The Worst Shows You Used to Watch When You Were a Kid - I.E. Childhood shows that make you cringe in retrospect.

[Newman's Lovechild]

Michelangelo's nunchakus were removed from the show and he used a grappling hook instead.

Writing duties were handed over to soccer moms in focus groups, and this how they did fight scenes (timestamped):

The action cartoon about mutant turtles fighting Shredder's robot ninjas that millennials think they remember lasted like 15 episodes, maybe.

Mikey's grappling hook, Shredder's badass appearance in the intro replaced with Shredder being defeated by schoolyard pranks, and that one time Shredder ran away from being pelted with pizza dough. I was a slow kid, but when those three things happened I realised that TMNT was dead.

By the end, the cartoon was completely retooled in response to the success of 1) Power Rangers and 2) Batman: The Animated Series. No one has ever watched an episode of that to confirm if it's as dumb as it sounds.

Someone has, and it's even dumber. One of the overarching plots was that the turtles mutations started making them hulk out. They also added in a hispanic(?) kid whose mutation was to hulk out too, transforming into a big yellow indian chief, complete with metal-spiked kneepads and boots or some shit, that would disappear whenever he Bannered-in.

Main villain, Lord Dregg, generic and forgettable alien warlord who wanted to conquer earth. It made you wonder why they couldn't just retool Krang while they were at it.

There's no room for doubt that The Raccoons was furry homo trans brainwashing.

Spoiler: lyrics

When darkness falls
Leaving shadows in the night
Don't be afraid
Wipe that fear from your eyes
If a desperate love
Keeps on driving you wrong
Don't be afraid
You're not alone

You can run with us
We've got everything you need
Run with us
We are free
Come with us
I see passion in your eyes
Run with us

When the cold wind blows
Turn your collar to the cold
Don't be ashamed
If you need someone to hold
If you're sinking in quicksand
And it's dragging you down
And you feel you're going under
We'll be around

You can run with us
We've got everything you need
Run with us
We are free
Come with us
I see passion in your eyes
Run with us

When you're behind closed doors
All alone by yourself
And you're longing inside
To be somebody else
You pick up the telephone
And there's no one on the line
Don't be afraid
'Cause there's still time

You can run with us
We've got everything you need
Run with us
We are free
Come with us
I see passion in your eyes
Run with us

Oh-oh-oh, run with us
We've got everything you need
Run with us
We are free
Come with us
I see passion in your eyes
Run with us

Oh-oh-oh, run with us

"Are you emotionally vulnerable, goy? Come with us, your new best friends, and yiff in public bathrooms, you'll feel normal then." If Canada's existence has left you shocked and desperately looking for answers, some kind of an explanation, I think this song is a key part of the puzzle.

A terrible fridge logic song. An epic ballad about magic and freedom, but freedom to do what? Crouch in a rotten log with vermin? I choose the mansion with the pink dong-faced Monty Burns. He has central heating. Hand me a blue cap and sweater.

On another note, I stopped watching Rugrats a lot earlier than most people (as in, around age 6 or 7). I dunno, it just grossed me out easily.

Rugrats was good at the start, when it was a babys eye view of the weird shit of the adult world. It quickly slid into standard 'look at our cute heroes fumble and stumble as they save the day'. Once Mary Melody Whoopi Jr. Suzie Carmichael turned up, it was toast.

 

[Vyse Inglebard]

I have one childhood shame....

I dunno what the fuck I saw in this as a kid. Story was a mediocre at best SATAM ripoff, songs were god-awful, and the animation....

I'm almost tempted to call it the worst Sonic adaptation. Yes, even worse than Sonic X, because Sonic X, as bad as it was, had some really good animation to be honest, which was driven further in Season 2 with a lot of the arcs having pretty decent to great animation which was consistent. It also managed one of the best adaptions of Adventure I've seen to date, and to be honest, I do like characters like Cosmo (which it also doesn't help that Tails was my absolute favourite character back then, so giving him a full arc in season 3, I was totally down with). Sonic Underground didn't even have that much. It has nothing.

