Cartoon Network India 1990 - Blast from the past series - Power zone mini cartoons that brightened up our childhood, so get ready for a nostalgic trip down memory lane to rediscover these Hanna Barbara classics

     Those were the days in India!. We used to come back home after school and spend an hour or two watching our most favourite cartoons in Cartoon network before going out and playing with other kids in the neighbourhood or even going for tuitions or before study time. Cartoon Network's best cartoons were these that were part of a special series called Power Zone - all action-packed cartoons that brightened up our day and gave us something to think about and discuss with our friends too!. I remember how I used to have pen fights with class mates or pull out a sheet of paper and a pencil to mark out dots mentioning the name of each superhero on both sides as we used to engage in a pencil strikethrough game!, the one who defeats the other opponent wins. However, Cartoon Network's logo first underwent a transformation and the channel got indianised to the point that cartoons like "Chota Bheem" became the mainstay and these were religiously-themed cartoons which were the only ones that Indian creators used to think of, thankfully I stopped watching Cartoon Network once all the Western cartoons that made such a huge impact on my childhood got replaced by these boring and silly local cartoons. Now, let us take a stroll together down memory lane as we reminisce about those beautiful Power Zone cartoons in this blog post. I hope that you enjoy reading through it as much as I am writing it!, this time I am going to focus on rarer cartoons that were mini cartoons that came in between larger cartoons in Power Zone which I will discuss in another post because this post is a special one for the mini cartoons that sparkled up my childhood Power Zone memories like those of many other kids of the 90's, all of which are a part of pop-culture now.

i) Mighty Mightor: 
                                I recently came to know that Mightor is "Mighty" and "Tor" put together. Thor is a supposed Norse deity wielding a hammer "Moldinyr" that generates lightning and is his primary weapon in Norse mythology whence Thursday is named (Thor's day) in the Germanic days of the week which English shares as a Germanic language. However, Mightor's weapon in the series is a primitive-looking wooden club which possesses special powers. The main protangonist is a boy named Thor who goes to a mountain top, lifts up the club and yells "Mightor" before transforming into "Mightor" and fighting crime in his primitive home planet. Besides immense strength, the wooden club is also known to fire energy beams. Mightor's side-kick is a blue dragon named "Tog" who comes to his aid when Mightor ends up in tight situations and rescues him. In the end after saving his tribe from harm, he reverts to being the young man "Tor" and his love interest "Sheera", not aware that it is "Tor" who transforms into "Mightor", makes comments on how amazing Mightor is before their animal friends and the village chief and Tor pretends as if he was unaware of when Mightor came to save them and then proceeds to wink at the viewers as if he were pretending and hiding the truth from her that he was the real Mightor before each episode ends.

ii) Space Ghost:

                             Space Ghost is another Hanna Barbara short cartoon that was aired as filler episodes between the bigger Power Zone cartoons. Space Ghost is a superhero that travels through the galaxy and fights crime using his super strength, stamina and endurance but especially his armband that has yellow buttons that enable him to use various powers to overwhelm and overpower his opponents including beams of various frequencies and a cloak of invisibility which is activated by pushing a button in his belt. His ship which he uses to travel through the galaxy and outer space is called Phantom Cruiser. This was a show that aroused children's curiosity about space in general along with the Galaxy trio, Herculoids, Fantasic four etc.

iii) Birdman:

                        Birdman is a Hanna Barbara superhero who gets energised when he basks in sunlight and he uses powers like super strength, flight, high energy solar photon beams and shields to fight crime in his home planet. His sidekick is an eagle called "Avenger" who comes to his aid when he ends up in the hands of his enemies and is unable to save himself. This was yet another Power Zone Hanna Barbara filler cartoon that reminds us of times past. 
 

iv) The Herculoids:              

                                 This series consists of a warrior king named Zandor, his wife Tara and their son Dorno. Being the only human inhabitants of their primitive planet. When there was trouble, Zandor summons a group of creatures called the Herculoids - i) Igoo (an ape-man with impenetrable rock-like skin and uncommon strength), ii) Zok (a space dragon that can shoot beams from its eyes and tail), iii) Tundro (a rhino-like beast with rock-like armour and the ability to shoot fiery rocks from an opening it its nose shaped like a horn), iv) Gloop and Gleep (shapeshifting creatures of 2 different sizes that look like amoebae and  possess powers of elasticity allowing them to overpower villains by wrapping themselves around their enemies or be used as rubber bands for catapults). When these creatures came together in battle and worked as a team, they showcased impressive ability to understand human speech and overcome the greatest of enemies.

                

v) The Fantastic-4:
                                Reid Richards, Susan Richards, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are 4 space scietists from Earth who embarked on a trip to space and ended up passing through an electromagnetic storm that turned them into mutants with special abilities which they could use at will. Reid gains the power of elasticity that allows him to use his limbs and his body as if his entire body were 1 rubber band and could therefore extend his body and limbs to great lengths, Sue gains the power of invisibility which she can activate or deactivate at will, Johnny gains the power to turn into a human torch of fire allowing him to use fire and Ben ends up with superhuman strength as his whole body becomes like a rock.Of the 4, Ben is the only one who always retains his rock-like appearance all the time without being able to deactivate it which he sadly regrets. They team up and fight crime using their powers.

vi) Moby Dick:

                            Originally based off the story of Moby Dick and Captain Ahab both of whom were tragic characters with violent personalities. Moby Dick in this series was a friendly whale with 2 boys, Tom and Tubb who became his friends at a time when Moby rescued them from the sea and they embark on undersea adventures along with a pet seal named Scooby fighting crime using Moby's strength. Every time Tom and Tubb get into trouble, they would use a high frequency whistle to call Moby who comes to their rescue, defeats the forces of evil and saves the day using his strength, intelligence and blow hole. This series aroused the curiosity of children about the ocean in general.

While Power Zone itself consisted of big shows, these retro superhero series from the Hanna Barbara line-up were played in between like hidden gems of nostalgia. These are the ones that I recall from my time as a kid when I used to watch Power Zone from 3-5 PM in the evening as filler superhero cartoons from the 60's made by Hanna Barbara which we all grew up watching before Cartoon Network's standards started taking a downward spiral when they started indianising everything. I wrote this blog article both to share my passion and love for these cartoons with you alongside the bigger Power Zone action cartoons which I will deal with in my next article but also to remind myself of these when I get time. They will always be a part of our childhood and now that I have started bringing them up, I hope that we can always come back and enjoy reading up about them and what made them fascinating in their own respects as Hanna Barbara Superheros.