Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties

by Andrew Farago, Russi Taylor (Foreword)

Totally Awesome: The Greatest Cartoons of the Eighties is the ultimate guide to '80s cartoon nostalgia, featuring the art, toys, and inside story behind icons like He-Man, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, and the Thundercats. 

For an entire generation of kids weaned on the intoxicating excitement of eighties cartoons, the decade can be summed up with two words: Totally Awesome!

With a thriving Saturday morning network schedule, a full complement of weekday syndicated programming, and the removal of guidelines that prevented cartoons from being based on toys, the 1980s enjoyed an unprecedented TV animation boom that made household names of a host of colorful characters.

From He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to The Transformers, G.I. Joe, and The Muppet Babies, eighties cartoons would have such a huge impact on an entire generation that decades later they have become pop culture touchstones, revered by fans whose young minds were blown by their vivid visuals and snappy storytelling.

In this deluxe book, Andrew Farago, a respected cartoon historian and child of the eighties, provides an inside look at the history of the most popular cartoons of the decade, as told by the writers, animators, voice actors, and other creative talents who brought life to some of the era’s most enduring animated shows.

Also featuring Thundercats, Inspector Gadget, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many more cartoon classics, Totally Awesome is a treasure trove of eighties animation nostalgia that will take fans back to a time of unlimited imagination and unparalleled adventure.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Coffee Table Books

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2017

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Great but we need a sequel as there’s so much more to cover.

[Ron Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun guide to classic eighties cartoons (He-Man, Thundercats, Smurfs, Ninja Turtles, Inspector Gadget, Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Ghostbusters, G. I. Joe, Transformers, Muppet Babies, Spiderman, Mighty Mouse).

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice nostalgic book about the favorite cartoons I watched growing up.

For the rest of the review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/2OAdovr60L...

Enjoy!

[Ashley Beery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but I felt it was lacking some other well known cartoons (Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, Lady Lovelylocks, Popples, etc) Granted, I know they can't cover everything, but a girl can dream. A lot of this was really about the struggles of getting the cartoons running, the people behind the cartoons, and how they kept the success going or how they dealt with failure. Some things were rather interesting, including the fact that Ghostbusters dealt with some pretty strange adult situations, and that TMNT was actually turned down by many stations! This book also explained why there are no longer Saturday morning cartoons or the Disney Afternoon line up like in the past, which is sad to know but I'm glad I have that answer as I have often wondered what happened to the days of waking up to cartoons in the morning or coming home to them. A good read for a child of the 80s or for people who are interested in 80s cartoons.

[Rygard Battlehammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

80lerin çocuklarını şekillendirmiş bir dizi çizgi filmi onlarcasının arasından seçip, iyi derlenmiş detaylar, yapım sürecine ait röportajlar, ilginç anekdotlar ve koca koca resim/ekran görüntüleriyle sunan bir coffee table book.

Kitabın büyük bölümü(%60) beklenebileceği üzere hayli yüksek çözünürlüklü resimlerden oluşuyor. Ancak içerik sadece sayfa doldurmak için eklenmiş değil. Onlarca röportaj sonrası, başarılı bir şekilde derlenmiş, sıkıcılıktan uzak, dönemin çocukları için (aslında bizim ülkemizde 90ların çocuklarına denk geliyor içerik daha ziyade) ilgi çekici bir metin barındırıyor.
-En azından Şirinler'in (smurfs) Snorks diye bir çakması olduğunu (Snorkcuyuz bundan böyle, yaşasın hortum kafalar!) veya Mighty Mouse'un sonunu hazırlayanın bir kokain şakası olduğunu öğrenmek benim için eğlenceliydi.-

Seçilen çizgi filmlerin her biri için sürecin nasıl başladığı, senaryo, dublaj, çizim, animasyon süreçlerinde yaşananlar, stüdyoların ve oyuncak firmalarının müdahaleleri ve nasıl yayımdan kaldırıldıkları detaylı şekilde anlatılıyor. Başarının oyuncak satışı ile ölçüldüğü dünyanın gerçekçi bir portresi çiziliyor kitap boyunca.

Bir de özel olarak belirtmeden geçemeyeceğim, kitap fiziksel olarak aşırı kaliteli. Lan o nasıl bir kağıt kalınlığıdır, "paramız var, basıyoruz kardeşim!" yazsaydınız kapağa. Yayınevlerinin neredeyse soğan zarına baskı yaptığı 2022 Türkiye'sinde ekstra bir canımı sıktı.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Runs into the same problem most coffee table books have . . . .

It seems like there were two viable options: (1) get really interesting inside dirt and (2) just create a book that has high-resolution copies of the the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opening sequence frame-by-frame.

But they split the difference and gave a very, very high level overview of most of the shows and just enough art to whet your appetite. (There were maybe three or four genuinely interesting tidbits.)

Also, the decision to have weird little popup art was unique, but I think it doesn't work. It feels like those pages will just fall out. Or were glued there by someone mischievous.

[Jonny Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, well researched long form essays on the best cartoons of the 80's. Excellent quality hardbound book, with pages on very thick stock. Quality all the way. Looked forward to this book for about a year when it was first announced, and it did not disappoint. A nice mix of high quality stills, well laid out text and essays. I read ANY books I can get my hands on related to 80s cartoons, and this is one of the best, and really the only one to cover so much material in this format. All the other books worth reading are basic picture free paperbacks (eg Thundercats, He-Man, etc)

[Kookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting behind the scenes stuff, however they mislabeled one of the Smurfs in the first section which threw me off my game. Smurfs is serious biznez.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty good balance between great images, a discussion of the shows, and their origins.