# Any good action/adventure cartoons?



## Kai Lord (Nov 22, 2005)

Hey,

I noticed that He-Man and Thundercats are on DVD, in addition to GI Joe and Transformers.  I loved these shows as a kid and will probably pick them up (assuming I can find the last two which are no longer at retail.)

But I was wondering what the great, if any, successors to those shows might be?  Is it all anime now like Inuyasha or are there still good American adventure cartoons?

All I can really think of are the Clone Wars cartoons but I'd like to know if there are any newer action/adventure shows that have full seasons.  I'm pretty out of the loop.


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## Richards (Nov 22, 2005)

_Thundaar the Barbarian_ comes to mind.

Johnathan


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## Kai Lord (Nov 22, 2005)

Thundarr was great but I actually was asking about *current* cartoons that follow the He-Man/Thundercats tradition.  Sorry for not being more clear.


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## Richards (Nov 22, 2005)

Ah, I misunderstood.  Unfortunately, all of the cartoons I watch nowadays are comedies on Sunday evenings on Fox.

Johnathan


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## Wolf72 (Nov 22, 2005)

Avatar is a pretty cool show ...


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## Filby (Nov 23, 2005)

As far as recent shows go, I second _Avatar_. Even though it's aimed at kids, it's one of the better American animated series I've seen recently. And of course, there's _Justice League_ and _Samurai Jack_. Also, you could do worse than _Static Shock_ or _Teen Titans_. Finally, I don't know if it's still going, but a couple years ago there was a revival of _He-Man_ that was quite a bit better than the original in my opinion.


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## stevelabny (Nov 23, 2005)

Justice League. and thats it.

Gargoyles is a great cartoon of old  that you didn't ilist.  

I've watched Full Metal Alchemist in its entirety and while it was better than most anime, it still didn't work for me.


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## Dark Jezter (Nov 23, 2005)

I _highly_ recommend *Batman: The Animated Series*.  I bought the entire series on DVD, and they're just as awesome as I remember them being.


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## WayneLigon (Nov 23, 2005)

Teen Titans is good. They have an ongoing story arc just like Justice League does for the past couple of years. 

Justice League Unlimited is perhaps the best action cartoon going right now; it should be returning to CN the first of January. It's been involved in a single continuing storyline now for three years or so, with only a few 'non mythology' episodes. 

The Batman isn't bad, and I guess they'll come back with new episodes sometime, though I have no clue when. About the only thing I don't really care for is the Joker's character design, but I was surprised at how much else I did like. I was prepared to really hate it, especially after the amazing run that Batman: TAS had.

Just off the top of my head, those are the only traditional animation action cartoons in production. 

Static Shock is a good series, but it's been all reruns for years now.

The Tick is currently rerunning on Toon Disney. Check it out; one of the best series ever made.


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## Pants (Nov 23, 2005)

Exo-Squad! Though it is kinda old...

Lotsa people seem to like Teen Titans, though I can't stand it. It combines all the worst aspects of anime and american animation into one loathesome whole for me.

The Tick is golden, though, once again, is quite old.


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## ThirdWizard (Nov 23, 2005)

_Avatar: The Last Airbender_ is the best American animated show on the air, as far as I'm concerned, outdoing this "current" season of JLU. Unfortunately the latest season of Avatar is only four episodes long, I think. *sigh*

As far as anime, Adult Swim sometimes shows _Cowboy Bebop_ and _Trigun_, two of my favorites. I like _Full Metal Alchemist_, even if it is fairly depressing. The ending is actually good which is something that is... erm... lacking in many anime series (_Big O_ anyone?) I'm just waiting for _Monster_ to be licensed and brought to America. Best. Anime. Ever.


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## Filby (Nov 23, 2005)

I get the impression that the original poster isn't crazy about anime, but since some other folks have trotted out recommendations...

One good anime series which I haven't seen mentioned on this board is _Patlabor: The Mobile Police_, a show from the late '80s/early '90s, which I highly recommend. While it's ostensibly a light-hearted show about police officers fighting crime with giant robots, the show offers about equal parts action, slapstick, and poignant character studies. It's also got one of my favorite ensemble casts in animation. Just avoid the English version, since the voice acting doesn't do it justice.


