Which memories do names such as “Ana dos Cabelos Ruivos (Anne of Green Gables), o Marco (3000 Leagues in Search of Mother) and “A Família Robinson” (Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island) are triggered? For those who grew up in Portugal during the 70’s 80’s or 90’s were marked by the animated series that were broadcasted in the short number of tv channels. First RTP1 and RTP2 and then later around the 90’s also SIC and TVI. Saturdays’ mornings spent laying on the couch still dressed in our pyjamas drinking hot chocolate milk. How many of us never did that? Today, we remember those moments doing a retrospect of 20 cult animated series.  


1. Heidi made its way into national tv in 1976. “The story of a little orphan girl who lived alongside her grandfather in the Swiss Alps, until  her aunt takes her, against her will, to Frankfurt, to make company to a disabled girl whose father was always absent because of work.
While her grandfather desperately misses his granddaughter, Heidi will go through many misadventures…”(RTP)



2. As Aventuras de Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The series based on the Mark Twain’s Book, first had its début in Portugal in 1981. Tom Sawyer is a troublesome boy who has lived alongside his brother in St. Petersburg with his aunt ever since their parents died. Tom Sawyerd does not like school and goes on many adventures with his friend Huckleberry Finn, who was abandoned by his father.



3. Ana dos Cabelos Ruivos (Anne of Green Gables) first showed up in Portuguese screens in 1987. Ana (Anne) is a 10 year old girl who lives with her adoptive parents, Matias and Matílda (Matthew and Marilla) in Green Gables, a small town near Avonlea. “She is terribly romantic and has a very active imagination. Despite being temperamental  , she is a loyal generous and sincere child whose emotions sometimes get her into trouble” (RTP)



4. Família Robinson (Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island) premiered in Portugal in 1988. It’s the story of Flora (Flone/Becca) and her family who went through a shipwreck and travelled in a raft to a deserted island.



5. Marco (3000 Leagues in Search of Mother) started being broadcasted in Portugal in 1977. The tale of a underprivileged boy in search for his mother.



6. Dartacão (Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds).
“The cartoon started to be broadcasted in Spain in October of 1982 but only came to Portugal a year later. The animated series is based on the book “The three musketeers”.



7. Candy Candy made its way to Portuguese TV in 1983. Candy, abandoned as a baby in an orphanage, was inseparable from Ana (Annie) but her friend gets adopted by a rich family, breaking up the two. Candy starts to live a life of adventure, love and even tragedy. For being considered a polemic series and accused of psychological violence was later banned from Portugal.



8. Abelha Maia (Maya the Honey Bee) came to Portugal in 1978. Adapted from the book “As Aventuras da Abelha Maia (Maya the Bee)”. Tells the tale of a fun and curious bee who prefers going on adventures in the forest instead of going to school. Maia (Maya) has friends such as Willy and grasshopper Flip.



9. “Vickie, o Vicking” (Vicky the Viking) was broadcasted for the first time in Portugal in 1974, with constant reruns trough the 80’s and the 90’s. Vickie ( Vicky) was a little viking  who accompanied his father on his expeditions solving all the troubles that cam their way.



10. “He-Man e os Donos do Universo (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)” made its way to Portugal in 1986. He-man, the prince Adam and heir to the throne of Eternia, protects the universe with his mighty sword from the evil Skeletor.



11. Era Uma Vez... a Vida(Once Upon a Time... Life)  broadcasted for the first time in nacional tv in 1987. This french animated tv series teachs the story of the human body to young children.



12. Calimero is the story of a black anthropomorphized chicken, almost always unhappy wearing an egg's shell for a hat. Nothing ever seems to go right for poor Calimero. Came to Portugal TV in 1987.



13. Estrunfes (Smurfs) are the small blue creatures imagined by Belgian cartoonist “Peyo”. It first came to national TV in the 80’s.



14. Topo Gigio debuted in Portugal in 1981, the loving rat who had conversations with pianist Rui Guedes, always with accompanied by some music.



