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Some might say that for a thirty-two year old man to still feel affected by children’s cartoons from a generation ago, I must be pretty immature. I won’t lie, I still have some growing up to do but I will also be honest about how some of these stories helped form my sense of identity from my formative years. Cartoons of years’ past tackled subjects such as racism, Descrimination, drug addiction and compassion as well as the value of doing your best and pushing past your limitations. Among them were Teen Titans, Dragonball Z, Samurai Jack, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Powerpuff Girls and some others as well.

Many of these lessons were so inspirational from a story telling stand point that once in a blue moon, I still think about them. I’d love to think that we could return to a time where cartoons could be as respectable as they once were, though to be fair it’s been quite awhile since I’ve watched any cartoons. I just remember in my late teens and early twenties how much of what I saw became a trend of neutered, watered down, soft and easily digestible garbage. Perhaps things have changed for the better and I am simply not aware of this yet. Without further ado, let’s explore some favorite episodes from cartoon’s of the past and identify the lost gems that people still remember to this day!

Teen Titans: Teen Titans was a 2003 cartoon which followed the lives of a team of superheroes living in a “T” shaped tower on an island. Interestingly, Batman was excluded from the team and I don’t recall any origin story explaining why this was. The main cast of characters consisted of Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Robin. For a children’s cartoon it was very mature, but not in the sense of pushing the boundaries of what is appropriate for kids. Moreso that it explored themes of attitude, perserverance, racism, loyalty and hardship in a realistic and entertaining way that you may not have appreciated at the time had you been as young as I was in the years of 2003-2007. With that said, I’m going to talk here about some of the most standout episodes of my favorite childhood cartoons and why they impacted me so much, even years after their cancellations!

“Only Human”-Season 2, Episode 4: In this episode Cyborg beats an opponent online in a video game and is overly braggadocious of his victory. However, the pridful foe on the otherside of the connection demands a rematch and Cyborg agrees. Upon picking up the controller to begin a new round, the overly ambitious and self-important Atlus uses some kind of electrical wizardry in order to tranport himself from inside the video game to confront and fight Cyborg in person, whom he manages to overpower quite easily and defeat as well as make quick work of all of Cyborg’s friends, whom he then traps inside of yellow orbs and kidnaps as trophies. Cyborg puts up one Hell of a fight to get his friends back, but Atlus makes quick work of him while also putting him down verbally, thus wounding his self-esteem and sense of self-worth.

After his defeat, Cyborg decides to track down Atlus for round two. Once again, Atlus puts down Cyborg like a typical school bully and essentially calls him worthless before the fight even begins. Just before the second fight is over, Cyborg hears a beeping coming from his robotic arm, displaying how much battery power he has. It reads “100%” but Atlus still beats him, leaving him more psychologically wounded than before the first time he lost. Cyborg’s friends beg for him to try again, but he glances at his robotic arm panel which still says one hundred percent and sighs before telling them “No…I can’t”. He sees that despite being at one-hundred percent battery power, he is still not able to be victorious and so he leaves the battle grounds in defeat once again! “Fool, did you believe you could beat Atlus? I am All robot and you are All human!” Atlus says, as he exits the stadium.

Sometime after the second fight is lost, Cyborg is shown talking to himself and resigning any confidence he once had saying “Atlus was right, I am a loser!”. As he says this he happens to be passing by a window downtown where his reflection gives him a peptalk of the ages; “So that’s it man, you’re just gonna give up?” his reflection retorts. “I gave everything I have, one hundred percent” Cyborg says in response. His reflection replies “Give More, your friends are in trouble. You have to go back, you have to win!”. “I can’t win, Atlus is stronger, Atlus is faster-he’s just a better robot!”. “BUT YOU AREN’T ALL ROBOT, HALF OF YOU IS HUMAN AND THAT’S THE HALF THAT CAN BEAT HIM!” the reflection says. At this point Cyborg stares back down at his arm panel, which now says “50%” and then says with a look of determination on his face “Time to take it up a notch!” before leaving to face Atlus one last time.

This third time, there’s definitely a noticeable psychological shift taking place on the battlefield as Cyborg seems to have gained a true and newfound belief in himself. Credit to him as he manages to land some awfully heroic punches and even pulls a DBZ, Android 16 style rocket punch upon his ass during the fight! The mechanic who was Atlus’ sidekick and friend throughout the episode finally betrays him for the lack of respect shown and sets Cyborg’s friends free, but instead of joining the fight, they sit on the sidelines to cheer him on and show their friend some much needed support. As his friends cheer his name he starts landing some even gnarlier punches as the comic strip style of the show displays the intensity with which he beats down the once dominating and intimidating bully with relative ease.

The most inspirational moment of the episode comes when towards the end of the fight, Cyborg and Atlus are locked into arms combat and Cyborg’s battery arm panel is showing 98% as he grapples. Just then even with Atlus clearly having the edge, the 98% suddenly goes up to 100%. “Ahh, you have clearly reached your limit!” Atlus mocks as Cyborg is brought to his knees during the grapple, but then Cyborg says in a strained tone of voice “YES…I…CAN!” and the 100% goes up to 110%, 120%, 130% and beyond as he pushes and struggles until he lifts Atlus off the ground by his stomach and throws him clear across the stadium, in a fashion that looks nearly effortless! Beastboy, Robin, Starfire and Raven are seen and heard cheering for his success on the sidelines. He then approaches the crator sized hole in which Atlus is begging for mercy and says to Cyborg “No more, I am defeated. You are a better robot” to which Cyborg calmly replies “No, I’m a better person!".

