The Saturday Morning Reclamation

 I was scrolling through Facebook tonight (27 December 2022) and I stumbled across a nostalgia post for Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. 

My first thought was, "Holy shit, I loved the silver flying guy toy that I had from that show." I don't necessarily remember the show being all that good. In fact, it seems to me it was a weird live action thing that reused tons of stock footage. Naturally, I watched it religiously whenever it was on during Saturday morning cartoons. I feel like it was the last show before wrestling started which also typically was about the time my parents wanted to kick the day off and get out to do stuff. 

That one flash of memory only slightly laced with nostalgia got me thinking about how much better (most) of my cartoons were compared to the cartoons my kids grew up with. Now, before I start hearing objections from the peanut gallery let me say that each generation has had some stand out shows. Taila had Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom, Fairly Oddparents, Powerpuff Girls, and most importantly Avatar: The Last Airbender. I sort of grew up with her cartoons too. 

I got my head spinning pretty quickly on how much Saturday morning cartoons were such a part of my life well into my teen years. For that matter, I really enjoyed coming home from school in high school and catching episodes of Animaniacs, Power Rangers, Batman the Animated Series, and X-men.  Those shows were all fantastic. 

I got to thinking about how cartoons were the reason to get up and get going on Saturday. Just between us girls my parents used me being occupied by the TV to have their Saturday morning delight which I figured out in late elementary school much to my chagrin. Even that pain was worth a few hours in front of the TV with real quality cartoons. 

I wanted suddenly to share that with the family sans the memories of Dad walking to the bathroom in his skivvies and all. There were a ton of great shows that really shaped my nerd love and have weirdly enriched my life. I found myself imagining eating cereal in the living room with Teagan each Saturday morning and catching a few episodes of those shows. Sharing that experience allows me to vicariously enjoy being a kid again and there is a chance she might grow up with some of the same awesome nostalgia that I have. 

Quite a few of my favorites are available to stream on services that I already have. I also own a few of my favorites on DVD. I had even more on VHS once upon a time, but those days are gone. I started thinking about the logistics of how I wanted to pull this off. First I wanted a list of shows that I wanted to experience. I went crazy on my whiteboard and made the following list: 

Scooby Doo

The Smurfs

Shirttails

Thundercats

Thudaar the Barbarian

He-man and the Masters of the Universe

The Real Ghostbusters

Voltron

Legend of Zelda

Power Rangers

Batman the Animated Series

X-men

Captain N the Gamemaster

Dungeons & Dragons

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

MASK

Freakazoid

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (hilarious that I didn't start with this and had to refer back to the Facebook post to get it right)

GI Joe

Gummi Bears

Transformers

Talespin

Darkwing Duck

Ducktales

Animaniacs

Pinky & The Brain

With my brain still reaching for more 80s and 90s era cartoons (Was it Big Bad Battleborgs? Did the Go-Bots and Rock Lords have a cartoon or were they just toys?) I started thinking about setting the stage. Teagan is very resistant to watching what I want to watch. I have to make this fun, accessible, and get her excited to even make a start of it. 

I am going to start with breakfast. My first thought was making pancakes, eggs, and bacon or sausage. That wasn't how I did cartoons though. Saturday mornings were kid time. I got up and made myself a bowl of sugary cereal and ate it while watching cartoons. When I had a friend over they joined me with their own bowl of hollow calories. The kid doesn't often get sugary cereal. A bowl of Fruity Pebbles or Lucky Charms once a week won't do much harm and it might lure her into watching Dad's cartoons. 

Then again, I think for my breakfast on those days I am going to lean toward fruit, cheese, and maybe some sliced ham or pepperoni. She likes most of those things too. I can easily prep that the night before and keep it a little healthy for us both. If I need a lure I can go for low fat chocolate milk or something similar. 

I stage it in the living room. We will need a couple of dedicated throw blankets. The kid has dozens. She is a blanket fiend. I can dig out my sherpa lined throw. I will encourage her to join me on the couch or loveseat and get comfy for the show. 

Saturday morning cartoons were the antithesis of binge watching. You got one, or rarely two, of the same show and then you were on to something else. I want to recapture that because it was amazing. I always knew the line ups and noticed when they changed. I can plan a line up of shows aiming for us to watch 3 to 4 different toons each week. 

Considering my audience I think I will make use of a little Disney+ magic to stream an episode of the original Ducktales, Chip & Dales Rescue Rangers, or Gummi Bears before sliding in a DVD for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The Real Ghostbusters. I can continue to work through an episode of each of the chosen shows each week until we have finished a series before adding in something new. 

I am way excited about this idea. Hopefully I can hook the kid to join in. Maybe both kids will come though Taila is not an early riser. I mean, the whole family is welcome, but the cartoons are going to be primarily of my selection. When I start running out of 80s and 90s cartoon magic I may jump forward to the stuff we watched growing up with Taila. I suppose I could even mix in some of Teagan's modern cartoons using this same format to keep her interested. I wonder how Gabby's Dollhouse fits alongside Jem and the Holograms. 

Seems there is only one way to find out... I just may have to remember to make some artificial commercial breaks so we can run to the bathroom.