And now to continue my brief review of the best of the best that Cartoon Network had to offer us in our childhoods. Yesterday I talked about the Hanna-Barbara era which were some of Cartoon Networks first and most beloved shows, but there are a couple that people often associate with that group when in fact they're not Hanna-Barbara shows. And one of those are...
Ed Edd 'N' Eddy
I...fucking...love this show! This is my all time favourite Cartoon Network series, I love everything about this, I love the characters and their unique personalities and the way how they interact with each other. The animation, while some might straight up find ugly, I find charming in it's simplicity and unpolished design. And of the course the comedy; this is one of the funniest shows i've ever seen in my life, it is some of the best slapstick that i've ever seen, it fully uses the possibilities of animation to its fullest and is hilarious because of it. I honestly have nothing negative to say about it, it's just straight up incredible.
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Another show that people often assume is part of the same group as the other shows, my assumption would be because they all came out in the 90's. But one thing we can all agree on is that Courage the Cowardly Dog was fucking terrifying, when we were kids, this show scared the living shit out of us, i barely watched it because it was so creepy, yet even though i didn't see every episode, i remember every single one I did see, they were that affective. And that's the best compliment I can give this show, it set out to scare the living shit out of kids...and it succeeded...oh boy did it succeed.
Mike, Lu & Og
Who the fuck remembers this show? Anyone? I think I saw like an episode when I was a kid and it sucked, no wonder it was cancelled.
Sheep in the Big City/Time Squad
I'm lumping these two together because...I never watched either of them, i don't know what they're like, they could be good, they could suck, I dunno. Also I'm skipping Grim & Evil because they were split into two different shows and i'll talk about them individually.
Whatever Happened to...Robot Jones?
A surprisingly fitting title, seeing as very few people remember this show, and seeing as it only made 26 episodes before cancellation, it's not surprising. I remember watching a couple of episodes as a kid feeling less than impressed, if anything it was just a lamer version of Robotboy...and Robotboy wasn't exactly the cool kid on the block. The jokes were okay, the characters were meh, the animation was awful, i mean while Ed Edd N Eddy has a boyish charm to how rough it looked, this just looked sloppy, like it was all done in a first draft. So no, it's not surprising that it didn't last.
Codename: Kids Next Door
This show I would say was probably the cleverest show out of the Cartoon Cartoons, mostly because taking simple things surrounding kids lives and exaggerating them into this big spy like organisation, is pretty damn ingenious. Everything is so big and important because, it's what a kid would think is big and important, what's evil and villainous is because that's what kids think is evil and villainous. I love the characters, I love the comedy, I love the animation and most of all, I love the concept, it's still a great show to watch.
Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
This show is fantastic. Simple as that. I don't think i've ever seen a darker kids' show in my entire life. Death is a main character, hell is featured in multiple episodes, characters get their skin ripped off in brutal manors, episodes could end on a really miserable note. It was so mean spirited to its characters and it is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. I love this series for being one of the most unique kids shows i've ever seen, there's never been anything like it. Well, except for...
Evil Con Carne
This was the second series as part of the "Grim & Evil" show, which was eventually split off and the two became their own shows. The difference being Evil Con Carne was cancelled rather quickly, even though it was similar in premise and tone, to put it simply, it just wasn't as funny. Even though it's the same crew from Billy & Mandy, the characters in Con Carne just weren't as memorable or entertaining (except for the main guy) and i'm pretty sure everyone preferred Billy & Mandy, so it's no wonder it was cancelled so they could focus on the former show.
So, those were my opinions on the Cartoon Cartoons, the renaissance of hit after hit (after stinker) of Cartoon Network. And who knows, maybe one day i'll talk about their other television shows like Ben 10, Samurai Jack and Megas XLR...Oh of course i'm gonna talk about them, aliens, samurai and giant robots, these shows were awesome!
-Danny
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