At the height of the cold war, you may not be sure of what next was coming. Governments of various countries took several questionable decisions, policies, and actions. However, one thing that united several countries was the Saturday morning cartoons which cereal sponsorships often went with. Few programs attracted such global attention in the ‘70s.
Cartoons were the dumping ground of anxieties in a decade marred with political tensions. The 1970s also saw a new Hollywood era. Movie directors looked to distract people from their economic tussles and uncertain events. Hence, cartoons were not just made for kids. They reflected the hopes and the top stories at that period.
Presenting, the top ten cartoons of the 1970s.
10. Sabrina The Teenage Witch (1971-1974)
Filmation produced for CBS Sabrina The Teenage in 1971. There were very few T.V shows that garnered attention in the 70s as much as Sabrina The Teenage Witch did. The use of superpowers coined with humorous acts made it extremely exciting.
Sabrina was a young and inexperienced teenager with unique abilities. Despite growing up under the tutelage of her witch aunts, who had their differences. Sabrina ignored all warnings against the use of magic and superpowers, especially for things not necessary, such as impressing her crush and other irrelevant activities. The 12-year-old Sabrina knew little about witchcraft and was not ready to heed warnings from those who surrounded her, including her chatty black cat.
Inspired by her favorite friend Chloe, Sabrina tried several adventures with dangerous and powerful spells, even though she was ignorant of their consequences.
Each episode of the cartoon shows how Sabrina uses her magic for something irrelevant. And each episode often comes to an end, with Sabrina facing the consequence of her childishness. Gradually, she was learning the use of her spells in diverse ways.
Sabrina The Teenage Witch was an interesting comic cartoon, and the comic has inspired the creation of new shows and cartoons even up to the current day.
9. The All-New Super Friends (1977-1978)
The All-New Super Friends is an animated version of the Comic book “Justice League.” This cartoon involved superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, and Aquaman. The Wonder Twins and Gleek also joined the superheroes. Each of the superheroes in the cartoon was already fan favorites at the time. Seeing them fight for justice was just so pleasing to see.
When an earlier episode of this cartoon aired in 1972, it garnered little attention. Due to FCC regulations against televised violence, and the villains were not necessarily violent or aggressive. However, the latest episode experienced more confrontation between supervillains and superheroes, who dealt with the greedy and selfish villains. The producers broke down the new cartoon into different episodes that lasted thirty minutes, contrary to the previous one that lasted for hours. Watching favorite superheroes is always an exciting activity, whether they were watching them in animated shows, movies, or in the pages of comics.
8. The All-New Popeye Hour
The Hanna-Barbera studio produced a lot of dynamics in the 1970s. Despite the ban on violent cartoon content for children, the studio produced some of the best cartoons in the 1970s. Popeye first appeared in a newspaper comic in 1929, alongside his archrival Bluto who wanted to steal Popeye’s spinach. To maintain the restriction on violent cartoons for children, Popeye did not throw punches in the cartoon. The studio proved this keenness of this idea even though Popeye is a heavy smoking naval officer who sniffed spinach to stimulate his strength. To become culturally significant, the show adopted the “Popeye Safety Tips.” The announcement aimed at cautioning against heavy intake of toxic substances, smoking, and so on. All these made the show one of the best of the ‘70s decade. Kids found Popeye’s look as exciting as the content.
7. Galaxy Goof-ups (1978-1979)
Also known as Galaxy Guardians, this cartoon was another masterwork produced by the legendary Hanna-Barbera studio. The Goof-up was a group made of the Yogi Bear, Scare Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Quack Up. The four conducts their mission under the leadership of Captain Snerdley.
The first episode aired on September 9, 1978. It showcased the Goof-ups on a rescue mission to save the kidnapped princess Glama. Her abductor Zangra and her robot had the intention of using her to lure the Goof-ups into a trap. However, they managed to escape the trap and rescue the Queen from Zangra’s custody.
