GCR – Episode 20 – Top 100 Animated Series Intro

Geekcastradio .com presents The Geekcast Radio

Top 100 Animated Series of All Time Megatron

Phillips, Mike TFG1 Blanchard, Kevin Optimus

Solo Thompson. Thank you for that awesome theme,

Steve. Hello everyone and welcome to Geekcast

Radio episode 20. Today is going to be the beginning

of something very epic here at Geekcast Radio

Network. To introduce this epicness, joining

myself, TFG and Mike, and Steve Megatron is the

one, the only, Optimus Solo. Take it away, sir.

I thought you were going to call me Harrison

Ford. Yeah, Mike is right. This is a truly epic

project that we've been tweeting about for months

is finally here. That's right, folks. We are

here today to introduce the Geekcast Radio Network's

top 100 animated series of all time. Now, this

may be one of the biggest projects we have ever

undertaken here at Geekcast Radio. It for sure

is the biggest project of 2011, and that is why

we are devoting an entire episode just to introducing

it. So we're about to lay the groundwork for

how this list came to be, how we decided to order

the list, who helped make the list, and most

importantly, when and how you can hear the actual

unveiling of the list itself. Now, I know some

of you are probably saying, screw the introduction

and just tell us what the list is, In order to

get the full understanding of the list and so

we don't have a bunch of ignorant comments about,

you know, this missed the list or how did you

guys figure this out? That's why we're doing

this, so you guys can understand the rules, understand

the whole process. And we have something very

special coming at the end of this episode in

which we will reveal some of the shows that just

missed making the top 100. Now, one thing I want

to put out there right from the beginning is

that I am the only person right now. that knows

the identity of the Top 100 animated series.

Mike doesn't know the list. Steve doesn't know

the list. Nobody else involved actually knows

the list. So this is something that's going to

be revealed as we record, so the reactions are

going to be pretty genuine. That being said,

what are you most looking forward to or what

are you excited or interested about in the course

of these next five episodes, Steve? I'm looking

forward to just finding out the order. I mean,

that's one of the main things, and just finding

out how things ended up ranking and finding out

how much better we are than IGN. Do you have

any specific shows you're kind of interested

in or you're going to be watching for? I'm curious

about Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Batman the

Animated Series, Batman Beyond, some of the G

.I. Joe stuff. I mean, just various stuff from

the 80s. early 90s that uh we all grew up with

yeah how about you mike as long as mask makes

it above 99 i will be happy so mask is the only

one you care about no no no no um no but i mean

you know i say that laughing and joking but no

seriously as long as mask makes it above 99 because

i think that was a crock of shit where it landed

on the ign list and we'll get into that later

um Like Steve said, I'm looking forward to seeing

where the stuff falls and just seeing what each

of us is going to have to say about each of these

cartoons as a whole for best series of all time.

And the thing about the list is, at least in

my opinion, is yes, they have certain rankings,

obviously, but the way I approached it is, what

would be the best animated series of all time?

So basically, for me, a lot of these, in my own

personal mind, are going to be number one no

matter what. But I think that's the biased version.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to see where it

lies and what happens. I'm actually looking forward

to possible collaborations during the episodes.

So yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to.

Excellent. Well, I think we should just get right

into it as far as how the list came about. Basically,

if anyone out there is a ToonCast listener, you

should understand exactly where this idea came

from. I don't know how it started on ToonCast.

I think it was because we somehow included it

in one of the scripts at one point of where one

of the shows we were covering on ToonCast landed

on the IGN list. And once we did that, we started

doing it with almost every show as making a point

as to find out where it landed. And as we were

going through ToonCast, the number of shows that

didn't make the IGN list and just some of the

placements of the shows really started to piss

Mike and myself off. More so you than me. I mean,

some of them pissed me off, but almost every

episode that you were on that we had an IGN ranking,

you were just like, uh, son of a... I think,

honestly, thinking back, I'm trying to remember.

I don't think it started as early as episodes

one through seven. I honestly think where the

hate really started and the interest of actually

looking at IGN's list actually happened with

Mask. For me personally, that's where it happened.

For me, it was with one of the first ones that

didn't make the list that we covered, and I want

to say it was like Yogi Bear or something. Yep.

that didn't even make the IGN list. I know that's

kind of getting into specifics, but that really

set me off. So basically the point is we started

getting really pissed about the list, and like

80 episodes later, I finally said, you know,

we were trying to come up with some ideas for

our flagship show here at Geekcast Radio, and

I said, why don't we stop complaining about the

list, and why don't we take our own shot at it?

So that led to a whole bunch of things that we're

going to get to over the course of this episode.

But that's basically where the idea came up.

Instead of just bashing them nonstop, why don't

we put our money where our mouth is, so to speak,

and present our own list. And that's basically

how it all came about. I mean, once we kind of

had the idea, everything kind of took a life

of its own and just kind of was runaway train

from that point on. So let's get into the IGN.

list a little bit so people can understand those

that didn't listen to ToonCast or might not be

familiar with that. For example, I want to throw

out a statistic because I actually spent some

time this past week going over the IGN list very

carefully and once you get to the end of the

list, they have user comments and they had Last

I counted, which was a couple days ago, they

had 756 user comments. I actually took the time,

so nobody else would have to, and scrolled through

and read all 756 comments. Don't ask me why,

but I kept a tally of how many user comments

were overall general positive statements about

IGN's list. And out of 756 total comments, there

was 29 positive comments. That means there was

almost 730 negative comments. 727 to be specific.

And the negative comments are, I mean, some of

them are ignorant people. I understand you're

always going to get ignorant people when you're

dealing with people on the Internet. There's

a lot of comments, you know, just on a specific

show not making it, you know, so -and -so's favorite

show didn't make it or this or that. There were

some comments that just the order of the shows

was off. Some comments, how could certain shows

make the list? And some just general, like, you

guys are absolutely batshit insane. What is this?

