Mister T

If you were on top of your game,and had a hit television series in prime-time during the 1980's,all you had to do was basically come up with a great catch phrase and be a outstanding role model for kids,then you can be just like Mister T. This is how he got his own Saturday Morning cartoon show.

Ruby-Spears Productions(another animation studio founded by former Hanna-Barbera producers Joesph Ruby and Kenneth Spears during the late 1970's and continued into the early 1990's),the creators of such Saturday Morning shows as "Fangface","The Adventures of Plasticman", "Goldie Gold and Action Jack","Heathcliff and Marmaduke",and the greatest Saturday Morning action adventure cartoon ever made "Thundarr The Barbarian" came up again with another winner as well which became one of the milestone cartoons of the 1980's,"The Adventures of Mister T",or aka "Mister T",that premiered on NBC's Saturday Morning schedule in 1983. At the time this show came on,Mister T was one of the most celebrated stars on television,playing the tough as nails B.A. Baracus opposite George Peppard in prime-time on one of the network's most highly rated show,"The A-Team". In the cartoon which was devised by legendary comic artist Jack Kirby and scripted by cult comic writer Steve Gerber(who also wrote the pilot episode). In the cartoon,Mister T plays basically himself as a coach and mentor not to mention protected guardian to a group of gymnasts who travelled the world while becoming involved in and solving various mysteries. At the beginning of each episode(and this was the live-action introduction)features Mister T himself to explain what is going on. And at the end of each lesson,Mister T narrates a moral lesson for the audience.

In the animated segment of the show Mister T gets to tour around the world with a group of kids who were members of the U.S. Gymnastics team (which consists of an diversity of kids from different countries and cultures)along with their well-mannered team bus driver Ms. Bisby. Not to mention a dog with a mohawk and one of the kids' little brother too who is a Mr. T wannabe with the sleeveless denim shirt and jewelry...and get this as far as the comic relief was concern in some of the episodes,it wasn't the dog with the mohawk,but that stupid little annoying brat who was the most infantile of characters! As far as the episodes were concern,yeah it was a blantant rip-off of the Scooby Doo formula,but still the action never lets up with the gang encountering crimes that take place along the tour,and basically making the badguys PAY! Some of the episodes followed the same pattern by having some crime occurring and one of the kids finding out about it and telling Mister T what they saw. Then Mister T and the gang would catch up and take care of business. During some of the action,the young gymnastics would learn some valuable lesson and doing things the right way...Whilst Mister T steps in to do some damage to the baddies and would often used violence as a last resort(the violence in this show was very mild but always under the radar from the advocate of censors that were consistingly watching the show!!!)

During some of the segments,Mister T often gave out great advice to kids as well as some of the morals lessons in just about every episode like He-Man and G.I. Joe. These lessons involved safety tips for kids like for example telling kids not to talk to strangers and develop a special code or bond with their friend using "the buddy system". Also more interesting enough was him telling kids in case a stranger was picking them up who was NOT a member of the family(inpersonation of a family member)or NOT to except gifts or other stuff from strangers. Geez imagine how many less missing or exploited children there would be if someone told them this? He also mention to kids what can you do in your neighborhood. At the end ,T would punctuate his advice by pointing his finger to the camera to the baddies by saying,"Take it for me MR.T!" Mister T would also blazed the trail for other animated shows featuring Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos,and Rambo:The Force Of Freedom that would set the standard during the 80's.

One of the many milestone cartoons of the 1980's. Involved Mr T. touring around with a team of gymnasts, a kid (Mr T wannabe with the sleeveless denim shirt) and a dog with a mo-hawk. The gang would encounter crimes taking place along the tour...and make the badguys PAY!

Most episodes followed the pattern some crime occurring and the kid finding out about it and getting into trouble. Then Mr.T and the gang would catch up and take care of business. The dog was there for comic relief...

At the end we would always the real live Mr T. would appear and tell us the moral of the story, how the kid could have avoided trouble, and what you can do in your own neighborhood. At the end, T would punctuate his advice by pointing his finger to the camera (a subconscious threat to the bad guys),saying, "Take it from ME...MR T!"

Role model cartoons like this were the standard in 80's, with Mr T blazing the trail for Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos, and Rambo: The Force of Freedom. But none of those other guys ever grabbed a crocodile by its tail, swung it around, and threw it off the screen during the opening sequence.

MRT in cartoon form. With a gymnastics team. How delightful

Well meaning but ultimately poor quality cartoon from the early 80s, typical of that time period. Corny with stilted voice performances and painfully trite dialogue, its value today is mainly kitsch, which explains its extremely late night/early morning showing now on Adult Swim.

Like GI Joe and other cartoons of the period, the cheap, unimaginative animation is accompanied by a morality lesson. Unlike those shows, however, the plots are generally oriented in some form around the central moral lesson rather than merely tacked-on as a didactic lecture by the cartoon lead at the end (though there is a non-animated "wrap up" of the lesson by Mr. T at the end).

I give it credit for trying hard to teach basic values, but I was 11 years old when this came out and I would have found it cheesy (had I seen it during its original airing - frankly, I don't remember it).

Personally I do not understand, beyond basic nostalgia for Saturday Mornings and so on, why so many people consider the 80s some kind of golden age for animation; it wasn't. Animation was cheap, much of it looked the same, and the artwork was poor, generic - workmanlike, even.

Nickelodeon in many ways set the standard for at very least making cartoons look distinctive. This cartoon, like most others of the period, pale in comparison with more recent offerings like Spongebob Squarepants, Dexter's Laboratory, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and so on. These cartoons may not have the Reagan-era moralizing, but they do have style (and surrealism, and imagination) and considerably more talented voice actors and far, far less stilted dialogue. (Not that every modern cartoon has something unique to offer but there are far better choices now.) Speaking of voice actors, I notice that Phil LaMarr did some of his first voice work on this cartoon. He would become a considerable talent (voice-wise) in years to come.

In some sense Mr. T is a good example of a time when animation was not taken seriously as an art form; rather, it was sold as "product" to kids, and like many sugar cereals advertised during showings of these kinds of cartoons, there's not much substance here, artistically.

Reviewing this, or at least summarizing this as an adult of today: Mr. T is a Jesse White sort of thug with gold chains that has a group of tumblers with him who are all minors and Mr. T routinely places them in harms way while teaching them that violence solves problems.

Reviewing this as a kid that grew up in the '80s: MR. T!!!!!!!!!!!! Wait, there are other characters in it? Who cares.

MR. T!!!!!!!!! It's a shame he's not really famous any more...kids like me, kids all over the world LOVED him and, unlike MOST child celebrities, Mr. T has no dark secrets that destroyed his career.

He was awesome and we want him back...

And you know, he's from Chicago too so hometown loyalty and all.