Remember Saturday mornings, when you’d lounge on the couch, dropping soggy cereal on your shirt and watching cartoons until your parents got up and snapped at you to go outside and play? I sure do. I also know that, for most of us mature adults, cartoons have been pushed back to the far side of our memories, and us grown-ups won’t rediscover the joys of cartoons until we get to watch them with our own kids. But why? We can revisit the worlds of our favorite childhood shows any time we like. There are even some new cartoons sweeping the nation now which are really worth a look. Here are my top eight all-time favorite cartoons.

1. "Gravity Falls"

Unlike most cartoons, Gravity Falls had an intense plot throughout its two mystery-filled seasons. Many fans of this show learned cryptology and spent hours pouring over every frame of each episode to find hidden keys that would decode secret messages and give clues to the bigger mysteries surrounding the strange town of Gravity Falls and its loveable characters. But it’s not “Homework: The Show!” "Gravity Falls" is the inspiring coming-of-age tale of 12-year old twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, who struggle to unfold the dangerous secrets that a long-lost adventurer left behind.

2. "Codename: Kids Next Door"

"Codename: Kids Next Door" follows the missions of Sector V, a team of quirky operatives who battle adult tyranny. This show shaped who I am. For years, the neighbor kids and I were part of a secret agency designed to help defend kids against playground bullies. We actually helped people, too. This show inspired me to use my imagination, to be clever with my hands and create with what I had around me. It taught me never to sit quietly in the face of injustice, and to never really grow up.

3. "The Fairly Oddparents"

This is a severely underrated cartoon. Consistently clever, "The Fairly Oddparents" shows the struggles of the rich and the poor, the socially awkward and the fabulously popular and Timmy Turner, who falls in the middle of both spectra. Timmy relies on his magical Fairy Godparents to help him with the antics he gets himself into. Usually, however, his solutions backfire and he has to rely on his own power to fix his mistakes. If you turn the channel to this show for a nostalgia trip, watch out for the newer episodes, because they've introduced characters that might disrupt your picture of what you remember.

4. "Ed, Edd n Eddy"

Who doesn’t love a couple of idiots ignoring their smart friend and getting into ridiculously sticky situations? Most episodes of "Ed, Edd n Eddy" were laugh-out-loud funny. My brother and I always wanted to recreate some of them, particularly the one where the Eds create a giant city out of cardboard boxes, but we quickly learned that being like the Eds was, unfortunately, highly impractical.

5. "Spongebob Squarepants"

It’s a classic. Dive right under the sea with your favorite patty-flipping sponge for an ocean of comedy. I still review the best episodes on occasion, just to remind myself of how utterly hilarious they were. "Frankendoodle" and "Graveyard Shift" are two of the funniest episodes any cartoon has ever offered. I haven't seen the most recent episodes, but hey, it's "Spongebob."

6. "Star vs. the Forces of Evil"

The plot is finally taking off! After only one season, I’ve already grown to love this blossoming cartoon for its upbeat heroes and especially its cast of villains, inept or otherwise. "Star vs. the Forces of Evil" presents Star, a magical princess from another dimension, who happens to have a taste for fighting monsters. Her parents send her to Earth to train properly with her magic wand somewhere safe—but Star and her Earth-friend Marco run into plenty of trouble on their own. I can’t wait to see more of what this creative show has to offer in the coming season!

7. "Avatar: the Last Airbender"

I confess, I haven’t finished watching this one yet, despite how long it’s been out. But what I can tell from the first two seasons is that this show is finely crafted. It also has an overarching plot, filled with drama, laughter and love. No episode is purely filler; everything moves the story forward, which is very difficult for a cartoon. "Avatar" has (so far) completely surpassed my expectations.

8. "Invader Zim"

I can’t believe my parents let me watch this growing up. The dark humor of "Invader Zim" fits perfectly with its concept: a rejected soldier from a large Armada of planet-conquering aliens comes to take over Earth. This plucky little alien, Zim, along with his incredibly dumb, adorable robot sidekick, GIR, try their best to blend in as they plot the destruction of the planet—but they are stopped at every turn by the few competent people on Earth. "Invader Zim" is one of the creepiest, most offbeat cartoons I have ever had the pleasure to view.

There are lots of other good cartoons out there, I know. So here are some shout-outs to "Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero," "Over the Garden Wall" and whichever cartoon is your favorite!