And I know you guys have looked over the IGN

list. You guys have looked at some of the comments.

Just talk a little bit about, like, your reactions

or your thoughts on the IGN list as a whole,

Steve. The IGN list... Well, there were numerous

things I didn't like about it. One, a lot of

it was ranked based on what came out when we

were kids. Most of it was what you thought you

liked nowadays, like in terms of what the average,

you know, 30, 20 and 30 something year old would

like, which would be, you know, South Park, Beavis

and Butthead, you know, all those kind of. shows

like that that actually do nothing in essence.

And it just was kind of interesting to me how

low or which shows didn't even make the list

over at IGN compared to what happened to make

the list. I mean, it was just staggering the

amount that it was off. I mean, there were shows

that should have gotten more recognition based

on what they were. and they were either nonexistent

or they were way at the bottom of the list, and

there were shows that were ranked way too high.

And on another spot, it was the fact that they

had the one show per page, which was a pain in

the ass. Yeah, and we'll talk a little bit more

about that. I want to read a couple of comments

before I let Mike respond. These are a few of

the comments that made me laugh a little bit.

One said, I just hate people that pretend that

they know what they're doing. One was right at

the beginning, and they said, this was before

the 700 comments, and they said, you are going

to be crucified for this list, and rightfully

so. That was pretty prophetic. Coming from an

animation major and future animator, I have to

say this list is incredibly awful. Sure, these

lists are subjective, but there are times when

you are just flat out wrong. I'm ashamed of the

makers of this list. I'm sure they didn't think

this through at all. It almost seems like they

randomly picked from a hat. Because they released

it one at a time over a course of a certain amount

of days or weeks or months or whatever, there

was one guy that said, we're not even at the

top 50 and this is already bleep. So, I mean,

there's just some absolutely great. Another one

said this is the worst list IGN has ever done.

This list sucks. I mean, it just goes on and

on. Who the hell is doing this list, and how

is it being rated? I don't know. It's just bad.

Mike, what are your thoughts on it? A couple

of things beforehand. Someone told me that majority

of, and we'll get into our age range later down

the line in this episode as far as who we collaborated

with and all that. I'll get to that in a bit.

Someone told me that the majority of the IGN

editors are 31 and under. So it's not, like,

I always say, oh, those old fogies at IGN. That's

technically incorrect. It's those goddamn young

whippersnappers that won't get off my lawn. Get

off my lawn. For me, I've never looked at any

of the user comments because there are probably

like 727 of them are probably the exact same

thoughts I've had. So there's no sense in me.

I've never looked at them. Here's a good one.

Personally, I think that this list is first place

of most horrible list ever in human history.

I love that phrase. One of my personal goals

for this, for our version, our list, is for someone,

whether it's, if it has to be me to do it, I

will do it, but for someone to go through every

single Wikipedia entry of every cartoon that

makes our list and lists, in 2011, the Geekcast

Radio Network's Top 100 Animated Series list,

Yogi Bear was ranked whatever. Oh, yeah. You

know what I mean? So the Wikipedia entries would

be edited to say that it's not just IGN that

has this list because it's like everyone, like

every time you see IGN's name or any list that

they do, it's like, oh, my God, it's like up

on this fucking pedestal for Christ's sake. Yeah.

I'm going to read a few more. This list is flawed

in so many ways. Just because there's a cartoon

on Adult Swim doesn't mean it has to be on your

list. This list alone makes me want to delete

my account. I'm not a violent person, but if

I don't close my browser now, you guys might

be in trouble. And another one that said this

list was organized in about one hour with a list

of 100 cartoons drawn from a hat. I personally

created an account just to advertise for our

top 100. Because it was so asinine, the entire

list that they had, that it just made me sick

to look at it. And I think I've pretty much summed

up IGN when I can... Break down the acronym to

say Idiot Gaming Network. Yeah, that's a good

one. I want to say I counted at one point the

number of adult programs that was on there. And

when I say adult, I mean basically anything that

was on Adult Swim, also the types of shows. And

I'm not saying some of these aren't good. But,

you know, adult or primetime cartoons, which

mean like South Park, Simpsons, you know, Family

Guy. like American Dad, that type of stuff, as

well as the Adult Swim stuff, which is like Robot

Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Futurama, that

type of show. Their list is almost half adult

or primetime cartoons. That's going to get into

when we get into our list and what we mean by

top animated series. We'll talk a little bit

more about that. Another thing that drove everybody

nuts about the IGN list was the whole thing that

Steve brought up, that there was only one series

per page, and you had to click 100 times to get

through the 100 shows. Me, personally, when I

first found out about this list, I first got

curious on... on doing ToonCast because I had

never looked at it before. So I searched it out,

and I saw that it was 100 pages. I'm like, I

don't even care what they wrote underneath the

little title of whatever the cartoon was. I don't

even care what they wrote to describe why they

put it where they put it. I just clicked through

all 100 pages, fast -click, just to see what

was ranked where. I didn't even care what they

had to say. This was the first time I had looked

through it. Since then, I've gone back and I've

fast -clicked, but I've also read each one. When

I saw it, I actually stopped and spent about,

I don't know, 10 minutes searching online for

a version that was just the shows listed. I'm

like, I am not clicking through there. I actually

spent time Googling to try to find somebody else

that had gone through and actually made it in

a list format. I'm like, this is absolutely ridiculous.

And that's something that we will not do to you

because when we do our visual post, which we'll

get to maybe a little bit later, it will all

be one post that you can scroll through. Yeah.

So you're not going to have to click 100 times

to see our 100 shows, which all they did that

for was so they could get more hits, I swear

to God. Probably. But anyways, let's see. What

was another thing I wanted to say? Oh, this kind

of goes into why I'm looking forward to our list

a little bit more than theirs. Basically, they

threw their list out there. They gave absolutely

no groundwork as far as how they came up with

the list. They gave nothing is available on their

website as to the process, who was involved,

what the method was, nothing. They just threw

this list out, and that's it. They haven't responded

to any of the criticism. They haven't done anything.

