Cartoons that made a big pop culture splash but are now disproportionately forgotten

[ZephyrFromAvalon]

i'm one of the people with pbs kids nostalgia, but yeah that makes sense cuz not many people remember stuff from so early in their lives

 

[Pooky]

Despite starting life (in 1960) as a second banana character on the probably even less well remembered King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Tooter Turtle seemed to really capture the imagination of Boomers and older Gen Xers, particularly the catchphrase "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome; Time for this one to come home". There are quite a few references to the characters in 80s and 90s pop culture, even in The Matrix. Since then though the character seems to have somewhat fallen into obscurity, even compared to similar figures like, say, Dudley Do-Right.

 

[CassieTheDragon]

Despite starting life (in 1960) as a second banana character on the probably even less well remembered King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Tooter Turtle seemed to really capture the imagination of Boomers and older Gen Xers, particularly the catchphrase "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome; Time for this one to come home". There are quite a few references to the characters in 80s and 90s pop culture, even in The Matrix. Since then though the character seems to have somewhat fallen into obscurity, even compared to similar figures like, say, Dudley Do-Right.

This cartoon is literally entirely forgotten today; i've never heard of it in my life, and this is from someone who knows all sorts of obscure Canadian cartoons off the top of my head (Monster By Mistake, Growing Up Creepie, Kleo The Misfit Unicorn, Stickin' Around, Blazing Dragons, etc). Don't know anyone who knows this show either

 

[Ed Nygma]

To be fair, Arthur was on for a quarter of a century, Clifford is based on a timeless book series, and Magic School Bus is popular at schools. That can’t really be said for many other series.

I always got Arthur the aardvark mixed up with another children's book series, Arthur the monkey. I really liked those much more. No one ever knows what I'm talking about, and I have to think the PBS Arthur show gave him an outsized pop culture footprint by virtue of its longevity. And yes Magic School Bus was a big part of my childhood... in the classroom. It really was brilliant/shrewd of them, a cartoon made for educational settings which allows it to be run in perpetuity. See also Nat Geo specials. I wonder why the Carmen San Diego cartoon never made it in the same way; maybe PBS had a back alley deal? ;P

I'm pretty sure Winnie the Pooh was a much bigger thing up until the early 2000s. The franchise isn't entirely forgotten but it was way more in the limelight until soon after the turn of the millennium. I vaguely remember all the toys and merch that series had as a kid. After that Disney tried keeping the franchise relevant with new shows and movies without much success.

I remember quite vividly the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh series, and that one seems lost to even memory besides popping up on Disney plus I suppose. Maybe that's what OP meant?

 

[Silverstar]

(Tooter Turtle) is literally entirely forgotten today; i've never heard of it in my life, and this is from someone who knows all sorts of obscure Canadian cartoons off the top of my head (Monster By Mistake, Growing Up Creepie, Kleo The Misfit Unicorn, Stickin' Around, Blazing Dragons, etc). Don't know anyone who knows this show either

Um, hi, I remember Tooter Turtle; King Leonardo and his Short Subjects aired in local syndication when I was a kid. Some band remembered the show too, since they incorporated the phrase "Twizzle, Twizzle, Twozzle, Tome, time for this one to come home" into one of their songs.

FTR, I also know (or know of) some of the Canadian cartoons mentioned above: Growing Up Creepie aired on Discovery Kids (pre-Hub) and Stickin' Around first aired in the US a series of one-minute interstitial segments on CBS Saturday morning before getting its own series on Fox Kids; the reruns later turned on the now defunct Fox Family channel as one segment on The Three Friends...and Jerry Show. I know of Blazing Dragons (since it was co-created by Monty Python's Terry Jones and I'm a big Monty Python fan) but I never saw it.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Despite starting life (in 1960) as a second banana character on the probably even less well remembered King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, Tooter Turtle seemed to really capture the imagination of Boomers and older Gen Xers, particularly the catchphrase "Drizzle, Drazzle, Druzzle, Drome; Time for this one to come home". There are quite a few references to the characters in 80s and 90s pop culture, even in The Matrix. Since then though the character seems to have somewhat fallen into obscurity, even compared to similar figures like, say, Dudley Do-Right.

I forgot that he existed until now.

 

[Pooky]

I believe (but don't 100% know for a fact) that similar to Underdog and other Total Television cartoons some Rocky and Bullwinkle packages had Tooter Turtle as one of the supporting cartoons, which led many to believe/assume, again like Underdog, that it was a Jay Ward production.

I remember the Blazing Dragons game coming out, but don't think I was really aware of the show.

 

[Zorak Masaki]

Actually, most of the Total Television shows are forgotten now. Underdog DID get a live-action Disney adaptation but it wasnt a huge hit.

 

[Goldstar!]

I remember the Blazing Dragons game coming out, but don't think I was really aware of the show.

IIRC, Blazing Dragons, the TV show aired late nights on Toon Disney (pre-Jetix) for a time, but that was before my household received the channel. Back then, I only saw Toon Disney when Comcast would offer it's a customers a free weekend preview of the channel.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

IIRC, Blazing Dragons, the TV show aired late nights on Toon Disney (pre-Jetix) for a time, but that was before my household received the channel. Back then, I only saw Toon Disney when Comcast would offer it's a customers a free weekend preview of the channel.

It did. I watched it (or more accurately just watched the catchy theme song). Since I live on the west coast and the channel was running on eastern time, it was only like 9 or 10 pm to me.

 

[CassieTheDragon]

There were a lot of cartoons back in the mid-late 90s that focused on groups of cartoon dragons, most of which are very obscure. Pocket Dragon Adventures (98), Dragon Tales (99), Blazing Dragons (96)...