Cool News
Footage From The Sequel To The '80s Cartoon THE MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD!!
John Ary here with a bit of interesting news for the folks who grew up on the classic Nickelodeon programming of the mid-80's. If you were one of the lucky kids to have cable, chances are you probably watched at least one episode of The Mysterious Cities of Gold.
The show was a Japanese-Franco production co-produced by DiC Entertainment and Studio Pierrot. DiC of course created some of the best/worst animation of the 80's with Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters and The Littles. The Mysterious Cities of Gold first season ran for 39 episodes. 30 years later it will get a new season of episodes that pick up where the show left off. I have no idea what is being said in this new French trailer, but all of the old-school characters are there including Esteban, Zia, Tao, Sancho, Pedro and my favorite Mendoza.
I haven't been able to find any confirmation of its official return date in France or if it will return to North America, but you can find more production pics on the TF1 Facebook page.
Readers Talkback
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time I watched it I was a kid
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When he used to work up on the mines he could only get two channels. He would watch this show every day and phone us to see if we had watched it too :)
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It would be incredible.
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June 7, 2012, 9:25 a.m. CST
Da Da Da Da Da Inspector Gadget Da Da Da Da Da Daaa Daaaaaa
by Obi Wanna Cannoli
My kid is hooked on this show and I told her I watched it when it came out. She asked was I little when it came out. I said, "No I was a Senior in High School with no life".
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and it looks like they go to china. remember this from when i were a kid. as for ulysses 31, they would have to ditch the damn robot .
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June 7, 2012, 9:34 a.m. CST
No I meant a live action version of Ulysses 31, with a CGI robot and little blue girl.
by _ISITIN3D_
It would be incredible.
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The original was one of the best cartoons ever. This one's going to have big shoes to fill. I'm glad to see it's a continuation rather than a reboot that was erroneously alluded to in the title. They still had six more Cities of Gold to find at the end of the first series, so it makes sense to pick up there. I'm hoping it has the documentaries at the end of each episode like the old one too.
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June 7, 2012, 9:39 a.m. CST
Broadcast on the BBC on prime time kids TV back in the late 80's
by Lord Albion
We all grew up singing the theme tune, which the BBC kindly provided a lyric sheet for if you wrote in. I missed the last episode and had to wait for nearly thirty years to get the DVD boxed set, which I am now watching with my own children!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMpf1D3YohU
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The only thing I brought with me from this show, though, is a couple images in my mind of the temples, and the titular city. Watching that trailer brought back a lot...
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would still need to lose the damn robot
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I always watched these out of order and not enough of them.
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June 7, 2012, 9:56 a.m. CST
AAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAOOOOOO SOMETHING THE SEETEES OF GOOOOWWWLLLD
by Squashua
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If it came to the US, I'd watch it. I spent many a summer's afternoon watching this series. Then I missed the last episode. I was so upset. Then, it came to Netflix instant and I finally caught up. Loved the conceit of the show. It was my first introduction to the idea of a great civilization crumbling and their super technology left for people to find. Loved the Olmecs, too.
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Mendoza was not the kid's father. Esteban's father was the guy who was posing as the high priest of the cities of gold. The lyric goes: "aaaa aaaaaoooo someday we will find the cities of gold' Man I love film studies some times...
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Never heard of this show, but the trailer looks awful.
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June 7, 2012, 11:02 a.m. CST
I have fond kid memories of not giving a shit about this 'cause it wasn't Voltron, Robotech, Transformers, etc.
by tylerzero
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LIVE ACTION VOLTRON MOVIE....NOW!!!!
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Hi people, Living in the province of Quebec, I was raised on the original and the reruns (in the french language form) of the Mysterious Cities of Gold. I can't say how awesome this news item is for us here in Quebec who got raised seing this show. For those interested in my particular interest for this, I claim equal parts to Indiana Jones and MCoG for my undergraduate studies and my masters degree in Ancient History and Archaelogy. As for the content of the trailer, I remember (watched it last night via a link in facebook and do not have access to it right now since I`m at work), the series picks off a few months after the end of the last season and Esteban and crew are back in Spain (Condor Airways) where news of their exploits are slowly trickling back to the Spanish Court lead by Felipe II (responsable mostly for the subjugation of South America under Spanish Rule). The shady cloaked character seems to be one nasty piece of Inquisitor that seems really convincing in talking his Majesty into running after the kids while they are in Spain and before they leave again for... China! where certain clues left by the Mu civilization (and supposedly deciphered by Tao) will lead them presently. Esteban goes back to see Mendoza and asks if the Masked Priest last seen sacrificing himself in the last episode of Season 1 is his father (I always assumed him to be), but Mendoza does not answer. The fight scenes are looking as if they are escaping spanish military before they get to the Condor and leave for China. The Shady Inquisitor in vowing in front of Felipe that he will track them to the end of the earth to get a new source of gold for the crown. Sorry I cannot give you a more detailed account of the trailer since I`m doing this from memory (I will try to give you guys a better description tonight or tomorrow with a scene-by-scene translation). Another interesting tidbit, they got Sancho and Pedro voices (and I think Mendoza too) done by the same actors. More later...