It's just like, here's a list. We don't give

a fuck what you think. That's the list. And that's

what the benefit of us doing a podcast is because

you're going to hear both sides of a lot of these

shows and where they're placed because we're

not going to agree with our own list at times.

There's so many people involved that each one

of us is going to have a little bit different

take, but because we're doing it in a podcast

form, you're going to be able to hear both sides

of the argument. And you're also going to hear

in this episode how we actually came up with

a list. So I think that just alone puts us at

an advantage over their list. I had said to you

off air, what I don't understand is they put

this list out in 2009. 2009, podcasting had already

taken off. I could see maybe like 2004, 2005,

2006, like podcasting was just getting its beginnings.

But 2009, podcasting was – I've said this many

times before, and I literally do believe this.

Podcasting is the new form of radio and the new

form of talk radio. And I don't understand why

– I know IGN has a podcast. I've seen it on iTunes.

I know they have one. I don't understand why

they wouldn't do this. Maybe they're just not

motivated enough. I just don't understand why

they didn't at least tell us how many people

were involved or what their method was in coming

up with their shows. Exactly. Because at least

we're going to be right up straightforward in

this episode as to what our definition of top

series is and some of our biases and different

stuff like that. I will say as far as statistics

go, I'll throw a number out here because there

were 30 shows on IGN's top 100 list that did

not make R. top 100 list. So we have 30 different

shows. There is obviously going to be some shows

that are going to be on both lists because some

shows you just can't deny. But 30 different shows

is a lot. Yes. So that's our spiel on IGN. Unless

any of you guys have any last comments about

IGN before we get into our list. Maybe our list

will encourage them to rethink their own. Yeah.

Otherwise, we're going to spam them or flood

their comment list until they check it out. No,

that's what our fan base can do. There we go.

And then they'll be competing with us for years

to come for the top animated series of all time

list. That's right, because we were going to

get this list out there as many places as possible

once we actually do the visual post, and then

people can hear us discuss it. Mike, do you want

to get into a little bit as far as who is involved

in making our list? Yes. One of the things was

when Kevin... first brought this up to me because,

I mean, really this is Kevin's project. He wanted

to do it. It was the big thing that he wanted

to do. And, I mean, you know, no offense to any

of the people that we collaborated with. No offense

to Steve. I mean, Kevin and I have put in the

most time with this. I mean, when we were making

our personal lists to collaborate into the master

list, we spent six hours on Skype. Going back

and forth. And that's something that hopefully

we can get into as we go through each episode

is what each person's method was for coming up

with their list. But Mike and I actually debated

things, talked things out. And our lists are

totally different. But we talked things out and,

like, argued with each other for almost six hours

as we came up with our list. And, I mean, we

have no life. And, you know, if you don't know

me by now, anybody that's listening. This should

be no surprise that this thing was my idea because

I am a list freak. Yes, you are. As far as the

collaboration, I had said to Kevin, I said, if

we're going to do this, this can't just be the

people from GeekCast. This can't just be me,

Kevin, Steve, Michael Wilson, even though Michael

isn't actually, unfortunately, he's not actually

included with this, unfortunately. We just didn't

think to include him with it. Sorry, Michael.

He could have seen the post and responded. Oh,

did he? I mean, he should have seen the entries.

He had a chance, but yeah. So like me, Steve,

we actually included Tara, one of our newest

co -hosts, JT from Saskatoon, Glade Packer. So

they're involved as well. And I said to Kevin,

I said, there's no way. that the five, six, seven

of us just at GeekCast Radio Network can do this

and it be objectionable or be objective. It's

not going to be an unbiased list of just we do

it. So I said, why don't I talk, why don't I

send out emails to everybody saying, hey, look,

we're doing this. Do you want to be a part of

it? Like different, you know, geek networks out

there. So this is a list for geeks by geeks.

And, you know, over the course of all of us doing

podcasts, we've made connections with different

people. So we basically reached out to everybody

we knew. Exactly. The first group that we reached

out to was This Week in Geek. Mike Dodd, Mike

Laidman, Ryan Merkley, Matt Spada, and David

Dennis all supplied lists out of the nine or

ten people at This Week in Geek. And, of course,

I don't count over there because, obviously,

I'm with GCRN. Even though I also do stuff on

Nerd News. Getting some of these guys to actually

submit lists is like pulling arms and legs. There's

a lot of people that think they're busier than

they are. I'm not trying to throw anyone under

the bus, but I'm just saying. It's not that hard

to come up with a list. There's one person on

the Twig crew that actually... And I'm not meaning

to throw anybody under the bus either, but one

person that actually put a lot of thought into

it, and I'm just going to go ahead and say it,

David Dennis. I've got to give him a shout -out

because he may have put – I know we just said

Mike and I spent hours and hours and hours, probably

six to ten hours doing ours. But Double D there,

he sent me, I think grand total -wise, might

have been five or six different versions of his.

