Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Name that Toon?

I'm a little startled to find that my original post found few takers. Are these cartoons all that narrow or obscure? Am I the only person who remembers these? (The latter would be rather disconcerting, I'll have to say.)

Given that, I'll push the game a little further. Once again, I've noted each of the ten excerpts below; Each one is a single line from the opening theme of a cartoon series that was first released sometime from the early 80s to the mid-90s. They may not necessarily be popular cartoons, although I'm aware that they all came out on local TV at one time or another.

The difference this time is that I've posted some additional hints for each and every one of these shows. Much like the lyrics, these are elusive bits drawn from whatever facts and histories I've gathered for these. I reserve the option to give further hints in yet another post; otherwise I'll have the answers up in a couple of weeks.

And now...

1. ...And you know there's a long long way ahead of you...
— A lot of cartoon series had a single annoying little character whose purpose involved either comic relief or constant irritation (often both). This series had such a character; strangely enough, he wore armor.

2. ...But bad guys are out of luck...
— This was the most recent cartoon on the list to be released, and was created by Walt Disney Studios.

3. ...High in the mountains, or deep in the sea...
— The archenemy of this series was a man named Scarab, who led an extremely motley crew of villains.

4. ...Let's watch the clouds go far below...
— This series was the TV companion to a revolutionary toy for its time: A combination audio tape player / stuffed doll.

5. ...No one knows what lies behind the masquerade...
— The tagline for this series (and its corresponding toy line) was "Illusion is the Ultimate Weapon."

6. ...Powers of mind, strength, skill and speed...
— The setting for this series was a world where technology was rendered useless; the cause of the phenomenon was never explained in the show's short lifespan.

7. ...Soaring through the highway of the heavens in their flight...
— Two of the hero characters in this series happened to be fraternal twins.

8. ...The music's contagious...
— The three most distinctive antagonists in this series were named Phyllis Gabor, Roxanne Pelligrini, and Mary Philips.

9. ...Two times the fun, wrapped up and rolled into one...
— This show holds the dubious honor of being the shortest-running animated series ever created by its studio.

10. ...You're the only one who can scratch our wrists...
— Unlike most other cartoon shows, this series was spun-off from a live-action TV sitcom.

5 comments:

Dom Cimafranca said...

Without cheating, I know that #5 is M.A.S.K. That's because I still find myself humming that tune now and then.

Dom Cimafranca said...

1. J a t W W.

2. D D.

3. B S.

4. T R.

...and I'll stop there for now.

:-)

Sean said...

Dominique: Correct so far, and I must point out that #4 is already quite obscure. I'd be surprised if anyone got #9 and/or #10 without looking something up.

Anonymous said...

#6 Visionaries
#7 Silver Hawks
#8 Jem and the Hollograms

Sean said...

Anonymous: Correct as well... although #8 is just plain Jem.