Preserving the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons.

Once upon a long, long time ago I used to religiously spend every single Saturday morning up at the crack of dawn because that was when all of the good cartoons were on.  Once a week Transformers, He-Man, Gummi Bears, Care Bears, Wuzzles, My Little Ponies, She-Ra, and Rainbow Brite were my very best friends and I was always rather upset if I missed one of my favorites, keeping in mind that this was long before the invention of the Digital Video Disk and the era where one could just walk out and buy whole seasons of their favorite television show (hell, the remote control was barely invented).  Over the years I have noticed a decline in the content of Saturday morning cartoons and years ago I made it my mission to try to preserve that small, but very important, part of my childhood in case the impossible happened and I had a child of my own (it was also an excuse to re-watch my favorites in the privacy of my home).  So now, in our house, Saturday morning has migrated it's way to Sunday, and for several years Dustin and I have spent many, many of those mornings eating waffles and watching episodes of She-Ra, The Transformers and Fraggle Rock, all in the comfort of our PJ's.

I have been continually amazed at the deeper essence contained in the cartoons of my youth.  When Optimus Prime was first aired on TV, I was too young to understand the full context of a phrase like "Every sentient being has the right to freedom", instead I just thought that it was really cool that cars could turn into robots and shoot laser guns.  Re-watching many of the Saturday morning shows of my youth has given me a deeper understanding as to where some of my own morals may have stemmed from.  My beliefs in things like sharing, playing fair, treating others how I would like to be treated, and faith that good will always prevail, are continually visited throughout the wonderful lands of Cybertron, Eternia/Etheria, and Care-a-Lot.  I have also found that there was a LOT more going on in those shows then I could have ever comprehended.  My understanding was always that the bad guys did something bad and the good guys came in and stopped them.  I didn't understand the planet raping of the Decepticons, or the tyranny of the Horde, I just understood that they were bad and Optimus Prime or She-Ra would come in and kick some ass and it was always awesome :)

Needless to say, I spent a large part of my childhood pretending so very hard that the stick I had found outside was really a magic sword that would turn me into the Princess of Power.  I had My Little Ponies and prided myself on knowing ALL of their names and I knew all of the Care Bears and their cousins.  Though I can't quite remember them all now, I do know the good Transformers from the bad and I know that He-Man lives in Eternia and is constantly fighting with Skeletor and She-Ra lives in Etheria and is combating the evil forces of Hordak.  In fact I can rattle off the introductions to both of these quite well, as I spent many hours holding that stick up high and shouting "For the honor of GREYSKULL!!!" and then nothing would ever really happen, but in my mind mists would swirl and sparks would fly and then I would get a magical flying unicorn pegasus.  Best Days Ever.