Top 100. And I could just really tell that he

was putting a whole lot of thought. And I know

everybody put thought into it, but, I mean, he

went above and beyond. So I give a shout -out

to Double D. I believe it was, I don't know,

sometime last year in 2010, or it might have

been 2009 or something or other, I had found

the Pop Culture Network. I had found them on

YouTube. I had originally found their YouTube

series, That New Toy Smell. And I had worked

with Pixel Dan a couple times on ToyCast. He's

worked with us a couple times on ToonCast. I've

worked with Flava Dave a couple times on a couple

of our shows. So Pop Culture Network consists

of the people that submitted lists was Dirt,

Pixel Dan, Flava Dave, and Scotty Cash. These

guys are all really, really awesome. Actually,

the entire Pop Culture Network is awesome. Also

Killin, their lord and master over there. and

I forget there's like one or two other people

that are really cool over there. So I wanted

them in on this, so that's them. Chicken Pop

Pod. We've been going through some different

changes and things, so it probably wasn't the

best time to hit them up for it, but we did get

them involved. Yes. And then Kevin should probably

talk about the next one here. Well, obviously

you guys always hear me pimping out BehindTheVoiceActors

.com, and since we are a site that deals with

voiceovers, which is basically all cartoons,

and obviously animated movies and video games

and stuff like that too, but they have some good

knowledge of animated series, so I wanted to

include them. Two of the – well, with me included,

three of the four administrators there. One of

them goes by the tag of NCZ, and one of them

is Jackson H. And then I got another one of the

kind of the senior moderators over there. His

name is PurpleWarrior13. So we got those three

guys from behind the voice actors involved. Yes.

And then I believe it was Michael Wilson's idea

when we were doing the Beast Unleashed podcast

and when we were still doing weekly ToyCast episodes

to – He told us about this Twitter account, Blogomatic

3000, which is based in the U .K., and Blogomatic

3000 has become the GCRN U .K. affiliate. So

Phil, the leader over at Blogomatic, also submitted

a list as well, and that is everyone that has

collaborated with us. So we've got This Week

in Geek, Pop Culture Network, Chicken Pop Pod,

Behind the Voice Actors, and Blogomatic 3000.

So there's including us. Here at Geekcast Radio

Network, there's a total of 20 lists that made

the master list possible. Yeah, and if you could,

just hit on geography and the ages. The age range,

I believe, is anywhere from 19 to 40. So this

is not 20 people that are all age, whatever,

26 or something like that. We are ranging from

high school. like seniors or freshmen in college,

that type of age, all the way up to married with

kids, full -grown adults. So we have a pretty

good age range. So this is not one specific age

group. As far as the geography stuff, Kevin,

Steve, and myself are all in the States. JT is

up in Saskatoon in Canada, I believe. Tara is

in Canada as well. And Glade Packer is out there

in Utahville. And for our three states, we've

got Michigan, Kentucky, and Illinois. And then

for This Week in Geek, they're all in Canada

except for Spada. He's in Baltimore. And then

Pop Culture Network, they're all based out of

Illinois as well. That's why I like them so much.

Chicken Pop Pod, they are all based out of North

Carolina. Behind the Voice actors are all over

the place. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't

know anything about them. And then Phil, as we

said, is the UK affiliate. I believe he's in

England. So the point is, we not only have an

age range, we cover three different countries.

Exactly. So we're not one group of people we...

Worldwide! This is not like a little niche project

or something like that. Exactly. So, yeah, so

those are the 20 people that submitted lists.

I'm going to get into a little bit as far as

how the whole list selection went and the rules

as far as how they made up their shows so you

guys can kind of understand where we're coming

from. We didn't have a lot of rules here. We

did have about three main ones. Number one, this

is since most of us outside of Phil were all

from North America. Since it was a television

series, we put a rule in there that all of the

series in the Top 100 had to have aired on television

in North America at some point. The reason we

put that in there was not because we're necessarily,

I mean, some of us are, but it's not because

we have an anti -anime thing. But it was to prevent

the shows that were never actually shown in North

America, the ones that were just released as

a dub or on a DVD set or something like that.

It's a television series, so they had to have

played on television. The second rule, we wanted

to avoid the whole thing, since there's a lot

of new shows always coming out. We didn't want

someone putting a show in the top 100 that basically

had only had a few episodes aired. even if they're

great. So we put a rule in there that everything

had to have at least had one full season to be

eligible. Wasn't there also a cutoff year? Didn't

we say, like, I think I had told you, like, anything

from Looney Tunes era, so like 1920s up till,

wasn't there a cutoff year that we had as well?

Not as far as the beginning. I mean, as far as

the earliest year, as long as it was on TV, it

was fine. As far as the, you know, we could have

had something that aired in 2010 as long as it

had aired for a full season. The basic gist of

that was just so we could avoid shows that just

started, even though they're good, like, let's

say, Transformers Prime. G .I. Joe Renegades.

There's a few, obviously, superhero cartoons

that just recently came out. And I don't think

it's fair to judge something on five or six episodes.

So that was basically our only other rule. Now,

as far as the people that were submitting the

list, they had a choice. You could rank all 100,

and that's what... Luckily, a good handful of

us did. But you had to rank at least 25 shows.

25 shows was the minimum. You had to rank at

least 25, because some people, and I understand

their feelings, some people feel that there are

not that many that deserve to be in the top 100,

so they felt that there was only so many that

deserved a vote, and they didn't feel comfortable

voting for other ones. Other ones, maybe they

didn't have the time to get 100, even though

that's kind of BS. But whatever their reason

is, they had to give us at least... 25 shows.

Now, those 20 people then, what they did is they

just ranked them in order. So, like, let's say

Mike's list, he ranked it 1 through 100 and gave

it to me. And the way we came up with the list

is using my Excel and I really hate math, so

I don't know why I like statistics. But I have

this whole thing where I can plug it in. If you

rank something as your number one show, basically

that show was awarded 100 points. If you rank

something as your number two show, it was given

99 points and so forth until, like, if you rank

something 100, it got one point. So as lists

come in, points are accumulated, and eventually

we had shows in my Excel thing that would automatically

sort itself based on the number of points it

got, and the 100 shows with the most points is

what's making our list. So basically what that

means is none of us had any say besides our own

list. Like, we could control what we voted on,

but none of us had a control over the entire

list. Like, it wasn't like it was done and we

could look at it and say, well, no, this needs

to move here, this needs to move there. So that

was, I guess, our way of trying to get a little

of the bias out. The only time where we had a

say over it, occasionally there would be a tie.

where two shows ended up with the exact same

amount of points. In the case of a tie, Steve,

Mike, and myself each cast a vote, since there's

three of us, and whichever one got at least two

votes was the tiebreaker, and that's basically

how we did that. I think I covered everything

as far as how the actual list was made. I do

want to say that the grand total number of shows

that got a vote, there was 355 different TV series

that got a vote. We covered a humongous range

of shows, and the reason I throw that out there

is because for the people that are going to be

upset that a certain show didn't make the list,

that did not mean it didn't get voted. It probably

got votes, but in order to make the list, you

had to appear on multiple people's votes and

accumulate quite a few points. Anything else

we need to say as far as... The list, I think

I've rambled about it long enough. Any thoughts,

Steve? No, I think that pretty much sums it up.