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June 7, 2012, 11:56 a.m. CST
Filmation will always be responsible for the worst animation in the 80s.....
by john
Sure, I love He-Man, She-Ra, Fat Albert and Ghost Busters as much as the next dude, but man, their animation was terrible. So much stock footage and barely moving characters. DiC was light years ahead in terms of technique.
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That I find an 80' cartoon I have never seen, this is one of them.
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Check out the extras on the Dvd boxset to truely appreciate the love that went into the original series. still stands up today. Ulysses 31 was also great, the mythology was spot on. and the robot Nono was actually quite helpfull and not at all annoying, some people are mis-remembering the show completly and getting confused with Snarf (who wasnt that bad either) and that lance welding droid thing from Wheel Warriors. CHILDREN OF THE SUN !SEE YOUR TIME HAS JUST BEGUN!
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I remember the others that were mentioned.
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I graduated high school in 1983 so I was too old to have watched this but it's rare for me to have never even heard of a cartoon that aired in the 80's. I agree with wrath_of fett that based on that clip it looks like shit.
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Nickelodeon had a little kiddie anime block back then featuring The Adventures of The Little Prince, Belle and Sebastian, Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea and this. The funny thing is, I never watched a single episode of this show but I heard the theme song for it everyday. By the time this show came on I was getting ready to go to the neighborhood swimming pool.
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June 7, 2012, 1 p.m. CST
r._rambo, I concur. I consider myself well versed in 80s cartoons.
by Grammaton Cleric Binks
And, as far as anime I fondly remember Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets, and Robotech. I never heard of this one.
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err, wait
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was pretty much a Nickelodeon 'show it in the summertime' series. I thought the first round was amazing, the new animation looks a lot cleaner, waiting to see if it possesses the same level of imagination and brilliance as the original 39 episode adventure. I was always wondering where they'd head after the new world, China sounds like a good place for a City of Gold.
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I wonder if anybody now will revisit Spartacus and The Sun beneath the Sea?
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Actually, I do believe I watched a few minutes of it here and there but wasn't interested in it at the time. I'm surprised to find out that it was apparently well liked enough to warrant a sequel being made. If a studio out there is reading this and is interested in continuing a cartoon 80's show then might I suggest a sequel to Dungeons & Dragons.
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June 7, 2012, 2:38 p.m. CST
I'm suprised at how many people havent heard of the mysterious cities of gold on this talkback....
by Father
...It must have been one of those shows that made little impact in the states, but was really popular in other parts of the world (namely europe , south america and the UK ). Personally i loved the show when i was a kid and i'm really interested to see how this new version of the show turns out- the animation looks great and i'm shocked at how closely this show is sticking to the look and feel of the original . SOME DAY WE WILL FIIIIIIIIIIIND, THE CIIIIIITIIIIIES OF GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD.
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Fuck yes. Fuck. Yes.
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I will KILL every last one of you fuckers. PLEASE let this actually be happening.
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But don't really care to revisit it. Galaxy Rangers on the other hand... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMpsAmWbSJg FTW
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This is no trick. The internet is aflame with the news that it is REALLY happening this month! For example- http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/05/29/mysterious-cities-of-gold-cartoon-sequel-is-actually-happening/
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Are they waiting for the technology to catch up?
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I'm kind of surprised (but not really) by all those clamoring for a Voltron revisiting. I guess that CGI Voltron show from a few years ago wasn't enough. And for those of you who say you didn't watch it because it had no robots, well, joke's on you. One of the conceits of the show was conquistadors finding mech-like vehicles built by ancient empires, not to mention the Olmec super-weapon that was made of a couple different flying machines merging together.
