80's Cartoons - simplyeighties.com

Super Ted

SuperTed was a 1980s UK cartoon series about a teddy bear with magical super powers. It was first shown on 1st November 1982.

It was actually produced in Wales where it was aired in the Welsh language, but later aired in English throughout the whole of the UK on BBC1. 

SuperTed was voiced by Derek Griffiths (from Playschool), and Spotty - SuperTed's bumbling companion who was a yellow alien covered in green spots from planet Spot - was voiced by ex-Doctor Who Jon Pertwee.

Paddington

This first episode of the original Paddington animated series is entitled, "Please look after this bear". The series was produced by Michael Bond and London-based animation company FilmFair, and it was Narrated by Michael Hordern.

Paddington Bear was famous for his love of marmalade sandwiches. There is a superb, official paddington website that I can highly recommend visiting: http://www.paddingtonbear.com/

Michael Bond's loveable lost bear was brought to life in 1975 in the wonderful stop-motion animated series.

After being discovered at the train station by Mr and Mrs Brown, Paddington is adopted into the family at 32 Windsor Gardens, and sets about adjusting to his new surroundings.

With an endless curiosity and a love of marmalade sandwiches, the duffel coat-wearing bear gets into plenty of mischief in his adventures around London. This box set includes all 56 classic episodes and three feature length specials.

The Magic Roundabout

This is an original 1970's edition of the seminal Children's TV show "The Magic Roundabout".

The very first programme was created in France in 1963 by Serge Danot. Five hundred episodes were made and were originally broadcast between 1964 and 1971 on ORTF.

The English version was narrated from the visuals (not the French script) by Eric Thompson, the father of actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson, and was broadcast from 18 October 1965 to January 1977.

This version of the show attained cult status, and included the characters; Dougal (dog), Zebedee (Jack in the Box), Brian (snail), Ermintrude (cow) and Dylan (rabbit). There are two notable human characters: Florence, a young girl; and Mr Rusty, the operator of the roundabout.

Just when you thought cartoons couldn't get any weirder, here come the Clangers!

The Clangers

This iconic, animated series was broadcast on the BBC from 1969 until 1972. It featured a family of little pointed nose creatures who lived in the craters of a grey planet. They spoke in whistles, and ate green soup harvested by the Soup Dragon.

Clangers was created and narrated by Oliver Postgate for Smallfilms, who also produced Ivor The Engine (below).

Ivor The Engine

This was the first ever colour episode of the innocent  animation set in the Welsh countryside, Ivor The Engine. It was filmed using stop motion techniques, animated using cardboard cut-outs painted with watercolours - those were the days!

The series was originally made by Smallfilms for Associated Rediffusion in 1958, but was remade in colour for the BBC in 1975. The 30 original black and white episodes were 10 minutes long, but the 40 colour episodes were just 5 minutes long and ran between 1975 and 1977.

The Wombles

Who'd ever of thought that Mike Batt who produced the them tune would also produce music for Katie Melua! 

Bet you can't remember all their names, though - Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory, Madame Cholet, Miss Adelaide, Tomsk, Bungo, Orinoco, Wellington, Alderney and Shansi.

So what exactly are they? Well, they're pointy-nosed, furry creatures that lived in burrows, where they help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways. Yes, the recycling message was even in use in the filthy 70s!

Altogether now, "Underground, overground, wombling free, the Wombles of Wimbledon Common Are We..."

Danger Mouse

Who could forget this very British cartoon featuring Terry Scott (Penfold) and David Jason (Dangermouse) as narrators?

Produced by Thames Television it originally ran on ITV from 1981 to 1992. The eponymous Danger Mouse worked as a secret agent, and the show is a loose parody of British spy fiction, particularly James Bond and the Danger Man series starring Patrick McGoohan.

Sherlock Holmes was also an influence as his post box home was Baker Street and his bumbling Watson-like assistant was Penfold.

Mr Benn

Ah! Mr Benn is possibly my favourite cartoon from the 70's. Such simple animation, but I always loved the storyline.