Moving on to our definition of top animated series

of all time. The fact that it is not about our

favorite shows, Flintstones, Simpsons, Dragon

Ball Z, whatever. It is about a combination of

longevity, legacy, critical acclaim, awards,

and of course, voice acting, animation, storytelling,

etc. I just want to throw something out there.

The reason I kind of put those shows out there

is I'll use the same example I used with the

people that were voting. Using Simpsons because

that's what I always like to use as an example.

Or even Dragon Ball Z. I don't watch either one

of those shows. I never have. I don't care for

them. But this is not about my favorite series.

So when I created my list, Simpsons and Dragon

Ball Z both got very high votes on my list. So,

I mean, and that's something that each person

was kind of told to consider when making their

list is even if there are certain shows that

you don't necessarily love or you don't like

or you don't watch, you have to take into account,

you know, how popular was the show? How long

was it on? Does it deserve a spot? So even though

I don't like Simpsons, yes, it deserves a spot

way towards the top of a top 100 list. So, you

know, it's not about our own personal favorites

now. If you're ranking 100, there's obviously

going to be some favorites that maybe squeeze

in there here or there as you're coming up with

your 100 shows, but hopefully a majority of them

are ones that actually legitimately deserve to

be in a top 100 list. Yeah. This is not about

which shows are best from an adult standpoint.

The whole it doesn't hold up today type of argument.

We are not judging a show created in the 60s,

70s, or 80s on how well an adult in the 2000s

or 2010s thinks it is. Cartoons were made for

a specific audience, kids, in a specific time

period. If they were the most popular show on

television for a number of years, then they deserve

a spot as a top series regardless of how good

or bad they are to today's audience or to those

same kids as adults. However, saying all that,

some of the amount of bias is unavoidable. go

off that one because that's my soapbox there.

You know, I hate that argument. I hate when people

say something doesn't deserve to be in the top

list because it's no longer good or because it

doesn't hold up or because it's crap now. That's

complete bullshit to me. I would agree with you

on most points because, like, everybody's, you

know, like, all of my favorite cartoons, you

know, a perfect example, Transformers Generation

1. When I did the TFG1 podcast, I looked at it

analytically. However, I have a switch in my

brain. Analyze this or for pure enjoyment. And

it can go either way. For me, I can turn off

the analyzation switch and just watch it for

pure enjoyment. Sure, I know G1 isn't the best

Transformers cartoon ever because of all of its

issues. However, I still love watching those

episodes. Well, and the point is, just take Transformers,

for example, take G .I. Joe or some of those

other 80s shows, just because those are the ones

that usually get picked on for this the most.

To me, yes, some of those shows don't hold up

today, but that does not take away from the quality

of the show as it was when it was made. Transformers

and G .I. Joe in the 80s were the two probably

most popular 80s cartoons for boys. Not many

people can argue against that. It was created

for 80s kids. and it was successful in what it

did. You can't try to judge something that was

made in a completely different decade and just

say, well, and that's what I think IGN did, is

that's why they have so many adult comedies on

there, because those are the ones that are viewable

by adults. So when an adult tries to make a list

of the top animated series, they're saying, I

still like these shows. That's a bullshit argument.

If you're doing the top series of all time, it

should take into consideration how popular a

show was at its own time, not 30 years later.

And see, at the time when these things air, they

are the best things that they have. And they

change with every decade as the show evolves

and creates a newer incarnation with a newer

generation of kids to like it. It doesn't necessarily

have to cater to the adults, although if you

had nostalgia for the original, then you're of

course going to flock to the newer version. And

with the older versions, if there wasn't the

original version, the new one wouldn't exist.

Yeah, I mean, look at how many different things

have come out of Transformers or G .I. Joe. I

mean, we could name a bunch of them. Those are

just the two easy ones that come to mind. Well,

Ninja Turtles, even. I mean, that was a huge

thing in the 80s. Well, and look what's happening

now. We're getting more Thundercats. We've had

a reboot of He -Man. We've had, you know, and

not just 80s cartoons. We've had reboots of everything.

Look at how many different versions of Scooby

-Doo there was, how many different versions of

Flintstones there was. You know, I mean, you

can't judge it based on what you view as an adult.

Because hardly any of these were solely made

for an adult. Yes, some of the recent ones have

been, and yes, some of them back then wanted

to appeal to both kids and adults, but a lot

of them weren't catered towards the 30, 40 -year

-old adult. So you can't judge them like that,

and I hate that. For me, what it boils down to,

and this is anything in my life, and this is

just me personally. If I absolutely love something,

I absolutely love it. If I absolutely can't stand

it, I absolutely can't stand it. However, saying

that, there are several things that I have flip

-flopped either way on because of looking at

it again or something like that. And podcasting,

that's the whole point of the Geekcast Radio

Network, all the shows that we've done so far

up to now, all the shows that we'll do in the

future. The point is to go back and relive your

childhood. Yeah. So we did have instructions

to try to avoid personal favorites or at least

take into consideration how many people watched

the shows, how long they were on air, how many

different things have been spun off for it, the

awards they won, and then just the overall quality

of the show. So we tried to avoid as much bias

as we could. That being said, like Mike said,

it's impossible to avoid. all bias when creating

a list like this. And I want to just come out

right from the get -go and explain what biases

you can expect out of us so you guys can kind

of get an idea. We're not trying to hide this.

