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Weekends as a kid were the best in the '80s. Kids today will never know the thrill of grabbing a bowl of your favorite cereal and gearing up for the cartoon marathon Saturday mornings brought. Were most of the cartoons just long-form advertisements for toys at the time? Sure, but they also had some episodes that would stay with us for years to come.
Quite a few of our favorite '80s cartoons have gotten modern remakes or live-action adaptations. But they will never match the pure nostalgia of the originals. Here are seven of the cartoons that made our Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons magical.
- Smurfs (1981-1989)
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985)
- Dungeons & Dragons (1983-1985)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983-1990)
- The Transformers (1984-1987)
- Muppet Babies (1984-1991)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)
Smurfs (1981-1989)
Smurfs was based on the Belgian comics, written by Peyo (Pierre Culliford), about little blue creatures who lived in mushrooms. The Smurfs are a peaceful people, but they are constantly under threat from the wizard Gargamel, who wants their magic. He also had a strange obsession with trying to eat them.
Smurfs exploded in popularity and ran for a decade on Saturday mornings. Though it was technically the second animated series about the Smurfs, with the first premiering in the 1960s, it became the most well-known media featuring Peyo's characters. From Smurfs in the '80s, the beloved franchise spawned several films and a rebooted series in 2021.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985)
"By the power of Grayskull! I have the power!" is probably one of the most famous lines from an '80s cartoon. When Prince Adam of Eternia holds up his sword and shouts this phrase, he transforms into He-Man, the defender of the universe. With his friends and eventually his twin sister Adora, who appeared in the 1985 spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power, he protects Eternia and the rest of the universe from the evil Skeletor.
Mattel created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe solely to sell their Masters of the Universe toy line, and it worked. He-Man became one of the most popular '80s shows, with several spin-off series and reboots riding that wave. A live-action film based on this cartoon, Masters of the Universe, will be released in June 2026, though it certainly won't beat the original in terms of nostalgia.
Dungeons & Dragons (1983-1985)
The Dungeons & Dragons animated series was a LARPer's dream come true. It told the story of six kids who go on an amusement park ride that actually transports them to a different world. They become different classes: a ranger, barbarian, cavalier, thief, acrobat, and magician. With the guidance of the Dungeon Master, the kids fight evil and work to get back home.
The show Dungeons & Dragons might have been a way to promote the tabletop game, but the series actually had a decent plot. It was another extremely popular Saturday morning cartoon in the '80s, and it was a travesty that it was cancelled before the final episode was produced. Kids were left hanging for decades until, in 2020, the script for the finale was published and produced as an audio drama.
Alvin and the Chipmunks (1983-1990)
Alvin, Simon, and Theodore had been around since 1958, but the 1980s series Alvin and the Chipmunks brought them fame the chipmunks hadn't seen before. In the show, the chipmunks and their adoptive father, Dave, have different adventures and antics in each episode while keeping up with their singing career.
Another reason for its success was the fact that the Chipettes made their first appearance in this series. Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor were the female counterparts of the original chipmunks, forming a rival singing group and sometimes becoming the girlfriends of Alvin and his brothers. These six lovable characters and their music had all of us shouting, "ALVIN!" though with much less frustration than Dave often had.
The Transformers (1984-1987)
Whatever your feelings on Michael Bay's contributions to the franchise, The Transformers animated series was incredible as a kid. You could even say that there's more than meets the eye to this show that was created by Hasbro to sell their transforming robot toys.
Watching the eons-long war between the Autobots and the Decepticons continue on Earth was an epic way to enjoy afternoons in front of the television. Optimus Prime was so iconic that his voice actor, Peter Cullen, has continued to play the part in video games and live-action films. The show paved the way for generations of kids to wonder if the vehicles around them were actually alien robots fighting to keep them safe.
Muppet Babies (1984-1991)
Jim Henson's imagination has given the world so many incredible characters, and for '80s kids, seeing the Muppets in a new way endeared them to us even more. Muppet Babies saw Kermit and his friends as toddlers in a nursery where the imaginary games they played became real.
The series was educational, but it never felt that way. Muppet Babies focused on teaching kids how to solve problems through creativity and the positive aspects of using their imagination. The show was rebooted in 2018 for a new generation of kids, but the original will always be near to our hearts.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)
"Cowabunga" might have been part of surfer culture earlier, but the word became solidified in popular culture thanks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The four humanoid turtles named after Renaissance artists and trained in martial arts became beloved almost instantly after the series premiered. There was such a demand for the show that it began airing not just on Saturday mornings, but on weekday afternoons as well.
Based on the much darker comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the first major kid-friendly offering in the franchise, and paved the way for more series, movies, and even the unfortunate live-action films. TMNT had us all wanting to trade our breakfast cereal for pizza and begging our parents for karate lessons.