Cartoon/Smartoon: Disney Did It.

 I bet you guys thought I forgot about this series (almost did). But alas, I never break my promises. On the last episode of Cartoon/Smartoon I touched on The Best Cartoons that No One Knows About. There will be a part 2, but I figured I would get this highly known and highly anticipated group of cartoons out of the way. You knew it was coming....let's talk about Disney Afternoon. Bring on the talking animals. 

The Disney Afternoon definitely took up if not all, then a great portion of my childhood. I use to prey for every sickness from pneumonia to chicken pox (which Ive never had) so that I could stay home and at 3pm, witness yet another life changing 2 hours of tv time. Full disclosure....at 3pm on the dot a certain show came on, inwhich the theme song was so off the charts, ridiculously good and magically tropical (no homo) that it may or may not have made me jump up and down on my bed dancing like one of those kids from a early 90s movie on the WB on a Sunday afternoon...

Ok, but lets get started.

Tale Spin- You guessed it. This was that tropical beat that I may or may not have danced to in the privacy of my own home. Talking Bears. Pirates. You know you wanted to be Kit and fly on that buggy board behind the plane. I'm kinda a punk about extreme sports....but if I say, where given it as a bday gift...I would probably tear up the sky line. 


Chip N Dale- Rats, Mice and Chip Munks come together to solves crimes. Oh yeah...and Zipper the fly. Once, when I was killing flys as a kid...I was successful. And then I cried...cause i thought I killed Zipper. My mom still tells that story to people. Sad, but cute right?


Darkwing Duck- Ummm, pure creativity. That's all I have to say about this cartoon. 


Goof Troops- Ok, not a necessity in life, but still...a good show. The funny part was that it really wasn't my favorite Disney cartoon, yet I dare you to guess how many times I have seen the Goof Troop movie. I may have even made my dad take me to the theater. I also may have had the sega Genesis game. What? I was a gullible primary adapter back then.


Gummi Bears- I'm not even sure if I can describe how deep this show took me into a world of fantasy, make believe and magic. I mean...it came to a point where I had to make a decision to reemerge from the realm of magic, bouncy juice, dragons and talking....well, talking anything. Everything and anything had the ability to talk, walk and entertain. Possibilities were endless. My poor mind.

Duck Tales- classic. Morality. Education. Entertainment. I mean....it kinda doesn't get better than that. Can it?

Other honorable mentions: Bonkers, Alladin (the series) and The Little Mermaid (the series). Bonkers didn't quiet float my boat and I think the reason was, that I was never quiet sure what he/it was. Was it a Bobcat or an orange monkey? And as strange as it sounds, my kid mind needed a premise of some sort. And that premise was...if I am to believe that this thing can talk and have a life, I need to know it's Binomial nomenclature.

But by far, one of my favorite Disney Afternoon cartoons ever was Gargoyles. Besides not helping with the mental battle I was having separating the real world with the magical/mythical one, this show had a plot line that could rivaled any show or movie written today. It was sooooo deep. I watched every episode in every season at least 4 times, and there were references to events that happen in seasons prior. There was love (conventional and unconventional), hate, eternal damnation, robots, parallel universes, explosions, an arch nemesis (life lesson: it's vital to know how to distinguish the difference between regular enemies and arch enemies) ....you name it, this show had it. Gargoyles that were casted in stone hundreds of years ago only to reemerge in modern day and continue their  battle against evil and mankind. Come on! How could that not entice you? 

Even today. 

So that's it. Disney ruled the big screen back in the day. And it ruled the small screen from 3 to 5pm every weekday. I know for a fact that I can blame Disney Afternoon for the robust imagination I have today. And I thank them for that. I can also thank them for the fact that one day I expect for an animal to just start talking to me. And you know what? I am ready for it.