Cartoons | Pop Culture | TV | 00s | 90s
10 CGI Cartoons That Probably Blew Your Preteen Mind
Though computer animation has been around for decades, it wasn't until the last 90s that animation companies really started using it to make entire shows. They looked absolutely mindblowing at the time they came out, but looking back on some of these 10 shows, it becomes pretty obvious that we've come a long way since then.
Insektors
One of the earliest full-3D cartoons actually comes from France, and its war between two races of insects was pretty compelling back in the day, even if the graphics look like ass by our standards.
Beast Wars
One of several shows made by Canadian 3D pioneers Mainframe Studios, Beast Wars was a spiritual successor to Transformers that was just as good as the original. The animation, however, has aged VERY poorly.
VeggieTales
A series of straight-to-video releases meant to teach kids wholesome Christian values and about the Bible by way of talking vegetables, this cartoon looked poorly animated back THEN.
Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad
This wasn't totally a cartoon; it actually had live-action segments just like Power Rangers. However, whenever they dove into cyberspace to fight Kilo Kahn's army of digital monsters, the animation and costumes came out (and looks hilariously bad now).
Some of these next few shows are actually quite good, even if the graphics might make your eyes bleed...
Max Steel
An average young adult becomes a secret agent, and battles the forces of terrible CGI.
Donkey Kong Country
A surprisingly successful cartoon based on the hit Nintendo game series, Donkey Kong Country weirdly took a platformer game and made it into a musical. Seriously, every episode had at least one major song.
ReBoot
Mainframe Studios's crowning achievement, ReBoot was a show that took place entirely inside a computer, which meant of course it had to be computer animated. The show is still amazing today, but you kinda have to get past the super weak animation.
Action Man
An old property brought back for the early 21st Century, Action Man was about two things; the most extreme of sports, and the most awful of visuals.
Butt-Ugly Martians
The "Butt-Ugly" in the title is clearly referring to the visuals, because yeeeeeesh.
Weird-Ohs
I legitimately have no memory of this show aside from knowing that it existed, and after taking one look at it, I can understand why.