Poll: Who Can You Thank For Your Love Of Cartoons?

[Tom Stathes]

Here's another one of those useless polls that get you to think. I'd say i have to thank my mom, as she bought me a video when i was little with these toons: (b/w) Mad Doctor (Mickey) Minnie's Yoo Hoo (mickey) Smile Darn Ya Smile, and Circus Capers. My favorite video ever since!

[Cartman]

I went with pre-1990 programming. I remember back in the 80's when I was a little kid, I would watch WB cartoons and some Popeye cartoons (although I really wasn't interested in Popeye back then). I would rent videos with Disney cartoons (I didn't get the Disney Channel back then). I also enjoyed the HB cartoons (Pixie and Dixie, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, etc.) on USA's Cartoon Express.

Oh yes, I also enjoyed a certain cartoon show about a talking great dane and a group of teenagers who solve mysteries that most of us here now hate.

[Geezil]

Some very pre-1990 TV programming: My first certain memory of great cartoon TV was the original (late '50s) Woody Woodpecker Show, which even included those first few dodgy Andy Panda shorts that we may never see in broadcast form again! Very close runner-up: The Heckle and Jeckle Cartoon Show, again in its first and finest late '50s form. And I only found out years later that it then still included both color and late B&W shorts. (When nearly everybody except the Who's Who crowd still had B&W sets, who knew? )

[rodney]

I guess the pre-90's syndication packages are to thank in my case. See....when I was a boy in the early/mid 80's, the whole idea of new syndicated cartoons was something pretty rare. Yeah, there was Inspector Gadget and Transformers and the like, but most morning/after school programming was classic cartoons. I grew up with Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry, Popeye, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo (every day at 3:00 on Channel 19). So, to me, they were just normal every day cartoons.

As I got older, I started noticing edits on The Bugs Bunny & Tweety show, which really disturbed me. I came to a slow realization that the cartoons that were so precious to me as a child may not be around for my children to appreciate. That's what made me start collecting.

It's really the same thinking that's led to my collection of Disney comics.

[Pilmedium]

It was partially my father. Another part of it was Cartoon Network, which I have been watching since many years ago. I voted for both of those.

[Nelson]

For me it wasn't the cartoons itself, but two of the greatest animators that got me to totally love cartoons...

Oh their names of course.....

Ub Iwerks

Grim Natwick

nuff said and the rest is history .....

[lislebartman]

The Chicago television airwaves were cluttered with cartoons during my youth (I'm 37), so I'd like to thank pre-1990s programming...

You name it, Chicago TV had it...the early morning, lunchtime and afternoon hours were prime time to kids - Tom and Jerry (uncut, Mammy and all!), Bugs Bunny, the B&W Fleischer POPEYES, Woody Woodpecker, Casper the Ghost, Mighty Mouse et all. Of course, the Three Stooges were afternoon and late-night fixtures for many years...

Nobody told me I should watch them, I just did. Thus, a love for classic animation was born...!

[simon]

I guess I'd have to say my parents, because my fascination with cartoons really started when we got our first VCR (back in '86, when I was 8...) Every weekend, we'd rent a couple of Disney videos (usually the shorts, occasionally one of the features like Dumbo...) Actually, I was already more or less obsessed with the idea of cartooning in general by that time, since I had taught myself to read comic books on a summer-long car trip we took when I was 4, and I've been a fan of comic books and strips as well ever since then. And of course I enjoyed cartoons on TV before that, but I guess the acquisition of the VCR is what really got things going for me. Also around that time, I started going to the library and taking out animation-related books... I had "Of Mice and Magic" practically memorized at the age of ten...

Simon

[Mike Toole]

There are many factors, but the primary ones are pre-1990s TV programs and Nickelodeon.

I had a huge and steady diet of cartoons when I was a kid. It all started with Saturday-morning Looney Tunes. Popeye (including black n' white ones) was Saturdays and Sundays at 5am, and my brother and I would dutifully rise, BEFORE the crack of dawn, to watch it. (How early was it? So early that we'd get to see the Star Spangled Banner film that signified the start of the broadcast day!)