The other episodes, such as Clone Ranger, Dopey Defender, Space Pirates, Defensive Protectives, and a lengthy list of episodes, showed the Goof-ups getting engaged in different rescue missions and outsmarting their adversaries in various assignments. This stunning creation was one of the best cartoons produced in the1970s.
6. Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979)
Scooby doo was no longer the fans’ favorite in the 1970s. ABC has threatened to remove the show due to its lack of audience. To have the show, there was a need to introduce the character of Scooby’s nephew, Scrappy-Doo, which eventually led to the name changed to Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. In their first episode, the gang was up against the Blue Scarab, a creation that commits different atrocities and crimes. In the second episode, a night Ghoul trapped the gang, but they soon found their way through the villain. Various episodes carry different adventures for Scooby doo and Scrappy doo.
5. Jabberjaw (1976)
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the cartoon sensation Jaberjaw. Jabberjaw is a giant shark that drums for a group of four teenagers, the Neptunes. The setting is underwater. Jabberjaw and Neptune, a group of teenagers, tour different underwater states where they face different supervillains. Some of these supervillains are willing to suppress and dominate the underwater world. Jabberjaw and the group employed different antics in dealing with the threats posed by these supervillains.
The movie resembled the trending movie at the time, Jaws (1975), which Steven Spielberg directed. So many of the industry’s antics characterized this cartoon. Jabberjaw was one of the best cartoons of the 1970s.
4. Josie And the Pussycats
Dan DeCarlo created Josie And the Pussycats. The teenager, the Pussy cats, and other crew members regularly fell into adventures of various kinds in their quest to record a song in some specific locations.
The villains were often people trying to conquer the world with some advanced technologies. Some other villain was spying on the group to make their missions complicated. Rather than being confrontational, the pussy cats had their methods of ruining the villains’ plan to conquer the world.
3. New Fantastic Four (1978)
De-Patie and Freleng enterprises, alongside Marvel Comics Animation produced The New Fantastic Four. It was an advancement of the 1967 series produced by the legendary Hanna-Barbera production.
The most notable difference was the replacement of Human Touch with a unique robot named Herbie. Nevertheless, the group continued their honorable deeds as superheroes and was not involved in evil except for the short stint where Magneto was the leader. The X-men adversary got the group carrying out his wish, which was detrimental to its image and reputation. The group was renowned for fighting off different unpleasant circumstances and extremely aggressive supervillains.
2. Speed Buggy
Speed Buggy was another unique creation of Hanna-Barbera. The show focused on Mark, Debbie, Tinker, and their anthropomorphic race car. The four characters enjoyed racing competitions which they often traveled around for. In and out the course of their adventures, they often meet up with several villains such as diamond thieves, car-obsessed doctors, evil pirates, and so on. The characters employed different and unique antics to overcome the obstacles and threats of each character.
The Speed Buggy was a success and earned a lot of praise from critics.
1. The Flintstones
The Hanna-Barbera productions created The Flintstones. The Flintstones was the most commercially successful and longest-running network animated T.V series. It spanned for over three decades. In 2013, the Flintstones ranked as the second greatest T.V cartoon of all time, second only to The Simpsons. The show was set in the Stone Age town of Bedrock, with several medieval attributes in the show.
The show centered on the activities of a particular family and their neighbors. Despite its emphasis on the Stone Age, the Flintstones also portrayed a modern-day situation. So, the Flintstones were a pioneer of a new form of social satire. Other modern cartoons emulated on this initiative, including The Simpsons, which modern audiences often regard as the best.
Undoubtedly, the Flintstones was the best-animated show that came out in the 1970s.
Conclusion
The heavy restrictions placed on cartoons and movie production at that time provided producers with less freedom. Despite the restrictions, the producers wrote some of the best cartoons ever made in the 1970s. Unique and humorous content defined this decade then became a trademark feature of animated TV shows.
I am the fan of classic cartoons in popular culture in TV films comics animation and media throughout the world.
95th anniversary of the spinach eating sailor and superhero created by Elzie Segar since 1929 serialized in TV films comics animation and media throughout the world.