The Forgotten Shows

A great article on Cracked.com about 15 Unforgettable Cartoon Theme Songs, which included some great ones like the Transformers, GI Joe, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Talespin, Thundercats and Duck Tales.

But, there are some serious omissions from the list and much more deserving of inclusion than Mighty Max, Gummy Bears, Pro-Stars, Power Rangers & Sonic the Hedgehog. Here's my revised list:

Jem, Truly Outrageous

So, there I was one afternoon at the Milwaukee VA, trying to get a patient ready for transfer to the GEM unit, which is sort of like a temporary nursing home. Anyway, while doing the paperwork, I was singing, "Jem, truly outrageous, Jem!" After a few minutes, I came to a few realizations: (a) I was singing out loud (b) the entire room was silent. Two female medical students looked at me, jaws open, and asked, "How do you know that song?" at, which point, I had to make my confession - my brothers used to watch Jem all the time.

Well, actually, I think I'm the one that got us watching. In retrospect, I think we started watching as a sort of sociological experiment, to see how such shows affected the acculturation of chicks. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. But, we started watching it more often than could be accounted for by simple "experimentation." I think Jem is a character from Marvel, or was at least part of the Marvel Super Sunday. No matter what you think of us now, you can't deny the theme song is way better than Mighty Max, it's pure 80s synthesizer.

Smurfs

How could any list not include the Smurfs? I mean, that theme song is so classic I don't even need to comment on it any more, la la la la laaaaa!

Robotech

I didn't always understand the show, but I could tell it was cool. It was like the first soap opera I ever watched and remains one of the best...plus it had an executive producer whose name was Ahmed Agrama, a cool sounding name...

Voltron

I'll admit it isn't much of a theme song, but any theme that has the voice of Optimus Prime in it is automatically cool and worthy of inclusion. Plus, I remember as a kid walking around and making the little computer voice at the end, "Voltron, Defenders of the Universe."


M.A.S.K.

Another confection of 80s-style pop, how can you not jam along to the M.A.S.K. intro? I mean they were fighting crime, over time, all the time? Rock on! I think some people knocked the show a bit, because it does seem to be a cross between GI Joe and Transformers, but hey, give the people what they want, right?

Silverhawks

How come no one ever talks about the Silverhawks anymore? I mean, any starship that has a rainbow as its emissions has got to be cool...any theme song that has an eagle screeching in its theme song is not only cool, it's pretty darn patriotic too.

There's so much more, but this'll have to do it for now...