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## Darth Shoju (Nov 23, 2005)

Newer stuff; pretty much all I can think of has been mentioned...

1) *Justice League Unlimited*; maintains the traditional dominance of DC in the Saturday-morning cartoon "genre" (although Marvel had some good stuff with their two X-men series and various Spider Man iterations).

2) *Avatar: the Last Air Bender*; this one is *really* good IMO; really smooth animation, lots of detailed martial-arts (they even list martial-arts advisors in the credits), very imaginative and cool "magic" (element-bending) and neat characters. Moderately anime style but strong Western animation infuence too.

3) *He-man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)*; made a lot more sense than the original He-man series and the animation was superlative; some of the best I've seen on TV. Main drawback is that the series was cancelled before the story-line was resolved.

4) *GI Joe Sigma Six*; has a heavy anime style but in a more conservative way. Definately action-packed and really neat/smooth action. Story line seems allright although nothing to write home about yet (dialogue can be rough too). Has the main characters (Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, Zartan, Snake-Eyes, Scarlet, Duke, Storm Shadow) but inexplicably replaces other old favourites with different versions of the same archtype (a guy who is basically Road Block but called Heavy Duty, instead of Mainframe they use someone called High Tech). 

Shows that came out in the last 10-15 years that were cancelled but worth watching;

1) *Gargoyles*; I can't say enough about the epic story-line, compelling characters and top-notch animation. But this one is famous enough I doubt I need to say much. The first season is out on DVD and the second is coming out soon.

2) *Roughnecks*; based on the Starship Troopers movies, it is much better than the film was (IMO of course). Told from the POV of a reporter in the unit containing some of the characters from the movie, it uses CGI graphics that were very solid and had some very deep characters and sophisticated stories. Not sure how many eps were made but it was pretty good.

3) *Beasties*; some people didn't like this series much but I give them props for tying into the original Transformers story line. Again CGI, but somewhat more dated looking. Avoid Beast Machines.

4) *Pirates of Dark Water*; fairly short lived but incredibly imaginative. I've always thought it would make a pretty decent D&D campaign. Classic animation style.

5) *Disney's Aladdin*; better than the movie in many ways. Actually developed the characters a bit and covered a wide-range of Arabian Nights tales and original stories. Very fun stuff.


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## JoeBlank (Nov 23, 2005)

I don't have any new shows to suggest, but I had never heard of Avatar and am now curious. I checked and noted that NIK is airing a marathon on Thanksgiving day. I may set the VCR and see what this is all about.


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## Dagger75 (Nov 23, 2005)

All the new cartoons suck and you all know it.  The Golden Era was the 80's and early 90's.  I can't believe the only good cartoon is JLU.  Thats sad. 

 This is what we had after school

Thunder Cats
Transformers
 GI Joe
Batman the Animated Series
Superman the Animated series
 Centurions
 EXO Squad

Then we used to look formard to Sat cause thats when all the real cool cartoons were on.
  Dungeon and Dragons
  Pirates of Darkwater
  Thundar the Barbarian
   Pole Position
   Spiderman and his Amazing Friends  

And those are just ones I remeber watching.   We had tons of them.  Now its only Pokemon clones or Anime.   Remember when Anime was Japanimation.  We had 2 chioces, Akiria or Robotech.

 Oh well sorry for my old foogey rant.  Still you got nothing, watch the old cartoons.


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## D.Shaffer (Nov 23, 2005)

Darth Shoju said:
			
		

> 4) *GI Joe Sigma Six*;  Has the main characters (Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro, Zartan, Snake-Eyes, Scarlet, Duke, Storm Shadow) but inexplicably replaces other old favourites with different versions of the same archtype (a guy who is basically Road Block but called Heavy Duty, instead of Mainframe they use someone called High Tech).



Heavy Duty's actually from the toy line. I think they lost the rights to the name 'Roadblock' so they needed a replacement (Although Roadblock IS actually in the current comic). An interesting note is that he's Roadblock's cousin.

Mainframe was KIA in the comics and so they needed a replacement in the toyline/new cartoon as Hasbro has a policy of not 'resurrecting' characters in the GI Joe line.  I'd have preferred them using Firewall myself, but there ya go.


