Saturday Morning Cartoons

Maybe I'm dating myself, but remember waking up Saturday mornings, tiptoeing to the TV and turning it on with the volume low so as not to wake your parents? Even though it wasn't a school day, you had to get up early to see the cartoons. It was something you looked forward to all week long. Everyone had their favorites they just couldn't stand to miss.

Of course there was also School House Rock. I still use those silly songs today to remember certain parts of speach. How else am I to remember what a conjunction is? That's also how I learned about the "Three Ring Circus". I actually felt sad when Bill was Vetoed and dejectedly returned to the front steps of Congress. I was elated when he finally became a Law and would jump around all excited. I own the entire collection now on DVD. It's the only way to see them. Evidently educational filler cartoons are no longer needed.

So you may be asking why the reminiscing. Well, it's Saturday morning and my children are looking for batteries for their headsets instead of being glued to the TV for the long awaited Saturday morning cartoons. There is something wrong with this in my mind. I should have five little spawn crowded on the sofas laughing out loud right now. With the advent of Cartoon Network, Nickelodian, and others, Saturdays morning television no longer has the hold it once did. I ask myself, "What do they have to look forward to on the weekends now?"

Not much.

Now they can see cartoons whenever they wish, and today's cartoons just aren't what ours were twenty-five years ago. My children now watch every episode of Avitar. My children are convinced that they can bend water, earth, fire, and air. I s'pose that isn't bad for their imagination, but Avatar is a soap. Seriously. It's a sopa. What was wrong with light hearted fun cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo (my personal favorite), Bugs Bunny (the earlier ones, not the newer ones), and Daffy Duck? Remember the Hall of Justice and the Legion of Doom (now they've created The Justice League, but the characters are dark and hardened and the story lines more...I don't know...morbid).

Much to my chagrin, I must admit that cartoon quality has dropped tremendously.

Fortunately, Bear and I have instilled in our children the love for OLDER cartoons. Child #2 LIVES for Tom and Jerry. Child #1 likes Popeye. Child #3 likes the old Superman episodes. All of them like Scooby Doo and that "Wascally Wabbit".

I guess it's just disheartening to witness the demised of animation. Even Disney's gone downhill. I know they've put out several new movies over the years, but do any of them REALLY compare to Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Bambi? What happened to fun songs like "Hi-Ho" and "Bibbity Bobbity Boo"? No, now we must have songs that can cross over to the main stream music world. Okay, some of them can't, but name me a modern Disney song that falls into the same genre of mice and birds singing, "We can do it! We can do it! We can help the Cinderellie! We can make her dress so pretty! There's nothing to it really!"

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ANIMATED SINGING MICE?!

The movie and cartoon industry seem to think that cartoons need to be more adult like. Well, they need to be geared towards children. I don't remember Raggedy Ann and Andy having asides for adults in it. they didn't fall in love. I really wish that the infamous "THEY" would come back to the knowledge that children need to be children. They need to laugh and giggle at 1,000 lb anvils being dropped on the head of a coyote while the intended victims runs off in a cloud of dust going, "Beep! Beep!" (Another of child #2's favorites). Now THAT was great Saturday morning fun!!!