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The ‘JRZ Airstaff Shares All Their 80’s Favorites

The ‘JRZ Airstaff Shares All Their 80’s Favorites

The ‘JRZ Airstaff Shares All Their 80’s Favorites

Matt Knight’s Top 10 Cartoons Of The 80’s

By Matt Knight

I spent every Saturday morning in the 80’s plopped in front of the TV for hours. The morning always started with a giant bowl of some sugary cereal and watching some of the best cartoons.

VOTE: 80 Essential Hits From The ’80s

Let the arguments begin as I present my top 10.

  • 10 - The Snorks

    (1984-1989) Basically this was a “bootleg” and underwater version of ‘The Smurfs’ and since you’ll see ‘The Smurfs’ later on this list, how could you not love ‘The Snorks?’

  • 9 - Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling

    (1985-1986) The WWF (now WWE) was exploding after the first two WrestleMania events, and Vince McMahon dipped his toe into the Saturday morning cartoon pool using his biggest star – Hulk Hogan – and animating all the WWF superstars of the time. I’m pretty sure this cartoon is why I still pay attention to the current WWE product to this very day.

  • 8 - Muppet Babies

    (1984-1991) I mean, come on! It was the already beloved Muppets, in baby form and animated! Oh, and I learned stuff too because they had tons of lessons to teach to kids. But that was obviously secondary to Baby Animal still causing havoc as a toddler.

  • 7 - He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe

    (1983-1985) Yeah, I thought this ran a LOT longer than 3 years, but time doesn’t exist when you’re a kid. When you’re 7 years old, holding up a toy sword and yelling “IIII HAVE THE POWERRRR”, you’re having a pretty good childhood.

  • 6 - Thundercats

    (1985-1990) Cat-like aliens escape to Third Earth as their home is destroyed. You’d think that would be a solid plan, but mutants follow them to try and acquire their powers. What a story, snarf snarf. Thundercats…HOOOO!

  • 5 - DuckTales

    (1987-1990) I know you just sung the “wooo-oooo” from the theme song just now. Who didn’t want to dive into a vault of gold coins?

  • 4 - Voltron

    (1984-1985) Another cartoon that saw me getting all the action figures and turning five lions into Voltron – Defender of the Universe. This was my first experience with Japanese animation, which was more choppy than American animation, but it didn’t stop me one bit from loving it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uS5b8aQ6z8

  • 3 - The Smurfs

    (1981-1989) I’m not kidding when I say I had almost EVERY SINGLE miniature Smurfs figure, the mushroom houses and everything that came along with the collection. It took up FOUR shelves in my bedroom and NOBODY was allowed to touch a single Smurf except for me.

  • 2 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

    (1987-1996) Four turtles and a rat managed to get into some toxic ooze and then became sewer-dwelling ninja fighters that battled the Foot Clan and ate pizza. What’s NOT to love about this? This cartoon spawned tons of video games, all of which I owned too.

  • 1 - Transformers

    (1984-1987) There is no doubt that this was the greatest cartoon to me. I can’t even put a count on how many action figures I had, how many times I dressed as an Autobot or Decepticon for Halloween, and how many times I sobbed as a kid seeing Optimus Prime die in ‘Transformers: The Movie.’

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