The 80s Hollywood Trend That Shaped a Generation, May Be Causing a Parental Revolt Now

Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published 1 hour ago

The 80s were an unusual time in American culture due to the booming economy, Miami Vice, Dallasand a hair iron. For all that irony, it's no stranger in retrospect than a certain era of Hollywood taking R-rated movies and cleaning them up for kids in a Saturday morning c.artoons.

RoboCop again Rambo III not only are the family-friendly films earning their R ratings, but they are also available in theaters across the country. The Venomous Avengerbonkers hard-R sci-fi film Troma, with toys and cartoons alongside Freddy Kreuger. I'm sure that in another studio, an executive was trying to make a A Nightmare on Elm Street cartoon, which would fit right in during this wonderful but really strange time.

Kids Love Robots, Even Moderate Violators

Success of RoboCop paved the way for this trend, because of the parts machine, the person, all the police attract children. Check out how cool his design is. Like dinosaurs, kids will always love robots. I didn't see RoboCop until the late 90s, and I remember thinking how great the character was in the 80s.

Hollywood executives have taken note, and following the success of Kenner's Star Wars figures, they want a slice of the lucrative children's “constantly begging their parents that this is the last thing they're going to ask for” market. The best way to reach children at that time was Saturday morning cartoons.

We didn't have YouTube and opening videos, but we had a four-hour block every Saturday with almost every network airing 30 minutes of toy commercials. RoboCop into a 12-episode cartoon with no blood, no profanity, and no Kurtwood Smith. It also ended up with an NES video game and comic book series.

John Rambo: The 80's Classic

As a child growing up during this time, we all knew who John Rambo was, even if we never saw Sylvester Stallone's classic, First blood. If a character in any other 80s cartoon or movie didn't say anything and put a red bandana on his head, we knew things just got real and which movie it was referring to. To watch Stallone's take on a Vietnam vet dealing with PTSD you didn't have to know who Rambo was and think he was the coolest, toughest guy in the world.

Rambo: The Power of Freedom the preceding ones RoboCop in two years, which came out in 1986. It was very similar to one of the famous cartoons of the 80s, GI Joethere are more R-rated Stallone movies. If you go back and watch the 65-episode series today, you'll not only be able to see how this was designed to sell cool new toys to kids, but you'll understand why Stallone was embarrassed about it.

Even the Children Were Safe at the Police Academy

It's not just 80s action movies with larger-than-life superheroes that have been animated. Thanks to the Stonemasons of Springfield who made Steve Guttenberg a star, Police Academy launched a 65-episode series in 1988. In what sounds crazy today, the franchise used to release a movie a year. It was so bright red, that even the children in the playground knew about it. But then again, the first movie was rated R and most kids didn't see it.

The characters in the cartoon are exaggerated versions of their big screen counterparts, who have gone over the action figure line. So, if you've ever wanted a figure of Bobcat Goldthwait, and what kid doesn't, you've got a chance to take on his Zed action.

Children can also spend their parents' money on police uniforms, which come with a plastic club, which they can promise not to hit their sibling again. About the R-rated movie for the 80s children's animation, Police Academy it makes a lot of sense. The movies have a cartoonish sensibility.

Welcome to Tromaville Kids!

Venomous avenger, However, it is the most inexplicable of all 80s cartoons. It wasn't heard until 1990, probably because someone with a sane mind realized that the old Troma cult was a nasty collection of body, blood, and guts horror. In the end, the good idea lost, and by changing the subject to Crusaders are poisonous and stressing the natural message that lay beneath all the traditional Troma trappings, forced it to the sidelines. Captain Planet.

Toxie and her friends went out each episode to defend Tromaville from the Smogulans, proving that the Saturday morning cartoon formula is very simple and works with almost any material. It doesn't matter if you're trading robots and “pets” for characters from R-rated movies.

How Spongebob Squarepants Saved Your Kids

This 80s trend continued well into the 90s, with Conan again Highlander it gets cartoon replacements after school, but it died at the end of the decade, forever. Completed the rise of Cartoon Network's avant-garde style, including shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravoi Powerpuff Girlsand the beginning of a little cartoon you may have heard of, Spongebob Squarepants.

The success of those shows meant that cartoons were no longer just commercials for selling toys; they were quality programs designed to keep kids glued to the screen to watch commercials to try and sell them toys.

Imagine if Bad Boys: Ride or Die or Gladiator II were adapted into cartoons today, with toy lines aimed at children. Now imagine the perfect storm of criticism that will be unleashed on social media by marketing R-rated movies to children. To be honest, it's not like people in the 80s thought it was cool. There were still arguments in the 80s when these cartoons started, but times were different and their cries had few places to find a voice.

Today, most of these R-rated movies and cartoons are not available for streaming, however Crusaders are poisonous is on Tubi, and Police Academy is on Plex.