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I can feel it, am going to enjoy writing every paragraph of this blog post. Apart from amazing moonlight tales and fun games we played with our friends, the tv shows(cartoons) that rocked the 90s and early 2000s where worth dying for, not only do I miss them, I want them back, lol. Didn't matter if I was in school or in church all I always wanted was getting back home to my favourite tv shows on cartoon network and Nickelodeon. I remember how dad would interrupt some killer scenes in power puff girls just around when bubbles was about to kick some Mojo Jojo ass and I and my kid sister would freak out. Those were the days, the good all days. I can't stand modern cartoons as they totally miss the things that make kids. So I will be doing a quick (rather long) summary of my favourite toons from back in the day.
Samurai Jack
''Long ago in a distant Land", I could recognize Aku's voice from my dreams. Can practically recite every line of that intro. while this wasn't so much like a show for kids since it contained a lot of plots and violence, I couldn't help but love the guy and his ability to single-handedly kill 7000000 enemies in one battle. Samurai Jack was a young prince whose home was destroyed by a big black demon who then sent him to a future where his minions rule. Every episode saw Jack trying to get back to the past.
Courage the Cowardly Dog
A purple dog? lol. Everything about this show spoke irony. A cowardly dog named Courage, really? but somehow he always managed to save the day. Courage lived with a couple in the middle of nowhere and they were regularly under attack from ghosts, robots, wild animals, aliens and crazy people. And even tho he did it in a cowardly manner, courage always saved the day. It's definitely one of my best shows of the time as it came with a lot of humour and irony. I remember this episode where a headless chicken from space came looking for its head, it made away with one of Courage's owners head, which one of them was it? you tell me.
Johnny Bravo
Even as a kid, I always thought Johnny was a total jerk. He was always all about his manliness but never really possessed the tactics required to get the girl. At some point, I would get bored of his regular failures. Never saw an episode where he got the girl. He had such small legs in those blue pants. His kid sister was always there to watch him fail, I didn't have to do it alone.
Rugrats
I think every 90s kid saw this one. Although Rugrats later transitioned into "All Grown Up", I don't think the latter was as popular as the original show. Rugrats was a tale of amazing babies who would leave their playgrounds and go on exciting adventures. They were all distinct in imaginary character and ability with Tommy as their leader. Am certain am not alone in the thought that their parents were really odd.
CatDog
Haha, this was a Nickelodeon classic. A lot of humour and was always fun watching these distinct personalities in one body always contradicting each other when it came to decision making. Somehow they always found a way to work their differences and make decisions in the end.
Looney Tunes
From Bucks Bunny to Donal Duck, Tweety the Bird to Porky pig, looney tunes was everyone's favourite. There where so many characters in the loony tune series and every one of them a joy to watch. It comprised of a lot of awkward humour and sometimes taught me a thing or two. Bucks Bunny was my favourite looney tune character and Tweety the bird was just adorable.
Codename: Kids Next Door
This one has some Nostalgic effect on me as me and my sister did gather parts to build the grand canyon used by the kids next door. After a few episodes, it easily got boring for me but my sister did love every episode. The story focused on a group of children who belonged to a unit of a worldwide organization that fought injustice against kids with their really funny gadgets like a telephone that used a fork as its antenna.
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Grim & Evil)
In the early days of this show, it was called Grim and Evil, sharing sets with Evil Con Carne. I did love it that way back then but the later split the show. Grim was the first thing close to the image of death I ever saw but they portrayed it as a good friend of Billy and Mandy. I did enjoy all their ghost adventures but Billy was just too much of an Idiot every single time. LOL.
Dexter's Laboratory
I practically grew up with this show, reruns were regularly aired on cartoon network and I did love it so much. Dexter was a genius kid who had a lab behind his bookshelf. His sister Didi was always there to ruin his experiments and would sometimes threaten to let his parents know about his lab. Dexter would sometimes present his inventions in his school's science fair and never came top because even his teachers didn't understand his work. Dexter would get himself into crazy situations in the course of his experiments and more often than not, the solutions didn't need genius methods but since that's all he was, he would approach it scientifically and obviously fail. Dexters Lab was a classic. And that theme song? amazing!
Scooby-Doo
In my opinion, Scooby-Doo was just as popular as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes. I loved the suspense, humour and general lesson of the show which was that the devil has a human face, haha. The episodes where about a group of teenagers who helped communities solve mysteries with the help of Shaggy's funny, cowardly and equally smart dog called Scooby-Doo. The Idea of Shaggy loving Scooby-snacks was a crazy one but did show a strong bond between him and his dog.
