One thing that comes to mind when I think "retro" is the opening themes and intros to some of my favorite cartoons of the 80's, they don't quite do them nearly as good these days as they used to back in the 80's and some of these classic themes have lived on through the years and have spawned quite a following with the internet crowd. So, I figured it would be kind of cool to add some of these to my post today to help ring in Retro Month here at The Thought Corner, this should spark some nostalgia for the older crowd and be a new experience for those who may be on the younger side, if you are younger than about 20 this should be a nice preview of what you were missing by virtue of not being born yet..., you young whippersnappers. I'm not going to overload this post full of too many videos, instead I'm going to pick intros from some of my favorite retro shows that have themes that will keep your head nodding during the video, so kick back and relax folks because it's time to go RETRO!
The above video is the intro and opening theme to one of the biggest cartoons of the 80's called He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, the show was extremely popular with children despite it's limited animation (thank you Filmation)and it spawned a massively successful toy long that actually propelled adults and television groups to see this show as nothing more than a 30 minute toy infomercial to promote Mattel's action figures. Still, the show was a smashing success and He-Man became an iconic character, the show even made a comeback in 2002 and sparked a new series of toys and even a slew of comic books, though it's success would never rival that of it's 80's origins.
Ah yes, the catchy intro and theme to the 80's smash hit, Thundercats. Much like He-Man % The Masters of the Universe, Thundercats spawned a popular toy line and other such novelties and became a huge hit among children, the show was almost perfect if not for the annoying lesson that they tried to teach you at the end of the episode, something He-Man also tried to do as well when the show came to a close.
The intro to Alvin & The Chipmunks is one of the most catchy cartoon songs of the 80's and the show was pretty damn awesome too. It featured Alvin and the gang getting into adventures and other such mischief and they also did little music videos segments to some of the biggest pop songs in the 80's, it was an interesting mix of story and music that was a nice re-introduction to the group after being absent since the 60's cartoon titled The Alvin Show.
Inspector Gadget was an interesting show about an idiot police detective and his niece Penny and her dog Brain, the plot basically revolved around the detective screwing up an investigation and his niece having to come to the rescue and solve the case for him without his knowledge. Inspector Gadget wasn't one of my all-time favorites or anything but the theme did rock the party, it's catchy tune has been used in everything from television promo's to modern day rap music and I'm sure we will see it pop back up somewhere in the near future.
The Ghostbusters theme was actually a hit song by Ray Parker Jr. back in the 80's that was used in the soundtrack to the live action movie and in the intro to the animated television series. Like He-Man, Thundercats and TMNT, The *Real* Ghostbusters spawned a line of action figures that were very popular with kids as well as other merchandise such as video games and clothing, The Ghostbusters were a huge hit and their theme song ranks as one of the best of the 80's.
The Super Mario Brothers Super Show was an interesting mix of live action segments and cartoon segments that featured the WWF's Captain Lou Albano as Mario, the show mainly took place from the Mario Brothers plumbing headquarters and the duo often interacted with celebrities and often found themselves in quirky situations which would lead into a cartoon feature. One thing that was fun about the show is that Monday-Friday the cartoons revolved around the Mario Brothers and then every Friday they would air a cartoon based on The Legend of Zelda, it always gave fans of the show something to look forward to.
Probably the most catchy and famous cartoon theme song of the 80's was from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, oddly enough I couldn't find the original intro on eBay without the theme song being altered because it was changed for international viewing. Seriously, I scanned eBay for 20 minutes trying to find this video and theme but to no luck. Anyhow, TMNT was one of the biggest and most successful franchises in cartoon history and spawned everything from toys, games, clothing, trading cards and lunchboxes, it even made a successful comeback in 2003 with a show that would spawn seasons for the next several years. The original series aired for 8+ years and the turtles themselves have been the stars of a trilogy of movies that came out in the early 90's as well as a CGI movie that was released in the mid-2000's. Now that's "Turtle Power!".
Well, that's it for now. Basically I just wanted to showcase a small handful of the cartoon intros that helped to make my 80's cartoon watching experience a joy to be a part of, there are tons more that I could post on here but then you'd be watching and reading for quite some time, so consider this just a small taste of what it was like to love cartoons in the 80's. Just so everyone knows, I'm not glorifying the 1980's as the best time to be a fan of cartoons or anything like that, the 70's and 90's both offered fantastic shows with themes that are just as memorable to those who watched them, this Retro Month that I'm bringing to you is just a trip down memory lane for myself and a large part of my "memory lane" is comprised of shows and products of the 80's. I just wanted to get that out of the way for those who may be reading this and thinking that I hate all animation that didn't come out in my childhood, those who know me from the various forums I'm a part of know that I'm a fan of all kinds of animation and from various decades (including current day). So, with that said, I truly hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane and if your discovering these shows for the first time then allow me to thank you for checking out these videos, I have a lot more fun stuff planned for this month and I sincerely hope that you stick with The Thought Corner for the entire month of fun, joy and retro.
Reach for the stars and enjoy the ride.
As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and FUNI.
Take care,
***Manga4life***
©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC
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