20 Top Cartoons From The 80's And 90's (part 1)

I realize my preference of cartoons from the 80s and 90s could well be explained by the fact growing up generally results in losing interest in watching cartoons, so the cartoons made these days are unlikely to appeal to me like the ones I watched as a child. However, I've watched many cartoons as an adult that I used to love as a child and sadly they had completely lost their magic but I still found them a lot more enjoyable than newer cartoons. I've also come across many people stating how much better cartoons used to be in the 80s and 90s so I know it's not just my personal opinion.

Below is a list of cartoons from the 80s and 90s which I've written based mainly on online research, as well as asking people I know for their favorite cartoons from the 80s/90s, and my own personal favorites as well. Feel free to leave a comment if there's any cartoon(s) you think should have been included on this list but isn't.
Obviously since this list is top cartoons from 80s and 90s, as opposed to my personal favorites, there are quite a few I've never actually liked so don't really know much about them so I can't really say anything about them, and just a list of cartoon titles on it's own would be a bit of a short and boring blog post.....so I stole a paragraph about each cartoon from Wikipedia :p

This was going to be a single post with 20 top cartoons from the 80s and 90s but it's taking a lot longer than I thought, so instead it's going to be 10 cartoons from the 80s in this post, then 10 cartoons from the 90s in the next post.

Top Cartoons From The 80s And 90s:

Top 10 Cartoons From The 80s
 

The Smurfs (1981)

The Smurfs International Title Card

Seasons: 9     
Episodes: 256

The Smurfs (also known as simply Smurfs and syndicated as Smurfs' Adventures) is an American-Belgian animated fantasy-comedy television series that aired on NBC from September 12, 1981, to December 2, 1989. Made by Hanna-Barbera Productions, it is based on the Belgian comic series by the same name, created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo (who also served as story supervisor of this adaptation) and aired for 256 episodes with a total of 418 stories, excluding three cliffhanger episodes and seven specials.

Danger Mouse (1981)

Seasons: 10
Episodes: 161

Danger Mouse is a British children's animated television series produced by Cosgrove Hall Films for Thames Television. It featured the eponymous Danger Mouse who worked as a secret agent. The show was a parody of British spy fiction, particularly the Danger Man series and James Bond. The show originally ran in the United Kingdom from 28 September 1981 to 19 March 1992.

Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget (1983) 

Seasons: 2

Episodes: 86

Inspector Gadget is a French-Canadian-American animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, dim-witted cyborg detective named Inspector Gadget—a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's nemesis is Dr. Claw, the leader of an evil organization known as "M.A.D."

Transformers

Transformers (1984)


Seasons: 4
Episodes: 98
 
The Transformers is the first animated television series in the Transformers franchise. The series depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea. The series was based upon Hasbro's Transformers toy line, itself based upon the Diaclone and Microman toy lines originally created by Japanese toy manufacturer Takara. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons.

The Raggy Dolls

The Raggy Dolls (1986)

Seasons: 9
Episodes: 112

The Raggy Dolls is a 1980s British cartoon series which originally aired on ITV from 1986 until 1994. The series is set in Mr. Grimes' Toy Factory, where imperfect dolls are thrown into a reject bin. While unobserved by human eyes, the dolls come to life and climb out of the reject bin to have adventures. The series was designed to encourage children to think positively about physical disabilities, as well as teaching kindness, tolerance and humility towards others.

The Real Ghost Busters (1986) 

The Real Ghostbusters

Seasons: 7
Episodes: 140 

The Real Ghostbusters is an American animated television series, a spinoff of the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. The series ran from September 13, 1986 to October 5, 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Enterprises, and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. J. Michael Straczynski was story editor, and wrote episodes for every season except four and seven. "The Real" was added to the title after a dispute with Filmation and its Ghost Busters properties. The series continues the adventures of paranormal investigators Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore, their secretary Janine Melnitz and their mascot ghost Slimer.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Seasons: 10
Episodes: 193  

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (initially known as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in some European countries due to controversy at the time) is an animated television series produced by the studio Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and the French company IDDH. The pilot was shown during the week of December 14, 1987 in syndication as a five-part miniseries and the show began its official run on October 1, 1988. Since then the show and franchise has become a world-wide phenomenon. 

DuckTales (1987) 

DuckTales

Seasons: 4
Episodes: 100

DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on November 28, 1990 with a total of four seasons and 100 episodes. An animated theatrical spin-off film based on the series, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, was released widely in the United States on August 3, 1990. The voice cast from the series reprised their roles for the film.
DuckTales is based on Uncle Scrooge and other Duck universe comic books, created by Carl Barks. The show follows the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his three grandnephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. 

Garfield And Friends (1988)

Garfield And Friends

Seasons: 7
Episodes: 121 episodes/ 363 segments
(242 Garfield segments/121 U.S. Acres segments)

Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show was produced by Film Roman, in association with United Media in Season 1, United Media/Mendelson in Season 2 and 3, United Media/Lee Mendelson Productions in Season 4–6, Lee Mendelson Productions in Season 7, and Paws, Inc., and ran on CBS Saturday mornings from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994, with reruns airing until October 7, 1995. Seven seasons of the series were produced.

In addition to the cartoons featuring Garfield, the series also included cartoons featuring the characters from U.S. Acres, a comic strip Davis was drawing concurrently with Garfield when Garfield and Friends premiered on television. Like the comic strip these were based on, the shorts were retitled Orson's Farm for viewers outside of the United States (taking the name of their main character, Orson Pig). Although Davis stopped drawing U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm seven months after Garfield and Friends debuted, the characters continued to appear on the series until it ceased production.
 
The Simpsons (1989)

The Simpsons

Seasons: 27
Episodes: 592

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of a working class lifestyle epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–90).


If there's any cartoon(s) from the 80's not included on this list which you think should have been included, leave a comment below.  Or if you agree with the cartoons on the list leave a comment stating what you think are the top 3 cartoons (make sure you number them with the best one being number 1 on your list).

Also leave a comment if you have any requests for future posts and please share this on FB =)