What Was The Best Decade For Animation?

[4EverGreen]

Here's another poll to find out about the various interests of other people, in what they think of, as the best decade of animation. Discuss all things you like about each particular decade of animation in this topic. I hope you enjoy using this topic, as much as I did making it!

[Steel Sponge]

I try to make myself out to be one of the site's biggest animation experts, but I'm going to be real when I say that I can't determine which decade was best for the medium. I can at least point myself towards the very previous best decade being the best that I've experienced (so far), mainly out of the sentiment that I've decided it since early on in the decade that animation is the profession I want to be a part of, and also because most of my experiences with the medium (again, so far as I've experienced it) have been from that decade.

I also do believe that each of the past decades (except the 70s) all have something about that would make them stand out on their own, but they're not without their rough patches. The years representing the golden era has its racially insensitive past, the 80s was a unique era for animated films, but television-wise, it felt creatively bankrupt as most of the animated programs during that time existed to shamelessly sell something, the 90s re-revolutionized the medium as Disney's success led to more companies and studios to develop and flourish, but it still had its moments where the industry had to chase trends, whether it's about trying too hard to follow in Disney's footsteps, trying to be hip with the younger generation, or something else, and this was a problem that carried over well into the 2000s and the 2010s. Animation's continual growth over the course of the previous two decades really helped diversify it more, but while the growth led to more good talent to come out of it, it was also prone to allowing less than stellar works to pass through. I could go a little more in depth with this point, but I've already made my point clear: nearly each decade for animation has their fair share of highs and lows.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Steel Sponge

[Aquatic Konquest]

I find myself personally torn between the 50's and the 90's, both due to the Disney films that came out in each respective era. (The Little Mermaid I am actually including as part of the 90's considering its launch of the Renaissance era had notable impact throughout the decade and its release being so close to the end of the 80's made it a film that 90's kids would enjoy)

Outside of movies, I guess I would be swayed to go with the 2000's since a lot of TV shows I've enjoyed and do enjoy currently come from that era.

[4EverGreen]

Personally, for me, it would be the 1990's, having grown up during the 1990's animation renaissance. I feel like it was the last, really GREAT decade for traditional animation, before C.G.I. started to OVER-dominate everything!...Don't get me wrong, we've gotten a LOT of great animated movies out of C.G.I. being used, I just feel like we've lost something, and people will never realize just how beautiful traditional animation truly was, having been only exposed to C.G.I. animation.

[Joe Biden]

This is probably the hardest poll I've ever had to answer, because while I could easily answer the music poll with "the '80s", it's hard for me to decipher which decade is easily the best of them all. I do like the '90s for being a step up from the rather mixed bag that was the '80s. This could be my inner 2000s kid talking but I slightly prefer the 2000s more. Mostly because I watched that network during its boom after "Ed Edd n Eddy" aired and the rest of the early-to-mid 2000s cartoons on there that followed I also liked. Not to mention "Fairly Oddparents" and "Jimmy Neutron" on Nick too. The '90s may have been a renaissance when it came to animation but the 2000s is what I connect with more.

Of course, I do give credit to the first half of the 2010s too for cartoons like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gravity Falls, just to name a few. Lost interest somewhere after 2016 when the network schedules started leaning towards one or two programs and started reviving their old properties that led to mixed-to-bad results.

But yeah, nostalgia bias be damned, I still love the hell out of the 2000s. It was a great bridge from the influential era of the '90s to a much different landscape in the 2010s.

[President Squidward]

2000's had wunschpunsch.

for a serious answer, i think all decades of animation have their good and bad, I think some of my favorite cartoons ever range from somewhere between the 90's-2010's

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

90s because Tiny Toons and Elmyra

Pretty difficult choice. Like Prez said, all decades of animation have their amazing and their abysmal. Each decade, really, has something worthwhile for me as a young animation fan, from the theatrical classics of the 40s and 50s to the modern sensibilities of 2010s TV animation. Even the "dark" periods of the 70s and 80s have some gems in my eyes, like Inspector Gadget, Disney's TV cartoons and Charlotte's Web.

I may be a 2000s kid, but thank Neptune I'm not biased to the stuff I grew up with - otherwise I'd be thinking of stuff like Blue's Clues and the like as god-tier.

[Jelly Lelly]

My top two favorite shows came out in the 1990's.

1. Spongebob
2. KaBlam!