15. Transformers. Debuted in Portugal in 1989. Hasbro was the main responsible for ordering it so a new line of toys could be launched. It is about robots that could turn themselves into machines, cars or even animals.

16. As Aventuras do Bocas (Ox Tales) was exhibited in Portuguese for the first time in the beginning of the 90’s airing on RTP2 channel and lated featured in a show called “Agora escolha” ( meaning “Now choose”), presented by Vera Roquette ( a Portuguese presenter). These cartoons followed the everyday life of a boll called Bocas (Ollie), who manages his farm while hanging out with his best friend, a turtle named Ted (Tad/jack).



17. Scooby-Doo is an animated series which had for a hero a great and might dog known as Scooby-Doo, product of the imagination of the celebrated duo Hanna-Barbera. Scooby continued passing the test of time  enduring all changes and maintaining his long list of admirers all over the world, who maintain their faith even in the most recent series. It is filled with adventure, mystery, monsters, ghosts and lots of mess-ups. It debuted in Portugal around the final stages of the 80’s.



18. Dragon Ball debuted in Portugal in 1995 on the Portuguese channel SIC, features in a show called “Buéréré”. The main character was Son Goku, a boy with a monkey tail looking for the Dragon’s seven spheres also known as dragon balls aiming to make Shelong, a dragon who can grant any wish, appear. But during his search to accomplish that goal, he will get involved in many battles against numerous surprising villains. (SIC)



19. “Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of shorts created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Mainly, it focuses on a rivalry featuring adventures and pranks. It is a rivalry between a cat named Tom and a rat named Jerry and the many side characters.” (RTP)



20. Looney Tunes. “Who on earth does not know Sylvester, the poor cat who always follows his instincts chasing the most delusional of his meals – Tweety -, or Bugs Bunny, the nice and clever bunny, the most popular of these cartoons, who always manages to escape his hunter Elmer Fudd, disarming him with his most remarkable quote “What’s up duck?”, or even Daffy Duck, the competitive, paranoid, neurotic little black duck victim of numerous injustices spending all his time protesting”” (RTP)



21. Flintstones. This a story about a modern during the Stone Age which lived in a little city called Bedrock. A family that shares adventures with their neighbors. Barney we Betty Rubble. This cartoon was first shown on Portuguese TV in 1970.



22.The Simpsons. The Springfield yellow family, a cartoon show has been on air for more than 26 years. The animation was created by Matt Groening and it is considered to be a satire of North American society.



Note: RTP/RTP2/SIC/TVI and so on are Portuguese TV channels.

Original Text: https://goo.gl/D1LTI2
Chosen and Translated by: Luisa.
Revised by: Badriah.

I chose this article, because I was ( like many of my generation) one of those kids who woke up early on Saturday morning to watch some of these shows while drinking some chocolate milk. Many of these were also seen by my mother like Heidi for example. My generation was marked by these cartoons and tales, many are missing from this list, and I bet that every Portuguese person my age has at least watched one of these. These shows were also very celebrated by the Portuguese dubbing back then, which was hilarious and gave a personal touch to shows that were not made in Portugal. It became a part of our pop culture, some of these are still being rerun although not as often as before. Others were remade in a more recent animation style, like Heidi or Scooby-doo. And Portuguese tv still shows those remakes, introducing these stories to the new generations. Cartoons are a part of every culture, of every child Portuguese or not, it has some influence on you growing up. It is important to remind ourselves of times when these were our reason to get up in the morning, maybe we were even more motivated to do so than as grown-ups and with real responsibilities to put us out of bed early. These shows have been watched by many and I believe it is important to show how in Portugal they were too. Translating the article was a relatively easy, the challenge was finding the characters names in English language, or the English titles, because most of them had been translated to Portuguese. Like the “Ollie” that in Portugal was translated into “Bocas”, for example. Or the show “Smurfs”, that in Portugal was called “Estrufes”.