Six Classic Cartoons from the 1980s That You Can Watch Right Now on Netflix

I remember it well… The days of the early 2000s when all I could do was hope that one of the cartoons from my childhood might get a DVD release. Many of them did (and usually in the form of a very expensive box set). Those days are over now though. We’re living in digital world now and I’m all about streaming my childhood favorites whenever possible!

Here’s six classic cartoons from back in the 1980s that are available to stream (as of this moment) on Netflix:

With Netflix rebooting the franchise in the form of Voltron: Legendary Defender, it’s not surprising to see them streaming the original Voltron series as well. Originally known as Voltron: Defender of the Universe, it’s been re-titled Voltron 84 on Netflix for some reason. At this time, only 12 episodes of the show’s 72 episode run are available.

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Only the first five seasons of The Real Ghostbusters are available, but since that’s the entirety of the show’s ’80s output, they’re obviously the best, right? Personally, I have no desire to watch all five seasons in full, but I’ll definitely be watching the episodes that I remember most fondly.

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Believe it or not, I actually have some nostalgia for Jem and The Holograms. I remember my sister had Jem’s doll, which was actually kinda fun because I remember her earrings would light up. Plus, there’s that catchy theme song. If the recent live-action movie was set during the ’80s and embraced the cartoon’s over the top silliness and excess, I definitely would’ve watched it (and probably loved it).

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I have the entire series on DVD already, whenever the mood strikes, it’s so much easier to watch this on Netflix rather than going through my DVD collection. One of the quintessential shows from my childhood. Whenever I watch this, I’m transported to much simpler and happy times. Sadly, only the first season is available.

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I have a bit of resentment towards this show. Filmation & Mattel were faced with the decision of doing a third season of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe or doing She-Ra: Princess of Power. With He-Man toy sales slipping, they went with She-Ra. I would’ve much rather had a third season of He-Man, but at least She-Ra was an expansion of that universe (no pun intended) and He-Man made a few appearances.

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One of the ultimate ’80s cartoons. Everything from the music used throughout the show to the voice acting instantly transports me back in time. The entire series (just one season), minus the Legend of Zelda mini-episodes (WTF?) are available.

 

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He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special DVD Review

He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special (2005, BCI Eclipse)
Original Release: 1985, Television Special
45 minutes

BCI’s collection of the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power and The New Adventures of He-Man were obviously labors of love. From the special features, to the collectible art cards, to the packaging and menu design everything was done perfectly. These releases are shining examples of and should be the template for any animated release.

As the distributor was just starting to release the original MOTU show in 2005, just two months after the release of Season 1, Volume 1 BCI fulfilled the dreams of every He-Man fan everywhere by giving us He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special on the special’s 20th anniversary. It had been released on VHS back in the ’80s, but this was the first ever DVD release.

To be honest, it took me awhile to warm up to He-Man when it came to DVD. I bought S1V1, but wasn’t yet drawn back into it for whatever reason (my rediscovered obsession would start in 2006), so the release of this Christmas special totally slipped by me. It wasn’t until a year or so later that I remembered this special and started longing for a DVD release… only to find out it was already on DVD!

Though I remembered that it existed, I wasn’t aware of any of the details of it, so when I watched it a few years ago, it was like watching it for the first time all over again.

With a shimmering title screen like this, you just knew this was going to be awesome.

The cast of characters is really cool. Obviously, you’ve got He-Man and you’ve got She-Ra in all of their transformation montage glory, and of course Skeletor and Hordak tag along, but with this special being released in 1985 just as the original He-Man show had ceased production, we get tons of appearances by later MOTU characters like Webstor, Rattlor, Spikor, Two-Bad, Moss Man, Snout Spout and Sy-Klone. Some of those characters never made it onto the MOTU show before cancellation, having to settle for appearances on She-Ra, but they were released as Masters of the Universe figures.

I won’t get into the plot (basically, it’s an adventure triggered by another Orko screw-up but on a larger than usual scale), you can find that elsewhere or better yet, go watch the DVD yourself but suffice to say this is an awesome He-Man special and it’s an awesome Christmas special. It’s really great to see both shows and their characters interacting  and my favorite thing about this special is when the Spirit of Christmas begins wearing off on Skeletor and he find himself in the role of hero for once. Hey, it’s the holidays — even Skeletor has to get mushy hearted sometimes! Skeletor is one of the greatest cartoon characters every created in my opinion thanks to the character’s ability to flow so freely from evil to comedy to the rare kind-hearted act without any of it ever seeming out of character.

If you’re a fan of He-Man and/or She-Ra and you haven’t seen this special yet, you owe it to yourself to do so. It’s a great Christmas special all wrapped up in a perfectly BCI-designed bow.

Special Features:

We get the standard (i.e. “excellent”) assortment BCI extras: TWO new documentaries, two 4×6 art cards, a few video clips, character profiles, fun facts and a PDF file of the show’s script.

I Heart Robots: 1980s Edition, Vol. 2

Seems like it was only five days ago that I talked about ’80s ‘bots… Let’s do it again.

Alphie II

Alphie II I’ve touched up on before, but he still deserves a mention here. He’s a learning robot! As you probably could tell, he’s not the first version of Alphie, but he’s the coolest version.

Horde Trooper

Another Masters of the Universe character/toy. Horde Troopers were awesome and the grunts for Hordak and his Evil Horde. If you don’t believe they were awesome, just check the listings on eBay. It’s not uncommon to see one of these going for around $100. I never owned one, I remember playing with one. Hm… I should try to remember what childhood friend that was and ask if he’d be willing to sell! The toys were marketed as part of the “Masters of the Universe” line, but when it came it came to animation, they were stuck on She-Ra: Princess of Power because the planned third season of Masters of the Universe was canceled in favor of starting up that new franchise.

CAAAAAAAAAATFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!!

“Catra shows her catty side.”

Aren’t ALL girls catty? ;)

I’m not going to lie. I played with She-Ra’s action figure. She-Ra, Teela and Evil-Lyn belonged to my sister, but I would run to her room and sneak them out when it was time to make a visit to Eternia.

Inevitably, whatever battle He-Man was waging against Skeletor and his horde came to a stand still as the forces of good and evil both stopped what they were doing to watch the catfight (and humping and kissing) that would ALWAYS break out amongst the girls. It was Eternia Girls Gone Wild!