New DVDs for children of the 80s and early 90s

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I don't normally report on DVD releases on this blog, but I came across the following while I was staring wistfully at the San Diego Comic Con website, and thought it might be of interest to some of you nostalgic types... It certainly brought back some warm fuzzy memories for me.

On 29 July, Warner Brothers finally released Tiny Toons Adventures and Freakazoid! on Region 1 DVD, after other hit series, Animaniacs and Pinky & The Brain, have been available since 2006.


As much as I remember enjoying Tiny Toons (as well as playing the old Konami video game to death), I don't think I would rush out and purchase the DVD boxset. The series - a hip, family friendly spin-off from the Looney Tunes - was a lot of fun, but doesn't occupy as special a place in my heart as some other animated series from the same period.

I'm talking of course about the late 1980s into the mid 1990s, when Disney was treating us to DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and Darkwing Duck, Warner Brothers was wowing us with Batman: The Animated Series, and then there was the superb X-Men animated series. TV on weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings used to rock!

Anyway, while I probably wouldn't fork out for a Tiny Toons DVD unless I had children, I would definitely consider purchasing Freakazoid! right now...


Debuting in 1995, Freakazoid!, much like my other Warner faves, Animaniacs and its spin-off series Pinky & The Brain, was specifically designed to appeal to both children and adults - combining looney, absurd humour with plenty of pop culture references and parodies. And with Freakazoid's spoof focus on superheroes, where could it go wrong?

Although Freakazoid! was always less popular than Animaniacs, it really was the ideal show for any 13 year old unwilling to turn to live-action teen series for their TV fix, but wanting a not-too-kiddified cartoon with more mature content. Do tweenies today even have that option? Or are they forced to embrace High School Musical and Hannah Montana whether they like it or not?

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Sidenote: Please note that all of the DVD releases mentioned above are available to South Africans via import only (check out Amazon.co.uk and Take2 to order online).

To my knowledge the only 80s-ish animated series boxsets we can pick up in retailers are He-Man, Asterix, Tintin, Thundercats and Adventures of the Gummi Bears. Anything else is an import.

Comments

MJenks said…
I'm with you. Tiny Toons was okay, but Freakazoid was where the action was. I enjoyed the cartoon a lot.

Being a father of a tween-to-be, I can say, there's not a lot of cartoons for them now. Ben 10? And maybe various incarnations of pokemon? After that, it's a wasteland filled with kids trying to be singers (Hannah Montana, Drake and Josh, iCarly). It sucks, especially if the parent has to sit through these shows with the kids. Fortunately, there's always Spongebob...which is really kind of sad.
3:18 PM
Pfangirl said…
I've been trying to think of other current cartoon shows... and although there's a lot of crap on Cartoon Network, their offerings do/did at least include The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
1:38 PM
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