50 Of The Best ‘80s Cartoons That Are Unforgettable

What Cartoons Existed in the ‘80s? 

Compared to their predecessors of earlier decades, the cartoons from the ‘80s became braver by showing heroes battling enemies (though the violence displayed now seems pretty meek), using adult-oriented jokes and references, and becoming generally flashier.

Of course, a couple of animated series ran before the '80s and didn't stop even after the decade had passed. Still, those are only exceptions, as plenty of new cartoons spawned at the time, too. It might've been because TV sets were now completely affordable by the general public and, undoubtedly, because the kids ruled Saturday mornings.

So, Saturday morning cartoons '80s gave us such classic pieces as the TMNT series, He-Man, Care Bears, and Transformers, DuckTales, The Simpsons (the oldest cartoon to still run today, by the way!) all of which shaped our early years and, undoubtedly, pop culture. Who would we be if not for Rainbow Brite's sweetness, She-Ra's inspiring strength, and Garfield's cynicism?

How Were ‘80s Cartoons Made?

Before there was computer animation, all cartoons were drawn by hand and the most often used techniques for that are called rotoscoping and cel technique. 

Cel technique, also known as the traditional technique, works like this: the key animator draws the most important points in a scene, while assistant animators add in frames to fill in the gaps. Every frame has to be hand-drawn and colored individually. Once the drawings are approved, they are transferred to cel paper (cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet used exactly for this purpose) and then filmed. 

Another technique used to make ‘80s cartoons is called rotoscoping. This technique involved tracing over live-action footage frame by frame and then repeating the cel process. While this technique wasn’t as popular as the traditional one, it allowed animators to create very life-like cartoon characters that moved just like real people or animals. 

Why Were the ‘80s Called The Dark Ages of Animation?

The two most popular techniques to create cartoons back then and their time-consuming nature presented quite a problem to the animators. The demand for cartoons rose quickly during the mid-1950s, reaching its peak in the ‘80s. Thus, animators were forced to work faster and produce as many cartoons as possible. That led to lower-quality products that were produced hastily and loaded with errors. Some even call this period the Dark Ages of Animation.  

Dark Ages or not, though, we still love these ‘80s cartoons! As much as they were a huge part of our childhoods, they were also unlike anything else done before or after. And if you like to see more of them, continue reading this article.