We understand that we do have, as geeks, certain

biases. Number one I want to throw out there

is the anime issue. The group... that we've assembled

as geeks. There are a few people that like anime

amongst them, but overall we are not a, like,

how do I want to say this, an obsessive anime

group. So you're going to see that in the list.

It's going to be apparent by the list because

there are going to be some anime shows that are

left off and people are going to be pissed. But

we have a bias kind of, not necessarily against

anime, but it's just not something we're all

usually into. Did I say that nice enough? Do

you want to give your thoughts, animation versus

anime, Steve, really quick? For me, animation

and anime are completely two different things.

I mean, yes, a lot of American cartoons do come

from Japan. Technically, they can be considered

anime by certain parties, yet they are still

technically just regular cartoons. And for me,

certain Certain cartoons that are from Japan,

certain animes, do really well here and have

a decent enough style and running that I can

just get. And then there are certain animes that

I just can't get past it. I mean, just between

the look, the style, just the overall, there

are certain things that just irk me about. certain

anime shows, and to me, that's why I have some

on my list and then a lot of them not. Well,

and we could have very easily said that anime

was not allowed, and we could have made this

a strict Western or animation list. The reason

I didn't want to do that is because I do feel

that there are certain anime shows that deserve

to be included. Now, I apologize to the diehard

anime fans, but maybe one of you guys or whatever

can put together a top list of just strictly

anime shows so that they get their credit. I'm

admitting that we're going to not have everything

that diehard anime fans like, but I think you

should more look at it as it's an animation list

with some anime shows getting some shoutouts

for being as good as they are. And the way I

look at it is, the way I've always looked at

it is, is I've seen anime before. It's just not

my thing. First of all, Anything that I have

to – anything that I cannot understand the language

they're speaking and I have to read subtitles

through the entire show, I will not watch that

show. I just won't. It doesn't matter if it's

anime. It doesn't matter if it's cartoon. It

could be a movie. Like I have never seen – this

is just me going off a little bit on a tangent.

I've never seen The Passion of the Christ. I

won't watch it because I have to watch subtitles

throughout the whole damn thing. But for me on

anime – One of the things is I was a fan of podcasting

before I was a podcaster. I was listening to

podcasts. I started in 2007, and then in late

2008, Steve and I got together, all that other

stuff. So for me, when I heard of podcasts, I

said, okay, well, I cannot in good conscience,

because I'm a fan of this topic, I can't do anything

with it. podcaster -wise, until that topic is

over. The two biggest examples I give are World's

Finest Podcast from Earth2 .net and the Animazing

Podcast from Earth2 .net. When I started ToonCast,

one of the things was I specifically said, this

is animation, this is Western animation, there's

no anime, because I'm not an expert in anime.

I'm not going to talk about something unless

I can fully research it and have a good opinion

of it and watch it. Everybody knows, the first...

10 episodes of ToonCast. Specifically, episodes

4 and 5, Voltron and Thundercats, and Kevin knows

this. I watched every single episode of Voltron

and Thundercats for research for that episode

of ToonCast. That's how I roll on researching

for podcasting. And every time everybody brings

up anime, why isn't anime on ToonCast, or why

isn't anime here or there? I always defer to

an amazing podcast, Kellen Scribbins over there

at Earth2 .net, because they're the experts.

I'm not. And that's the way I approach anime.

So we're not denying that we have an anti -anime

bias in this list. The other bias I want to talk

about is what I'm calling a superhero bias, which

is basically the opposite of what we just talked

about with anime. And this almost goes to also

just a general geek bias, because this is a list,

you know, Made by geeks for geeks. You can kind

of expect superhero shows to get a little bit

more attention than maybe some people would like

them to. You guys are more of the superhero buffs

than I am. But, you know, I just want to be out

front that there is going to be a lot of superhero

shows on the list. Yeah. You know, for me personally,

and I'll let Steve go after I say this, Super

Friends was good for its time. Do I think it

holds up today? Not really, but that's not the

point. My point is that superhero shows over

the years have consistently gotten better, and

James Tucker said it best. James Tucker is a

producer for the DC Anime Universe cartoon series

shows. He said it best on the Justice League

special feature retrospective. He said, you know,

we didn't set out to create the greatest superhero

show ever, but in fact we... Created the greatest

superhero show ever in regards to Justice League

and Justice League Unlimited. One of the reasons

why I love superhero shows is because they're

also comic book characters. Like, I don't read

comics. I haven't read comics since I was, like,

15, 16 years old. I don't dislike comics. I would

love to get back into comics, but with all the

other interests I have at this point, with all

the other shows and stuff that we're going to

be doing on Geekcast Radio, I don't have time

to consume myself with comics. And there's so

much comics continuity, especially with the two

big companies, DC and Marvel. I wouldn't know

where to start. I'd be lost. So that's why I

absolutely love superhero cartoons. What about

you, Steve? For me, I started out as a comic

collector. So that and a big movie watcher, and

a lot of it started out between Ninja Turtles

and Batman. So between the two, I became a huge

superhero fan in the sense of, well, mostly liking

Batman. But I've since grown to like various

other forms. of superhero shows since then, and

just a lot of the newer stuff. I mean, I've seen

a lot of the older, like the Super Friends, and

the Scooby -Doo with Batman and Robin included,

and that kind of stuff. I mean, granted, it technically

doesn't hold up, but it still paves the way for

new ideas, new animation styles, and everything

else for modern times. a lot of it still kind

of carries over. And so, I mean, granted, I'm

more biased towards the modern versions of some

of these, but it's all good overall. I mean,

it's just, I can't deny that they're all important.

