It was a time when Saturday morning cartoons were about superheroes, cowboys and other larger-than-life characters. In the Disco Decade, these shows captivated American children, and they still hold sway over our memories today. Here are the classic 70s boy cartoons you’ll never really forget.
The Fantastic Four
Marvel’s first superhero family, the Fantastic Four, were born in a pretty ordinary way. Boffing around in their lab for fun one day, Reed Richards and his friends Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm accidentally got exposed to cosmic rays that gave them special powers: Mr. Fantastic could stretch like rubber; The Thing was super-strong; Human Torch gained pyrokinetic abilities; and Invisible Girl could, well, turn invisible. While the “super” part of their powers were cool and all, it was the 70s comic book style that made this show so popular with kids.
The Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther cartoon show that ran from 1969 to 1980. In each episode, the bumbling Inspector Clouseau would get in some sort of wacky trouble while on duty at his job as Chief Inspector for France’s Surete Nationale.
The show was based on the famous “Pink Panther” movie series starring Peter Sellers as Clouseau, and ran in various formats from 39 episodes over three seasons to 70 episodes over five seasons.
Super Friends
The Super Friends were a group of superhero friends assembled by the Justice League to fight against evil and help people.
Superfriends aired from 1973-1985, but 70s kids remember it as one of their favorite cartoons on Saturday morning TV!
In 1979, The World’s Greatest Super Friends Hour was created with more action stories for older children.
The show was cancelled in 1985, but 70s kids remember it fondly.
Captain Marvel (Shazam), Aquaman, and Wonder Woman were among the heroes who fought crime on Earth!
Super Friends had a really cool theme song that 70’s boys of the era still sing to this day: “In trouble again… We’re up against it again… We’re Super Friends, we’ll win again!”
The All-New Popeye Hour
This 70s show follows a sailor named Popeye and his girlfriend Olive Oyl. It aired on Saturday mornings in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981 as the “All-New Popeye Hour”.
Popeyes’s arch-enemy Bluto was always trying to stop him from getting his spinach! The protagonist would often yell out, “POW! ZAP! WHAM!” to defeat his enemies.
The Hardy Boys Animated Series
The Hardy Boys are a classic 70s show about two brothers who solve mysteries. The animated series ran from 1977 to 1979 and was made by Hanna-Barbera Productions, the same company that created Scooby Doo.
This 70s cartoon follows Joe and Frank as they try to solve strange cases with their dog Dinky – because he’s the only one who can talk!
The series follows Joe, Frank and their talking dog Dinky as they solve mysteries with a 70s twist. The Hardy Boys live in Bayport – where things never seem to go well…
The main characters are brothers Joe and Frank Hardy; both boy sleuths looking for clues on how to catch the bad guys in their 70s cartoon.
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle
Debuting in 1976, the 1970s rendition of Tarzan was the first animated series dedicated to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ tale of adventure and caution (about human actions and their consequences).
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle follows Tarzan as he battles various villains across 70s Africa and meets new friends like Jane.
The plot is that an orphaned boy raised by apes in 70s Africa learns to balance his two worlds — animal and human — while helping to protect his homeland from those who would do harm.
The Adventures of Gulliver
An animated 70s adaptation of the Jonathan Swift classic, ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ The Adventures of Gulliver follows young Gary Gulliver on his travels as he searches for his missing father.
(Like 70s Boy Cartoons? Then you might like our article on Batman Cartoons, click here. Or how about 70s Girl Cartoons, click here.)
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