Summer Nostalgia: Saturday Morning Cartoons

It’s Saturday - there’s no alarm clocks, no morning commutes, you don’t even have to go to school. Instead, you get to lie in bed until mum comes in to wake you up, and if you’re lucky she wakes you up in time to catch the Saturday morning cartoons!

That was the life, back when all you had to do was roll out of bed, head to the living room and fire up the old CRT beast. As a Saturday treat mum would let you pour your own bowl of Froot Loops (which was always filled to overflowing for some strange reason) and then plonk you down to catch up on all the newest episodes of the shows you loved.

Your childhood might be over but that doesn’t mean you can’t look back and bask in the glow of the shows that made the weekends worth it.

Looney Tunes

Source: https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/File:2003_that%27s_all.jpg

If Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were your choice of Saturday morning entertainment then you definitely weren’t alone. With almost 100 years of history behind the characters, pretty much everyone in the world was raised on Tom and Jerry trying to kill each other (in a loving sort of way - deep down we all know they’re BFFs).

Actually, stopping to think about it, most of Looney Tunes was pretty violent. Wile E Coyote falling prey to giant anvils and boulders and tonnes of dynamite… Bugs Bunny burying, blowing up and otherwise destroying his hapless victims… Daffy Duck and Porky Pig’s endless battles…

Wait... were our favourite characters actually the bad guys all along

Superheroes (before they were cool)

Source: https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/File:Jlfounding.jpg

If you weren’t so much a Looney Tunes kid then you were probably on the other side of the fence.

Whether you were a fan of Clark Kent and his flawless disguise or Batman and his endless supply of one-liners, superhero shows had enough punching and loud noises to keep any 9-year-old enthralled. These days we’re all a bit spoiled for choice with superhero movies being turned out at a ridiculous rate, but back then all we had were those weekly instalments. Nothing was more satisfying than waking up early on a Saturday to watch Superman solve all of the world’s problems with just his fists and his laser vision.

Scooby Doo

Source: https://scoobydoo.fandom.com/wiki/File:Mystery_Inc..png

It’s the deepest kids cartoon to have ever been made, and none of us were old enough to realise it. Tune in to watch the gang investigate another local mystery, only to unmask the terrible swamp monster as none other than the school janitor!

Alas, all along, humans were the real monsters.

Okay, that might be giving the show a little too much credit, but it doesn’t mean we have any less love for Mystery Inc. Just because the moral of the story was unintentional doesn’t mean it didn’t sink into our little brains and turn us into better people. We don’t know about you, but around here none of us have ever dressed as alien invaders and terrorised our neighborhoods… assuming what happens on Halloween doesn’t count.

Recapture that Magic

You know, one of the worst things about growing up is that you don’t really get to sit down for those Saturday morning cartoons anymore. And one of the best things about growing up is that nothing’s stopping you from doing it anyway! Treat yourself to a box of sugary cereal, pour out a bowl of it that’s way too big and plonk yourself down in front of the TV to stuff yourself full of fond memories of the characters you loved as a kid. If you need a little help setting the mood then we have a bunch of options for Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, and Superheroes to recapture the magic of that Saturday morning wake up.