Recollections: cartoons

I recently re-watched an intro of one of my favourite TV shows as a child, and came across this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnfzV26secM

Someone posted a comment underneath the video that said "Which one is the original?" I spent a good part of 3 minutes laughing just at that comment.

One of the first cartoons I can remember watching was Danger Mouse. I remember that Danger Mouse worked out of a fire hydrant, and had a sidekick (though I do not remember what the sidekick looked like or who he was) and that Danger Mouse had an eye patch and got his orders from a walrus. Any other details escape me. Then of course there was Tom and Jerry, many videotapes of Tom and Jerry. Thinking back to some of the stuff I saw in Tom and Jerry, there were jokes embedded in the cartoons based on scientific and cultural references that I would have only understood many years later (quadratic equation, operatic songs, political references).

There were some Warner brothers cartoons here and there, but then came one of the most integral shows of my generation : The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I could never fully tell which turtle I aspired toward the most, but probably a decent mix of Leonardo and Donatello. Every man, woman and child I knew grew up on this show. The show continues today, but it simply isn't the same show it used to be back in the nineties. The show looks completely different, though the characters are somewhat faithful to their roots.

There were a couple of more interesting shows on the local channel in Sharjah. COPS was a great show (the cartoon of course). GI Joe of course was always very popular with everyone. MASK was a little-known cartoon, but it was the first cartoon I "rediscovered" i.e. the first cartoon whose intro I found on youtube and managed to remember the entire intro sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Z1yLO9C-Q

We got satellite programming in the UAE later on, and a whole host of shows made their way to my TV set. Swat Kats and centurions were my favourites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=pkiqbsaX3eE&feature=endscreen

My love for cartoons ended around age 13. I found the cartoons in Canada a bit silly, with Dragonball and Pokemon and such. Everything's done on computer now, everything's 3D. It just doesn't look as entertaining or as sharp as it used to look. Also, the cartoons to which children currently have easy access nowadays are much less violent than those I used to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_AdxJWFUh4

Boring. Children need explosions. Children need conflict. Children need heroes. Real heroes.