Post-80s Memories: Cartoons
After finishing evaluations today, my wife and I suddenly started talking about the cartoons we watched as kids. Found plenty of overlap. Entertainment options were limited back then, so they really represent an era. Let me document from memory the cartoons I watched as a child, before I get even more forgetful with age.
TV was extremely limited back then. Every household set up their own antenna in the yard. Completely free (now putting up a satellite dish is illegal — you have to pay for cable TV or IPTV). The number of channels you could receive depended entirely on how high you could mount your antenna. Anyone around my age probably has memories of pestering their parents to climb up and adjust the antenna. In my hometown, if your family could receive Lianyungang, Jiangsu’s TV station, you were a cut above everyone else at school. More prestigious than being picked up in a BMW after work. You could proudly say, “My family gets Lianyungang TV. They broadcast Transformers at night. Whoever’s my friend gets to watch.” That was status.
I heard the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has banned foreign cartoons now. Looks like we were lucky. Post-90s and 00s kids, are you all growing up on “Big Head Son, Small Head Dad”?
Flower Fairy: I was too young when I watched this, probably before first grade. Don’t remember the plot at all. Just that the girl turns into something when facing a flower. There’s a villain with a big tail named Boqi? We even spread rumors that some kid had a big tail too, so we called him Boqi and tried to pull down his pants to see if he really had a tail.
Smurfs: Always thought Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf was a山寨 version, just replacing Smurfs with sheep. Don’t remember the plot, but I can still sing the theme song. Amazingly, it’s been revived as a “divine beast” song.
Barbapapa: By today’s standards, this family would be a bunch of blobs. I only remember being proud of reciting the intro quickly and accurately. “That’s Barbapapa, Barbamama, Barbazoo, Barbalala, Barbalibo, Barbabo, Barbabell, Barbabright, Barbabravo, got it?” And then reciting it all over again…
Kyoryu Sentai Koseidon: The first generation cosplay show. To扮 Koseidon, I spent big money on a kids’ motorcycle helmet. I only remember the line “Koseidon, here to visit.” There was a woman named Altar, with blonde hair at first, then it turned black halfway through. The villain was called Gods, supposedly a plant life form, going to the Cretaceous period to catch dinosaurs. Like today’s Ultraman, both made by Japanese, both beating monsters.
She-Ra, He-Man: Two cartoons, only difference seems to be male vs female version. The villain boss looks the same. Classic line: point the sword to the sky and shout “Give me the power!” Then a costume change. Point the sword at a timid tiger, and it instantly mutates into He-Man’s mount. Kids used to point twigs to the sky and shout the classic line, then point the twig at another kid, who became the unwilling mount…
Fist of the North Star: Very explicit and violent cartoon. Amazing it passed广电总局 review back then. Maybe there was no广电总局 yet? Every episode someone gets their pressure points hit and their brains explode. Post-80s kids watched plenty of this and didn’t turn collectively violent, so the “poisoning” effect is questionable. The broadcast was suddenly stopped midway, probably because广电总局 finally woke up.
Transformers: This cartoon brings back bittersweet memories. My family couldn’t receive the channel that aired it. I had to go to the mall or other people’s homes to watch. Worst time: I crouched on someone’s windowsill, peeking through the curtain crack to catch an episode. The neighborhood kid leader was called “Brother Optimus Prime.” Later, spin-offs like Headmasters appeared, also popular. One Transformer toy cost 30 yuan — half a month’s salary. The other day at the airport I saw a Transformer for nearly 2K, also half a month’s salary.
Clever Ikkyu: Similar impression includes Afanti. One is Chinese being clever, the other is Japanese being clever. I can’t remember a single specific clever thing Ikkyu did. Just that his mother was a puppet? And he had a sister called Xiaoyanzi? This cartoon’s theme song was even selected for elementary school music textbooks. In class, while singing about how there’s no New China without the Communist Party, and how our motherland is a garden, we could also sing about Japanese people. But the Chinese lyrics were definitely sanitized. Lines like “you never fight or curse” are clearly didactic.
Anyway, it’s getting late. Let me stop here. Rest, rest…