Celebrity & Movie Based Cartoons Through The Years: Part 1

Though the years there has been many cartoons, some though were just to milk a little more success out of a Blockbuster Movie or a celebrity’s career. The rest of this entry is a list of some of the most ridicules, forgotten, or good cartoons from times past that were based on movies or a celebrity.

Camp Candy

Back in the early 90’s the John Candy started his own Saturday morning cartoon, calling it Camp Candy it was a cartoon where he ran a summer camp for kids. Candy narrated the episodes and voiced his own character in addition to singing the theme song. To me this was a very entertaining cartoon, that I enjoyed watching.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures

This cartoon showed good signs when in the first season they got the main characters to voice their cartoon versions, however in the second season the voices of the characters where replaced by the stars of the live action series that was short lived on FOX. The cartoon’s version of the phone booth had them transport into literature, TV shows and inside the human body.

The Mighty Ducks

It all started with a movie, then with a NHL team created after the movie, then 2 more movies, and then to get one more drop of money out of The Mighty Ducks Disney came out with a cartoon in the late 1990’s. But this cartoon didn’t have human characters it of course was about space ducks on earth.

Little Rosey

Back in 1990 a cartoon was created based on comedian Roseanne Barr. It was just an not very funny cartoon that got canceled after 13 episodes after poor ratings. 

Police Academy: The Series

In the late 80’s in the middle of the Police Academy popularity there came out a animated series based on the movie that was somewhat successful with 2 seasons and 64 episodes. This was a much cleaner version then the movies, a majority of the main characters were represented. They also introduced a group of talking police dogs called the K-9 Corps, and the theme song was written and performed by recurring characters The Fat Boys.

Hammerman Hammerman is a show about shoes that talk and gave power to whoever wore them to fight social injustice. Just hearing this you probably think this sounds like an awful cartoon, but what if I was to tell you that man who wears these shoes is MC Hammer… yea still nothing.  This show flopped with only 13 episodes airing in the fall of 91 on ABC. You would think with MC Hammer you would get something awesome out of it but it was just a boring show all around 

Teen Wolf

This cartoon was based of course on the movie Teen Wolf. In this series focused on a boy named Scott Howard and his family that can transform into werewolves. Unlike the 2 films Scott kept his werewolf status a secret. This series ran for 2 seasons in the mid 80’s with a total of 21 episodes.

 

Back to the Future: The Animated Series

Back to the Future: The Animated Series came out about one year after Back to the Future: Part III hit theatres. It revolved around Marty, Doc Brown, his wife Clara, and their two sons Jules and Verne, with Biff Tannen as the recurring villain. In the cartoon the time machine DeLorean was now able to fold up into a suitcase Jetsons style. Also every episode would end with a live action piece with Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Life with Louie This cartoon was loosely based on the childhood of comedian Louie Anderson. This cartoon debuted in 95 with a total of 39 episodes. The show featured little Louie and his family as they lived in Wisconsin.

Celebrity & Movie Based Cartoons Through The Years: Part 2

Continuing on our last piece of cartoons based on movies or celebrities this part focuses on action stars and movies that were toned down for the children…. 

The Karate Kid

With the Karate Kid Series on its way out, Sony Pictures decided to jolt it back to life with a animated series that was short lived.  The animated series was put on air a few months after the release of The Karate Kid, Part III.

Rambo: Force of Freedom

This just goes to show that in the 80’s you could take an R-rated bloody movie and turn it into a child friendly cartoon. Much like another popular cartoon G.I. Joe, Rambo  and his team would fight a neo-Nazi organization called S.A.V.A.G.E. (Secret Administrators of Vengeance, Anarchy and Global Extortion). Through the series there were no deaths or any reference of Vietnam.

Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos

Chuck Norris and his ninja like team are hired by the government to dispense justice and moral wisdom, ninja-style. And fighting the bad guy known as  The Claw and also other Super Ninja in this five-episode series. Each episode started with live action footage of Chuck Norris himself offering valuable life lessons.

RoboCop: The Animated Series

Once again you got to love the 80’s taking a violent Movie and making it a child’s cartoon. Much like Rambo this was toned down to fit the demographic, guns in the cartoon were replaced with laser weapons. In the late ’90s they also attempted a second animated series called RoboCop: Alpha Commando, which was even less connected to the source material, and gave him a number of useful upgrades including roller blades!

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling

This is was a cartoon featuring cartoon counterparts of the actual Wrestlers they portrayed. It came on air in the mid 80’s last 2 seasons for a total of 26 episodes.

Conan the Adventurer

Here’s another 80’s cartoon based on a violent movie. Even though he had the sword no killing went on if Conan touched his enemy with it they would be banished to the Abyss. In many ways it felt like just a He-Man knockoff.

Highlander: The Animated Series

This cartoon was loosely based on the original movie. It was low quality animation and the story that was only vaguely connected to the film franchise.  The main character is Quentin MacLeod, the descendant of Connor MacLeod, and the story is set 700 years in the future. The cartoon was poorly received.

Toxic Crusaders

Troma’s cult classic film The Toxic Avenger was actually tamed down and turned into an animated series called Toxic Crusaders, with Toxie and his mutant buddies NoZone, Junkyard, Headbanger and Major Disaster fighting bad guys from the planet Smogula. It came out at a time when environmental craze in the early 90’s.

Mister T

Picture this is you will a Mr. T as a coach to a gymnastics team, travelling the world while becoming involved in and solving various mysteries. This is a very interesting it has the same kind of plot like Scooby doo or Josie and the Pussy Cats. Just like with Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos at the end of each episode, Mr. T narrates a moral lesson for the audience. 30 episodes were produced for this cartoon.