With all of us stuck at home I wanted to take you on a tour of one of the great things us Gen-X’ers got to experience...

Animated series made from your favorite (and at times violent!) live-action films!!!

THREAD

Now, this was not purely a “kids of the 80’s” thing. PLANET OF THE APES and JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH had their own animated series in the 1960’s.

But it would not be until the Golden Era of popular culture - The Nineteen Eighties - when this phenomenon would hit its full stride. And who else would you choose for a kids Saturday morning cartoon series than...

RAMBO.

Yes, John Rambo. The star of the violent, R-rated film series where the protagonist suffered debilitating flasbacks and PTSD from his days as a POW. It only ran for a limited miniseries and one season.

Later that fall, two other popular films from the mid-80’s would arrive.

On Saturday morning, September 13, 1986, kids in America had two choices. If you turned to ABC, you’d see The Real Ghostbusters*, based off of the paranormal adult comedy where Dan Aykroyd has...relations...with a ghost while sleeping.

Ernie Hudson - who was left off of the promotional material for the film - had to audition to be the voice actor for Winston Zeddemore.

And lost.

To Arsenio Hall.

Bill Murray also apparently hated that his Dr. Venkman character sounded so much like the cartoon Garfield (Lorenzo Music, who voiced the insouciant cat, also voiced Venkman). Music was replaced by Dave Coulier of “Full House” and “You Oughtta Know” fame.

Murray would himself go on to voice Garfield in the terrible live action films.

Incidentally, it was called “The Real Ghostbusters” to differentiate from a Filmation series that starred a gorilla. Not sure what was up with that.

The Real Ghostbusters ran for SEVEN SEASONS.

If you had watched CBS that morning, you’d have been treated to an animated series for the 1985 coming of age comedy TEEN WOLF.

I vaquely recall watching this, but in hindsight not sure it relayed the same subtext as the film.

By 1989 - no doubt its film series’ popularity boosted by its omnipresence on HBO throughhout much of the decade - a syndicated animated series for the POLICE ACADEMY movies debuted.

In one of the tragedies of life, Michael Winslow was not brought on as a voice actor.

One more notable series would happen by the close of the decade.

Ready for this one?

ROBOCOP.

Yes, Paul Verhoven’s satirical dystopian masterpiece would become a syndicated animated series.

(Another Robocop animated series would debut in the late 90’s.)

You might think YouTube’s Cobra Kai was the first television series related to the KARATE KID franchise. And you’d be wrong.

In 1989, NBC aired a Saturday morning Karate Kid animated series. It ran for one season.

By the 1990’s the networks would keep it up with their demand for animated versions of live action movies. It started on ABC’s Saturday morning lineup, later moving to Fox Kids afternoons in its fourth (and final) season.

A week after Beetlejuice first aired, CBS debuted a cartoon based on BILL & TED’s EXCELLENT ADVENTURE.

It would feature the voice talents of the film’s stars Alex Winter (!), Keanu Reeves (!!) and George Carlin (!!!).

A year later, in 1991, Robert Zemekis and Bob Gale would continue the adventures of Marty McFly and Doc Brown in an animated series of BACK TO THE FUTURE.

Meant as a continuation of the third film, it featured the voice talents of Mary Steenburgen and Thomas F. Wilson.

Christopher Lloyd would appear in live action segments bookending some episodes, but inexplicably did not voice his character.

He would also appear in live action segments (with Wilson) for the BACK TO THE FUTURE ride at Universal Studios.

By 1995 the animated projects started to wane.

Unless your name was Jim Carrey.

1995 saw three - THREE - animated series featuring America’s then-favorite zany comedian.

CBS* aired animated series for THE MASK and ACE VENTURA. Both lasted three seasons each.

*Carrey Broadcasting System

Since they were on the same network, that must’ve gotten over the rights issue hurdle because they had a CROSSOVER EPISODE.

These pictures blow my mind.

Carrey was the crescendo for animated series based on films. It tapered off after that - the aforementioned Robocop series, and ones based on the films BEETHOVEN, FREE WILLY, PROBLEM CHILD and THE MIGHTY DUCKS.

By the end of the millenium this bizarre and strange phenomenon was largely dead.

What killed it? Cable TV? Cartoon Network? Jim Carrey over-saturation? Maybe a little of everything.

I cannot presently speak to their quality. Some of the chosen images suggest what one might be in for if you decide to rewatch.

I won’t be - my fond, childhood memories of these hand-crafted works of art will remain just that.

~fin~

A brief postscript. The networks and animation companies didn’t just mine films. Often - especially NBC - they did animated Saturday morning versions of their prime time live action TV shows.

NBC had not one, but TWO ALF-inspired cartoons. One - ALF - was about his days on Melmac. The other - ALF Tales - was like a fractured fairy tales version where Alf was featured as a main character in public domain stories

NBC did one for Punky Brewster too, adding a mythical magical sidekick. Virtually all of the main cast voiced their animated counterparts.

NBC also featured Martin Short’s SCTV/SNL character Ed Grimley in his own 1988 Saturday morning cartoon. Short would appear in live action video segments on the show and voiced the character along with other SCTV mainstays.

Two years later, hot off the success of the sitcom Roseanne, ABC debuted a Saturday morning cartoon Little Rosey. Barr did not voice her own character.

Anyhow, if you like stuff like this thread, follow people like @Super70sSports @cerealgeek @landofthe80s @toonsmag @OldSchool80s and others. We Gen-X’ers (and Gen-X adjacent) were fortunate to come up at a time with a rich popular culture.