Netflix Cartoons College Pop Culture

10 Netflix Cartoons You Used to Love

There are few things I love doing more to waste (fill) my time in the summer than watching whole seasons of TV shows on Netflix. As in all of the seasons that exist, all in the same week. It can be hard to find new things to watch unless you know specifically what you’re looking for, since their “New Arrivals” section typically doesn’t encompass all of the new additions and the categories can be pretty tricky to navigate.

One day rather recently I got a random inclination to watch one of old favorite cartoons, Rugrats. I don’t know what it is about Tommy Pickles and his gang that was and is still appealing (besides their ability to hide all of their worldly possessions inside their diapers) but darn if I don’t still love it.

The best part about my recent Rugrats discovery, however, was the discovery of all of my other favorite childhood TV shows that also exist on Netflix for streaming, much to my pleasant surprise.

Here are 9 other cartoons you used to love that you can find on Netflix right now:

9: Arthur

Technically, they don’t have episodes from the ‘90s/ early 2000s (they only have seasons from 2010-2011) but even so that aardvark in glasses brings back a slew of memories. My favorite thing about this show is that Arthur and Buster are best friends and have each others’ faces on their slippers, which takes the idea of best bros to a whole new level:

8: The Powerpuff Girls

I watched this show all the time, probably because it was the first real superhero show that revolved around girl power and I dug that. I was even Blossom for Halloween one year (the costume even came with a fake foam ginger wig and foam glasses. I should have immediately regretted that decision, but instead I totally rocked it in our elementary school Halloween parade.

7: Dragon Tales

It’s still pretty hard for me to put my love of Dragon Tales into words. This show was the first show that made me really want Dragons to be real so I could ride around on one. I was pretty upset when I realized that that’s not a thing in real life.

6: The Magic School Bus

The best part about this show was that my Mom couldn’t even complain about me watching TV because it was so educational. I’ll be honest, I still find it pretty fascinating and manage to learn new things when I watch the occasional episode. And I still admire Ms. Frizzle’s crazy dresses.I mean, check out those planets!

5. Courage the Cowardly Dog

In all honesty, I still don’t see what made this show appealing, but I watched it all the time. I’m pretty sure there were only two or three characters that actually spoke, and the plots still make no sense to me, but I remember loving it.

4. Hey! Arnold

I think they took the TV episodes down, so technically they only have Hey! Arnold the Movie. I loved this show solely because of the awkward sexual tension between Arnold and Helga. And because of that one time that Sid and Arnold paraded around downtown in Fruit Costumes while they blew off the school play.

3. The Wild Thornberrys

Unfortunately, Netflix only has the movie for this as well, but it’s still pretty great. This show simultaneously made me wish I could have a best friend that was a gorilla and travel the world in a giant RV with my family. In hindsight, I’m glad that neither of those were a reality because that would have been awful, but hey, a girl could dream.

2. Ed Edd ‘n’ Eddy

My Mom hated the fact that I watched this show, which only made me want to watch it more. I think I knew it was dumb at the time, but all the boys in my neighborhood watched it so naturally I did too. I only have two comments: 1. Johnny’s best friend was a block of wood named Plank. That takes a lot of imagination. 2. I still wish that I could find and consume the giant jawbreakers that they eat all the time. Although I’m not really sure how you physically going about eating a giant ball of sugar that’s as big as your head.

1. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

This also just exists in movie form on Netflix but it’s just as good as the TV series was. I still wish I were as smart as Jimmy and could invent crazy things like he did. The most vivid memory I have of this movie is when Sheen says the line “I peed in the shower. I’m still doing it! I’m still doing it!” For some reason, my little brother and I both thought that was the funniest thing ever. Looking back, I’m not sure how anyone thought that was appropriate for children, but it sure was fun to chant around the house to annoy Mom and Dad.

I’m pretty disappointed that PB&J Otter isn’t on there, because that show was one of my all time favorites, but I’m also pretty impressed that they have as many old cartoons as they do. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for new additions of my old favorites in the future!

July 13, 2013