I Thought I Thhaw A Phhutty Thhaat. Review on Five Best Cartoons

I'm sure most of us have seen and loved some cartoons sometime or other in our life. Personally, I used to spend almost the entire day glued to the TV and more specifically Cartoon Network. My father wasn't allowed to see the News (What are newspapers for?). My mother wasn't allowed to listen to antakshrees/music shows (what are radio and tape recorders for?) and my sister wasn't allowed to watch Bold and The Beautiful and similar stuff (YUCK!!! WHY SHOULD SHE BE ALLOWED TO SEE THAT!?!?!). In short, the remote control was in my possesson for pretty much a large part of the day.

I used to watch all sorts of cartoons - nothing being below my standards. That is, until Cartoon Network started removing some of the good ol' toons and putting in new ones which are nothing but complete trash. Imagine removing Yogi Bear and getting Samurai Jack or something like that. I tried giving a chance to most of them. But then Cartoon Network did a few things for which I'll never be able to forgive them. NEVER!!

a) They started showing Scooby Doo about 5 times a day. I loved the cartoon and didn't mind watching reruns but the new episodes (Scooby Doo Movies, A Pup Named Scoob etc...) really were quite bad and I started disliking the mere mention of the word Scooby.

b) They stopped those decent Christmas specials. I loved watching the same cartoons every christmas - The Town That Santa Forgot, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Yogi's Christmas Specials etc... They used to be a very essential part of Christmas for me. And without these cartoons, Christmas will never be the same. :(

c) Like I said, they removed cartoons like Yogi Bear, Smurfs, Garfield, Space Ghost, Bird Man (the decent 5 minute ones) and put in... what?? The Powerpuff Girls, FOUR NEW types of Scooby Doo, Courage something or the other, Ed Edd n Eddie, Mike Lu n Og etc... Really, this is inexcusable. And many kids like these cartoons. They don't know what decent cartoons they are missing. Nothing comes close to Garfield (except Simpsons, of course).

d) The One Thing (henceforth called The OT in the review) that they did and I will never forgive them is their dubbing the cartoons to hindi (the regional language in India, if you are not aware). I wouldn't have minded much had they done it decently. Ducktales in Hindi was pretty decent. But the stuff done by Cartoon Network was rotten. To quote some examples, Dee Dee's voice (from Dexter's Lab) was the same as almost every girl in other cartoons. They didn't even bother to make separate voices for the characters. And the voices didn't even suit the characters. Shows their commitment, doesn't it. The OT also kills the subtle jokes in most cartoons. And it just doesn't sound as if the cartoon character in the TV is speaking. I can hear the words, see his mouth moving, but I know it is not He/She/It that it speaking. In any case, enough complaining. Here's a list of my favourite cartoons.

1. Tom n Jerry

Tom, the cat, chases a mouse, Jerry but never catches him. Or at least, never catches him long enough to eat him. Jerry is the favourite here. But I prefer Tom and sometimes feel sorry for him. This cartoon contains a lot of crash, boom, bang (if you know what I mean). Gues appearances by Spike the Dog (aka Killer) and Jerry's young grey nephew/cousin. I disagree with some people who call this cartoon violent. Of course, Tom gets nearly killed most of the time. IT'S A CARTOON, PEOPLE!

1. Looney Toons

When I say ''Looney Toons'' I mean all those Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck type cartoons. Extremely hilarious, sometimes in a subtle way. ''What's up, Doc?'' has to go down as one of the most famous quotes along with Homer Simpson's ''D'oh!'' I don't like Daffy as much as I like Bugs. But Daffy is intended to be a somewhat irritating character while Bugs is a cool bunny. Porky Pig and the Tazmanian Devil are my other favourites. Did I mention Tweety, Sylvester, Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote?

1. X-Men

Who hasn't heard of X Men, the mutant team under Professor Xavier who fight against Magneto's schemes to destroy mankind. Filled with action, I prefer the original X Men to the Evolution one. X Men Evolution has totally lost its purpose. Its completely an adaptation for teenage girls. Why make an X Men cartoon in which Magneto is shown only once a blue moon and the Logan-Scott-Jean triangle is non existant is something I can't understand.

1. Garfield (and Friends)

Garfield is a lazy, fat, orange cat owned by Jon Arbuckle, in essence a complete loser. John also owns the ''lickster'' Odie, a yellow dog with his tongue always outside his mouth. Garfield's favourite way to spend the day is eat, sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, kick Odie's butt, eat, sleep, eat, sleep. He hates Mondays and did I mention he loves eating and sleeping? Oh... one more thing must be mentioned about that cat. He has a teddy bear, Pooky, which he loves almost as much as eating and sleeping (well, almost). He's an extremely sarcastic cat and the irony of his comments never cease to make me laugh till my stomach hurts. I would never want to own a cat like him but I just can't help loving that cat (as long as he's kept by Jon)!!! I hate cartoon network for removing Garfield and Friends but at least its better than seeing it being ruined by The OT (see above, if you have forgotten what OT stands for).

1. Simpsons

In one line, this is the best cartoon ever created!! Anyone who disagrees, may Homer's soul enter your body, unless of course your favourite cartoon is Garfield, in which case, I pardon you. This is a cartoon about The Simpsons' family. Bart is my favourite character and Homer is my second favourite. Moe, Lisa, Homer's boss (I can't remember his name for some reason) and the Indian owner of the Kwike Mart (I guess, Apu) were pretty decent characters. Marge was my least favourite amongst all the characters but it was essential to have someone like her to stabilise the crazy Simpsons family.