The 80s are back more than ever.

Professor Peg recently wrote about how there seemed to be a dearth of supernatural programming in the 1980s. I figured there had to be something, so I decided to do some investigating.

What did I find? Cartoons. Animated TV series with supernatural, science fiction, or horror elements seemed to be plenty prevalent during the Me! Decade. Their quality? Often dubious. But their impact of many of them on popular culture as a whole cannot be denied.

Some examples:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (first aired 1987): Genetically modified reptiles fighting crime. Spawned a line of toys that are still popular sellers today, as well as four films. The most recent, TMNT was released just last year.
  
• Transformers(first aired 1984): Giant, extraterrestrial robots that can change forms come to Earth to battle for resources. In this case the toy came first, but the TV series really helped cement its popularity. This also spawned theatrical sequels, also as recently as last year.
  
• Inspector Gadget (first aired 1983): A cyborg detective uses his body's built-in gadgets to solve his cases. The film spawned a (poorly-recevied) live-action version in 1999.
  
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (first aired 1983): A fantasy-laden series about a prince who becomes the powerful hero He-Man and fights the evil lord Skeletor. He-Man had a female-centric spin-off, She-Ra: Princess of Power premiere a few years later. A He-Man remake is reportedly planned for 2009.
  

As you can see, supernatural cartoons in the 1980s were not only TV entertainment, but full of potential for cross-market merchandise. Some also tried to capitalize on the success of former TV series or films. These included:

• 1985 saw new episodes of The Jetsons, almost 20 years after the series first ended.
  
• The Real Ghostbusters, based on the 1984 film.
  
• RoboCop: the Animated Series, based on the 1987 film.
  
• Rubik, the Amazing Cube; An evil magician's talking Rubik's Cube befriends three siblings. Theme song by Menudo!
  
• Gilligan's Planet; Yes, it's Gillian's Island in space.
  

Many series of this nature tended not to last as long, perhaps because of the creative bankruptcy of several of the concepts. Obviously, they seemed like good ideas at the time.

Either way, supernatural television was somehere to be found in the Eighties. Saturday mornings.