9 Disney Cartoons From Yester-year to Current

As i kid i had a good mix of older and modern cartoons. I decided to take a journey down memory lane and put together a collection of some of the stuff i used to watch after school on Disney. Gotta love the journey title sequences can take you through as they span decades.

December 1st; Humor, Random, Shiny Things Share

Early Cartoons

Remember when cartoons were good? Some of these were timeless classics the we love watching with my Nephew on box set. They can all be found on Amazon.com on boxset.

Gummi Bears 1985- 1991
With out doubt my favorite cartoon series of all time. The Gummi bears was a non-franchise Disney Show that originally aired on NBC and ABC. Set in medieval times the story followed the lost clan of an essentially extinct race of sentient bears and there adventures in rediscovering their cultural roots and saving the kingdom of Dunwin. The depth of the plot was really quite deep, dealing with persecution of the gummi bear ancestors and their decent into mythology. This was a show that could entertain adults as well as kids.

You can get Gummi Bears on boxset on Amazon.

Duck Tails 1987- 1990
Duck Tails was the reintroduction of the Disneys extensive Duck Family. The series as i remember essentially starts off with Donald Duck abandoning his nephews into the care of their wealthy great-uncle Scrooge McDuck so he could join the Navy. Donalds Nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie are your stereotypical American Boys. WoodChuck scouts (BoyScouts), constantly finding themselves in dangerous adventures of all sorts often seemingly out of bordom. Pushing gender roles to the very limit, many storys focus around protecting their Nannies tag-along granddaughter Webbigail Vanderquack. Probably my favorite characters in the series was scrooges hired staff, the jock-esk unsuccessful stunt-pilot Launchpad McQuack, and the nutty professor Gyro Gearloose. As in many cartoons the series lacked substantive plot episode to episode, but did have a rich story history of downplayed abandonment and family issues.

You can get Ducktails on boxset on Amazon.

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers 1989- 1990
Chip ‘n Dale rescue rangers was just getting going when i started watching cartoons. Revolving around the duo from the ’50’s, it reintroduced minor Disney franchise characters to a whole new audience. Some of the great stuff from this series was the spunky techno chick “Gadget Hackwrench” that pushed the modern women persona. (Stargate fans, think Sam Carter in a mouses body) On reflection i love that it also carried on the ongoing theme in Disney shows of the time, highlighting an adoptive family unit.

You can get Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers on boxset on Amazon.

Tale Spin 1990 – 1991
Tail Spin revolved around “The Jungle Books” Baloo as a air delivery guy that constantly ran into trouble with air-pirates. Set in a fictional 30’s-40’s setting it focused around contemporary aviation. Great if you were into planes, or into skateboarding/surfing given that the kid of the series “Kit” frequently cloud surfed. The irresponsibility of dangling a minor out the back of a dual engine aircraft that had mechanical issues aside, the show had some great moral messages, and again highlighted an adoptive family unit.

You can get Tail Spin on boxset on Amazon.

My late cartoon years

Goof Troop 1992- 1993
Goof Troop reintroduced the accident prone Goofy and set him in suburbia with Max, his 11 yr old son. Set next to a temperamental slickdick car salesman neighbor Pete, his complex milf wife Peg and their two kids PJ, and Pistol the show actually reminded me alot of the make of an old area i grew up in. The story was relatively simplistic with a frequent classist struggle between Goofy’s lower middle class household and Petes upper middle class one, so of a Keeping up with the Jones’s plot. As i remember it most of the plots revolved around father son bonding, with heavy undertones of “the rich suck”. Goof Troop eventually spawned the Goofy Movie where Max goes off to college.
Timon and Pumba 1995- 1999
Timon and Pumba was a spinoff from “The Lion King” featuring the movies side kick characters Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumba (Ernie Sabella). What was great about this was show for me was it was a semi faithful spinoff with the same voice actors as the original movie. The stories where not really memorable but the characters where alot of fun, including the hiena trio that picked on Timon and Pumba. and Rafiki the bare assed wise man. In reflection the show seemed to kick off a trend in Disney shows of Nickelodeon-esk violence.
Quack Pack 1996- 1996
A failed experiment in Prime Time cartoons aimed at 13-15 year olds Quack pack took Donald and his nephews and set them firmly in the American 90’s. The title sequence really speaks to the era. Quack Pack pretty much follows the trend of Goof Troop even in title, and trys to appeal to the same audience that is now older. Disney made some heavy alterations to the characters moving the nephews into their teens, and casting Donald as a past-prime father figure chasing his youth. One of the most noticeable changes for me was that the duck voices were gone replace by normal human voices. Quack Pack was short lived with only 30 something episodes and i only really caught it when it was rerun in the more successful after school lineup.

Todays Cartoons

The Proud Family 2001- 2005
The Proud Family started right as i out grew Disney, and still reruns on The Disney Channel. I never really watched it very closely but its my example of cartoons today. From what i can recall its focused around a diversified urban setting and focusing on mostly female coming of age stories. Right around this time i remember Disney started moving towards live action after school specials like Even Stevens.
Kim Possible 2002- 2007
Kim Possible is way past my time but i managed to pick up the plot from a 10 minute preview during channel flipping. It focuses around the crime fighting Teenage title character that kicks ass and deals with teenage issues at the same time with her odd sidekick Ron Stoppable and and his naked mole rat pet Rufus. All together it was a pretty disjointed mess i couldn’t really stand and can’t imagine buying on box set for my kids. The intro is very 2000’s dont ya think?

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