Aliens from Melmac! Singing chipmunks! College-age arachnids and their Amazing Friends! Teenage werewolves! I started working on this compilation series early on in the pandemic but never published them here. When I culled my VHS collection a couple summers ago, I kept the horror, certain ‘80s and ‘90s action stuff, some select rare tapes, and the cartoons which inform these comps. There’s some good stuff here.
Vol. 1 VHS Grab Bag Edition
This was part of a pre-pandemic lineup of cartoons I showed during a late-nite screening at the cinema. It’s all over the place: DC, Marvel, even one of those KidVid read-along tapes, one of the few Super Powers-branded tapes I own. (Running time 2:02.03). Download
Vol. 2 Cartoon All-Stars Edition
Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue was a 1990 anti-drug PSA that featured pretty much every cartoon character on the air at the time. Alf, Muppet Babies, Garfield, The Real Ghostbusters, Bugs Bunny, try to save a kid from a drug-pushing cloud called Smoke, voiced by a very restrained George C. Scott. Catchy tunes! The tape was a free rental at the video store, not unlike that Arsenio Hall and Magic Jonson HIV thing a couple years later. This comp also features a Chipmunks special, plus an episode of a particular wrestling cartoon. (Running time 1:24.40). Download
Vol. 3 More Than Meets The Eye Edition
I only had one Transformer figure growing up (can’t remember their name), but I watched the heck out of the cartoon on Saturday mornings. Here’s one of the best two-parters in the first series, preceded by a really amazing assortment of commercials. You’ll love this lineup. (Running time 1:15.10). Download
Vol. 4 The House of Ideas Edition
Excelsior! Updated for 2021! Over two hours of Marvel cartoons from the ‘60s to the ‘90s! Includes a great Namor story (underrated series imo), Magneto driving a goofy car, my favourite Spider-Woman episode, Spider-Man taking on The Lizard, and Cap vs. The Red Skull! Plus! Action figure commercials from Mego to Toy Biz and Spider-Man video game adverts from Atari to Sega CD. (Running time 2:29.39). Download
Vol. 5 Missed the Bus Edition
This one’s been in my head for some time -- to recreate the cartoons I’d watch every morning before catching the bus to school. The mornings tended to start with my dad waking me up for the ‘60s Trans Lux Hercules, and followed (depending on the year) by The Real Ghostbusters, Care Bears, Alvin & The Chipmunks and Inspector Gadget. For a while in 1989, YTV broadcast re-runs of The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Commercials on this comp are from a Global TV broadcast-recording from 1988, provided by Retrontario. (Running time 1:51.23). Download
Vol. 6 Locomotives, tall buildings, detectives, etc.
Over three hours of DC animation spanning the ‘40s to the ‘90s. I was one of those rare DC > Marvel kids so putting this one together was fun. Animation courtesy Fleischer, Filmation, Ruby-Spears, and the WB studio that brought us Batman: TAS. As per usual, plenty of toy and promotional ads from the ‘70s to the ‘80s. (Running time 3:06.19). Download
Vol. 7 Swords, sorcery & Muppets
The last two cartoon releases been been super-hero focused, so this one is anything but — He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, Dungeons & Dragons, and Hulk Hogan’s Rock & Wrestling. Plus some amazing commercials and Saturday morning promos courtesy of the 1989 weekday morning lineup on the Global Television Network. (Running time 2:39.44, 1.28gb). Download
Vol. 8 Holiday Mix-tape 2021
Massive six hour edition! I’ve been sitting on some Christmas tapes for some time now and put together a holiday-themed comp. It’s a mix of animation and live-action — stuff that I watched a lot as a kid. It features A Garfield Christmas, A Christmas Dream (with Mr. T & Emmanuel Lewis, the Koopa Klaus episode of the Super Mario Bros. Show, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, A Chipmunk’s Christmas, Christmas on Division Street (featuring the original commercials) and The Christmas Raccoons. Plus at least an hour of holiday commercials from the 80s! (Running time 6:08.56, 3.0gb). Download
Vol. 9 Thundercats Tribute Edition!
This one is overdue! The arrival of Thundercats in 1985 was the first time my love for all things Masters of the Universe was questioned. I only had a few of the figures, one of which was Jaga. I lent it to a friend and apparently his neighbour stole it. I did have a good collection of the mini figures, including the mini Cat’s Lair. And the Panini sticker-book was tops. I acquired the “Exodus” VHS tape earlier this year and wanted to compile the episode with some toy commercials and show advert spots. Hope you dig it. (Running time 1:28.32, 735mb.) Download
Vol. 10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Edition
I’ve been wanting to make a TMNT VHS mix-tape ever since @candyandcorpses sent me a Turtles cassette earlier this year. So here it is: A two-part episode of the original cartoon, mixed in with some toy and merchandise commercials, as well as some news hits from the release of the first movie from 1990 (a big weekend in my childhood). It’s on the shorter side of the mix-tapes I’ve been making for the last few years but I think it’s a lot of fun. (Running time 57:05, 472.7mb) Download
