Not only am I a professed lover of the 80s, and in particular 80s era cartoons and animation, but I’m also pretty damn interested in branding and design (I mean, I did kinda name my site after that.) So when these paths cross I can get pretty nerdy. I mean heck, I wrote an entire piece centered specifically on the logo design of the movie The Monster Squad a few years ago. Recently I found myself with a lot of time on my hands while also being stuck in a situation where I was away from home caring for one of my elderly parents. I was in the hospital with my father, waiting with him while he was having chemo treatments and he was lost in a movie on one of the complementary iPads the treatment center provided. I really needed something that could distract me from reality, and the warm embrace of nostalgia is usually the thing that does the trick for me.
So I pulled up my Plex app on my phone so that I could scroll through my collection of cartoons from the 80s and I landed on an episode of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors. As the episode was starting, playing through the opening credits, I paused when the title screen came up to marvel at the design of the font and how much fun the logo was in general. The mix of the fantasy banner lettering in “Jayce” and the totally 80s brushed metal of the “Wheeled Warriors”. Two genres coming together perfectly in this one logo and cartoon.
I got this inspiration all of a sudden. What would it be like to compare and contrast all of the 80s era cartoon title screens and logos? Because we live in a world where we basically have Star Trek level technology in the palm of our hands, I had the ability to take screen shots of at least 90% of the cartoons that were released during that decade right from my phone. So I did just that, for the next three hours I systematically went through my library of cartoons and captured as many as I could.
So let’s have some fun and break these up by theme. For instance, here are all of the video and arcade game based series. There were a couple more shows in this genre in the 80s like Pitfall and Frogger, but these are the series I have digitally…
Most of these tend to be character-centric logos, but I find it interesting that one of the best series has the most boring logo (Pole Position.)
Next up let’s take a look at some of the super hero, comic book cartoons…
A couple of these surprised me, in particular Plastic Man and the Hulk. Plastic man was a little frustrating because it really doesn’t have a title/logo screen (there is just a comic cover that comes flying at the screen.) Then the Incredible Hulk had two separate screens. Also, that X-Men screen is from Pryde of the X-Men, so before anyone starts screaming about it being a 90s cartoon
So let’s switch gears a bit and take a look at some foreign cartoons. I was exposed to all of these on Nickelodeon as a kid (either as a part of Pinwheel or just part of their programming.) For those not familiar, Chapi Chapo was a stop motion cartoon from France that aired in short five minute segments during Pinwheel back in the day. I have some others (Bunny in a Suitcase and Hatty Town), but they really don’t have title screens. Also, Mysterious Cities of Gold and The Little Prince were French/Canadian co-productions, so foreign-ish.
Let’s move on now to some of the heavy hitters of the 80s, some of the action cartoons that aired in weekday afternoon syndication…
I find it kind of interesting that the majority of these logos are pretty similar. These are heavy on the metallic fonts, and are blocky (some of them like the Go-Bots and She-Ra are literally 3D) and sans serif for the most part. I also find it interesting that a few of them are also “mirrored” and are reflecting a barren landscape (ThunderCats, Transformers, and Go Bots.) Also glad to see that every show that featured some sort of faction logos, the designs are incorporated into the show logo (Ghostbusters, ThunderCats, Transformers, Silverhawks, the Filmation Ghostbusters, heck even the Galaxy Rangers and COPS.)
Next up, let’s take a gander at some of the series that were based on either movies or live action TV shows…
To be frank, the first this that this batch makes me think of is just how many movies and TV shows in the 80s WEREN’T adapted into animated series. I’m thinking stuff like The Gremlins, Goonies, Knight Rider, The A-Team (and not just Mr. T with a bunch of gymnast kids), Airwolf, Webster or Small Wonder. All of those seem ripe for animated counterparts. Or hell, a Michael Jackson animated series (and yes, again, I know that there was a Jackson 5 show, but I’m thinking like an adult MJ who would solve crimes while moonwalking and stuff.) Also, I know that the Gary Coleman might seem to be in left field in this category, but it was actually based on the movie The Kid With the Broken Halo. Lastly, I’m throwing in both of the Rambo logos because even though the blue one with the eagle crest is the main title screen, I love the starker one with the flames inside the letters. It better embodies the tone of the character for sure…
How about all those series that featured lovable little critters?
There is so much cuteness in that block that I don’t even know where to start! All I can think of for certain is that there is an overwhelming number of title screens that feature the characters, enough that it makes the screens with just the logos look weird in comparison.
Next, let’s look at some of the series that were based on toy lines…
For the rest of these I think I’m just going to call them the leftovers…
It’s pretty damn overwhelming when you step back and take a look at all of these title screens. And again, this isn’t even all of the series out in the 80s. There are some shows that I don’t have on DVD or digital (like the Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, Gilligan’s Planet and some of the seasons of Scooby Doo from the 80s), and a couple that I haven’t been able to convert and didn’t have access to grabbing the screens (like Ulysses 31, the Ruby Spears Superman, My Little Pony and Galtar and the Golden Lance.)
I’m sure there are more shows I’m forgetting, let me know what I missed in the comments section below!
