movies/tv What makes 90's cartoons so good?

[TheJLeeTeam 914]

Now cartoons have been around for a long time for like over a decade and I feel like each era had some unique cartoons coming out. But the talk I hear a lot about is with 90's cartoons with shows like Spongebob, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Arthur, Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Ed Edd n Eddy, Courage, Recess, and Animaniacs.

 

And yeah there are a lot of 90's cartoons I like but what makes that era so good that makes it stand out from cartoons after the 90's or even before? Because I mostly hear 90's cartoons getting praised, cartoons after that getting bashed, and cartoons before that getting ignored. Was it like the golden age of animation, or the most creative era or what? If many 90's cartoons were made today instead of in the 90's they would probably get much more hate than they actually do.

 

But I feel like cartoons that came before the 90's are being ignored. I mean in the 30's and 40's there were cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Popeye, etc. and 60's had cartoons like Scooby Doo, Flintstones, and Jetsons, and 80's had cartoons like Smurfs, and Ducktales. I thought the 30's, 40's, and 50's were considered the Golden Age of Animation.

 

I mean saying 90's cartoons are better than 2000's or 2010's cartoons would be like if I said cartoons from the 30's, 40's, and 50's are way better than the 90's, and 90's cartoons don't compare to the timeless classics like Looney Tunes, Mickey Mouse, Tom & Jerry, and Popeye. I mean if the 90's were the first decade we got some famous cartoons I could understand better but there were plenty of great cartoons that came before the 90's and yet a lot of them get ignored and that's really sad.

[Denim&Venöm 16,575]

90's cartoons get praise because after 9/11, cartoons stopped being an all ages affair. The focus was entertainment for kids and only kids, and that meant getting kid friendlier, which led to the dumbing down of shows. Shows that started after 04-05 were more comical, less serious, possessing less depth. There was innovation, experimentation, and pushing the envelope in the 90's. Shows had action, legitimate comedy, compelling story, touching moments and characters with depth. it's audience wasn't talked down to, but talked with. Plus the 90's were also the mass introduction of America to anime, and on daytime TV no less. It was indeed, an animation renaissance.

 

All that slowly faded around 04-05. Toonami, the main hub of anime broadcasts in North America, was relocated to Saturday nights, before being scrapped altogether. Many staples of Cartoon Network were finished off and pulled from the airwaves. The original Nicktoons were  wrapped up. Disney... I dunno what happened there.  There wasn't nearly as much innovation on the airwaves.  Shows decided to cater solely to a younger demographic and play it safe with their content. The 00's are rather dull and simplistic by comparison. 

 

So yeah, the 90's stepped up in many ways, surpassing previous generations. Had 00's america chosen to follow suit and continue along those lines, rather than regress to something more simplistic and safe in the face of the 9/11 paradigm shift, we would be saying that the 00's had the best cartoons. 

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

Come on everybody sing it with me!

N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-A~

[Rainbow S.D. 546]

Nostalgia in my opinion. 

[Nuke87654 1,849]

I'd say nostalgia is one big reason why people consider the 90's cartoon era so great (though not to say the 90's don't have their share of great cartoons). While there were many great cartoons in the 90's, there were many lame ones as well (like that bugsby cartoon). As Mr. Enter had voiced in his top 15 or so worse cartoons of 2000's, 2010's actually has a very good chance to being considered the best decade of cartoons with so many strong shows out for many to enjoy and easier accesses to watch them without needing a tv.

[Frostgage 7,972]

As others have said, I think it's mostly nostalgia. When you have such good memories of something it can often make you remember it as better than it actually was.

[Megas 27,086]

I do think there are plenty of genuinely good cartoons in the 90's, and I'd definitely say there were plenty of cartoons that had some balls

 

Though Nostalgia does play a good role 70% of the time

[Lisa 5,552]

nostalgia

i'm surprised it's not that obvious

[Buzz 1,769]

Nostalgia and the fact that the stories wern't cliched as most cartoons of today as they hadnt been done before made the 90's cartoons what they are/were!

[MLPFanatic34 3,234]

Nostalgia and the overall plots and animation in 90s cartoons made them worth watching and so entertaining.

[ponylaces 1,869]

why does everyone forget Pink Panther

 

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But I have to say, if something like Hey Arnold was made today, I'd still like it.

[King Sejong 858]

   I lived through the whole nineties, so what I can say is what made nineties cartoons so good, was that anyone could enjoy them, Animaniacs was a unique blend of child slap stick and adult jokes, so well written they flew under the radar of sensors, my father loved the Animaniacs, Tiny Toons too, they had many mature moments, the nineties also started the trend of dark, edgy cartoons like Batman and Gargoyles, both have a sort of iconic status, plus my mother loved Batman the Animated Series, even a light hearted game character like Sonic the Hedgehog, had that mix of childish innocence and dark seriousness. Now nostalgia does play a role in why nineties cartoons are favoured, but bronies young and old have nostalgia for seasons one and two, before the Equestria Girl films and Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, so nostalgia is not the only explanation, cartoons of the nineties took risks and where entertaining enough for anyone, for the legacy of the nineties is still with us, Teen Titans, Gumball, Adventure Time and My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, were cartoons with many elements prevalent during the era, quotable lines, relatable characters, stellar animation and compelling story telling, individually cartoons of the nineties do not stand up to modern scrutiny, but together they made the nineties into a time to remember, and to honour, because they made our current cartoons possible, in the same way the eighties cartoons made nineties cartoons imaginative, and that is what past cartoons did for us.