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## Darth Shoju (Nov 23, 2005)

D.Shaffer said:
			
		

> Heavy Duty's actually from the toy line. I think they lost the rights to the name 'Roadblock' so they needed a replacement (Although Roadblock IS actually in the current comic). An interesting note is that he's Roadblock's cousin.
> 
> Mainframe was KIA in the comics and so they needed a replacement in the toyline/new cartoon as Hasbro has a policy of not 'resurrecting' characters in the GI Joe line.  I'd have preferred them using Firewall myself, but there ya go.




Yeah I remember the Heavy Duty action figure-I think a friend of mine had him. I didn't realize that the new series was tied to the comic-book story line (which I also follow) via Hasbro policy . Thanks for the heads up!


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## Kai Lord (Nov 23, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback guys.  I'm very curious about Avatar.  Is the new Justice League series on DVD?


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## Lorgrom (Nov 23, 2005)

Since someone brought up Robotech, let us not forget Starblazers. Now there was an epic story line and ship. Was the first ship weapon I can remember that had the ability to destroy a planet in one shot.


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## Filby (Nov 23, 2005)

Kai Lord said:
			
		

> Thanks for the feedback guys.  I'm very curious about Avatar.  Is the new Justice League series on DVD?




I think the first couple seasons are, yeah.


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## Klaus (Nov 23, 2005)

Justice League (pre-Unlimited) was available in two-episode DVDs, IIRC. Don't know if this has been rectified.

Just to do justice to an old cartoon I really liked (however short-lived it was): Galaxy Rangers! Break out D20 Future!

For those who like Pirates of Darkwater: http://www.piratesofdarkwater.net/


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## sniffles (Nov 23, 2005)

Kai Lord said:
			
		

> Thanks for the feedback guys.  I'm very curious about Avatar.  Is the new Justice League series on DVD?



I believe there's an _Avatar_ DVD going to be released next year. The series has just finished up its first season, but hopefully Nickelodeon will show lots of repeats.


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 23, 2005)

Sniffles, there will be an _Avatar_ marathon Thanksgiving from noon-9PM.  The enitre first season.  I have my vcr ready.


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## sniffles (Nov 23, 2005)

Mad Hatter said:
			
		

> Sniffles, there will be an _Avatar_ marathon Thanksgiving from noon-9PM.  The enitre first season.  I have my vcr ready.



Thanks!


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## CrusaderX (Nov 23, 2005)

Samurai Jack is the greatest action cartoon ever made, IMO.


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## stevelabny (Nov 23, 2005)

Avatar has been set to record.

You will all be held responisble.


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## Klaus (Nov 24, 2005)

Is Avatar the anime one with the bald kid with a purple arrow painted on his head?


I just remembered other action cartoons that are pretty decent:
- Jackie Chan adventures
- Xiaolin SHowdown


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## Dagger75 (Nov 24, 2005)

Klaus said:
			
		

> Is Avatar the anime one with the bald kid with a purple arrow painted on his head?




 Yup thats the one.  I never actually sat through a whole one.  Not that I tried but everytime I flip through Nick its on.


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## Rackhir (Nov 24, 2005)

Samurai Jack is probably one of the best animated series I've ever seen. It takes the limited frame animation that characterizes so much animation and actually turns it into a strength, the style and cinematography is so strong. Some really great episodes and characters. The episode with Scotsman is worth the price of admission.

Recently released on DVD is Danger Mouse. Great British animated series about a James Bondish Mouse Super Agent and his incompetent aid Penfold. Great British humor.

Batman The Animated Series is quite good. Some classic stuff there. No DVD collections out for JLI/JLU to the best of my knowlege though. I'm not as impressed with JLU though, but its been enjoyable, and you'll probably appreciate the Superfriends in-jokes.

Invader Zim is worth a shot. Nominally for kids, there's a lot of really funny stuff in it. In my favorite episode Dib (kid who's classic conspiracy nut) decides to blow the lid on a "Bigfoot" style character called "Chickenfoot" who he feels is giving "Paranormal Investigations" a bad name. When he tracks down the paranoid and fearful creature, it turns out that he's just a guy who's stuck in a chicken outfit. As the panicked Chickenfoot runs away, Dib yells after him "Chicken Foot, come back! You're not a freak, you're just stupid!"

