Were there any 80/90s cartoons with good fight scenes(Not Anime)

PapaGreg

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So when I was a kid I didn't like Gargoyles because it was kinda boring and I no idea what was happening(what with it being a narrative based show) but after re watching it as an adult its pretty good so far, well except for the fight scenes. Okay imagine a show with Gargoyles with superhuman strength and characters use all sorts of weaponry ranging from guns to magic you would think that would equal some awesome fight scenes right, wrong like 80% of the fight scenes can be describe as characters throwing each other around. It got me to thinking that there aren't a lot of good fight scenes from the mentioned eras or from the ones I seen, so are there any examples
 

Red Arrow

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I guess I am more easily satisfied with simple fight scenes. I have only seen the first half of Gargoyles so far and there was only one episode where the fights (and animation) really bothered me: Long Way to Morning. Time seems to stand still when you watch this episode.

You didn't like any fights in Batman: The Animated Series or Tarzan?
 

PapaGreg

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You didn't like any fights in Batman: The Animated Series or Tarzan?

BTAS had the same problems like Gargoyles in that characters would just flip one another and Tarzan was 2000s
 

Red Arrow

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Tarzan was from 1999 and the fight scenes were amazing. (like all scenes where Tarzan is swinging through the jungle on vines) Maybe this is nostalgia speaking, but the animation was terrific. But yeah, it were still Disney fights.
 

The Overlord

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BTAS had the same problems like Gargoyles in that characters would just flip one another and Tarzan was 2000s

The sword fight between Batman and Ra's Al Ghul was not bad. But the thing about Batman is he outclasses most of his enemies in terms of brawn, Batman can take most of them down with a punch or two. Batman villains pose an intellectual threat to him and a threat to civilians, rather a physical threat to Batman. Batman is not usually about fight scenes, even in the comics.
 
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PapaGreg

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The sword fight between Batman and Ra's Al Ghul was not bad. But the thing about Batman is he outclasses most of his enemies in terms of brawn, Batman can take most of them down with a punch or two. Batman villains pose an intellectual threat to him and a threat to civilians, rather a physical threat to Batman. Batman is not usually about fight scenes, even in the comics.
I mean if the Direct to DVD animated movies can have some decent fight choreography I don't see why the BTAS could too.
 
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I haven't seen a lot of action shows from those decades but I recall the fights in Cybersix and Superman the animated series being decent enough.
 

the greenman

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If you mean good fight choreography, I honestly don't really remember. For me I think JLU was the first I really saw American animation do good fights. Superman was good too. Probably the same folks anyway.

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PapaGreg

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Take this scene from Gargoyles for example, like did anyone from the 90s know how to make an action scene

 

Fone Bone

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I mean if the Direct to DVD animated movies can have some decent fight choreography I don't see why the BTAS could too.
It's because modern animation techniques improved due to trial and error. The DC direct to video movies wouldn't have good fights if BTAS hadn't helped the directors fine-tune their process into stop making bad ones.
Take this scene from Gargoyles for example, like did anyone from the 90s know how to make an action scene

Of course they didn't. They were the first generation of American cartoons animating fights. Because they had the failures they did then is why we have the successes we do now.
 

PapaGreg

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It's because modern animation techniques improved due to trial and error. The DC direct to video movies wouldn't have good fights if BTAS hadn't helped the directors fine-tune their process into stop making bad ones.

Of course they didn't. They were the first generation of American cartoons animating fights. Because they had the failures they did then is why we have the successes we do now.
I think anime has more to do with it, I mean this is what they did during the 90s
tumblr_ndcluvYBFY1ro1ucvo1_500.gif
 

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That's part of why Dragon Ball Z was so big when it first came to America; American kids had never seen action scenes like that before, and it blew their minds.

To be fair, anime directors have had longer to perfect their craft. Like someone else said above, the animators of 80s cartoons paved the way for later animators, but Japan already had action anime in the 70s, and they had less censors to hamper them.
 

PapaGreg

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That's part of why Dragon Ball Z was so big when it first came to America; American kids had never seen action scenes like that before, and it blew their minds.