The series was transmitted by the BBC in 1971 and 1972. Mr Benn's adventures would always take on a similar pattern. Wearing a black suit and bowler hat he leaves his house at 52 Festive Road and visits a fancy-dress costume shop where he is invited by the shopkeeper (in a fez hat) to try on an outfit.

He leaves the shop through a magic door in the changing room and enters a world appropriate to his costume. Then Mr Benn has an adventure (which usually contains a moral) before the shopkeeper re-appears to lead him back to the changing room, and the story comes to an end.

Mr Benn always returns to his normal life, but is left with a small souvenir of his magical adventure.

Willo The Wisp 

This used to be shown at tea time just before the news programmes on BBC1 at 5.35pm.

Featuring the voice of the legendary "Carry On" star Kenneth Williams, it was really a girls cartoon, but I must admit that I watched it sometimes, while waiting for the news, of course!

There were 26 episodes and each one lasted for five minutes. The first series was shown in 1981.

As I write, this DVD is in the top 300 bestsellers at Amazon. Unbelievable after all these years! But it proves that the old classics are still as popular as ever, and the kids of today love them!

On this DVD you get every episode of Mr Benn from the 70s, plus Mr Benn - Gladiator, a brand new story which is just like the originals - this DVD is a must have!

Bod

Now this really brings back some memories for me! Bod was first shown in 1975, and there were just thirteen episodes, based on four original Bod books by Joanna and Michael Cole. It was narrated by John Le Mesurier (Played Sgt. Wilson in Dad's Army) with music by Derek Griffiths, who was more famous for being in Play School.

Capain Caveman

"Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels" centred on the mystery-solving adventures of the Teen Angels — Brenda, Dee Dee and Taffy — and their friend Captain Caveman (or Cavey for short), a prehistoric caveman whom the girls discovered and thawed from a block of ice.

The concept and general plot for the show was seen as a parody of Charlie's Angels.

The show was first shown in 1977.

Hong Kong Phooey

First shown in 1974, this American cartoon series starred Hong Kong Phooey, the “number one super guy” who travelled about the city in his “Phooeymobile”, fighting crime with the aid of his manual, The Hong Kong Book Of Kung Fu.

The stories usually began at the police headquarters, where Hong Kong Phooey's alter ego, Penry, worked as a janitor under the glare of Sergeant Flint ("Sarge").

Also at the police station was Rosemary, the telephone operator, who had a crush on Hong Kong Phooey. After Rosemary received a call and explaining the crime, Penry ran into a filing cabinet and (always getting stuck) transformed himself into Hong Kong Phooey.

A rather incompetent super-hero, Phooey’s crime solving is done either by fortunate blunder or, most likely, with the help of his faithful companion, Spot the striped police cat.

However, Hong Kong Phooey always got the full credit for Spot’s success!

The Pink Panther Show 

This cartoon ran from 1964 until 1979. Two other cartoons were also shown as part of each show and the characters included; The Inspector, Crazy Legs Crane, The Ant and The Aardvark, Tijuana Toads, Mister Jow, Roland and Ratfink, The Blue Racer, Hoot Kloot and The Dogfather.

• The Pink Panther Show (1969–1970; also considered the umbrella title of the series)
• The Pink Panther Meets the Ant and the Aardvark (1970–1971)
• The New Pink Panther Show (1971–1974)
• The Pink Panther and Friends (1974–1976)
• The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show (1976–1977)
• Think Pink Panther (1977–1978)
• The All New Pink Panther Show (1978–1979) - 32 new made-for-television shorts were created for this run of the series

Yogi Bear

Believe it or not, the original Yogi Bear show was first aired in 1961 and ran until 1963. The repeats were often shown during the 70s.

The New Yogi Bear Show was launched in 1988 and contained 45 new episodes combined with re-runs of the original 1961-63 series

Yogi and his best friend, Boo Boo would try to steal picnic baskets from tourists,  but were always foiled by Park Ranger Smith. Sometimes, Yogi's girlfriend Cindy Bear turned up and would usually disapprove of Yogi's schemes to steal food from park visitors.

The Jetsons

The original series featuring the futuristic Jetson family, and comprising 24 episodes, was produced between 1962 and 1963 and was re-run for decades. Its continuing popularity led to further episodes being produced for syndication between 1985 and 1987.