'80s Cartoons That Deserved More Than One Season

In 1984, the FCC did away with guidelines that kept advertisements from overrunning children's programming. Later, in 1988, President Ronald Reagan vetoed the legislation that would reinstate those protections, claiming it was against the Constitution and free speech. These actions created an untamed landscape for cartoons: Shows were produced in the hopes of generating new, lucrative properties, the use of licensed characters skyrocketed by 300%, and syndication allowed broadcasters to show kids entertainment outside of Saturday mornings. Suddenly, new episodes were debuting multiple times a week, which meant the marketing machine never had to stop. Cartoons came out by the truckload, with no end then in sight.

Mainstays like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began their reign over the TV landscape during this era. Sadly, it wasn't uncommon for a great show to fail after just one season. The reasons why are myriad: The toyline fizzled, companies put the product over the story, the marketing cycle had run its course. Regardless, their cancellation was complete. These are the stories of the 1980s cartoons that only got one season, but deserved many more.

Kids love dinosaurs, so any show that finds a way to mount lasers on top of them is pretty much guaranteed to get their attention. That brilliant idea wasn't enough by itself, unfortunately, so comics legends Carla and Gerry Conway were brought in to flesh out a deeper story for Dino-Riders.

After an accident with the Space Time Energy Projector, two warring groups are sent back 65 million years. The peaceful Valorians look to build a new life in the past, using their high-tech necklaces to befriend, heal, and communicate with dinosaurs. The ruthless Rulons, however, ride the dinosaurs by using brain-washing helmets. 

14 episodes were made in total. Most agree that the toyline is more memorable than the animated series — Tyco did such a good job on the dinosaur parts of the toys that the Smithsonian Institution approached them about making near-exact copies for their collection. More episodes would have helped to give the large cast of characters some much-needed screen time and offer up a wider variety of adventures. There is a wealth of opportunity there: The heroes have a way to travel through time, enormously advanced technology, and, you know, dinosaurs. Rumors of a movie popped up in 2015, but unfortunately fizzled, meaning Questar and his crew may have missed their chance to ride again.

In a not-so-distant dystopian future, a scientist named Dr. James Bent steals a space shuttle and drops his evil Zone Generators on Earth, creating zones that feed off of human energy. Anyone trapped in them becomes zombie-like, following his orders mindlessly, as he takes the name Overlord and seeks to conquer the remaining free areas of the world. The rest of humanity must band together: Their best weapons are five suits of armor coated with a special rare element to protect the wearer from being affected by the zones. Now, calling themselves Zone Riders, they are the last line of defense against Overlord and his Black Widows.

Spiral Zone was mostly based on a toyline from Bandai. The Japanese-made figures were well-crafted with an extreme level of articulation, but were sold at a high cost for the time. DC Comics got in on the action, releasing a four-issue series in early 1987 as well. There was never an official home release for the show, but after Spiral Zone's supervising director offered up the masters of the episodes, there was an unofficial DVD release that has since sold out. That alone should show how much fans enjoyed the cartoon and wanted more of it, even though it had a full run of 65 episodes. Still, fans were left wanting more, and should have gotten it.

Jamie Jaren, Lazer Tag Champion of the year 3010, is the heroine of Lazer Tag Academy. But laser tag isn't a game in her world: She's hunting down master criminal Draxon Drear, who in turn is hunting down Jamie's ancestors. Traveling through time, she'll have to help members of her bloodline from the 1980s face off against Draxon and his Skuggs.

The show has some fun historical plots, but it never quite lives up to its full potential over the course of its 13-episode run. Toys sold decently, but when the show's merchandiser, Worlds of Wonder, went bankrupt, cancellation came swiftly. Poor marketing of the characters versus the equipment did not help either, leading to less interest in the tie-in toys. Many also saw the show as pure exploitation of their children, and did not enjoy the way it seemed to encourage kids to shoot each other.

Lazer Tag Academy was shown in reruns by the Sci-Fi Channel with a new name, Lazer Patrol. The title change was likely due to licensing and ownership of the toy name. The series would have needed to shift slightly in a second season to keep interest up, focusing more on the characters and their struggles and less on time shenanigans — but we believe it could have been done.

It's hard to pass on a good retelling of Homer's Odyssey, even if it's an oddball French-Japanese cartoon set in the 31^st century. Ulysses 31 begins as its titular hero rescues his son, Telemachus, along with two other children — but in the process, he kills the Cyclops, angering the Greek Gods. Now, Commander Ulysses of the Odyssey must travel among the stars, as his crew remains cursed and asleep until he can find the Kingdom of Hades. Ulysses' journey sees him encounter many perils and other famous figures from mythology, updated to fit the new space-age setting. Needless to say, the series is a wild and psychedelic trip that lives up to previous takes on the source material.

Ulysses 31 ran for 26 solid episodes, proving to be very popular in the United Kingdom. For those in the US, however, the second half of Ulysses' adventure was never aired, as the timeslot was overtaken by Rainbow Brite, leaving many unsatisfied. To be fair, there is a mostly fulfilling ending — not that American fans got to see it. A second season could have seen this retelling reach new heights as it explored classic sci-fi tropes, developed its characters, and taught kids about mythology.

The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers packs a lot of good backstory into its first few episodes. Two aliens seeking refuge from the Crown Empire offer Earth hyperdrive technology in exchange for uniting with them and their allies against the evil Queen of the Crown. She enjoys sucking the life force from her victims, and her most recent snack was the wife of Zachary Foxx, who puts together a group of Galaxy Rangers equipped with Series-5 brain implants, giving them each unique abilities. Now they'll face off against space pirates, criminal masterminds, and the Empire in an attempt to bring law to the frontier.

Part of why Galaxy Rangers works is that it is less focused on selling something across its 65 episode stretch than many other 1980s cartoons. A toy deal didn't come around until the show was well into production, in fact, which ultimately hurt the series when it came to marketing. Moreover, the series could get a little dark at times. This versatility is exciting, but crashes and burns in the end, as the show never got a true finale. Many who discovered the show when it aired or later on DVD have rightfully called it one of the 1980s' greatest animated offerings. All the more reason the show truly deserved another season.