To be fair, anime directors have had longer to perfect their craft. Like someone else said above, the animators of 80s cartoons paved the way for later animators, but Japan already had action anime in the 70s, and they had less censors to hamper them.
I mean imagine watching Gargoyles as a kid after watching DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho not only do the fight scenes look lame but the Gargoyles powersets are also kinda lame too heck that don't even fly, they glide.
 

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But Gargoyles has something DBZ has not: actual plot. As a child, I got tired of DBZ after 50 episodes because it is just fights and nothing else.

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But Gargoyles has something DBZ has not: actual plot. As a child, I got tired of DBZ after 50 episodes because it is just fights and nothing else.

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This. For me fight scenes aren't the actual selling point of dramatic cartoons.
 

PapaGreg

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This. For me fight scenes aren't the actual selling point of dramatic cartoons.
I mean when a show has at least two action scenes and they are terrible then it kinda hurts the show.

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ShadowBeast

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But Gargoyles has something DBZ has not: actual plot. As a child, I got tired of DBZ after 50 episodes because it is just fights and nothing else.

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Yeah, I agree that Gargoyles had a far superior plot and at least the Gargoyles had an excuse for holding back since most of them prefer not to kill anyone.
With DBZ, I mostly had fun making fun of how many episodes it's gonna take for Planet Namek to blow up in 5 minutes. With DBZ, they had to drag out the story, I guess to make the series longer. And despite how impressive the fights look, most of the time, the fighting is the same attack movements against each other in a fast motion. The DragonBall movies are probably better written as it focuses less on the fights since they have less time to drag them. But I'm only going by comparing with the movie with Beerus since I found the film a lot better written than the DragonBall Super season reboot of the story since it didn't drag on the fights like the show usually does.
 

The Overlord

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Not for me. I'm all about the drama and the pathos. Fight scenes mean diddly to me.

I mean when a show has at least two action scenes and they are terrible then it kinda hurts the show.

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I can see an argument to be made that a great action scene is like an interesting spice for a stew or icing on a cake, it adds flavor, but by itself, it does not fix much, but if everything else is not working and its not there, it really is noticeable. I do not mind if the BTAS's or Gargoyles action scenes are not as good as say DBZ, the story, characters, and the production values are so great, that it doesn't bother me, Batman should be more about detective work and solving puzzles, rather than fight scenes. I like the fact the Gargoyles glide rather than fly, making the heroes less powerful adds extra peril and the heroes have survive on their wits rather than just muscle through by brute strength.

Then you have something like the Ghostbusters cartoons, I am not sure how you give them ''better action'' scenes when the series relies more on comedy and horror and the action is the Ghostbusters using their equipment to trap ghosts, there is action in it, but that is not the selling point of the series, it's usually the Ghostbuters have to figure out some puzzle to defeat or trap the ghost or they do something to convince the ghosts to leave.

Star Trek is one of my favorite franchises and it is more solving problems with your brain, rather than your fists, I hope the Nick cartoon reflects that.

I will say, in Spider-Man TAS, where characters are not allowed to punch each other and since that cartoon lacks the story depth or characterization BTAS or Gargoyles had, the bad fight scenes become far more noticeable.

Avatar the Last Airbender combined great fight scenes with great plot and characterization, but that happened in 2005 and was influenced by anime.
 
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Mostezli

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I can see an argument to be made that a great action scene is like an interesting spice for a stew or icing on a cake, it adds flavor, but by itself, it does not fix much, but if everything else is not working and it's not there, it really is noticeable.
We're talking about what the most animated (typically most expensive) portion is.
No, a great action scene conveys the story, the characters, and the production values within that scene.
It's more of the entree or the main hook if it's great because it's what the episode builds up to or maybe even kicks off to set the pace.

I'm thinking the late 90s had most of the best fight scenes, given Godzilla "Zilla" got its own show to thrash around a new monster each week. Before that, since the 80s, you mostly had a ton of shootouts, laser light-shows or a bit of swashbuckling...and also Peter Chung.
 

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