15 Cartoons That Were A Big Hit In The 80s And That Remain In Our Hearts

A lot of people love being able to remember their childhood, and one of the best ways to do that is to go back to watching cartoons that were part of our daily lives as a child. In times when families still did not have Internet available at home, the little ones spent their time watching animated productions at breakfast time or when they returned from school. And so, during the 1980s, several adventure, action, romance and science fiction programs appeared, starring memorable characters who, for many years, were the great idols for children who didn’t miss a chapter.

O awesome.club prepared a list of successful children’s cartoons and series in the 80s, telling in which year each of them was broadcast, how long their popularity on television lasted, and which programs derived from them later appeared. Check out!

The Flintstones is a cartoon produced in the 60s, portraying the lives of two friends named Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Each of them has their own family, and although the plot is set in the Stone Age, it reflects modern American society. In addition, it shows humans coexisting with prehistoric animals and even with dinosaurs, which appear as substitutes for 20th century technological elements for activities such as work and leisure.

Originally, the animated series was shown between 1960 and 1966. However, its success spanned decades, being part of the childhood of many people born in the 80s. It would be surpassed only by the simpsons, 1997, which used as a basis the coexistence of families in The Flintstones. Even so, the good reception by the public led to the creation of related series, such as Cave Kids and Bamboo and Pedrita.

Like this The Flintstones, the Jetsons portrays the life of a family man who works for a large company. The Jetson family represents classic upper-middle-class American families, showing how they vacationed on Venus, and traveling in spaceship-like vehicles. The animated series is one of the last to present a progressive and positive vision of the future, in addition to having hit some predictions for the following decades, made reality in the 21st century, such as communications through video calls.

The attraction was created in 1962, and during the 80’s it gained new episodes, as a way of continuing the program, so popular in the 60’s. At the time, only the voice actors of the characters were replaced. One was also released crossover entitled The Jetsons and the Flintstones meet1987. In the story, there is an unlikely meeting between two families from such different times.

The pink Panther was initially presented to the public as a fictional character in a film of the same name released in 1963, with the purpose of illustrating the title and opening credits of the feature. Described as an anthropomorphic being, the character was marked by being a rosy panther, a specialist in getting into trouble, but always from a comic point of view.

Due to the great success achieved, that same year the animated series was produced, broadcast uninterruptedly until 1980. After that, several sequels appeared, such as The Children of the Pink Panther and The Gang of the Pink Panther. However, these were not as successful as the original animation.

Transformers: First Generation is a Japanese animated series that emerged in the 1980s to promote a toy line. It is a production starring giant robots — the Autobots and the Decepticons — who constantly fight in a battle of good against evil, with Planet Earth being the battleground.

The anime began as a three-chapter miniseries, broadcast in 1984. Four seasons were later produced between 1984 and 1987, plus a film in 1986. The series was one of the first to promote a product aimed at children. Over the years, new robot models emerged, but the issues surrounding the dispute between the two groups remained.

Another well-known series from the 80s was ThunderCats, starring a group of extraterrestrial humanoid felines. The design mixes the style of Japanese animation with the characteristic of North American productions. The plot takes place in the “Third World”, inhabited by the ThunderCats species, which lost their home planet after an attack by their enemies – the mutants. During the escape, they settle in the place in order to survive.

The first season began in 1985, with a total of 65 episodes. The following year, the film entitled ThunderCats — Ho!: The Movie, which was split into five episodes to air on television. Starting in 1987, the series followed the pattern of 20 new chapters each year. Each season introduced new characters and new contexts in which the plot unfolded.

The series The Knights of the Zodiac was created in the late 1980s, starring a group of young people known as saints, or knights. They were trained from childhood to be guardians of the goddess Athenas, who is reincarnated in the skin of a human named Saori Kido with a mission to protect Earth against the forces of evil. Each knight owns an armor and uses the power of the cosmos to defeat enemies.