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I loved this show, and the theme song was one of the all-time greats. I remember watching it at 5:30 in the morning when I was like 8 years old. It was, hands-down, Nickelodeon's best show. And I loved You Can't Do That On Television. For those of you that haven't seen the original series, here's a quick summary... Esteban - the kid with the keys when they rescue the guys from the jail in the trailer - is basically this homeless kid that's growing up on the streets of Spain. He has a medallion which is the little moon necklace that they show in the trailer. The medallion was given to him by his explorer father before he disappeared to search for the Americas. Mendoza (the guy in the blue cape and a bit of a roguish con-man) realizes that the medallion is some sort of lost artifact and enlists Esteban into joining him on his search in the Americas for the Seven Cities of Gold. The other two kids are Tau, who is (according to the Wikipedia page) the last surviving member of the Mu empire, and Zia, who was kidnapped from the Incas and has a necklace similar to Esteban's I can't do it all justice here; the whole single-season series was awesome, with a deep, unique plot in a piece of history that nobody else has really touched. If you want most of the full story, read the Wikipedia page on it, because the plot points are stuff you just don't see in kids shows anymore. It's up there with Pirates of Dark Water as far as my favorite epic-scope animation from my childhood. *major spoiler* For example, Esteban finally finds his father, who has become a high priest of the Cities, right before the man has to sacrifice himself to save the world from a doomsday device left by the Muan civilization. That's how the FIRST season ends, right after they find the first City of Gold. */spoiler* I'm sure that visually, the show hasn't aged well - most animation from that age is subpar technically anyway, and they punched out 39 episodes. That being said, they cranked out 39 fucking animated episodes for one season, so shut the fuck up about the crap animation and enjoy the deep, complex characters and story. I'm so, so excited about this.
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But only after I saw the opening there. In fact, the opening is the only thing I remember about this show. Same as with Thunder Cats and He-Man.
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We demand it NOW!
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Awesome. Those were the days of watching actual quality stuff like.... Star fleet (Not Trek) The Snorks Spider-man, Firestar and Iceman Godzilla and Godzuki Dogtanian and the 3 muskehounds There's one I can't remember the name of! I think it was Japanese and it featured a group of kids in large helmets flying in machines and I think they could form their ships to form a giant robot...HELP!
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friend of Ulysses. Loved it. Never saw Cities of Gold. Recently though, I did see Mirai shônen Konan (Future Boy Conan), which I thoroughly recommend. Hayao Miyazaki directed it, so one would expect it to be good really.
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June 7, 2012, 5:53 p.m. CST
Anyone rememember a French or French Canadian cartoon from this era that...
by tangcameo
...was about the history of the world. It had episodes stretching back to cavemen and the intro had characters throughout history, starting from cavemen all the way to an astronaut blasting off in a space shuttle. I used to watch it on the local French CBC station. It was fascinating even though I didn't speak French.
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This is too cool, I really hope Nick or someone picks this up here. The Original was so cool. One of the things that made Nick great when it started. Pretty amazing, especially when you consider the original book by Scott O'Dell, "The King's Fifth" was nothing like the show!
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June 7, 2012, 6:58 p.m. CST
I was around in the 80's, must have slept thru this somehow
by Crimson Dynamo
Howzabout a You Can't Do That on Televison movie? Did Kevin Kubusheskie ever escape from that firing squad?
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I think I just shat myself with excitement. I love this show, and the thought that they are making a SEQUEL series to it and not just rebooting it is fucking awesome. Overload. Pleasure overload.
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June 7, 2012, 7:12 p.m. CST
The entire series was available streaming via Netflix recently
by Toe Jam
Not sure if it's still available, though. I really loved this cartoon. It was one of my favorites at one point and always outshined "Belle & Sebastian," another favorite. (Always hated the little dog for some reason and wanted to kill it Christopher Moltisanti-style.) "The Mysterious Cities of Gold" had a great mystique to it (if you were young, anyway) and an equally great theme song. Why are foreign cartoons always so much more mature and engaging than the shit that is produced here in the U.S.?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ4c1X5ene8
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQT00ZSVzcg&feature=related
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhW_wk09d_s
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Z1yLO9C-Q&feature=related
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Fact!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpuhLkh358Y
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGkvaIbcbkI
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9fUmKUOvkg&feature=related
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfOwLWhVrPA
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Dino Saucers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhJSD8RU4k
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If you dont know anything about this show... please check it out. As one of the lucky kids who got to see this back in the day... I can honestly say that, as an 80's show, it rivals/surpasses the overall animation and story quality of today's Last Airbender shows. Get a copy of the original and watch a few episodes... my bet is that it will draw you in. One of the reasons that it didnt hit big here in the states is that it was supposedly a bit too 'high brow' for the american audience. Yay Transformers. Whatever. The iea that the 2nd season is picking up where the first one left off almost 30 years ago, to me, is amazing. Check it out! It's good! I promise! Check out the mysterious cities of gold
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I do remember watching scattered episodes of this when I was a kid, but I was never able to see the entire series. (I was never able to find out how the series ended until about twelve years later in college when I found some Mysterious Cities of Gold websites that had episode synopses.) However, a year or so ago I rewatched the entire series on NetFlix with my son (who is 8), and we both loved it. The series really stands up. It's especially great in that it tells one "complete" story over the course of the entire season (thanks Japanese influence). I'd recommend it to anyone interested in great kids cartoons or 80's animation in general. Hopefully it'll get an English translation at some point in the future.