(ALSO WHY DID THEY HAVE JALEEL WHITE VOICE SONIA, AND WHY DID THEY HAVE HIM USE HIS URKEL VOICE FOR HER?! THEY DIDN'T EVEN PITCH IT UP OR ANYTHING! IT'S DOUBLY WEIRD WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE FACT THAT IN LITERALLY EVERY OTHER DUB, SHE'S CLEARLY VOICED BY A FEMALE VA, SO WHY IN THE FUCK DIDN'T THEY DO THE SAME HERE?!)

The theme song still kicks ass, though:

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Honestly, it's hard to choose, I grew up watching and/or forgetting a lot of stuff and rewatching many of it now makes me sad or embarassed I even liked many of the things I did watch. Among them include much of 4Kids' dubs (I was more Kirby than Sonic), Beast Machines, and even The Simpsons right when it turned into Zombie Simps.

For me that would be Transformers Energon.

That show was really weak, the animation was bad. I think it is the worst western show of the franchise (if we look over the weaknesses of the G1 show due to being a 1980s toy commercial) and the weakest link in the Unicron trilogy. Also the low budget anime humor didn't help either. Oh also Planet sized Optimus boxing with Unicron. Okay, wtf.

The designs were okay, and it was watchable as a teen. For staying on model the 3D was a good idea, but the implementation suffered due to a lack of budget. Sometimes they pulled hand drawn parts when they wanted to show off emotions, but that just shown how much everything would have looked like if it was animated like Armada was prior. At least Cybertron, the sequel to Energon improved a lot on the 3D and made it look better and more expressive.

It even had an interesting 3 way conflict, but the implementation could have been a lot better.

I definitely remember this, even had some of the toys from around that period too. It and Armada really don't hold up in Japanese, and fare far worse in English. The dubs are practically unlistenable despite having many of the VAs from the Beast era pop in.

I have one childhood shame....
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I dunno what the fuck I saw in this as a kid. Story was a mediocre at best SATAM ripoff, songs were god-awful, and the animation....
View attachment 2155855
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I'm almost tempted to call it the worst Sonic adaptation. Yes, even worse than Sonic X, because Sonic X, as bad as it was, had some really good animation to be honest, which was driven further in Season 2 with a lot of the arcs having pretty decent to great animation which was consistent. It also managed one of the best adaptions of Adventure I've seen to date, and to be honest, I do like characters like Cosmo (which it also doesn't help that Tails was my absolute favourite character back then, so giving him a full arc in season 3, I was totally down with). Sonic Underground didn't even have that much. It has nothing.

(ALSO WHY DID THEY HAVE JALEEL WHITE VOICE SONIA, AND WHY DID THEY HAVE HIM USE HIS URKEL VOICE FOR HER?! THEY DIDN'T EVEN PITCH IT UP OR ANYTHING! IT'S DOUBLY WEIRD WHEN YOU CONSIDER THE FACT THAT IN LITERALLY EVERY OTHER DUB, SHE'S CLEARLY VOICED BY A FEMALE VA, SO WHY IN THE FUCK DIDN'T THEY DO THE SAME HERE?!)

The theme song still kicks ass, though:

Oh god, I remember seeing the episode with the robot baby growing up and I think blocked the rest out of my mind. I still don't know how anyone would greenlight this show with its awful stories and worse animation. And those song numbers, at least when you're a kid you don't get thoughts of wanting to take a screwdriver to the ears.

 

[Blamo]

I definitely remember this, even had some of the toys from around that period too. It and Armada really don't hold up in Japanese, and fare far worse in English. The dubs are practically unlistenable despite having many of the VAs from the Beast era pop in.

I am not all that familiar with the Japanese Transformers shows, but it feels like the Unicron Trilogy is basically the low point of the franchise.
Not to mention chaining 3 shows into a linear timeline with totally different gimmicks feel weird at best.

 

[Captain Marvelous]

Someone has, and it's even dumber. One of the overarching plots was that the turtles mutations started making them hulk out. They also added in a hispanic(?) kid whose mutation was to hulk out too, transforming into a big yellow indian chief, complete with metal-spiked kneepads and boots or some shit, that would disappear whenever he Bannered-in.

Main villain, Lord Dregg, generic and forgettable alien warlord who wanted to conquer earth. It made you wonder why they couldn't just retool Krang while they were at it.