The production was first shown in 1986, reaching the year 1989 with a total of 114 episodes. However, not all chapters of the original manga were adapted, which led to the release in 2002 of a sequel known as Hades Saga. Thanks to the success of the program among viewers, several spin-off series emerged, among them The Knights of the Omega Zodiac and Knights of the Zodiac: The Lost Screen.

The Smurfs is among the most memorable cartoons of the 1980s. The story revolves around a village inhabited by tiny blue creatures known as smurfs. Among the main characters are Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Genie and Clumsy. The great villain is the evil Gargamel, who is always in the company of the Cruel cat.

The program was shown on TV between 1981 and 1989, surpassing the 200-episode mark. Its producers are the same ones who created The Flintstones and the Jetsonsbut in the case of The Smurfs, the inspiration came from a comic book of the same name originating in Belgium.

DuckTales: The Adventure Hunters is starring Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck’s three nephews: Huguinho, Zezinho and Luizinho. The story takes place in the fictional city of Patópolis, where the mansion of Uncle Scrooge is located, who dreams of becoming the richest man in the world, despite already owning a great fortune. The children are left in their care when Donald Duck enlists in the Navy. Together, they all live various adventures.

The series was launched in 1987 and had a total of 100 episodes, broadcast until 1990. The style and traits of the characters served as inspiration for the creation of other Disney productions, such as Tico and Teco and the Defenders of the Law and Screw Squadron. Other derivative programs were also launched, such as Darkwing Duck and TV Quack Quack / Donald Duck and His Nephewsthe latter starring the characters that give the attraction its title.

Tom & Jerry began as a series of short stories, created in 1940 and broadcast on TV. Decades later, the series The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, depicting the eternal pursuit of Tom the cat against Jerry the mouse. The feline was always devising creative traps in an attempt to fulfill the dream of capturing the enemy. Jerry, however, is very smart, and always manages to evade Tom’s plots.

The series launched in 1980 had 15 episodes in total, divided into three parts each. The production is considered the fifth member of the animated franchise, and the first to try to replicate the original format of its predecessor, focusing on the fight between cats and mice. On the occasion, other characters were included, such as Barney Bear, Droopy and Spike.

The series Roadrunner has a plot similar to that of Tom & Jerry: an individual always chasing another with the intention of devouring him. In this case, we see a coyote trying to catch the Road Runner, developing complex traps to achieve its goal. However, he always fails in his plans and ends up falling for his own tricks.

The program had a total of 49 short episodes, 6 to 7 minutes long, broadcast between 1949 and 2014. There is also a half-hour special and a feature film that combines animation and live action. In all productions, certain rules were applied, such as the absence of dialogues, except for onomatopoeias (such as the “beep-beep” of the Road Runner). In addition, the coyote always did poorly because of its incompetence or the ineffectiveness of its traps.

Heidi: The Girl from the Alps is a children’s cartoon still very much remembered by those who were a child in the 70’s and 80’s, telling the story of a five-year-old girl who lives with her grandfather, known as “Old Man of the Mountains”. Initially, the man is not happy with the presence of his granddaughter, but over time, he ends up clinging to the girl’s cuteness and joy. Heidi befriends a pastor named Pedro and then meets a little girl named Clara, who is sick and keeps Heidi company when Dete, the protagonist’s aunt, moves to the big city.

Despite being released in 1974 in Japan, it only reached Latin American countries in 1978, being dubbed into other languages. The series is inspired by a book of the same name and has a total of 52 episodes, seen by viewers in various parts of the world. In Japan, the production aroused the public’s interest in tourism in the Swiss Alps region.

Originally, Astro Boy was a black and white series broadcast during the 1960s in Japan. In the plot, an android boy is raised by Doctor Temma, who wants a replacement for his son, Tobio. However, realizing that the android did not fill the void left by the death of his son, the man gives the Astro Boy to the owner of a circus. Subsequently, the protagonist happens to be protected by Professor Ochanomizu, who discovers his extraordinary abilities and his ability to express human emotions.

In 1980 and 2003, other series of the Astro Boy. O remake of the years…