50 Fun Facts About 80s Cartoons

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) was based on which company's toy line?

Mattel made the Masters of the Universe toys, and Filmation's 130-episode series (1983-85) was built to sell them; its syndication success proved half-hour 'cartoon commercials' could work.

What is the name of Prince Adam's cowardly pet tiger, who transforms into Battle Cat?

Cringer is Adam's timid green tiger; a blast from the Sword of Power turns him into the armored Battle Cat. Alan Oppenheimer voiced both forms, along with Skeletor and Man-At-Arms.

Which fortress is Skeletor's main goal, since He-Man draws his power from it?

Prince Adam raises the Sword of Power and invokes it by name to transform. Its Sorceress, voiced by Linda Gary, guards the secrets inside.

How many episodes did She-Ra: Princess of Power run for between 1985 and 1987?

She-Ra: Princess of Power ran 93 episodes in syndication, 65 in 1985 and 28 in 1986-87, after spinning off from He-Man with the feature-length pilot The Secret of the Sword.

In The Transformers, how long had the robots lain entombed on Earth before waking in 1984?

The Ark crashed on prehistoric Earth and its crew lay dormant for 4 million years until a 1984 volcanic eruption revived the ship's computer Teletraan I. Sparkplug and Spike Witwicky became the Autobots' human allies.

Which Marvel editor-in-chief wrote the story concept that created the Autobots and Decepticons?

Jim Shooter, Marvel's editor-in-chief, wrote the treatment that split the robots into heroic Autobots and evil Decepticons after Hasbro found the Diaclone and Microchange toys at the 1983 Tokyo Toy Fair; Bob Budiansky then named most characters.

Which Japanese studio was the main animator on the first two seasons of The Transformers?

Toei Animation handled most of the first two seasons, designing the transformation schemes and animation models; in season three much of the work shifted to the South Korean studio AKOM.

In The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Orson Welles voiced which planet-sized villain?

Unicron, the planet-eating robot, was Orson Welles's final role; he died on October 10, 1985, months before the film opened. Leonard Nimoy voiced Galvatron and Eric Idle the Junkion leader Wreck-Gar.

Which company produced ThunderCats in 1985?

Rankin/Bass, best known for stop-motion Christmas specials, produced ThunderCats, with the animation done in Japan by Pacific Animation Corporation, a studio Disney later bought.

What is the name of the ThunderCats' legendary weapon, whose hilt holds the source of their power?

The Mutants of Plun-Darr spare the flagship of the fleeing Thunderian fleet only because they hope to capture it. Its Eye lets Lion-O see 'beyond sight'.

On which planet do the ThunderCats settle after fleeing their dying homeworld?

The ThunderCats settle on Third Earth after the Mutants of Plun-Darr cripple their flagship in flight; Jaga steers the survivors there, where the ever-living mummy Mumm-Ra already waits.

In the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Krang is a disembodied brain banished from where?

Krang was banished from Dimension X and stripped of his body; on Earth he supplied Shredder with the Technodrome and a Rock Soldier army led by General Traag.

In the 1987 TMNT cartoon, Splinter was originally a human ninja master by what name?

Hamato Yoshi, framed by rival Oroku Saki and exiled to the New York sewers, was mutated into the rat Splinter because he had been touching sewer rats; in the Mirage comics Splinter was instead Yoshi's pet rat.

The Fred Wolf TMNT series was first shown in syndication as a five-part miniseries at what time of year?

The five-part 'Heroes in a Half Shell' miniseries aired in syndication in the Christmas 1987 season, across five December days; the regular run began in October 1988 and lasted until 1996, one of the decade's longest-lived cartoons.

DuckTales (1987) was based on Uncle Scrooge comics created by which cartoonist?

Carl Barks created Uncle Scrooge in 1947 and wrote the comics DuckTales drew on, including the Number One Dime; the show ran 100 episodes after Donald leaves the nephews with Scrooge to join the Navy.

Which DuckTales pilot went on to become a main character in Darkwing Duck?

Launchpad McQuack, Scrooge's crash-prone pilot, joined Darkwing Duck in 1991 as the hero's sidekick; DuckTales itself ran in syndication from September 1987 to November 1990.

Which Get Smart star voiced Inspector Gadget from 1983?

Don Adams, Get Smart's Maxwell Smart, voiced the bumbling cyborg detective from 1983 in what was DIC's first syndicated cartoon; Gadget survives thanks to luck, his niece Penny and the family dog.

