Christmas is just around the corner. Is everyone ready for the holiday? I know I am! It's my favorite holiday of the year!
To help ease the holiday tensions, let's jump back into our series looking at all those fantastic cartoons of the 80's. Today, we're looking at 1988, a relatively obscure one for me. Due to my age at the time, I wasn't watching too many cartoons. Instead, I was spending a whole lot of time playing Nintendo, getting sucked into the coming digital age. As such, for me, a lot of this is going to be retrospective.
Title: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
Air Date: September 1988 - August 1991
Seasons: Four
Episodes: Twenty-Seven
DVD Release: Yes
While I enjoyed Scooby-Doo as a kid, I checked out long before this iteration came around. In my adult years, I'm playing quite a bit of catch up with the various Doo based series, and I've been enjoying making my way through them. I hope to get around to this one soon.
The title says it all. The show brings back the classic gang, following them in their pre-teen years. The premise is the same. Chasing ghosts that turn out to be common criminals.
It's been released in a couple iterations of DVD's, so grabbing this one shouldn't be too difficult. For now, it's relatively affordable.
Title: Alf Tales
Air Date: September 1988 - December 1989
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Twenty-One
DVD Release:Incomplete
Alf Tales continues the stories of everyone's favorite alien from Melmac, not only from his live action series, but also previous animated one. However, rather than focus on Alf and his own specific adventures, this series instead featured a variety of segments based on popular fairy tales.
While the first seven episodes have been released on DVD, there has been no word that the remaining fourteen will come to light. Considering the first set came out in 2006, it's highly unlikely.
Title: COPS
Air Date: September - December 1988
Seasons: One
Episodes: Sixty-Five
DVD Release: Yes
I didn't watch too many episodes of COPS as a kid, nor did I have many toys from the series. In fact, I only had one. However, when I caught this series as an adult, it quickly became one of my favorites. The variety of characters, their unique skills and attributes, it all just came together perfectly.
It's been released on DVD a couple times, and remains in print, so this is definitely one you want to grab sooner than later. I highly recommend it.
Title: Count Duckula
Air Date: September 1988 - February 1993
Seasons: Four
Episodes: Sixty-Five
DVD Release: Sort Of
I didn't catch Count Duckula too frequently back in the day. It was one of those shows that didn't really resonate with me. It just felt too...British. Very slow paced, with humor I couldn't relate to. I just didn't like it.
While the first season was released on DVD in 2005, the remaining three have not. That is, unless you look to PAL formats, where the entire series has been made available, but is out of print.
Title: Denver The Last Dinosaur
Air Date: September - November 1988
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Fifty
DVD Release: Yes
Denver is an interesting premise to say the least. It seemingly has it all. Teenagers hiding a dinosaur, an evil scientist, and even time travel. If it sounds like an odd combination, that's because it is.
The series got its biggest boost in popularity as a result of riding the waves of The Land Before Time. Dinosaur related shows were big business in the 80's, and Denver was just one more to add to the pile.
The series has been released on DVD in its entirety, but is long out of print. As a result, it's quite pricey, and will easily set you back about $150.00.
Title: Fantastic Max
Air Date: September 1988 - January 1990
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Twenty-Six
DVD Release: No
Fantastic what? I don't think I've ever seen this one, even while flipping channels. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of it. I won't lie, the show sounds interesting enough. A young baby that has adventures in space with his alien and robot friends. Actually, now that I type that, I may have caught this one at some point. I don't know.
Fantastic Max has never been released on DVD, so unfortunately, I won't have the chance just yet to catch up on this one.
Title: Garfield And Friends
Air Date: September 1988 - December 1994
Seasons: Seven
Episodes: One Hundred Twenty-One
DVD Release: Yes
Though I wasn't a fan of the farm segments, or the friends, as they were, I did enjoy watching Garfield. The show captured the fun of the cartoon cat, and brought with it all that great sarcasm the character is known for. I mean, seriously, what's not to love?
In response to the feature film being so well received, the entire animated series was released in its entirety across five volumes. What's even better is that you can grab them all for around $40.00!
Title: Marvel Action Universe
Air Date: October 1988 - September 1991
Seasons: Unknown
Episodes: Unknown
DVD Release: No
Dino-Riders? Robocop? X-Men? YES PLEASE!
Marvel Action Universe featured some of the greatest series in this ninety minute segment show, and that was just in the first seasons. When the show launched again in rebroadcasted re-runs, it incorporated in even more classics, such as Defenders Of The Earth, Dungeons And Dragons, The Incredible Hulk, The New Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, and Spider-Woman! Talk about a powerhouse of a show!
While you can find some (and I mean very few) of the series which made this show what it was on DVD, sadly, you won't find Robocop or Dino-Riders.
