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.