"Mister T" (1983) TV series 1983-1985

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Creators:

Steve Gerber
Martin Pasko

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

17 September 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Animation

Plot:

Mr. T and his young gymnastics team fight crime whenever they encounter it on their tour.

Plot Keywords:

Gymnastic | Teen | Amateur Detective | Acrobat | Mohawk Haircut

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Mr. T

...

Himself (unknown episodes)

Also Known As:

Mr. T (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-Y7

Company:

Ruby-Spears Productions

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Block Party (2005)

Ehhhhh.

Well meaning but ultimately poor quality cartoon from the early 80s, typical of that time period. Corny with stilted voice performances and painfully trite dialogue, its value today is mainly kitsch, which explains its extremely late night/early morning showing now on Adult Swim.

Like GI Joe and other cartoons of the period, the cheap, unimaginative animation is accompanied by a morality lesson. Unlike those shows, however, the plots are generally oriented in some form around the central moral lesson rather than merely tacked-on as a didactic lecture by the cartoon lead at the end (though there is a non-animated "wrap up" of the lesson by Mr. T at the end).

I give it credit for trying hard to teach basic values, but I was 11 years old when this came out and I would have found it cheesy (had I seen it during its original airing - frankly, I don't remember it).

Personally I do not understand, beyond basic nostalgia for Saturday Mornings and so on, why so many people consider the 80s some kind of golden age for animation; it wasn't. Animation was cheap, much of it looked the same, and the artwork was poor, generic - workmanlike, even.

Nickelodeon in many ways set the standard for at very least making cartoons look distinctive. This cartoon, like most others of the period, pale in comparison with more recent offerings like Spongebob Squarepants, Dexter's Laboratory, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and so on. These cartoons may not have the Reagan-era moralizing, but they do have style (and surrealism, and imagination) and considerably more talented voice actors and far, far less stilted dialogue. (Not that every modern cartoon has something unique to offer but there are far better choices now.) Speaking of voice actors, I notice that Phil LaMarr did some of his first voice work on this cartoon. He would become a considerable talent (voice-wise) in years to come.

In some sense Mr. T is a good example of a time when animation was not taken seriously as an art form; rather, it was sold as "product" to kids, and like many sugar cereals advertised during showings of these kinds of cartoons, there's not much substance here, artistically.