Your confidence will fade
Sometimes, it just gets to bee too much yknow?
Pure excitement...
Instead of worrying about school on your time off, why not let nostalgia take you for a ride instead?
Here are 11 television shows that'll bring you nostalgia and remind you of better days! (AKA, before textbooks were ridiculously expensive.)
ChalkZone was a show that ran on the screens of Nickelodeon from 2002-2009 while introducing a young, quirky, but relateable Rudy Tabootie as our main character. When Rudy was eight, he received a magic piece of chalk that, when used, can create a portal to the entrance of ChalkZone, a place where everything that has been drawn in chalk and erased appears! Rudy, along with his two best friends Penny and Snap, go on adventures throughout ChalkZone.
Codename: Kids Next Door is a beloved television show that ran on Cartoon Network through the mid-2000s. The show was about a group of children that belonged to an organization full of kid spies that foiled every single plan that the evil adults tried to force upon the world. Even now that KND (Kids Next Door) has been off screens for a total of ten years, it's still a very popular television show that's still loved by many people around the world.
Teen Titans is a show that is still beloved by many people from all over the world! The original Teen Titans ran for three years before being tragically canceled; however. it was rebooted into what is now known as Teen Titans Go!
The newest adaptation of the show has mixed reviews; however, Cartoon Network has teased that the original adaptation of the show may be set to come back for a sixth season.
Hey Arnold! was a show that I'm pretty sure every child has watched; this show could easily be considered a classic for many teenagers and adults all over the world. Hey Arnold! ran from the years of 1996-2004 after having not only one, but two movie adaptations.
This was an honest show about a boy named Arnold who lives with his eccentric grandparents and teaches good lessons on how to be a good, caring person, as he does his best to solve his friends' problems.
Totally Spies featured a trio of high school girls from Beverly Hills, California, who doubled as spies from a secret organization. All three of them are constantly thrown into outrageous scenarios by their manager, Jerry, but nearly always come back successfully from each mission. The show ran on Cartoon Network for a number of years and have had 156 episodes broadcasted.
Kim Possible was probably one of the most popular television shows that Disney Channel ever created, along with Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. The show featured a teenage cheerleader who, on her off time, fought supervillains and saved the world numerous times along with her best friend, Ron Stoppable, and his naked mole rat, Rufus.
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy was a fun but equally terrifying show about two best friends, Billy and Mandy, who tricked the Grim Reaper himself into becoming their best friend for all eternity. Do you remember this show? I remember being always kind of scared of the animation whenever something gruesome happened to a character, but I always kind of related to Mandy's personality.
Danny Phantom was probably one of the best television shows that my ten-year-old self could've ever seen! This show ran on Nickelodeon as well, and it was about a teenage boy who accidentally had ghost DNA rewrite his entire DNA strands, giving him the ability to turn into a half-ghost!
The show had a relatable character that attended high school as an outcast who not only had to deal with an overly intelligent sister but also had to deal with crazy and innovative parents.
Courage the Cowardly Dog was a show that featured a tiny dog named Courage who always tried his best to save his best friend and owner, Muriel. I can remember being both equally terrified and ridiculously interested in this show as a child. There are many moments where, even now as an adult, I question severely but nonetheless, seeing this show will always bring back the nostalgia.
Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends had six years of fun on Cartoon Network, giving joy to both young and older viewers as they taught the value of friendship while also proving that, indeed, kids will be kids.
The show featured a home that was made up of many imaginary friends who resided after not being able to live with their creators anymore.
Bloo, the eccentric but slightly chaotic imaginary friend, often goes on adventures with his best friend Mac, who was pressured into abandoning Bloo in the Foster Home after his mother thought he was too old to have an imaginary friend.
Now I know you guys remember Jimmy Neutron! This was a pretty amazing show about a boy genius named Jimmy and his many adventures with his best friends, Carl and Sheen. This show was featured on Nickleodeon for quite some time before ending in 2006.
Despite the fact that we have talked about great cartoons and animation for a long time, we never have discussed what makes a great cartoon so great in the first place. What are the key ingredients that take a cartoon show from mediocre to absolutely fantastic?
While this one seems like a no-brainer, animation is so important to any cartoon. For me, watching the characters and objects move across the screen is such a wonderful experience. What is important in any show is that the animation not only is of good quality, but that it is smooth and matches the scene or tone of the moment. Action scenes require fast-paced animation while slower scenes required slower-paced animation. If you have choppy animation with speeds that don't match the mood or tone of the show, then you leave the audience feeling disoriented, frustrated, and perhaps even stressed out. Animation is so important to a cartoon because it is the very foundation on which the cartoon is built upon.
Now when I talk about design, I am mainly referring to the art style of the show itself. Every show has its own style or flair that makes it unique to watch. Now, a show does not have the same art style or design as every other show in order to be successful. Most animated shows or movies have their own unique art styles that make them unique and interesting. To see a massive change in art style, compare Tim Burton's art with the art from a show like "Steven Universe." Both shows have different art styles, but one would consider both art styles to be pleasing to look at. And that is precisely the point of design: the design of the show must be pleasing to the viewer's eye. If the design of the show is unappealing or ugly, then viewers are not likely to watch.
I once read that you know a show has great characters if you would be entertained with watching them doing mundane things like going to the grocery store or playing charades. To me, characters are so important to keeping a show afloat. The characters are who the viewers follow throughout the series and it is imperative that they are fully developed and watchable creations. If a character is too annoying, the viewer will switch off the program. If a character is just mean or plain unlikable, the viewer will find something else to watch. You could find a show with an amazing plot, but if the characters are unbearable, then you will not stay around to find out what happens next.
Now the story is a tricky substance for cartoons because a show's story can be minimal, large, or somewhere in between. For example, "Gravity Falls" is all about twin siblings who must discover the paranormal secrets that surround the town of Gravity Falls and surround their family as well while Spongebob SquarePants is about a sponge and his friends who live underwater and get into crazy/funny situations. Both of these cartoons technically have a story, but the stories differ in complexity. What is important, however, is that the story is logical, entertaining, and engaging enough for a viewer to follow in a cohesive manner. The viewer has to actually want to come back and find out what happens next in your story, no matter what level of complexity the story truly belongs to.
Now do not get confused; the story is different from the writing. When I talk about the story, I am talking about what happens in the overall narration of the show. However, when I talk about writing, I am talking about how that story unfolds. What jokes are being told? What are the characters saying? How is the story being unfolded throughout the episodes? These things are so important to the overall cohesion of a cartoon series because if one thing is off about the writing, then the whole show can leave a bad taste in the mouth of a viewer. A wrongly timed joke or extremely dated or immature dialogue can make a viewer change the channel faster than you can blink. That is why good writing and pacing are so important to the success of a cartoon series.