What is the name of Inspector Gadget's dog, who secretly saves him in disguise?

Brain is the dog who shadows Gadget in disguise; Gadget usually mistakes him for a M.A.D. agent and gives chase, while niece Penny does the real detective work with her computer book.

On which US network did Hanna-Barbera's blue-skinned Peyo adaptation run from 1981 to 1989?

NBC president Fred Silverman commissioned the Hanna-Barbera series after buying his daughter a doll of the little blue characters; it ran on NBC Saturday mornings from September 1981 to December 1989.

How many episodes of Hanna-Barbera's Peyo adaptation aired between 1981 and 1989?

Hanna-Barbera produced 256 episodes over nine seasons, most holding two or three short stories; the characters had debuted as 'les Schtroumpfs' in Peyo's Johan and Peewit strip in 1958.

In Jem, what is the real name of the record-company owner whose alter ego fronts the Holograms?

Jerrica Benton runs Starlight Music and becomes Jem through the holographic computer Synergy; Christy Marx created the series for the same Hasbro-Sunbow-Marvel team behind G.I. Joe and Transformers.

The first season of Voltron (1984) was adapted from which Japanese anime series?

Beast King GoLion (1981) supplied the five robot lions of Voltron's first season, re-dubbed and re-edited by World Events Productions; season two's Vehicle Team came from the unrelated Armored Fleet Dairugger XV.

In Adventures of the Gummi Bears, what does gummiberry juice let the bears do?

Gummiberry juice lets the bears 'Bounce like rubber balls', while on humans it gives a brief burst of super-strength that works only once a day; Grammi brews it from a secret recipe. The show ran six seasons from 1985.

In which kingdom's forest do the Gummi Bears live in their secret home of Gummi Glen?

Gummi Glen lies in the forest of Dunwyn, the kingdom ruled by King Gregor, whose daughter Princess Calla and the squire Cavin are the bears' human friends.

Why did the 1986 Ghostbusters cartoon have to add 'The Real' to its title?

The answer is 'A dispute with Filmation over its own Ghost Busters': Filmation owned the name via its 1975 live-action series and a 1986 animated revival, so DIC's rival show added 'The Real' to its title.

Muppet Babies grew out of a dream sequence in which 1984 film?

In The Muppets Take Manhattan (July 1984), Miss Piggy imagines the gang as babies in the 'I'm Gonna Always Love You' number; the CBS series premiered that September, mixing live-action film clips into the babies' daydreams.

Which trio of female characters did the 1983 Alvin and the Chipmunks series introduce?

The Chipettes, Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor, debuted in the 1983 series as female counterparts to Alvin, Simon and Theodore, later gaining their own guardian, Miss Beatrice Miller; the show ran until 1990.

In the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon (1983), how do the six kids get transported into the realm?

The six friends board a Dungeons & Dragons ride, 'On an amusement-park roller coaster', and are thrown into the realm, where Dungeon Master gives each a magic item matching a character class; the show ran 27 episodes on CBS.

Where is the secret London headquarters of Penfold's eyepatched boss hidden?

The eyepatched agent's headquarters is 'Inside a pillar box on Baker Street', a red post box near Sherlock Holmes's fictional address; he and Penfold take orders from Colonel K and fight Baron Silas Greenback.

Count Duckula (1988) was a spin-off from which other Cosgrove Hall cartoon?

Danger Mouse was the parent show: a villainous Count Duckula had been a recurring baddie there, and the 1988 spin-off recast him as a vegetarian vampire, co-produced with Nickelodeon after the original's US success.

Which horror legend voiced the warlock Van Ghoul in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)?

Vincent Price voiced Vincent Van Ghoul, the warlock who helps the gang recapture the ghosts Shaggy and Scooby released from the Chest of Demons; the unresolved 13th ghost was finally caught in a 2019 direct-to-video film.

Hanna-Barbera's Pac-Man (1982) holds what distinction in TV history?

Pac-Man is cited as the 'First cartoon based on a video game', debuting on ABC in September 1982 within the Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show; its look even fed back into Namco's 1984 arcade game Pac-Land.

In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981), Firestar was created to replace which character over rights problems?

