupidly over-rated in my opinion.