Animated Anecdotes

It's all about the animation that was and is in the background of your world.

This week I am starting a new feature - Animated Anecdotes where other writers on Substack share the cartoons they watched, wanted to be in or bring back poignant memories. It’s an opportunity for people to share their writing with a different group and tell us all about the animation that has been part of their world.

Were you more Velma or Daphne? Did you want to be Spiderman or Batman?

Did Saturday mornings not start when you heard the theme tune to the Pink Panther, or does Postman Pat always deliver?

If you would like to write your piece to feature on Animated Anecdotes, please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you.

This week, the brilliant Kate Jones of A Narrative of Their Own has written all about the animation that has been important to her.

The Cartoon I Wished I’d Had

When I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, the best part of Saturday was no school and Saturday morning TV.

Racing downstairs earlier than my mum would have liked, I’d depress the button on our huge wooden backed TV set (remember when there were no remote controls?) and flick between the zany action of Tiswas, the fun humour of Number 73, where the brilliant Sandi Toksvig started out, and my personal favourite, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.

I loved the popstar phone-ins, the toy swaps, and the goofy presenters.  All of it except for some of the weekly cartoons.

Let me explain.

I always describe myself to my own kids as not being much of a cartoon fan.  But this isn’t exactly accurate.  I did enjoy some of the greats, such as Scooby-Doo and Wacky Races, as well as some of the more obscure shows, such as Willow the Wisp and Space Sentinels.  

But what I didn’t like so much is that oftentimes, the heroes were male, and the girls often seemed like sidekicks or afterthoughts.  Sure, Penelope Pitstop was pretty cool in her fast car, and Velma was smart and always knew more than the boys.  But there was never really anything that caught my imagination as a young girl growing up.

A couple of years ago, I started watching Carmen Sandiego with my young teenager after school, and I was blown away.  The animation and artistry is amazing, as is the theme tune and the characters are creative and smart.

But the undeniable star of the show is Carmen herself, a young woman who has run away from the people who raised her after she realised they were actually the villains.  She now spends her time returning the stuff they steal in various heists, restoring them back to their rightful owners.

Even better, the inept policeman tasked with tracking her down, Chase Devineaux, has a female rookie partner, Julia Argent.  Julia is a smart, glasses wearing Brit who is slightly entranced by Carmen and suspects that she is actually on the good side.  (And is it just me, or is there meant to be a frisson between the two women?  I like to think so).

What I hadn’t realised was that the cartoon had started out in 1985 as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as an American video game.  Unfortunately, not something I had access to in my small English suburb. 

Carmen has a typically dark backstory usually reserved for the guys, and it’s clear from the get-go that she is running the show, as she manipulates the situation in order to beat the weird and wonderful villains she comes up against.  She always leads her team to victory, and all with a sense of style.

I could just picture myself watching the show as a gawky ten year old and thinking that maybe, just maybe, it was possible to grow up and be strong, determined, clever, and still look oh so cool 😀