Later, my tastes expanded to Tom n' Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, and even Hanna Barbera cartoons. (The funny animals were OK, but my favorite was always the "Hanna Barbera's World of Super Adventure" package-- I loved the kooky atmosphere of shows like the Herculoids and the Galaxy Trio, not to mention those great Alex Toth character designs.) Battle of the Planets, Star Blazers, and Speed Racer would foster a love for anime that endures to this day.

Nick would provide even more stuff later. My favorite was always Dangermouse-- it was the first cartoon I remember seeing that relied MORE on dialogue-driven comedy than on visual gags, and I loved it. I also liked a lot of the anime that Nick had, like Belle & Sebastian and Mysterious Cities of Gold.

Now I hardly ever watch anything besides cartoons. Cartoons are the best. Okay, soccer games (especially ones involving my home club, the Revs, and my favorite foreign team, Arsenal) aren't bad, but cartoons are the best.

[Emmanuel Cruz]

I voted for Nick, Cartoon Network, and PD tapes. I loved watching Looney Tunes and other cartoons on Nickeledeon back in the early to late 90's. (Before Nick became a stupid network.) And CN made that love even greater once I got it a few years ago. Also, I can't forget my mommy getting me PD tapes before I realized how bad they are. Falling Hare, All This and Rabbit Stew, Pigs in a Polka, Gold Rush Daze, The Wacky Wabbit and others. Oh, I wish I was young again. (My 15th year on this earth is coming soon.)

-Emmanuel

P.S. My "Official" 700th Post!

[Jack]

I voted for Mom and/or Dad, Nickelodeon, CN, and pre 1990's syndicated TV. TV was probably the biggest influence, but when I was little my dad gave me two PD videos (my first LT videos ever), one was called "Bugs Bunny," and the other was "Daffy Duck." I still have them too. Other than that, my parents never encouraged or discouraged my cartoon watching.


Jack

[billyjoelfan]

ABC'S bugs and tweety show even though thay edited about 95% of the shorts it was fun to watch on sat/ sun mornings

[Matthew Hunter]

I said Nickelodeon, but really it was my parents who got me into Nickelodeon. My mom introduced me to Looney Tunes, and my dad and I never missed "Inspector Gadget". Both were on Nick at the time.
-Matthew

[billyjoelfan]

Hey Matthew,

Speeking of Inspector Gadget did thay EVER show Dr.Claw's face in any of the eps?

thx

[Boy Wonder]

I picked Cartoon Network. It showed me that these cartoons are real important. Nick paved the way though.

[Pietro]

I can't really say anyone really was responsible for my love of classic cartoons. As a kid, I loved the classic WB cartoons more than any other cartoon on TV. I always set the family VCR for "That's Warner Bros." on Kids' WB at 1:00 pm when I was in first grade. I also got a couple of PD tapes from my mom, dad, uncle, and grandma. I was kinda upset, though because it seemed we had more family Disney movies than WB cartoon tapes.

We had NO offical ones at all. So one day, with the allowance I had I bought my first "offical" WB cartoon video, "The Golden Age of Looney Tunes Vol. 2: Firsts" along with a PD tape featuring "Daffy the Commando." I became fascinated with the cartoons. I really wanted to know the history behind them. For once in my life, I ws actually eager to learn. I went to my local library and picked up some good reading material: "LT&MM Guide" and the "Warner Bros. Animation Art Book" (chock full of images of cells!) These books were cool I really liked them and read them every night. I also by tis time somehow developed a budding interest with Bob Clampett's B&W Porkys. I tried to get as many B&W Porkys as I could find. Colorized or otherwise. I got Shokus videos from my mom and dad for my birthday. I started taping "Bugs and Tweety" on ABC. It was also around this time I started making frequent visits to Jon's LT&M page. I loved the "Censored Cartoon" page and looking through it. I then made my first visit to the Termite Terrace Trading Post. By this time however (3rd grade) I was curious as as to what a message board exactly was. In 5th Grade I finally got cable! So I had easier access to more of the WB cartoons Kids' WB never aired, I never had access to Nickelodeon. Two years later I made my first post and the rest is history.

-Pietro