The Human Torch was tied up in a separate rights deal, so the show invented Firestar, a mutant like Iceman whose microwave powers resembled the Torch's; she later crossed into Marvel's comics.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers premiered in March 1989 where, before going into syndication?

Rescue Rangers premiered 'On The Disney Channel' in March 1989, after a preview episode there in August 1988, then entered syndication that September; creators Tad Stones and Alan Zaslove added Gadget, Monterey Jack and Zipper to the team.

The G.I. Joe cartoon began life in 1982 as a series of 30-second animated commercials promoting what?

Network rules of the time restricted animated toy commercials but not ads for comics, so Hasbro's 30-second spots pushed 'The Marvel comic book' and let it sell the figures; Ron Friedman wrote the 1983 mini-series that followed.

In My Little Pony 'n Friends (1986), the ponies live in which home in Ponyland?

Paradise Estate replaced Dream Castle as the ponies' home, first appearing in My Little Pony: The Movie three months before the series; each episode's second half showcased another Hasbro property such as the Glo Friends or Potato Head Kids.

Which episode launched Matt Groening's family as a half-hour series on December 17, 1989?

'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire', the Christmas special, opened the series on December 17, 1989; 'Some Enchanted Evening' had been produced first but was held back until May 1990 over animation problems.

The Simpson family got their start in 1987 as animated shorts on which programme?

Matt Groening sketched the family in James L. Brooks's lobby before pitching, and the shorts debuted on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987; the spin-off became Fox's first series to crack the season's top 30.

Which farm-based strip shared the screen with the cat in Garfield and Friends (1988)?

U.S. Acres, Jim Davis's farm strip starring Orson Pig, filled one segment of each episode between two Garfield segments; Lorenzo Music voiced Garfield, as he had since 1982's Here Comes Garfield.

Which legendary voice actor played Heathcliff in Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats (1984)?

Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny, played Heathcliff in DIC's 1984 series, having already voiced the cat in Ruby-Spears's 1980 version; each episode paired a Heathcliff story with one about Riff-Raff's Catillac Cats.

The Snorks (1984) came from the same Belgian merchandising machine as which other Hanna-Barbera hit?

The Smurfs shared the same Belgian licensing agent: Freddy Monnickendam of SEPP, who had brokered the Peyo deal, developed the underwater Snorks with Belgian artist Nic Broca, and both shows aired on the same Saturday-morning network.

In Denver, the Last Dinosaur (1988), where does Denver come from?

Denver hatches from 'A petrified egg found by California teens' at a Los Angeles construction site; Jeremy, Mario, Shades and Wally hide him from the world in the 1988 World Events Productions series.

Which wrestling personality played Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989)?

Danny Wells played Luigi. Friday episodes swapped the Mario cartoon for a Legend of Zelda segment famous for Link's 'Well, excuse me, Princess!'

In M.A.S.K. (1985), Matt Trakker's team battles which criminal organization?

V.E.N.O.M. stood for Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem and was led by Matt's treacherous ex-partner Miles Mayhem.

Which escaped alien crime boss do the SilverHawks fight in the Limbo Galaxy?

Mon*Star transforms into an armour-plated monster with help from Limbo's Moonstar; the show was Rankin/Bass's space answer to ThunderCats.

On which desert planet is Filmation's space Western BraveStarr set?

New Texas is a 23rd-century mining planet whose precious Kerium draws outlaws, and Marshal BraveStarr, one of the few Native American leads in American animation, keeps the peace there with his talking horse Thirty/Thirty.

Which film director developed the 1989 Beetlejuice animated series?

Tim Burton, who directed the 1988 film, developed the cartoon and served as executive producer; Danny Elfman rearranged his film theme for the show, which reimagined Lydia and Beetlejuice as friends in the Neitherworld.

BraveStarr's villain Tex Hex was originally created for which other Filmation cartoon?

Lou Scheimer found the character so compelling that he pulled him from the Ghostbusters cast and asked for a science-fiction Western around him.

In Captain N: The Game Master, which villain leads the forces threatening Videoland?

Mother Brain operated from the floating fortress of Metroid, with Dr. Wily, King Hippo and the Eggplant Wizard as her minions.

In The Raccoons, what is the name of the greedy aardvark millionaire villain?

Cyril Sneer, the pink aardvark tycoon, repeatedly tries to exploit the Evergreen Forest for profit, though over the series he softens into something of an antihero; his gentler son Cedric is Bert Raccoon's friend.