Anyone else think the early 2000's were a great time for cartoons?

[CyberCubed]

People always tend to think 90's cartoons were the best, but we actually got a number of stand-out and great cartoons in the early 2000's:

- Batman Beyond (started in 1999 but continued to air new eps till 2002/2003 or so)
- Justice League/Unlimited
- Teen Titans

- X-men Evolution
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2k3 series
- Avatar: The Last Airbender

- Futurama (started in 1999 but the bulk of its run was in the early 2000's)


Likewise the early 2000's is when the anime craze was still huge in the U.S, so you still had stuff like Dragonball Z airing in its prime, Pokemon, all those anime shows that used to air on Toonami, and so forth.

We actually had it good in the early 2000's.

[Cure]

Sure. By your logic, SpongeBob counts, also. First episode was in 1999 but most of its best episodes were in the early 2000's.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

'90's were also badass.

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Batman: The Animated Series
SWAT Kats

[chrisdude]

It's hard for me to see Batman Beyond, Justice League, X-Men Evolution or TMNT 2k3 as "stand-out" when I consider the great Batman, Superman, X-Men and TMNT shows they followed. From the 90s. I can't agree. It's like the only time in my life when I wasn't into cartoons.

[THGhost]

The 90s and early 2000s had some of the best cartoons since Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry.

[CyberCubed]

It's hard for me to see Batman Beyond, Justice League, X-Men Evolution or TMNT 2k3 as "stand-out" when I consider the great Batman, Superman, X-Men and TMNT shows they followed. From the 90s. I can't agree. It's like the only time in my life when I wasn't into cartoons.

So I'm kinda confused what you mean here, you couldn't enjoy those shows simply because they came after previous shows in the 90's? By that logic do you enjoy any new iteration of a past franchise?

[BabyTurtles]

Does Kim Possible count? ^_^ I loved that show~

[Powder]

Eh, it had some good stuff, sure, but I think the 90's top it. The 2000's were when a lot of companies started trying to do things on the cheap, & the quality suffered for it. Disney/Looney Tunes of yore aside, the 90's is when fluidity peaked, & it started going back down again in the new millennium.

[sdp]

The cartoons from my childhood were superior to the cartoons from your childhood.

[ssjup81]

Eh, it had some good stuff, sure, but I think the 90's top it. The 2000's were when a lot of companies started trying to do things on the cheap, & the quality suffered for it. Disney/Looney Tunes of yore aside, the 90's is when fluidity peaked, & it started going back down again in the new millennium.^This for the most part...but I also blame my age too...

[CyberCubed]

I was still in High School for most of the early 2000's, so I still fondly consider that era as part of my "childhood" even though I was 15-17 years old at the time.

Is it weird to consider your teenage years as part of your childhood? I don't know, it seems so long ago to me that I do.

[Cure]

Of course it's part of your childhood. It's not part of your adulthood.

[Slade]

No. I actually don't.

[Prowler]

In the early 2000s, 90s Cartoon Network productions such as Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Lab, etc. were still being made. Ed, Edd 'n Eddy was also having its best period at the time. And who can't forget Samurai Jack? And ofc, there was TMNT 2k3. Pretty good action show.

Aside from Avatar, you only mention superhero shows. Is it the only genre you like? Also, let's not forget Futurama. Most of its seasons were in that decade. It began in 1999. Family Guy was also fresh and fairly good in the early 2000s before it got cancelled for the first time.

There was also a good amount of anime in the past decade. I know you asked about American animation in specific with the word "cartoons", but I figured i might as well list some good anime from the past decade:

Welcome to the NHK
Detroit Metal City
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Monster
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex

One Piece started airing in 1999, I think, but it became popualr in the west in the 2000s, so I count it as well. Even though I'm sure it will last another decade. :lol:

Anime had a good period between the mid-90s and the early-mid 2000s.

[chrisdude]

So I'm kinda confused what you mean here, you couldn't enjoy those shows simply because they came after previous shows in the 90's? By that logic do you enjoy any new iteration of a past franchise?Im not even saying those shows are bad. I'm just saying the OP happened to list several reboots that followed some of the greatest cartoons of our lifetime. It's hard to look at the very next time they tried Batman or X-Men or TMNT, and say, "Yeah. Those were awesome."

[Wesley]

The early 2000s were a great time for cartoons alright. I liked a lot of the shoes that were previously mentioned along with other ones such as Danny Phantom, Transformers Armanda, Samurai Jack and Jackie Chan Adventures. There were a few good cartoons towards the end of the decade, though, like Spectactular Spiderman and Huntik.

There were a lot of good anime shows on TV in the early 2000s as well like Pokemon, Medabots, Yugioh, Cyborg 009, Digimon, etc. I lost interest in those types of shows towards the end of the decade, though.

[Mew]

One Piece started airing in 1999, I think, but it became popualr in the west in the 2000s, so I count it as well. Even though I'm sure it will last another decade. :lol:


How popular was it? There was the English Odex dub from Singapore and the 4kids dub at that time. I don't know how popular these dubs were, but the Odex dub got some VCD's, and the 4kids dub got a toy line from Mattel (Actually not that bad, coming from the 4kids era :/) so I'm guessing they were a bit popular in the US. On an unrelated note, I actually kinda like the 4kids dub. I like the rap and, more then the actual show, I like the history behind all the censorship and all 3 English dubs. I just realized I wrote a paragraph about crappy dubbing. Not surprised.

[MikeandRaph87]

I loved watching TMNT 2003 and Justice League in my high school and my undergrad days. I love the more serious approach and attention to continuity both shows had as strong points. Justice League along with the Raimi Spider-Man movies is what got me into comics beyond TMNT Adventures.

[ssjup81]

Aside from Avatar, you only mention superhero shows. Is it the only genre you like? Also, let's not forget Futurama. Most of its seasons were in that decade. It began in 1999. Family Guy was also fresh and fairly good in the early 2000s before it got cancelled for the first time.I thought he was mostly referring to actual kids shows. Family Guy and Futurama aren't kids shows.

[ABrown]

The 2000's had several of my all time favorite cartoons: Daria, South Park, Batman Beyond, Family Guy, Justice League, Kim Possible, The 4Kids TMNT, Teen Titans. I would absolutely take the cartoons of the first half of that decade over the cartoons of the first half of this decade.

[ssjup81]

The 2000's had several of my all time favorite cartoons: Daria, South Park, Batman Beyond, Family Guy, Justice League, Kim Possible, The 4Kids TMNT, Teen Titans. I would absolutely take the cartoons of the first half of that decade over the cartoons of the first half of this decade.
Daria's a 90s show....

[ABrown]

Daria's a 90s show....

It began in 1997 and went until 2002. The final two seasons as well as the two movies were from 2000 on.

[ssjup81]

It began in 1997 and went until 2002. The final two seasons as well as the two movies were from 2000 on.Wow, it stayed on that long? After I graduated, I didn't watch it as much and would catch it occasionally.

[Prowler]

I thought he was mostly referring to actual kids shows. Family Guy and Futurama aren't kids shows.
Now that I think about it, you're probably right. But since he listed mostly superhero shows aside form Avatar, I thought he pretty much only watched cartoons of such genre.

It began in 1997 and went until 2002. The final two seasons as well as the two movies were from 2000 on.
I think it depends in what decade its height of popularity was. The FW series aired from 1987 to 1996, and yet it's considered an 80s show. Because the last 4 seasons weren't very popular compared to the earlier ones. I believe the TMNT fad peaked between 1989 and 1991, though. In fact, it didn't come to many European countries until 1990 around the time of the first movie.