4 1990s Cartoons Every ’80s Kid Loved But Are Virtually Unwatchable Now

The 1990s were a great decade for iconic cartoons, and kids of the ’80s will look back fondly on some of the era’s animated shows. Kids born in the 1980s had a childhood packed with great movies and TV shows, with both the ’80s and ’90s filled with releases that remain beloved parts of pop culture even decades later. Many of the best animated TV shows of the time came in the 1990s, with networks landing on a winning formula of episodic adventures and colorful heroes that mostly seemed to secure a wide and loyal following among the kids of the ’80s they were predominantly aimed at.

While many of the best ’90s TV shows have aged like fine wine, several of its once popular animated series have not. While the kids of the ’80s typically loved these shows when they first aired in the 1990s, they have since become all but unwatchable. With societal ideas and opinions shifting and animation technology vastly improving in the years that followed, these once-beloved cartoons are now almost impossible to endure 30 years on from their original runs.

4) Captain Planet and the Planeteers

When it comes to animated shows that defined the ’90s, there aren’t too many titles as obvious as Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Debuting in 1990, Captain Planet followed the exploits of five young people, each granted a magic ring to enable them to protect the Earth, with, of course, the help of the environmentalist hero Captain Planet. It is perhaps one of the most iconic animated shows of the 1990s, and the vast majority of ’80s kids will remember it fondly from their childhoods.

Watching Captain Planet back today is difficult for several reasons. Not only is it difficult to stream, but its preachy writing feels generally forced and heavy-handed. Perhaps the worst part of all is that, despite the show educating its audience on the importance of caring for the Earth, its many warnings were ultimately ignored, plunging us into an ongoing climate crisis that makes Captain Planet feel like a sad and futile attempt at instilling a generation with greater environmental awareness. While it was once beloved, Captain Planet is now unfortunately hard to watch on a multitude of levels.

3) Street Sharks

There are several underrated ’90s TV shows, but Street Sharks sadly doesn’t qualify as one of them. The show told the story of — unsurprisingly — four brothers transformed into anthropomorphic sharks who take to the streets to fight the genetic experiments of the evil Dr. Paradigm. While it might not be overly well-known to modern audiences, children of the 1980s are sure to remember Street Sharks as an edgy superhero cartoon accompanied by a popular line of action figures.

Attempting to watch Street Sharks back today highlights what a shameless rip-off it is of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Four brothers who also happen to be totally radical animal hybrids fighting against other less-radical animal hybrids is pretty much a carbon copy of TMNT, and that’s without even mentioning the Street Sharks’ love of junk food such as hot dogs and hamburgers (but not pizza, which disgusts them, which means they can’t possibly be a Ninja Turtles clone). It’s hard to enjoy the show today armed with the knowledge that its success stemmed purely from borderline plagiarism, which is a shame, because it was once among the coolest cartoons of the ’90s.

2) Biker Mice From Mars

While we’re on the subject of animal-human hybrid brothers who double up as superheroes of a sort, Biker Mice from Mars is another ’90s show that doesn’t hold up particularly well. The show followed the adventures of Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie, three mice motorcyclists from Mars who flee the war and subsequent destruction on their home planet to battle against the evil Plutarkians. Many ’80s and ’90s kids loved the show, though its popularity has not endured anywhere near as much as it otherwise might have.

The problem with trying to watch Biker Mice from Mars back today is that its animation feels incredibly shoddy by modern standards. We might not have noticed it as kids, but this classic ’90s cartoon was packed with shoddy animation that now looks utterly terrible on modern TVs, as well as various tonal issues that make it feel incredibly dated. While it was once an absolute behemoth among ’80s kids, Biker Mice from Mars is completely unwatchable today due to its quality not standing up to the test of time.

1) Johnny Bravo

First airing in 1997, Johnny Bravo was a ’90s cartoon that continued well into the 2000s. It followed the titular character, who was loosely modelled on Elvis Presley: a muscular, vain, unintelligent man who relentlessly pursues women. Often considered a perfect Cartoon Network show that helped define an era of animation, Johnny Bravo was a major hit with audiences over the course of its original run, with its subtle adult humor even engaging the older ’80s kids into their adolescence.

By modern standards, Johnny Bravo is essentially unwatchable. Its eponymous character’s unflinching harassment of female characters no longer packs any comedic punch, but instead simply feels incredibly uncomfortable. The cultural shift in the past two decades has rendered almost every aspect of Johnny Bravo‘s humor entirely obsolete, meaning that no matter how popular it once was or how well its animation might hold up, it’s all but impossible to enjoy today.

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