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June 7, 2012, 10:16 p.m. CST
I think David Icke must have been watching this when he experienced his psychotic break...
by Nerfee
...as it's all about feathery lizard people and stuff. Dogtanian next, I say!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time..._Man
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The follow up has been in development hell for years, I'm so glad we will finally get to see it.
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June 8, 2012, 2:29 a.m. CST
I wish they'd bring back my childhood favourite: The Transformers
by photoboy
The Transformers had a cartoon and a movie back in the '80s but what I really want is a live action movie. Seeing Optimus Prime on the big screen would be amazing, it's such a pity Hasbro haven't done it yet.
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Better than any movie coming out!!!!
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June 8, 2012, 4:24 a.m. CST
Weird. I'm familiar with most animation aired in
by Bedknobs and Boomsticks
the U.S. and Canada in the 80's, but not this. Have I entered an alternate universe?
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Good time to be a kid.
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HBO seemed to run Being There nonstop. I was a kid and it bored me to tears. (Love it as an adult, however.) Showtime ran Sunday In The Park With George, also seemingly nonstop. And on Nickelodeon, it was a kids variety show/quasi-Sesame Street somethingorother called Pinwheel.
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Filmation definitely had the worst animation of the 80s, but it was more an issue of economics than of ability. As I understand it Filmation was one of the few studios that did not outsource its animation overseas at this time. That being the case they could only turn a profit by cutting costs in the ways you mentioned (reused animation, minimal animation etc.). I'm sure if their animators worked at a third the cost they could stretched the budget further a produced better looking shows. Kind of sad really. A company taking pride in keeping jobs in a America having to cut so many corners that the end product looks amateurish when compared to others at that time.
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June 8, 2012, 8:53 a.m. CST
Awesome!! And it looks so faithful. Hope it's as intelligently written. We need smarter toons for kids.
by Mr Nicholas
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June 8, 2012, 9:17 a.m. CST
This is such EPIC news. Mysterious Cities of Gold was one of the best cartoons ever. Nay-sayers here need to see it on Netflix, bow down, and respect!
by Dogmatic
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This would rule.
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June 8, 2012, 9:59 a.m. CST
If this doesnt take you back to getting back from school, slinging your bag on the floor.......
by dacanesta
.....and sitting down in your little uniform and hearing this music and hoping that this was the episode that they finally found what they were looking for, then i feels sorry for ya!
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June 8, 2012, 11:50 a.m. CST
I don't know which Animated Company produced the worst crap; Filmation or DIC?
by Stalkeye
DIC nearly destroyed the Legacy of GIJoe ARAH thanks to those watered down cartoons during the early 90's. and it's all in part to the douchebags at Hasbro who dropped Marvel Productions because they wanted to pay for cheaper Animation which in turn led to piss poor quality art, stories,etc. Only "redeeming" factor was the theme song "Got to get tough" was utilized in Konami's GIJoe Arcade game. Soon after, the Toyline and Comic was discontinued. I guess those 30 minute commercials can make a difference on a product. That being said, DIC had a much better Ghostbusters series than the dreadful Filmation version in which none of the characters resemble their Movie counterparts.
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Voltron was heavily censored compared to the original Japanese version;Go Lion. I really hate when American Networks water down Anime series just to pander to Soccer Moms, a few Conservatives and Democrats alike. At least most of the mature content on Robotech was left intact. BOTP is an entirely different story. Damn you Sandy Frank.
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June 8, 2012, 12:01 p.m. CST
Re: "Filmation will always be responsible for the worst animation in the 80s....."
by Stalkeye
Yeah, and that's a damn shame as I watched their earlier stuff like Space sentinels and of course The DC series; Superman, Batman and The Justice League. Filmation closed down due to too much outsourcing overseas where not only was the animation cheaper, but much better quality. Oh, and they toned down their action oriented series like He Man which is still refered to as "That Gay cartoon"
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the whole reason the real ghostbusters was made. ghost busters wasnt based on the the 80s movie but a older 40s/50 with a big monkey.
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Tarzan, Lone Ranger, Zorro and Flash Gordon- All really good shows!
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