The Venture Brothers, still being re-run late at night on Cartoon Network. It's basically Jonny Quest gone horribly, horribly wrong and it is funny as HELL!!! DVDs should be out some time next year. My highest recomendation. 

Megus XLR, might still be able to find this buried on Cartoon Network's schedule. American parody of all the Giant Robot series ever made. 20 something grease monkey from Jersey finds a timewarped Giant Robot from the future and rebuilds it. Then the aliens who were using it to conquer the Earth show up and want it back. Along with all sorts of other galactic menaces that have a seeming total distain for property values in Jersey. Not that Coop (the grease monkey), Jamie his slacker best friend or Kiva - Hard as Nails warrior woman from THE FUTURE ! (but easily confused by the 21st century), have any greater respect.


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 24, 2005)

I enjoy Xiaolin Showdown and I echo Exo-Squad, but it's not showing anymore.  Mighty Max has fun moments too, but it is also not showing anymore.


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## CrusaderX (Nov 24, 2005)

I'm watching the _Avatar_ marathon on Nick right now.  It's a really good show!  Really nice animation, good writing, and clever action scenes.  Thanks to those who recommended it on this thread.


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 25, 2005)

I taped the marathon, although a time conflict prevented me from taping the first two episodes.  I don't care what show it is, nine hours is way too much for me!


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## DungeonmasterCal (Nov 25, 2005)

I don't know if this show follows the He-Man or Thundercats tradition, but I spent all afternoon watching episode after episode of _"Avatar: The Last Air Bender"_ on Nickelodeon.  I watched a good 3 hours of it...I'm hooked.  This would make a great campaign setting and concept, IMO.


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## demiurge1138 (Nov 25, 2005)

I agree with Rackhir. Although they are nominally comedies, both Venture Brothers and Invader ZIM have some excellent action sequences, ZIM especially. The animation in that show is brilliant (and very, very expensive - one of the many reasons for the show's cancellation). ZIM has the benefit of being currently available on DVD, but Venture Brothers is still on the air, on Cartoon Network.

Demiurge out.


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## Nightfall (Nov 25, 2005)

Avatar is good but I still think there is much to improve IF this was done an adult themed/more teen aged themed show. Certainly the fact I'd enjoy it along side say Naruto if Avatar was redone in a more adult theme. Even so, it's a good show and I'm glad Nick has it. If only because I think it needs a show like this.

Still am a little peeved Samurai Jack never got a great end, but there was PLENTY to enjoy.

Still my all time favorite, Jack versus Da Samurai. Jack with that bamboo stick against all those robots, STILL a classic.


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## WayneLigon (Nov 25, 2005)

*X-Men Evolution * was also a fantastic series. The first two seasons are available on DVD, and the first season even has a 'Season 1' set as well as the four individual DVDs packages.


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## Nightfall (Nov 25, 2005)

In an non-related issue, it appears there will be no season 6 for Teen Titans.  Stupid CN. (And yes it was their decision not the creators.)


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 25, 2005)

I disliked X:Men Evolution.


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## Nightfall (Nov 25, 2005)

I got over my dislike by the characters themselves. The 90s X-men cartoon was good but honestly I wished they had incorporated aspects of both shows, as they did a great job in one area (IE the story lines in the 90s X-men, the character development in the Evolution ones.) but failed in the other (reverse it around.)


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## stevelabny (Nov 26, 2005)

Me and the gf watched the first six episodes of Avatar tonight.

Fun.

It toes the line on being anime enough that I can watch it even thought most anime annoys me, and she can watch it when shes an anime-fangirl. 

The show is FUNNY, which is important, and has some nice fight scenes so far. Hopefully it will continue to be this good.

I'll now take my questions about the show over to the Questions about Avatar thread.


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## qstor (Nov 26, 2005)

Samurai Jack and Justice League are awesome!

The old series Hanna Barbara series Johnny Quest is really good too. I would check that out too.

Mike


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