Air Date: September 1988 - September 1989
Seasons: Two
Episodes: Sixty-Five
DVD Release: Not All Of It
Police Academy is one of my favorite film franchises...Well, up through the fourth one, anyway. As such, it was odd that when an animated series hit the air in 1988 that I missed all of it. Even more odd since I was right back in theaters this year watching part five of the films.
Part of the series has been released on DVD as of 2012, but with only thirty episodes currently available, and nine years since its initial shelf date, it seems highly unlikely that the remaining thirty-five episodes will come to light. What a shame.
Title: Robotech II
Air Date: 1986
Seasons: One
Episodes: Three
DVD Release: Yes
Robotech II, or as it's better known, Robotech II: The Sentinels was initially planned to be continuation of the original series, spread across sixty-five episodes. However, after three episodes were completed, the series was unceremoniously cancelled. The footage was salvaged, and cobbled into a home video release as a full length feature film.
Much like the original series, Robotech II has been released on DVD numerous times, and it remains readily available in some form or fashion. Depending on how elaborate you want your collection, it can range in price from cheap to ridiculously expensive.
Air Date: September - December 1988
Seasons: One
Episodes: Thirteen
DVD Release: Yes
It was a classic animated series featuring Superman against his greatest arch enemy, Lex Luthor. Being released after the highly popular John Byrne relaunch of the character in comics, this series tends to follow this redeveloped mythos closely, making it a fairly true to source material series.
All thirteen episodes were released on DVD, and remain readily available as of this writing. However, at $25.00, it's rather expensive for what you get.
Title: This Is America Charlie Brown
Air Date: October 1988 - May 1989
Seasons: One
Episodes: Eight
DVD Release: Yes
In terms of its original airing, it wasn't released traditionally. The first four episodes came out weekly, but then the remaining four were released once per month. Because the show featured iconic historic figures, it also deviated from the traditional Peanuts motif, where these particular adult characters were shown from head to toe.
This is one of the few Charlie Brown shows to be out of print on DVD, and because of this, it can easily set you back sixty dollars. Man, you have to be a major Peanuts fan to pay that price.
Title: The Adventures Of Raggedy Ann And Andy
Air Date: September 1988 - September 1990
Seasons: One
Episodes: Thirteen
DVD Release: Yes
Raggedy Ann has been a children's favorite since 1915 when the doll was first invented. Since then, she and her friend Andy, have been featured in multiple forms of media, and returned in 1988 to lead an all star cast of their friends in this all new series. Though it featured action and adventure, for the most part, The Adventures Of Raggedy Ann And Andy remained lighthearted, and very family friendly.
It has been released in its entirety on DVD, and can currently be grabbed for under ten bucks. Definitely a good time to grab this one if you collect 80's cartoons.
Title: The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley
Air Date: September - December 1988
Seasons: One
Episodes: Thirteen
DVD Release: Yes
I'm not ashamed to admit that I watched a lot of this show. So much that when I was posting this blurb about it that I was shocked to discover it was only thirteen episodes long. I feel like I watched way more than that, but obviously couldn't have. My favorite segments were by far the ones featuring Count Floyd.
The Completely Mental Misadventures Of Ed Grimley has been released in full as part of Warner's manufacture on demand series, and this one is definitely on my list to grab soon. You should too.
Air Date: September - October 1988
Seasons: One
Episodes: Five
DVD Release: No
Wait. John Kricfalusi made another show that wasn't Ren and Stimpy related? Huh. I didn't know that.
Based on the drama I read surrounding this one, whereas Kricfalusi was constantly fighting with the studio to allow him to add more and more offensive humor, while they pushed back for family friendly content, the more I want to see it. Too bad it's never been released on DVD.
Title: The New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh
Air Date: January 1988 - October 1991
Seasons: Four
Episodes: Fifty
DVD Release: Sort Of
Man, 1988 was all about the "new adventures" of someone, and Winnie The Pooh wanted in on that action too! If you're a fan of all the cuddly characters of the 100 Acre Woods, then this show was definitely up your alley.
Though it hasn't been released in its entirety, part of the series has been released on DVD under the revised name, Growing Up With Winnie The Pooh. Not only was the name changed, but so too was the intro to the series.
Title: The New Yogi Bear Show
Air Date: September - November 1988
Seasons: One
Episodes: Forty-Five
DVD Release: No
Fans of Yogi were happy to hear in 1988 that he would be off on new adventures. While new characters were also incorporated into the series, those looking for a fix of their original beloved bear were also treated to original shorts inner cut into the series. It was a nice mix mash of new meets old, all segmented together in a half hour block.
Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD, and no plans have been announced to do so.
And with that, we wrap up 1988, and poise ourselves for one last visit to the world of 80's cartoons. Join me next week as we close the book on 2021 with a look at the cartoons of 1989. I hope to see you there!
This series of posts encompasses the following:
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
I remember the majority of those!
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