Well, I think the main point I wanted to bring

up, these biases and stuff, is because, you know,

With the IGN list, yes, it had a huge adult and

comedy, you know, like adult swim type bias.

And I was just trying to think if our list was

to be labeled with any bias, it would be that

we're geeks. So you're going to see a little

bit more of the superhero or action. cartoon

genres and maybe a little less, obviously, like

we said, of anime, a little less of educational

shows, stuff like that, because if geeks are

coming up with a list, you should know what to

expect a little bit. So I just wanted to put

that out there. Mike, maybe we should move into

as far as some important information as far as

what can people expect as far as dates and when

they can see this or how it's all going to be

done, that type of stuff. Obviously, it's going

to be a full podcast episode. At this point,

we don't know how long each episode is going

to run because we haven't recorded them yet.

So we can't even determine that. There are going

to be some entries in the list where we only

talk two or three minutes about the cartoon.

There are going to be some entries on the list

where we may end up having a 20 -minute discussion

on said cartoon. Say, for example, Say, for example,

Dirt is on episode 21 with us, which episode

21 is countdown numbers 100 to 81. Say, Family

Guy is number 100. You know, me personally, I'm

not going to have a lot to say about that unless

I bash it. But, like, say Kevin and Dirt and

Steve or whoever have a good discussion about

that. And it goes 20, 30 minutes just on that

one entry. We're not going to cut off a really

good discussion before it's over. We're probably

not going to ever go 20 to 30 minutes. Right.

No, no, no. The point is we're not going to cut

discussions off. Some of these are going to be

shocking to us. Some of them we might have debate

where one of the people thinks it should be there,

one person thinks it shouldn't be. Someone thinks

it should be higher or lower, and we have a little

debate. So we're not going to cut it off, but

we have no idea how long these episodes are going

to be. Right. Each episode outside of this introduction

episode will have four hosts. I'll have myself,

Kevin, and Steve, and then a special guest from

said other collaboration networks. I don't normally

like to do more than four, and I won't. I won't

ever do... There's only been one point in the

entire two -year timeline that GCRN has been

running where we've had five co -hosts, and that

was last episode in the... 2010 year in review

so we're not going to reveal who's going to be

our special guest host but just be on the lookout

for some maybe you know if you guys are familiar

with this week in geek or pop culture network

or chicken pot pot or those types of places be

on the lookout maybe some of your favorite hosts

from those uh networks might show up yes and

we'll leave it at that the air dates episode

20 the episode we're recording right now will

air march 7th 2011 Episode 21 will air March

14th, 2011. Basically every Monday from March

7th to April 11th over the next... And there's

going to be a series of five total episodes after

this one. Right. So the first one, we're going

to do 20 shows per episode. So you'll get the

first 20, which is 181. In episode 21, then you'll

get, you know, I don't want to try to make my

brain hurt, but 80 to 61 and so on. So we'll

do 20 episodes each time until we're down to

number one. Right. We came up with that number

because we didn't want this necessarily to take

too long. Five episodes is a good number of episodes.

We were hoping that covering 20 shows per episode

does not make it an extremely long episode. But

like I said, we don't know what to expect. Some

shows we could talk about for a couple minutes.

Some shows it might be five or six minutes. Who

knows? Right. So basically, like you said, every

Monday from what date to what date? What's the

final episode air date? Episode 20 through 25

runs. It starts March 7, 2011. It ends April

11, 2011. So basically over the next five weeks.

Gotcha. So that's what you should be looking

for every Monday from here on out. And once it's

all said and done, as far as the actual episodes,

Podcast -wise, that is when we will also put

on geekcastradio .com a visual post, like we

were talking about before, that will give you

a breakdown of all 100 shows. It'll give some

basic information, some visual stuff for you

to look at, and that type of thing. So you're

going to get it in both audio form and in visual

form. Hopefully you look at the visual and you

listen to the audio so you can kind of hear some

of the debate, because hopefully that will prevent

some of the bickering or some of the comments,

how could you do this or that, or this is too

high or this is too low, because you're going

to hear us discuss that in the actual podcast.

Right. Did promise you some teaser stuff here

towards the end, and I think it's come to that

time. I've just revealed to both Mike and Steve

the 15 shows that just missed the top 100. So

these are the 15 ones that were the closest to

getting in. One of them actually tied for number

100. and based on our tie -breaking vote, did

not make the cut. We're not going to tell you

which one did until next episode. But now that

you guys can see some of the shows that did not

make the cut, I guess I'll read them real quick

so everybody can hear, and then I'll get your

thoughts on some of them. Schoolhouse Rock is

not going to make our top 100 because it lost

a tie -breaker for the 100th spot. Thundar the

Barbarian and Transformers Animated missed it

by one vote. And by one vote, I mean if one person

would have picked that as their 100th show, they

would have been into the countdown. So it missed

it, not just by one vote, but by being the last

show on someone's list that could have made it.

Teen Titans missed it by about six points. Goof

Troop, Beast Machines, Daria. Dungeons & Dragons,

Raccoons, Kim Possible, Wolverine & the X -Men,

Jackie Chan Adventures, The Superhero Squad,

Fraggle Rock, and G .I. Joe Resolute are your

15 closest shows that just missed it. Like I

said, 350 shows got voted on. These are your

15 shows closest that just didn't quite make

it. I know you guys are probably chomping at

the bit. Steve, what are some of your thoughts?

I'm saying boo to three of them. Yeah. Which

three would you have preferred most out of those

to make the list? I'll go in order of which ones

I wanted to be there. Beast Machines, G .I. Joe

Resolute, and Transformers Animated. Yeah. I

would have guessed those three, actually. Mike,

which ones for you? First of all, I have to say

one thing. I'm so happy. That one didn't actually

make the top 100, thank God, because Teen Titans

is not in continuity. Teen Titans fetish. I just

had to get that in there. Which shows are you

most disappointed that didn't make the list?

