1985 8:30 on NBC: Disney's Adventures Of The Gummi Bears

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Saturday morning at 8:30 on NBC in 1985, Disney's Adventures of The Gummi Bears sparked a HUGE CHANGE in the way that Saturday Mornings and Television Cartoons would operate from this point on. But first, a summary:

Medieval bears cook Meth in the forest outside a kingdom, have to avoid being captured by the evil Duke Igthorn. It's basically a cartoon version of "Breaking Bad".

SO! The importance of this show! Last week I discussed the importance of The Wuzzles and how Disney was jumping in to television animation like never before. Whereas The Wuzzles was a standard Saturday Morning cartoon with standard 11-minute conflict-and-moral story lines, The Gummi Bears (pitched at the last minute by Michael Eisener because his kid asked for the candy and it made him think "Hey, THEY could be a cartoon character") was a semi-episodic, progressive story with character development.

This cartoon served as an example that was copied all through the rest of the 80's and in to the 90's. Ongoing story lines, plot threads that would weave through multiple episodes... other companies followed that mold from here on out.

After 3 years on NBC Saturday Morning, the show moved to ABC for one final season before becoming the established elder statesman of The Disney Afternoon, a collection of Disney animated half-hour shows that all followed the same template of character development and long, weaving plot threads.

1980's SMHRS Build-The-Excitement Poll #1 - GOLDEN AGE

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GETTING PSYCHED FOR OUR ALL-NEW 1980'S SATURDAY MORNING WATCH-ALONG HISTORICAL REENACTMENT THIS SATURDAY!!!

So about this poll (because everyone loves a good poll), this is building on a theory that I've heard bandied about at comic cons and the likes for YEARS now - that the "Golden Age" of most things you love happened when you were approximately 12 years old. And what exactly does "Golden Age" mean? It's when things were better than they had ever been before AND better than they ever will be again.

EXAMPLE: I think that the comic books of 1983-1986 were THE BEST ever made - not corny like they had been in the past, not grim-n-gritty like they became shortly after that. To me, the Golden Age of comics were right around 1985 which, coincidentally enough, was when I was right around 12 years old. EVERYTHING was better then - Happy Meal Toys were the best ever, Cartoons were the best ever, Toys were the best ever - it never was and never will be as good as it was in '85.

But if you ask my older brother, he'd swear that the stuff *I* loved was garbage because the TRUE golden age was right around 1976 (when HE was 12), and he'd have plenty of evidence to back up that claim. And as for my Dad? Well everything started going down-hill once they stopped publishing Captain Marvel comics in 1953 (you'll never guess how old he was then).

And so in regards to our Saturday Mornings of the 1980's, It's got me wondering...

[Poll #1934399]

Remember to please be as honest in your answers as possible... this is for SCIENCE!