They also tried to rip off X-Men by having the media turn against the turtles after they failed to stop a news building from blowing up.

Also, the double mutation were clearly made with a 90s audience in mind.

 

[Captain Marvelous]

I am not all that familiar with the Japanese Transformers shows, but it feels like the Unicron Trilogy is basically the low point of the franchise.
Not to mention chaining 3 shows into a linear timeline with totally different gimmicks feel weird at best.

Cybertron wasn't even in the same continuity as Armada and Energon originally. It was the English dub that made it a trilogy.

 

[Blamo]

Cybertron wasn't even in the same continuity as Armada and Energon originally. It was the English dub that made it a trilogy.

I didn't knew that. Poor Cybertron put into the short bus with the other two.

 

[Travoltron]

I am not all that familiar with the Japanese Transformers shows, but it feels like the Unicron Trilogy is basically the low point of the franchise.

Yeah, pretty much. Though I personally find the Michael Bay movies to be worse.

As for TMNT disappointments, I recall an episode where some random kid kicked Shredder in the shin and he went hopping around like an idiot going "Ow ow ow OW!" That ruined the character for me.
Mirage Comics Shredder would have killed that kid. The best animated Shredder for me was the one in Batman VS TMNT. He was the real deal Oroku Saki.

 

[Blamo]

Yeah, pretty much. Though I personally find the Michael Bay movies to be worse.

Can we really consider the Michael Bay movies to be Transformers movies? They feel like teen drama Army recruitment ad featuring some weak Transformers. At least it exists to make the G1 show looks more serious. At the end of the day it just shows all you need is good enough special effects to have the mass audience, because as movies, especially Transformers movies they were boring and really weak.

As for TMNT disappointments, I recall an episode where some random kid kicked Shredder in the shin and he went hopping around like an idiot going "Ow ow ow OW!" That ruined the character for me.
Mirage Comics Shredder would have killed that kid. The best animated Shredder for me was the one in Batman VS TMNT. He was the real deal Oroku Saki.

Which show? For me the 2003 TMNT show was pretty nice. Of course I think it is a bit controversial that Shredder is now an alien.

 

[Travoltron]

Which show? For me the 2003 TMNT show was pretty nice. Of course I think it is a bit controversial that Shredder is now an alien.

Yeah, that was also disappointing to me. Up until the Utrom reveal, I enjoyed the character. They earlier adapted the story arc where the Turtles fight three mutant clones of the Shredder. But that doesn't make sense if he's actually an Utrom.

I think they realized they messed up, because later they introduced the TRUE Shredder. He was OK I guess, but it was a bit too little, too late.

The 2003 show is my favorite version, even though they sometimes went directions I didn't like. (The Fast Forward season, etc.) It's funny how when they met the 1987 Turtles, so many internet millennials got mad that those Turtles were played comical. It was that mass delusion mentioned earlier where people remembered the 87 Turtles show being badass, when in fact the show was a farce.

 

[Blamo]

Yeah, that was also disappointing to me. Up until the Utrom reveal, I enjoyed the character. They earlier adapted the story arc where the Turtles fight three mutant clones of the Shredder. But that doesn't make sense if he's actually an Utrom.

I think they realized they messed up, because later they introduced the TRUE Shredder. He was OK I guess, but it was a bit too little, too late.

The 2003 show is my favorite version, even though they sometimes went directions I didn't like. (The Fast Forward season, etc.) It's funny how when they met the 1987 Turtles, so many internet millennials got mad that those Turtles were played comical. It was that mass delusion mentioned earlier where people remembered the 87 Turtles show being badass, when in fact the show was a farce.

While I am not a fan of streaming services, I am surprised they didn't do a proper adaption of the comics. Sure licenses etc are a mess, but it would be an interesting experiment.

 

[Travoltron]

While I am not a fan of streaming services, I am surprised they didn't do a proper adaption of the comics. Sure licenses etc are a mess, but it would be an interesting experiment.

I would absolutely love that. But the franchise has always seemed adverse and perhaps ashamed of the Mirage comics version. Very little Mirage TMNT merchandise has been made. Viacom also seems to hate the 2003 version of the show.