Transformers Animated, Goof Troop, Beast Machines,

Super Hero Squad. Out of those, before you go

any further... That's it. Okay, out of those,

there was only three of those shows that made

the IGN list, and that was Schoolhouse Rock,

Teen Titans, and Dungeons & Dragons. Those were

the three that made the IGN list that did not

make ours as far as these 15 goes. The one I'm

most bummed about, and I know I have a different

take on it than you guys, is Dungeons & Dragons.

I absolutely love that show, and I was kind of

upset that it didn't quite make it. But overall,

there are some quality shows in that list. However,

I'm not necessarily saying I'm completely bummed

that they're not in the top 100. There are obviously

going to be some in the top 100 that I would

have not liked to be in there, but like I said,

we only could control our own list. I do want

to mention one other one that didn't quite make

the list. It wasn't even in the top 15, but I

thought it deserved a little bit more credit,

but maybe it just kind of got lost in whatever

decade it came out. Star Trek, the animated series,

I thought deserved a little bit more attention,

but it also did not make the list. Any other?

I know you guys have other thoughts probably

on some of these. I can't believe. What is wrong

with these collaborators? Beast Machines didn't

even make it. I get the hate for Beast Machines,

but seriously, it's not that bad. You know? I

love Beast Machines, actually. I don't think

I even put it in my top 100, though. I had the

three that I listed in my top 20. I know I voted

for Schoolhouse Rock. I know I voted for Goof

Troop. I know I voted for Dungeons & Dragons,

Fraggle Rock, and G .I. Joe Resolute. I don't

even know what Raccoons is. Raccoons was a long

-running show in the 80s, actually. It was the...

Some of the same people that were the voices

on Cops and some of those shows. It was a long

-running show, and it was pretty popular for

its time, but I can understand it kind of missing

because a lot of people probably have since forgotten

about it or whatnot. But I think that's a good

collection of completely different shows that

show you a little bit. Because we have some of

the, like Daria and Kim Possible, obviously,

on one hand. You can see a little bit of an educational

type thing with Schoolhouse Rock not quite making

it. You have your straight -up action, and it

is kind of, you know, even though I said we're

biased towards superhero and action shows, there

was a lot of action shows and superhero shows

we just listed that didn't make the list. So

it kind of hopefully leaves people a little interested

in what did make the list then. But I am excited

because Beast Machines actually made this, or

Beast Wars actually made this list. You think?

No, I'm just playing. Take that, IGN. So, yeah,

like I said, there's 30 shows on our list that

didn't make the IGN list, and you'll have to

wait and see which ones those are. I don't know

if we have any other general thoughts about those

15 or general thoughts about the overall making

of the list or the reveal of the list, anything

we left out that we need to talk about. Not really.

We pretty much hit it all in this introductory

episode to the countdown. Steve, do you have

any final thoughts really quick? No, I think

I'm good. All right. Really quick, before we

go into the outro, we are going to hit one of

the ads that Kevin made for the Geekcast Radio

Network Top 100 Animated Series of All Time.

We'll be back after this. Optimus Solo from the

Geekcast Radio Network. And I was thinking the

other day that maybe I've been too hard on the

folks over at IGN. I mean, they had to put some

effort into their top 100 animated series of

all time list, right? I mean, maybe it's just

me that wants to punch a baby when I read it.

So in all fairness, I thought we should gather

some of the people who were involved with this

list and get their opinions. So what do you guys

think about the IGN list? I didn't think it was

physically possible, but this both sucks and

blows. Okay, anyone else? Dumb, dumb, dumb! Those

dudes are so dumb! I'm afraid to ask, but anyone

else? Epic fail. Homer, they put your show at

the top of your list. You gotta like their list,

right? I stand by my disappointed groan. So I

guess we should do something about it then. Are

you pondering what I'm pondering? I am, Brain.

I think we should unveil the Geek Cast Radio

Network's Top 100 Animated Series of All Time

list. I second that emotion. And I know that

our list will be much better than the IGN list.

You know why? We watch a lot of TV. That and

the fact that we are teaming up with This Week

in Geek, the Pop Culture Network, Chicken Pop

Pod, and some other great geek sites. By your

powers combined. We will give you a list geeks

everywhere can be proud of. Thank you for joining

us here on Geekcast Radio. There are so many

ways to get in contact with us or leave feedback

for the show. Visit the website, geekcastradio

.com. You can comment on each episode post. Leave

the show's feedback in iTunes. Please do this.

Follow us on Twitter. The show name there is

Geekcast Radio. Mine is TFG on Mike. Kevin, what

is your Twitter? Optimus Solo. Steve? SCP -21.

Become a fan on Facebook. Go to facebook .com

slash geekcastradionetwork. Call the voicemail

line. Tell us the show you're leaving the message

for and your name, 502 -526 -5821. Quick note

about the voicemail line. I didn't tell Steve

or Kevin about this, but I've made an executive

decision. Any voicemail thoughts on the actual

countdown when we get into the countdown episodes,

when we get into releasing them? Anyone that

leaves a voicemail between March 7th and April

11th, we will have a special voicemail clip show

episode after episode 25. So that way, if anybody

calls in with their thoughts on our overall countdown,

they can have their voices heard in a special

episode just for voicemails. We hope you enjoyed

this episode of GeekCast Radio, and we shall

join us next time when we will be enveloped in

epicness as we start the GCRN Top 100 Animated

Series of All Time Countdown from numbers 100

to 81. For now, I am TFG1 Mike with... Steve

Megatron Phillips. And Optimus Solo. Thank you

for listening. Until next time. You've just heard

the introduction to the GCRN Top 100 Animated...

in series of all time. Tune in next time for

numbers 100 through 81.