Figured I'd try compiling a list of my favourite furry series - ie. series which heavily feature anthropomorphic animals - in descending order! I'm very sure about my top three picks and the order they're in, slightly less sure about my number four and five slots; I need to rewatch them sometime and see how they hold up, as it's been a while.
1. Silver Fang Probably not a big surprise, for those who know me. We follow the life of the Akita Inu pup Silver (aka. Gin) as battles the evil man-slaughtering (and dog-slaughtering) bear who's terrorizing the locals. I rented and re-rented the Norwegian dubbed tapes as a child, and it might've helped turn me into a furry. I remember having one especially powerful dream that involved Silver being held captive at a pound. The series is dramatic and bloody (even the censored dubbed version), with some heart wrenching scenes of death and self-sacrifice, and it definitely left its mark on me. Who says children's media has to be all sugar and butterflies? Speaking of sugar and butterflies...
2. Bear In The Big Blue House I was introduced to this series when I was around the age of 15 - 17 by a couple of other furs (Ursus and Wabbit, to be exact), and I grew to love it. You go through a normal day in the life of Bear and his young animal friends as they grow and learn. It has great music, great voice work, great jokes, with some fun "interact with the audience" bits that never feels patronizing or tedious (unlike, say, Dora The Explorer). The Bear fursuit is also pretty impressive. The show manages to both entertain the baby fox kit in me and the more adult fox, which seems rare for a children's show for preschoolers. One of my go-to shows whenever I get the chance to cub out. Oh, and the Norwegian dubbed version of this isn't very good - definitely see the original English!
3. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic The newest show on my list, and it probably doesn't need much in the way of an introduction. The series focuses on a group of six ponies, going on adventures and learning what friendship is about. Unlike the Care Bears reboot, it's genuinely funny; the main characters are lovable, memorable, and easy to relate to (except for Rarity); and it has a baby dragon! The show isn't perfect though. While I like the character designs, the actual animation - which is obviously done with Flash - just feels... off to me. It feels like Flash animation, which is never good. I'd much rather have preferred some high-quality traditional animation, or a different type of digital animation. Some of the songs can also be a bit too... radio pop-y. And the voice actors don't always do their own singing either, having separate people do the singing voices for some of the characters. That's something that always annoys me in animation. If you're going to have singing, hire a voice actor who can do her (or his) own singing! It probably saves you money, and keeps the audience from being pulled out of the show when they notice the voice suddenly sounds a bit different. These are nit picky things though, and the show is overall great.
4. The Angry Beavers The title is pretty silly, and not even that descriptive - there are only two beavers, and they're not really consistently angry either. But it is a title you notice! Anyway, in the series we join the random misadventures of the beaver brothers Norbert - aka. Norb - and Daggett - aka. Dag. Cartoon hijinks's ensues, involving both humans and other forest animals. And it's pretty funny! I still use the word "spoot" (and "spooty") when I'm talking to people online, which was a fictitious swear-word used in the series. "Aw, spoot!" "You big poopy spooty spoot spoot-head!" "That's spooty." And so forth. Very happy the series is now available on DVD, and hoping to get my paws on them in not too long.
5. SWAT Kats I remember being blown away by this when I first watched it. "Did that bus just explode? But, weren't there still people on it? Did that mean that people actually died, in a cartoon series, airing on TV in Norway? Cool!" Yes, I know, being impressed by violence and explosions is hardly mature, but when so many cartoons seem devoid of any real drama and action - and well-designed anthropomorphic animals - it was refreshing to have something like this. Certainly didn't hurt that the show had some kick-ass music to boot! Another series that was released on DVD not too long ago, and hope to get my paws on it eventually.
As a bonus, here are a few that didn't make the list, but which I definitely considered: The Animals Of Farthing Wood, Earthworm Jim, Ren & Stimpy, Teacher's Pet, Mongrels, and the Moomins (aka. I Mummidalen). There are also all of the wonderful Disney, Looney Tunes, and Tom & Jerry shorts.
Feel free to comment with your own tentative top five list, if you feel so inspired!
Bah, the new MLP series is great! It's funny, cute, childish, and it even has songs!
I loved TMNT as a kid and I'm still a fan of the franchise (I still want to get my paws on the Technodrome toy), but not sure how well the original cartoon series holds up - need to re-watch some of it again.
Bah, the new MLP series is great! It's funny, cute, childish, and it even has songs! I loved TMNT a
