>The 80s DID Suck (And Here's How) by Jorge Garrido

Originally Transcribed 12/22/06 by Jeff Harris

Instead of bitching about your article on the 80s on some forum, I’ve decided to writer a formal response and criticism. I shall be defending the position that the 80s sucked. Maybe this can turn into a Michael Barrier/John Kricfalusi styled debate. You can post it on your site if you want. Ok here goes:

First, a preface: One of my problems with your article is that a lot of the good things that you say happened in the 80s didn’t happen until later in the decade and actually had more of an effect on the 90s. So when I insult, for example, animation in 80s cartoons, I’m insulting the PRE-RENAISSANCE 80s cartoons. I’m also only talking about AMERICAN animation here. Why? Because anime is not known for being bad in the 80s. So, henceforth, in most cases where I use the term “80s cartoons”, it shall only be pre-Renaissance American cartoons.

BEGIN!

Yes, most of cartoons in the 80s were good. However, when it comes to any discussion on eras of animation, the period between 1980 and 1989 is always considered the worst ever. And every time someone gives a reason you always hear these excuses:

No they weren't. The majority of them sucked out loud. Nostalgia is the basis for a lot of unfair praise for things that weren't well put together. You have to look at things objectively. Nostalgia can be dangerous.

As a kid I LOVED Doug, and I sat down to watch the Doug Christmas Special the other day, and the animation sucked, the writing sucked, and voices were cheesy, but I was filled with warm nostalgic feelings. But the animation REALLY sucked, I mean the character designs were wiggly, unappealing, colour atrocious, no construction, they hardly moved, it was TERRIBLE. I don’t remember it being that bad as a kid. I had great memories flooding back watching It, but objectively, as a cartoon it sucked, I'll admit that.

To compare, the other day I saw the Rugrats Christmas special, a childhood favourite. The writing was still as fresh as ever. Rugrats was being written and directed by the same guys who did The Simpsons from 1991-1994. I laughed out loud countless times at the jokes, and the show was MEAN!! Peanuts mean! (Santa Claus says the last line in the episode: “I hate Christmas”) The voice acting was great! The music kinda sucked, but it was childlike and quiet, so as a whole it held up. The animation sucked but the writing compensated for it. Then I saw the 1996 Chanukah special and the writing was also hilarious, with many subtle jokes about Jewish culture that were still funny to a gentile like me. I was amazed a post-1994 episode could be this funny, since Nick brought it back in 1997 and it became the marketing beast that it became, until Spongebob dethroned it in 2002 or so. The character designs, however, lost alto of their appeal on the Chanukah special. Phil, for instance, was given ear lobes, Chucky's Saturn shirt became inversed and Tommy's head changed. The music also got worse. It wasn't as good as the Klasky-Csupo days. Know why? Because one of Rugrat's co-creators, Paul Germain, left when the show ended in 1994, he took all the writers, including Joe Ansolabehere, with him, and in 1997 they didn't come back. Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo had to start from scratch. The episode's quality declined post 1997 really quickly. The first two movies had their moments but also had tons of mistakes in characterization, as Paul And Joe pointed out in an interview they did for their Recess movie. (Yes, they created Recess, which was very reminiscent of pre-1994 Rugrats)

The point of this history is, that some childhood shows you watched hold up and some don't. I never noticed the decrease in quality in Rugrats as a kid until now. I never noticed how bad Doug was. Ren & Stimpy, the third of the first Nicktoons, is, in my opinion, the best of the three. And I wasn't allowed to watch it as a kid, but judging from the few episodes I've seen on Nicktoons TV and youtube clips, it is amazing. No nostalgia there. I can truly watch it objectively and judge it. You have to do that with 80s cartoons. It's OK for you to enjoy them, but when you're judging the quality of an entire decade, nostalgia must be set aside. If you're not willing to do that, don't critique animation. I contend that nostalgia is the only reason people like 80s cartoons. OK, not that we've established the importance of being objective, we can go into specifics. Why did the 80s cartoons suck? Keep in mind I'm going to be criticizing some of my childhood favorites, and that I'm referring to the pre-renaissance 80s (read: the majority of cartoons).

Continue the rebuttal here