10 Most Nostalgic Cartoon Network Shows From The 90s

’90s cartoons are more than just shows produced during that era. The ’90s saw several reruns of classics that tapped a new audience.

Cartoon Network was where most fans of cartoons and anime got their start. They’re responsible for the popularity of series like Dragon Ball Z and Family Guy’s return to cable. But before all of that, there was ’90s Cartoon Network.

RELATED: 10 Worst Cartoons Ranked According To IMDAfter debuting in 1992, Cartoon Network quickly established itself as the place to watch cartoons from every era, from Looney Tunes episodes from the ’40s to Hanna-Barbera shows of the ’60s, and Ruby-Spears shows of the ’80s. It’s impossible to have watched ’90s Cartoon Network and not experience some level of nostalgia for certain classic cartoons that received syndicated reruns.

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10

The Jetsons Was One Of The Better Hanna-Barbera Cartoons

Hanna-Barbera experienced an incredible run with television cartoons from the ’50s into the ’80s. But one of Hanna-Barbera’s first and best successes was the Jetsons. In contrast to the Flintstones, which followed two families, the Jetsons only focused on a single family and their adventures in the far future.

Though the Jetsons weren’t initially as popular as the Flintstones – leading to a cancelation after a single season in the ’60s – the show experienced a revival in the 1980s. There, the series had a two-season run that added 51 new episodes. This cemented the series as one of the greats, and more than just a rip-off of the Flintstones.

9

Jonny Quest Represented ’60s Pulp Adventures

The original Jonny Quest series has quite a few elements that would be considered problematic today, like its terrible habit of mysticizing other cultures to make them exotic. But the art of the series was iconic, capturing what it felt like to read a ’60s pulp comic – the animation even feels like a moving comic sometimes, with hyper-detailed backgrounds that appeal to the eye.

The series was popular enough to receive multiple sequels, including a series of animated films in the early ’90s and a show obsessed with virtual reality. And while the ’90s series is dated by its VR use, the original is still as good as it ever was.

8

Dexter’s Lab Is An Original Cartoon Cartoon

The Cartoon Cartoon line of shows was Cartoon Network’s first attempt at original comedy. They got some of the best animators in the world at the time and allowed them to go crazy with their ideas. Dexter’s Laboratory began as a series of shorts on What A Cartoon! and received the full series treatment in 1996.

The series featured genius boy inventor Dexter and his annoying sister Dee-Dee, who for some reason was always just clever enough to ruin everything he’d done. But that wasn’t all the show had to offer – it also featured a riff on the Avengers in the Justice Friends, and the clever Dial M For Monkey shorts. All of them combined to make one of the most popular half-hour shows of the ’90s.

7

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Was The Original Teenage Mascot Cartoon

It might be hard to believe now, but Scooby-Doo was a massive franchise at one point. Originally meant to be a band, Scooby-Doo and his crew of mystery hunters became a household name, and it all started with the original ’60s cartoon. Having access to the entire Hanna-Barbera vault, Cartoon Network wasn’t afraid to show Scooby from multiple decades, whether it was the team-up cartoons of the ’70s or Pup Named Scooby-Doo in the ’80s.

But the most common series they chose to air was the classic Where Are You series, which relied on the classic villain of the week formula before it became repetitive even to kids. Though the series was old, fans watched it enough to ensure another remake in the 2000s: What’s New Scooby-Doo.

6

2 Stupid Dogs Was Ahead Of Its Time For Humor

At first glance, 2 Stupid Dogs looks like a rip-off of Ren & Stimpy. And that’s precisely what it is – a riff on the Ren & Stimpy dynamic with Hanna-Barbera art. Unfortunately, that comes with some negatives, as it’s still a rip-off of one of the most iconic cartoons in the ’90s and lacks the gross-out art that made that series so famous.

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Still, 2 Stupid Dogs managed to find an audience, and was representative of the direction cartoons were going: lots of absurdist humor and protagonists that were dumb as rocks. The series initially ran on TBS, but found its way to Cartoon Network shortly after, gaining more notoriety there.

5

Captain Planet and the Planeteers Reminded Kids Of What They Could Do To Help The Planet

Captain Planet might not have been the best superhero. His goal was to fight pollution, but his weakness? Extreme levels of pollution. But that was part of the point: the power is yours, meaning it was in the hands of the viewers to fix the Earth. Still, this high-concept idea came out at precisely the right time.

The series was a pre-cursor to the Power Rangers, with five kids gathered from across the world, wielding special powers to fight back against corrupt business people and their attempts to poison the planet. The series was popular enough to run through most of the ’90s, and even took on dangerous subjects for kids like the drug crisis and AIDS.

4

Josie and the Pussycats Was The Best Twist On The Scooby-Doo Idea

The popularity of Scooby-Doo was so great that it spawned countless rip-offs. Everyone wanted their own version of a group of teenagers solving mysteries with the help of a mascot animal. But none of them were quite as successful as Josie and the Pussycats, likely because Josie originally wasn’t a Scooby-Doo rip-off at all.

The comic book band of musicians got their start in Archie Comics. The comic was eventually adapted into a cartoon in the ’70s, and the differences were enough to get that all-important second season that took them into…space? But, of course, stranger things have happened, and the cartoon’s popularity got the franchise a film decades later.

3

Centurions Was The Ultimate Toy Idea

Few cartoon series have ever managed to have a perfect high-concept and match that with the ability to sell toys like The Centurions. A series from Ruby-Spears, Centurions: Power Xtreme told the story of three special agents who battled against a supervillain known as Doc Terror.

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They didn’t go into battle alone, though – they had the benefit of special exoskeletons that could equip them with unique weaponry that allowed them to fight Terror’s robots in the air, on land, or under the sea. Moreover, centurions’ writing was ahead of its time, but filled with scientific jargon that kept it from staying on the air.

2

Pirates of Dark Water Told One Continuous Story

When Pirates of Dark Water was released, most series were one-shots in nature, with every episode having little effect on the next. But as one of Hanna-Barbera’s last and best cartoons, Pirates handled things a little differently, telling a continuous narrative. The story followed Ren, the prince of Octopon, who was meant to save the world from the Dark Water consuming it.

Ren’s goal was to discover the Thirteen Treasures of Rule, with a crew by his side and an evil pirate in his path. Though the series wasn’t popular enough to get the finale it needed, it was one of the few times such importance was placed on the story. Pirates of Dark Water trained creators that young audiences were capable of following a story from week to week.

1

SWAT Kats Featured Fighter Pilots Battling A Wide Range Of Supervillains

Everything about SWAT Kats seemed poised to be a hit. It had a dark art style mixed with radical-looking protagonists that flew an awesome jet with tons of gimmicks. The show should’ve been huge, but it never quite found its footing. That doesn’t mean the kids didn’t love it; T-Bone and Razor’s weekly cases felt similar to Batman: The Animated Series.

The pilots faced off against threats like time-hopping wizards and mobsters trapped in robot bodies, and all they had to rely on was their superior training and the gadgets they kept in their awesome suits. With a reboot coming, will the kids take to the new show better than kids did the original series?

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