Do you remember when Gen X was the thing to be? Growing up, the early 80s labeled all of us mid-thirties people as Generation X. We were going to change the world – or maybe we were just going to change entertainment, who knows? But the current DVD climate is appealing to the Generation of X with releases like Voltron, He-Man, She-Ra and now G.I. Joe as well as Thundercats and more.
These were regular afternoon cartoon fare that included heroes and heroines saving their world one evil bad guy at a time. For Voltron, it was always the evil King Zarkon and his minions that were attacking. The five friends including Princess Aurora would have to pilot their lions and often form Voltron to defeat the enemy.
He-Man and She-Ra were twins, separated and birth and yet both were gifted with the extraordinary abilities to become super powered. He-Man defended their home realm of Eternia while She-Ra and her friends work to free their world of Etheria from the clutches of the horde. Sure the premise was simplistic and sure Mattel was making a fortune, but girls loved seeing She-Ra looking classy and strong every bit as much as boys enjoyed He-Man.
For G.I. Joe, it was the story of the specialists in the armed forces who worked together to combat the terror around the globe. Their primary enemy was the Cobra Organization, a ruthless band of terrorists that engaged G.I. Joe time and time again. In the end, though, it was the sacrifice and specialists of the G.I. Joe corps that were successful.
The thing is, these were cartoons about good versus evil. There were layers of complexity sometimes, but for the most part there were good guys and bad guys. The quality of the animation may not seem like much by today’s standards, but at least you’re not wondering whether or not you’re supposed to like Adora, Adam, Snake-Eyes or Scarlet. You know who’s good and you know who’s bad – everything else is just storytelling.