For every Batman: The Animated Series out there, there's a show that hasn't exactly
stood the test of time. These '90s cartoons might have been part of your regular line-up
back in the day, but you probably shouldn't schedule a binge-watching session any time
soon.
There was a period in the '80s and '90s where a ton of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-offs
permeated the zeitgeist. From Battletoads to Biker Mice from Mars, plenty of creators
tried to replicate the formula of taking animals and turning them into buff, anthropomorphic
warriors.
"Going somewhere, boys?"
One of the most egregious examples of the trend was Street Sharks, which ran from 1994
to 1997.
The premise is absurdly simple and simply absurd: four regular American genius teenager
brothers are forcibly transformed into humanoid fish, courtesy of a "gene-slammer." Thus,
the titular Street Sharks are born, and they spend their days battling monsters in the
streets of Fission City.
The whole thing feels like one of those ideas that was designed to sell toys more than actually
create an enjoyable television series. That's because, well, it was.
"You're in my control."
"Think again!"
"Street Sharks!"
The series probably had some fans considering it lasted for three seasons, but Street Sharks
never got out of a certain shell-shaped shadow. So if you're going to revisit a series about
buff animals, you're better off sticking with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Iron Man is now a household name thanks to his prevalence in movie theaters over the
last decade. Starting with the 2008 blockbuster, Tony Stark went on to become the central figure
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But before Robert Downey Jr. made the character a household
name, most people only knew Iron Man from his short-lived and critically panned cartoon
series from the '90s.
After the success of the X-Men cartoon, Marvel was wanting to expand their line-up. The result
was The Marvel Action Hour, which aired shows such as Iron Man and Fantastic Four. But in
case you were thinking of looking more into Iron Man's origins, there's no reason to bother
with this show. The storylines are overly dramatic and confusing, with little explanation
given for why characters are in certain situations. Also, Tony Stark has a terrible mullet. When
you see it, you just can't pay attention to anything else on screen.
Everybody who grew up in the '90s knows Doug. The series follows a boy entering the sixth
grade, and along the way, he goes through everything regular kids go through. He has
a bully he has to regularly contend with, and he develops feelings for the cute girl
in his class. But while having something kids can relate to is commendable, the show is
pretty bland in hindsight.
Granted, the series tries to take advantage of its cartoon medium by showing Doug's vivid
imagination, where he assumes the role of secret agents and other cool guys, but that's
about it as far as creativity goes. Sure, Doug was a nice reprieve among the rest of
Nickelodeon's programming. But if you watch it now, you're likely to be bored out of your
mind.
The Transformers franchise has been incredibly lucrative over the years. While the original
series has held up in many fans' eyes, there have been various spinoffs that have tried
to capitalize on that success to varying degrees. One of these is Transformers: Beast Wars,
which...well, isn't perfect.
Watching it today, the biggest problem with the series is clearly the CG animation. It
was a new technique in the '90s when the show first aired, and a lot of viewers probably
saw the show as state-of-the-art. On one hand, it's understandable that Beast Wars doesn't
look great today. On the other hand, there are other Transformers cartoons that essentially
feature the same stories with better visuals.
There was a point in time when Mortal Kombat dominated arcades across the United States.
The gory fighting caught on with players of all ages, and the video game even lent itself
to a feature-length film. However, when the creators tried to follow up that success with
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, it just didn't work at all.
For starters, the cartoon series featured characters that were in Mortal Kombat 3, which
was noteworthy for leaving out several popular characters from earlier in the series. Additionally,
the show was geared toward young children, so it couldn't be anywhere near as violent
as the games.
"Much has changed since the last Mortal Kombat tournament."
Granted, this was all part of a trend in the '90s when studios took R-rated properties
and turned them into children's cartoons. Just look at RoboCop and Toxic Crusaders.
"We-he-hell, hi little fella. Why, you're a cute little blob."
Just like most of those, Defenders of the Realm didn't work for kids or adults.
Released in 1994, The Mask was an incredibly popular movie that followed Jim Carrey as
a timid banker named Stanley Ipkiss who would turn into a larger-than-life trickster at
night after donning a magical mask. One year later, Hollywood tried to capture lightning
in a bottle twice by producing an animated series about the character.
It makes sense that people still love the cinematic version of The Mask, as Jim Carrey
is a lot of fun to watch and incredibly funny. The movie also works because it's only 101
minutes in length, which is just about enough time to not get sick of Carrey's schtick.
That's not the case with 54 episodes of this animated series, where Ipkiss quickly gets
too annoying to bear. But hey, it's still better than Son of the Mask.
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