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6. The Smurfs (1981-1989)

The Smurfs crossed gender boundaries amongst the grade school set in ways that other Saturday morning characters did not; boys and girls alike enjoyed trading the toy figures, despite the fact that they were made of an immobile rubbery-plastic and weren't much fun to play with. The cartoon, if analyzed, is quite odd: Smurfs are a race of under-sized blue beings. There is one female, Smurfette, who lives with a group of male Smurfs, none of whom wear shirts. They are tormented by a full-size man named Gargamel and his cat, Azrael, who want to capture the Smurfs and eat them. Or maybe to somehow use them to make gold. Or something. Gargamel makes Wile E. Coyote look like Albert Einstein; he never manages to make much headway into destroying the objects of his hate/desire, despite the fact that he seems to be large enough to just step on them. The current DVD release has the first nineteen episodes of the series, ran for eight years. A big-screen film is also in the works.

Get the DVD.

7. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985)

There is no reason why He-Man should still be watchable today, much less enjoyable. But somehow it is. My brother-in-law gave me a DVD of this show as a gift a couple of years ago, and my son and I devoured it. Some of the pleasure is nostalgia, but there is definitely decent quality storytelling to be found here. What's it all about? Well, Prince Adam is a do-nothing member of the royal family of Eternia. Then one day, Adam is transformed into He-Man, "the most powerful man in the universe." His wimpy pet tiger, Cringer, becomes "the might Battle Cat." Only a select few know his secret, such as the very-literally named Man At Arms (okay, his real name was Duncan). Duncan's foster daughter (not his daughter – this is the complex storytelling I was talking about, people), Teela, does not know the secret, and thinks Adam is a putz. This is despite the fact that Prince Adam looks EXACTLY like He-Man; he doesn't even bother to do a Clark Kent-esque horn-rimmed glasses disguise. There is no Complete Series DVD available at the moment, but there are Complete Season versions.

Get the DVD.

8. She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1987)

In the interest of equal time, I also give you She-Ra! Princess of Power ! She-Ra is Adora, agent of the evil Hordak of Etheria! But she is really Prince Adam's long-lost twin sister! Hordak stole her when she was a baby! Once everybody figures that out, and realizes that there are girls they can sell toys too as well, she too holds a sword over her head and says, "For the honor of Grayskull! I am She-Ra!" But she's not just a female version of He-Man (Fe-Man? She-Man?). No! For while He-Man is protector of Eternia, She-Ra is protector of ETHERIA. And He-Man's enemy is Skeletor; She-Ra's enemy is Hordak! He-Man's trusty companion is Cringer, who becomes the mighty Battle Cat! She-Ra has a horse named Spirit whose name doesn't even change (although she does grow wings)! See? It's very different.

Get the DVD.

9. The Muppet Show (1976-1981)

Does it get any better than The Muppet Show? No. No it does not. After years of being available only on three-episode-per-disc DVD sets, the show is now being released in complete season sets. Also included are assorted extras, such as The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, a not-as-naughty-as-it-sounds pilot that never aired, but appears on the Season One DVD.

Get the DVD.

10. Spider-Man (1967-1970)

You may not be able to get Thor, Captain America or Namor on DVD, but you can bring home the original Spidey cartoons in a colorfully packaged 6 DVD set. That's 1144 minutes of web-slinging goodness. As you can see in the video, this particular Spider-Man rates verrry high on the dork-o-meter. But it takes itself just seriously enough to please die-hard comic book fans, but not so seriously that pretty much any kid who even slightly digs long-underwear heroes can't enjoy it. And then there's that song, which has yet to be matched in the Spidey musical canon – "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can…"

Get the DVD.

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