The Flintstones
While Scooby-Doo focused on mystery, The Flintstones focused on history or a very imaginary form of it. This was a tale of a modern stone-age family, I still don't know how they fit but that was the beauty of it. They had stone cars, pet dinosaurs for dogs and different methods of performing modern activities using amenities thought to be available in the stone age. Even tho I wasn't so attached, I still believe it was an amazing show
Tom and Jerry
Everybody loves Tom and Jerry. The classic stories of the enmity of a Cat named Tom and a Mouse named Jerry. I found it odd that the mouse always came out victorious on most occasions and had some form of pity for Tom the cat. This one holds a lot of memories for me and I still watch it till date.
Ed, Edd, 'n', Eddy
I laughed typing that title, this was one of those extremely funny shows on CN. This was the story of three boys in the neighbourhood, Eddy was the leader and con man of the gang, double d(Edd) was rather logical and scientific will Ed was straight up stupid. They would try to trick other kids into giving them money and all their Jawbreakers but just when it seemed as tho everything was going according to plan, something happens that ends their almost successful trick. They all loved Jawbreakers.
SpongeBob SquarePants
I never loved this show, even tho every kid did. Every character was a joke to me. Patrick did crack me up once in a while but humour based on extremely awkward situations was not my thing. No love from me SpongeBob. It still was a Nickelodeon classic that rocked the 90s.
The Powerpuff Girls
I watched this particular one majorly because my sister loved it. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were created out of a Professors accidental addition of chemical X, so rather than the cute little girls he envisioned. He ended up with cuties who had superpowers and they would go on to fight different hoodlums with Mojo Jojo as their leader. Mojo Jojo was also a brainchild of the professor, a very smart monkey bent on taking over the universe(silly thing). This was one of the most successful CN cartoons of all time
Dora the Explorer
I seldom watched this. In my opinion, it was the most boring toon of the early 2000s but was extremely popular with a lot of fans.
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
I looked forward to every episode of this blockbuster(personal) on Nickelodeon. I sometimes wondered if his hair carried an extension of his brains since it was almost the size of his head. He was always creating new inventions that seldom worked and going on amazing adventures. I did love this one but for no real reason.
Rocket Power
Tale of a gang of four kids who did mad athletics. I did love them but no real emotional attachment.
As Told by Ginger
I think this had an amazing theme song. This was a story of Ginger and her friends and how the avoided embarrassments in school. Was a classic preteen series and I did relate a lot to the show.
Pokémon
Pokemon is one of my favourite toons of all times and had a lot of fans back in the day. Pokemon was the story of a boy who happened to be a monster trainer. He dreamed of being the best monster trainer ever and would go on to pick and train monsters and also win tournaments. Pikachu was everyone's favourite pokemon, he was just so adorable but that didn't take away bravery from him although many pokemon enthusiasts thought he sucked and was hyped, he did defeat over 800 Pokemons if am not mistaken.
The Addams Family
I really loved this one, tho it was last produced the year I was born, I went on to enjoy humour from this amazing family whose patriarch was Gomez Addams. So many weird characters like Mrs Adams who happened to be a vampire, uncle Fester who was something more like the Frankenstein and loved blowing himself up. Theme song ringing in my head as I type this, haha.
Two Stupid Dogs
Total definition of comedy, these dogs were just stupid.
Other Notable Mentions
- Cow and Chicken
- Pinky and the Brain
- Arthur
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog- while I loved the video game, I had zero attachment to the show
- Hey Arnold!
- The Wild Thornberrys
- Mega's XLR
- Wacky Races
- Top Cat
- Avatar: The Legend of Aang
- The Jetsons
- Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends
- Die Cramp Twins
The beautiful thing about cartoons from the 90s and early 2000s is that they almost always was a lesson, something to learn. Let's take Wacky Races for instance, it taught us that trying to go up by bringing others down never works, you don't win by plotting other peoples failure and I think that was so dope. How about The Addams Family? taught us that no matter how different we may be, we can always coexist with family, but I would never put up with Uncle Fester, lol. Power Puff Girls taught us that accidents could be blessings in disguise. Like they say; what doesn't kill you will make you stronger.
So there you have it, my list of personal favourites, while I am certain that I have missed some amazing toons am quite sure not so many. Would love to know which were your favourites and which bring the most Nostalgic effects. I totally miss them.