Those comics (especially issue #1) seemed so violent at the time, but it's probably on par or even tamer than the manga that kids read today.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Yeah, that was also disappointing to me. Up until the Utrom reveal, I enjoyed the character. They earlier adapted the story arc where the Turtles fight three mutant clones of the Shredder. But that doesn't make sense if he's actually an Utrom.

I think they realized they messed up, because later they introduced the TRUE Shredder. He was OK I guess, but it was a bit too little, too late.

The 2003 show is my favorite version, even though they sometimes went directions I didn't like. (The Fast Forward season, etc.) It's funny how when they met the 1987 Turtles, so many internet millennials got mad that those Turtles were played comical. It was that mass delusion mentioned earlier where people remembered the 87 Turtles show being badass, when in fact the show was a farce.

I do feel like they were probably over-exaggerated to a degree, and it's clear 4Kids thought theirs was the best version (Even though it had its fair share of dumb ideas like Nano and Turtle Titan). But good lord are rose-tinted glasses strong with people.

 

[Captain Marvelous]

I didn't knew that. Poor Cybertron put into the short bus with the other two.

The best part is that one of the comics set after Cybertron used the inconsistent timeline as a plotpoint, saying that the black hole from the show was so powerful, it screwed with the space-time continuum, rewrote several timelines in the process, and could theoretically explain almost any plothole in any piece of Transformers media.

 

[Sekirodiealot]

Mr. Meaty, a cancelled show literally no one remembers.

I remember being creeped out by that show

 

[Calandrino]

I do feel like they were probably over-exaggerated to a degree, and it's clear 4Kids thought theirs was the best version (Even though it had its fair share of dumb ideas like Nano and Turtle Titan). But good lord are rose-tinted glasses strong with people.

The 3D Nickelodeon TMNT did another crossover with the '87 turtles that gave them a bit of a fairer shake, as well as using the original cast. And apparently I'm autistic enough to notice references in it that even the turtles wiki and tvtropes missed. The Technodrome computer terminal is displaying the boot screen from the TMNT arcade game...

 

[AtheistWestonChandler]

He-Man is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.
I liked it as a kid but found a few DVDs second hand as an adult and thought it was pretty meh.
Actually prefer the live action movie now.

 

[DDBCAE CBAADCBE]

Captain Planet had some really awful episodes. The aids episode, the episode where they went back in time and ran in to Hitler and Hitler was so evil just being near him killed Captain Planet, the racism episode, the drug episode that had someone die of an overdose. It was weird seeing that as a kid.

Okay but that’s what made the show great. I grew up with it and I loved it because it was so goofy. That’s what cartoons were about back then. Captain Planet was very much a so bad it’s good sort of show. I loved it. Even had a Captain Planet tin lunchbox at one point.

 

[Mysterious Girlfriend X]

Okay but that’s what made the show great. I grew up with it and I loved it because it was so goofy. That’s what cartoons were about back then. Captain Planet was very much a so bad it’s good sort of show. I loved it. Even had a Captain Planet tin lunchbox at one point.

Some things I remember from Captain Planet.
-One of the villains had a gun that sealed the Planeteers up in giant cocoons and they came out as gang members.
-Two of the Planeteers got shot into space, and Captain Planet couldn't send their powers back to them, so he was stuck flying around with earth-tone skin. One of the villains said he had been demoted to Corporal and then laughed.
-Looten Plunder, the business villain, put a bunch of giant glass domes over the Amazon and told everyone they'd have to pay him for air.
-The drug episode.
-Bigfoot and the animal kingdom put the Planeteers on trial for the mankind's crimes against nature. They were found guilty and sentenced to a lifetime of feeling bad about it. Then Bigfoot wiped their memories of the whole affair.
-The AIDS episode.
-One of the villains started dumping garbage all over a random town. Instead of getting angry, everyone in that town just went along with it and started throwing their own trash out into the street. This made Kwame, the black Planeteer, so angry that he quit.

 

[frozenrunner]

In the UK, the title was censored to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, because of the n-word's problematic history in feudal Japan, and the turtles were stated to be devout Muslims who resisted Shredder's racist "Dimension X first" policies.

This is the most UK thing I've heard since the latest grooming gang story broke