This episode has a very simple and straightforward premise; everybody falls and we are all capable of experiencing failure and loss in life, but we can always go just a little further than we think we can. What better lesson could you ask for in a children’s cartoon?

“Troq”-Season 4, Episode 6: Starfire who belongs to an alien race known as Tamarainians encounters a bigoted character who calls her a “Troq”, which in this fictional storyline is an ethnic slur against Tamarainians. Starfire educates the other TItans on the meaning of the word after the prejudiced alien from another race named Val-yor starts calling her that. By the episodes’ conclusion, Starfire makes a speech about how there will always be people who don’t like her because of her heritage, but with the unwavering support of her friends who stand against the once admired Val-yor, she is able to obtain support and avoid rejection as the rest of the crew express their regret for not being there for her while the space “hero” mistreated her for simply being different. I’m struggling to find the full episode online and I’m mostly going off of memory and Youtube reviews here, but I do recall it being a very informative, mature episode exploring a taboo and touchy topic in a brilliant way!

Hey Arnold!: This show from the 2000’s followed the adventures of a fourth grader named Arnold with a football shaped head and his best friend Gerald. This show had some strong emotional gems that still hit close to home and leave a lasting impression on yesterday’s kids and today’s adults. Facebook and Twitter memes have kept the memory of the show alive many years after it was cancelled, proving that a timeless show like this one never truly becomes irrelevant, it simply lives on in internet culture.

“Pigeon Man” Season 1, Episode 18: A character named Pigeon Man who is said to be a freak obsessed with birds lives on a roof where he tends to his feathered friends. Pigeon Man is someone who faces social isolation and ridicule as a result of rejection and relentless bullying, even by the neighborhood kids. All of the characters in the show misrepresent him and make him out to be a monster to be avoided at all costs, but like the voice of reason that he is, Arnold seeks out the avian fanatic to get down to the heart of the matter and figure out who this mysterious bird lover really is. As it turns out, Pigeon Man is a deeply sensitive person with a heart of gold named Vincent, who has lost his trust in people and now only trusts birds. The episode shows the ways in which arnold tries to create new opportunities for the misunderstood man to successfully rejoin society, but ultimately all of Arnold’s efforts fail as Vincent “flies away” to be with his friends. As adults, we now understand this actually meant suicide. Of course in a kid friendly show, such topics have to be dealt with, with extreme vagueness and care but in a manner that doesn’t take any power away from the core message. Arnold was the only person that believed in Vincent and even though one person wasn’t enough to save him from himself, the episode still showcases the power that we all potentially carry within us to transform or even save a life! Powerful stuff.

“Stoop Kid” Season 1, Episode 3: In this episode a child known as “Stoop Kid” is too traumatized to leave his turf, the stoop of his townhome due to a traumatic experience. Essentially, Stoop Kid has agoraphobia and just as Pigeon Man did, suffers immense mockery for being too cowardly to step outside of his comfort zone. The other kids laugh at him, steal from him and treat him poorly by fabricating elaborate backstories that make him out to be some kind of supervillain. Arnold once again challenges the negative stigma by befriending stoop kid and eventually by the conclusion of the episode, Stoop Kid overcomes his self-imposed limitations and grows as a person thanks to Arnold. A truly inspriing episode about what it means to overcome our fears and truly face them with success!

Courage The Cowardly Dog: An anthropomorphic dog who is scared of everything faces off against different entities in order to protect his caretaker Muriel from danger.

“Perfect” Season 4, Episode 13: A nun-like entity manifested by Courage’s own insecurities appears in order to chastise and criticize him for failing to pass her outrageously impossible tasks, including balancing books on his head while walking up a stair case with “perfect posture”. Towards the end of the episode, a mysterious bathtub fish gives Courage an uplifting lecture about how nobody is perfect and that he is “Perfect just the way he is”. A true masterpiece of story telling with a valuable lesson attached about how our insufficienies can ironically be our greatest strengths. Self-doubt destroys more people than failure ever could so this episode changed alot of young Millenial minds as it’s among one of the most fondly rememebered episodes of the show.

“The Mask” Season 4, Episode 3: A masked cat who attempts to escape an abusive relationship from another dog to be with her lesbian lover (another cat) shows up to Courage’s house and stays there as a guest, displaying bigotry towards Courage for being a dog saying things like “All dogs are the same” as she berates and insults him at every turn. Courage spies on the cat and gets a sense of Kitty’s backstory and seeks to set her free from the abusive Mad Dog, so that Kitty can finally be free from her abuser. Upon doing so, Kitty realizes that not all dogs are bad. This episode feels like an exploration of sexism. More specifically radical feminism and how some women come to hate men (cats being the females and dogs being the men). The episode explores bigotry through a lens of compassion by demonstrating Courage’s desire to help Kitty rather than hold a grudge. In the end, all is well and Kitty rides off on a train with her lover to start anew.

What Is Quality Entertainment?

“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” but almost unanimously everybody recognizes a gem when they see one. To me, quality entertainment is any piece of media which challenges the way that you think and often has a bit of heart and soul put into it. It’s unmistakable when a rare show like South Park comes along and doesn’t explicitly tell you what to think or how to feel, but rather gets the gears turning in your mind. Throw in an occasional tug of the heartstrings and you have yourself a bonified masterpiece! To laugh, to cry, to think, to ask, to wonder, to consider-all of these things are crictical ingredients. These rare masterpieces have with time, been seen as “too radical” to show to younger generations as if they need to be treated with kid gloves instead of being confronted with real life scenarious and lessons that they will be learning one way or the other. It might as well be done through timeless artistic experssion that stands the test of time, right?