Hidden Gems

Avatar: The Last Airbender

I'm sure everyone remembers the bomb of a film M. Night Shyamalan made of this franchise but you may have strayed away from the actual show because of the "kiddy" nature of it. I know after watching the first episode, which consists of penguin skating, can put someone off but you should really give yourself a few episodes before judging too harshly. Now this show falls into some cliches children's shows sometime run into like special episodes pushing a lesson that is obviously telegraphed within the first five minutes. Also the show is based on traditional Japanese anime shows so some of the quirks of anime appear but to some comedic affect, nothing to heavy just stylized choices overall.  
 
Despite some negatives, overall the show presents a deep mythology and well rounded characters. The mythology has four different elements, fire, water, earth, and air, which people can be used like martial arts. The characters are really the best part of the entire show, they develop and change, they have interpersonal relationships, and just like normal people their past heavily influences their choices and actions. What first feels like typical characters filling in typical slots for any show does apply, but one character may appear to be the wisecracking friend he also serves as the "idea man", two stereotypes that don't always mix.
 
So if you like some traditional animations or kung-fu/martial arts you should try Avatar: The Last Airbender out. It's on Netflix instant streaming yo.
 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Ask a nerd, go ahead, ask him if the Star Wars prequels are good. You're going to get a no, especially if you ask Gary Whitta. And when I saw this show advertised on television I assumed, like the prequels, this would be a pandering attempt to get children to watch more shiny lasers and cute aliens. I won't deny that this show certainly does pander sometimes to kids and it runs into the problem of having a "lesson" in every episode that you can guess about 2 minutes into the show. But if you like Star Wars you may enjoy some of these episodes.  
 
The CGI animation isn't something I enjoy too much but it gives the show a bit more of a science fiction feel that traditional animation may lack. The characters aren't very deep and are entirely predictable. The story lines though fill in some backstory between the prequels that I find more interesting than the movies themselves. You get a bit more in depth with some of the Jedi only seen in the movies which expands the universe a bit further. 
 
If this Clone Wars show isn't your thing but something like Avatar is (or you just don't like "kids" stuff and want something more adult) check out the Genndy Tartakovsky show/mini-series made in 2003 called Star Wars: Clone Wars. I think Genndy was given more creative freedom with this show whereas the laster CGI one is written by Lucas' daughter a lot of the time and keeps strongly to some of the problems that plagued the prequel movies.

Wolverine and the x-men was a pretty decent underrated cartoon, people who liked the 90s animated show should defo check it out

I've heard good things about the Avatar series, but after seeing the reviews for the film, it kinda put me off. Seems like it might be worth checking out though!

@VicRattlehead: I didn't even know that existed until a few weeks ago, I'll have to try and catch a few episodes.   

@skidd: You should! I avoided it for probably around a year despite suggestions from my friends because it just looked like another lame kids show. Glad I finally gave it a shot though, I'm burning through episodes quickly.

  

@Rorie: I hate you for that. 
 
I had a chick make me watch that once...thank god I was drinking at the time.

@Rorie: Excellent, Rorie is a brony.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER is my favourite show of all time.
 
It's just a stunning piece of storytelling and world-building. Sure, at about 62 episodes there's a bit of waffling and some filler episodes, but apart from that it's a remarkably cohesive and focused story arc that's also just a pure joy to watch.

Normally I'd say no, but I just came off a major Zim bender. 
 
So I'll keep this in mind.

I've been really digging Adventure Time, Misadventures of Flapjack, and Regular Show since they seem to capture the insanity of the 90's cartoons I loved as a kid. Bright colorful cartoons that were well written and very subversive like Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, Tiny Toons, The Tick, and 2 Stupid Dogs to name a few. 

I've been a vocal advocate of Cartoon Network's Adventure Time and Disney's Phineas and Ferb for a while around here and on GB..  I've come around on Regular Show although I never really disliked it.  When it first began airing I was comparing it too much to Adventure Time and so I might have seemed a bit more critical on it than I should have been.  I look forward to each show now although Adventure Time is still at the top of my list.  Sym-bionic Titan and Young Justice are also pretty good action shows that can be enjoyed by all ages.  They're not to the standard of Batman: The Animated Series, but they're as good as Justice League Unlimited and the 90's Transformers Beast Wars.

Fuck yea everyone should see Last Airbender I would also throw out Spectacular Spider-man seriously the best written spider-man and superhero cartoon for its time damn it why did they have to cancel it!?!?!?! I'm with the Penguin on the Young Justice tip  
 
@skidd:  Avoid that movie like the plague it is terrible and is nothing like the cartoon which i spretty god damn awesome.  
 
Anyone got info on Avatar Legend of Korra news?

@MrMazz said:

Anyone got info on Avatar Legend of Korra news?

A little bit. There was a nice interview with the creators at the Wall Street Journal:  
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/08/the-last-airbender-legend-of-korra-the-creators-speak/
 
I particularly liked how they dodged the question about the movie.
 
There's finally a picture of Korra released and a partial voice cast list, which includes JK Simmons, Lance Henrickson, Daniel Dae Kim and Bud Bundy himself, David Faustino.. 
 

Good choices! Avatar is really solid, looking forward to the follow-up.  Never really got into The Clone Wars, but I've seen a few episodes, and they were pretty cool.

I've seen Avatar, but I didn't really like it. The quality of the animation is good and some of the characters were very interesting. Unfortunately, the story is very weak and filled with massive plot holes. That is actually the biggest reason I continued to watch the show. I wanted to find out how they would explain various things, only to find out they never would.
 
Most of my favorite children's shows come from when I was a child obviously. Shows like Animaniacs, Ren and Stimpy, Beast Wars, and Invader Zim. With the exception of most of the DC animated shows, I haven't been too impressed by any recent animated shows.

I hate the new Clone Wars show, love the old one.
 
Also a big fan of Phineas & Pherb. Also, if you want a live action kids sitcom that doesn't suck, iCarly is pretty entertaining, and I think a person or two off that show will actually break off and have sucessful careers apart from the kids stuff.

@flap_jackson: I almost put Phineas & Pherb on this list but I've only seen a handful of episodes, everyone I have seen has been awesome. The new Clone Wars is ok, it depends on the episode. Older one is MUCH better though.

No love in this thread for Batman Beyond?   Fine. Here's some, for one of the best cartoons ever.

    
  
         
     
  
     
and, of course, Ricardo Montalban's greatest animated moment...
    
What ever happened to Paul Rugg? He's definitely my favorite voice actor. It seems like the last thing he ever did is this, which for some reason I find kind of amazing:
  

@Hawkeye:  Freakazoid is fantastic. I loved the off the wall humor and non-sequiturs. Those 1990s Warner Brothers Animation shows were great with things like that. There hasn't been much like it since Duck Dodgers ended. As for Paul Rugg, I know he still works as a writer. I'm not sure how often he does voice work though.