Mister T

Mister T is a cartoon based on Mr. T, a popular actor and tough guy who at the time of this cartoon's premiere, was rising to fame after his first major role in Rocky III as well as his appearance on The A-Team. This cartoon can also be put on the long list of cartoons copying the Scooby-Doo formula, as it feels like one, only without the monsters.

In this cartoon, Mr. T would start each episode in a live action segment to explain the episode's plot. These live action segments are neat because they are actually there to not only introduce the episode, but also reveal there is actually a moral attached to said episode, which is revealed at the end of each episode. Then we cut to the animated segments, where Mr. T is portrayed as the coach for a youth gymnastics team, composed of teenagers Jeff, Woody, Robin, and Kim. Joined by Robin's little brother Spike, bus driver Ms. Bisby, and Bulldozer, a bulldog with a mohawk haircut owned by Mr. T (as the animal is to fill the role of obligatory animal mascot popular in Scooby clones), Mr. T and the teens get involved in various mysteries each episode, which is set in different locations in the world.

Okay, while this cartoon has a mixed reception, I, for one, am one of those people who actually like this cartoon after seeing this rerun on Adult Swim. Basically, the show is your typical Scooby-Doo clone. The main difference is Mr. T is the star and there are only few episodes with supernatural elements, with most of the villains being terrorists, street gangs, spies from other countries, or other troublemakers. The cartoon is set in the world, however, it does have some fantasy moments, one of them being Mr. T is gifted with superhuman strength, allowing him to do things the real Mr. T would never do (like in the intro where he swings an alligator with ease holding onto only its tail, or in one episode where he rips an iron lock off with his bare hands) as well as a running gag where people who deny the team entry are actually afraid to say no to Mr. T, as they are scared by him. This is a neat cartoon worth checking out.

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

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.

This was a great cartoon series of the 1980's and just like every cartoon from that period it was very moralistic.

Mr T and his team of gymnasts would travel across the USA putting on shows and fighting the bad guys. During the action, the young gymnasts would learn some valuable lesson and about doing things the right way. Whilst Mr T and his team would often get into a scrap with the bad guys they almost always used violence as a last resort.

Cartoons nowadays are not very good in my opinion (sorry kids). Things such as Pokemon cannot ever compete with shows like this. There are a lot of great cartoon shows from the 1980's and all I'll say is they don't make them like this any more.

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.