20 cartoons from childhood worth rediscovering

Approximately no one ever thought that a show about a two-headed hybrid animal would be so popular, but over 20 years later, we still think about CatDog on occasion. Dog was voiced by Tom Kenny, the legendary voice actor who’s also responsible for the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants. 

The Animaniacs were a funny little group of cartoons that brought about whacky comedy every time they were on screen. The show was such a hit in its time that it was brought back for a reboot in 2020 (though it still feels like a very distant memory). 

Every TV animator in the ‘90s must’ve been in on a secret pact to make every character look as strange as possible. Ren and Stimpy from The Ren & Stimpy Show were two very unattractive animals, but we loved them just the same, no matter how many inappropriate jokes went over our heads. 

Knowing a group of friends that share the same name is a more common experience than you might think. However, most of these groups of friends aren’t such characters as the boys of Ed, Edd n Eddy. And most of them don’t have a friend named Plank, either. 

Never in the history of television had we seen animated characters with such uniquely shaped heads, and we haven’t seen that many since. Hey Arnold! will forever be associated with football heads, scared stoop kids, and insanely awesome bedrooms. 

If you purposely mispronounce laboratory and have no idea why, it’s because of the cartoon Dexter’s Laboratory. Dexter somehow kept his laboratory hidden from his parents despite having a literal shrink ray and a wall of televisions. Only the viewers and a few lucky peers were privy to his lab. 

Did you forget about Courage the Cowardly Dog, or did you block it from your memory? This animated show was legitimately frightening at times. We can’t blame that dog for being so scared.

Name a cartoon character who’s cooler than Johnny Bravo. We’ll wait. Okay, in retrospect, he was less cool and more ridiculous, but he seemed like a cool guy when the show was airing. Still, how many animated characters have had the power to create their own catchphrases? 

TV creators could’ve thrown together just about any adjective and animal combination to make a series, and we would’ve watched. That being said, The Angry Beavers was a particularly good choice. And who could blame the beavers for being angry? They were kicked out of their house, for goodness’ sake. 

You probably remember the late ‘90s Inspector Gadget film starring Matthew Broderick, and you might remember the early ‘90s video game. But the whole franchise started with an ‘80s cartoon series. What you definitely can’t forget about Inspector Gadget is the iconic theme song. 

The Care Bears have been around for generations now. The adorable group of multicolored bears started as drawings, became stuffed animals, and were reanimated for a couple of TV specials before being turned into a short-lived series. There weren’t many episodes, which is probably why it’s not super memorable. But trust us, it did exist. 

As Told By Ginger deserved far more recognition than it ever got. Its characters had true arcs and changed their clothes, and it was one of the shows that Nickelodeon somehow got famous musicians on board to sing the theme song (Coolio is responsible for the Kenan & Kel theme song, and TLC sang for All That).  

Garfield has had so many iterations that it’s hard to keep track of them all. But this orange, lasagna-loving, Monday-hating cat and his friends and owner were brought to television in the late ‘80s for Garfield and Friends. The modern cat is a computer-animated version that keeps popping up in film. 

Lots of good children’s shows revolve around the main characters entering a new world, and chief among them was Dragon Tales. The siblings routinely went to have adventures with dragons in a separate universe, and it was enchanting to watch. 

ChalkZone was that show that came on after your favorites had ended, but you kept watching because you didn’t feel like changing the channel. And if you were honest with yourself, you actually kind of liked watching the characters transport into the ChalkZone. 

Maybe you haven’t forgotten that My Little Pony exists. The toys are still wildly popular, after all. But you may have forgotten that there was an animated show about the magical horses in the late ‘80s, and there was another one in the early ‘90s. The ponies had power — magical and otherwise. 

The Recess kids didn’t spend their entire time on the playground, but some of the best scenes from the show took place there. The show even got its own movie, Recess: School’s Out, which premiered in 2001. 

If you didn’t love Doug as a kid, you just didn’t like cartoons. That funny guy was just trying to get through life, and though it wasn’t always easy, he did so with the help of his friends and his journal. We should all strive to be a little more like Doug.

If you think that the show AAAHH!!! Real Monsters was simply a ‘90s fever dream, we have fantastic news for you: it was real. Yes, this show somehow got greenlit for national syndication, but we’re so happy it did. It was quite bizarre but in the very best way. 

We like to imagine that The Wild Thornberrys were an animated version of the life of Steve Irwin and his family: a bunch of animal-loving people spending their time in the wild. Pet owners to this day are jealous of Eliza’s ability to communicate with animals, and those without pets are jealous of the Thornberrys’ endless vacation.