1990 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.
Events
January January 14: The Simpsons episode "Bart the Genius" first airs featuring the signature title sequence with Bart's chalkboard gag and the family's couch gag. Bart Simpson also uses the phrase "Eat My Shorts" for the first time and the characters Edna Krabappel and Martin Prince first appear. January 21: The Simpsons episode "Homer's Odyssey" first airs with Otto Mann, Chief Wiggum, Waylon Smithers, Jasper Beardsley, Sherri and Terri making their debuts. January 28: The Simpsons episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home" first airs with the policemen Lou and Eddie making their debuts.
February February 4: The Simpsons episode "Bart the General" first airs with Nelson Muntz making his debut. February 11: The Simpsons episode "Moaning Lisa" first airs with Bleeding Gums Murphy making his debut.Moaning Lisa BBC.co.uk. Retrieved August 17, 2008. February 18: The Simpsons episode "The Call of the Simpsons" first airs. February 25: The Simpsons episode "The Telltale Head" first airs with Sideshow Bob, Reverend Lovejoy, Jimbo Jones, Dolph Starbeam, Kearney Zzyzwicz, and the infamous Apu Nahasapeemapetilon making their debuts.
March March 7: The first episode of Pingu is broadcast. March 26: 62nd Academy Awards: Balance wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Alan Menken's soundtrack for The Little Mermaid receives the Academy Award for Best Original Score, Menken and Howard Ashman win the Academy Award for Best Original Song for their song "Under the Sea". The song was performed by singer Samuel E. Wright, and influenced by the musical styles calypso and reggae.
April April 21: The drug prevention TV cartoon Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue airs on four channels at once in the United States. It is notable for officially featuring cartoon characters from different animation studios all together in one film.
May
May 13: The Simpsons concludes its first season on Fox with the episode "Some Enchanted Evening".Groening, Matt (October 28, 2010). Richmond, Ray; Gimple, Scott M.; McCann, Jessie L.; Seghers, Christine; Bates, James W. (eds.). Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1–20 (1st ed.). HarperCollins. .
July July 6: Hanna-Barbera releases Jetsons: The Movie. This movie met negative attention during the release, including the lack of humor and the result of replacing Janet Waldo with then-pop singer Tiffany as the voice of Judy Jetson, as Waldo was dismayed about this. The Jetsons would retire from subsequent medias until 2017.
August August 3: DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, the adaptation to the animated Disney series, is first released, receiving mixed to positive reviews. August 8: The first episode of Moomin is broadcast.
September September 7: The first episode of TaleSpin, produced by the Walt Disney Company, airs. September 8: The first episode of Bobby's World is broadcast. New Kids on the Block, a celebrity animated TV show based on the popularity of the boy band New Kids on the Block airs, but only lasts a season. The first episode of The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 airs. This second installment of Super Mario Bros. by DIC Entertainment hues closer to the NES game. The first episode of Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates airs. Following the success of Saved By the Bell, NBC begins airing independent animated programs for Saturday mornings, including Kid 'n Play and Gravedale High, alongside the sketch series Guys Next Door, which would gain interest to the young adult audiences, prior to the launch of the teen oriented block TNBC two years later. This was skipped out from the Fall 1991 season due to then-president George H. W. Bush signed a deal to air educational programs for children, known as the Children's Television Act, which ended the Saturday morning cartoons on the network quickly after regarding the experience as an overwhelmed disappointment. September 14: Warner Bros. Animation's first original television series Tiny Toon Adventures premieres on CBS. September 15: The first episode of Captain Planet and the Planeteers airs. Season 3 of Garfield and Friends begins on CBS with the premiere of the following episodes: "Skyway Robbery/The Bunny Rabbits is Coming!/Close Encounters of the Garfield Kind" "Astrocat/Cock-A-Doodle Duel/Cinderella Cat" September 13: Woody Woodpecker receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. September 25: The first episode of The Dreamstone airs. September 28: The Danish film War of the Birds is first released. September 29: The first episode of Widget airs.
October October 7: The first episode of Mannetje & Mannetje is broadcast on TV, an adaptation of Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit's photo comic of the same name. This marks the first time that computer techniques are used in Dutch animation. October 11: Season 2 of The Simpsons begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "Bart Gets an "F"". October 19: Fantasia is added to the National Film Registry. October 25: The Simpsons' first ever "Treehouse of Horror" special premieres on Fox. October 27: The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 episode "Kootie Pie Rocks" airs as it features the animated versions of European boy band members Milli Vanilli, who got busted for lip-syncing nearly three weeks later. The episode from its original broadcast became coveted as the Milli Vanilli songs were replaced by generic instrumentals for subsequent reruns owing to the scandal.
November November 16: The Walt Disney Company releases The Rescuers Down Under, directed by Hendel Butoy and Mike Gabriel. It is the first animated Disney film to use the CAPS system, the first to fully use digital ink and paint, and the first to be produced without cameras. The same day, the film studio also releases The Prince and the Pauper by George Scribner. November 17: Garfield and Friends concludes its third season on CBS with the following episodes: "Mistakes Will Happen/The Well Dweller/The Wise Man" "Star Struck/Election Daze/Dirty Business" November 29: Peter in Magicland premieres.
December December 6: The Simpsons episode "Bart the Daredevil" is first broadcast, featuring the classic scene where Homer Simpson skateboards over a gorge. After the episode, the animated music video Do the Bartman, starring The Simpsons and co-written by Bryan Loren and Michael Jackson, is first broadcast. December 20: The Simpsons episode "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" is first broadcast.
Specific date unknown Milan Blažeković's The Magician's Hat premieres, which is the sequel to The Elm-Chanted Forest. This is Blažeković's second film produced from Croatia FilmMUBI and the only one to be released exclusively in Croatia. JoWonder's The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp premieres.
Films released
January 1 - The Mind's Eye: A Computer Animation Odyssey (United States) January 3 - The Murtal Master and 108 Youkai (South Korea) January 16 - The Trace Leads to the Silver Lake (East Germany) February 3 - The Murder Ticket Is Heart-Colored (Japan) February 24 - Ojisan Kaizō Kōza (Japan) February 25 - An Idol at Will (Japan) March 1: The Curse of Kazuo Umezu (Japan) Gdleen (Japan) March 10: Doraemon: Nobita and the Animal Planet (Japan) Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (Japan) March 21: Carol: A Day in a Girl's Life (Japan) Like the Clouds, Like the Wind (Japan) March 23 - I skog och mark (Sweden) March 31 - Maroko (Japan) April 3 - Obatarian (Japan) April 14 - Heavy (Japan) April 25 - Onimaru – Five Youths Running on the Battlefield (Japan) April 28 - Flight of the White Wolf (Japan) June 1 - How the Shoemakers Raised a War for a Red Skirt (Czechoslovakia) June 4 - Summer with Kuro (Japan) June 12 - Black Bento (Japan) June 23 - Gude Crest – The Emblem of Gude (Japan) July 6 - Jetsons: The Movie (United States) July 7 - Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (Japan) July 14 - Soreike! Anpanman: Baikinman no Gyakushuu (Japan) July 20 - Lupin III: The Hemingway Papers (Japan) July 21 - Project A-Ko Versus Battle 1: Gray Side (Japan) July 28 - Robot Taekwon V 90 (South Korea) August 3 - DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (United States) August 19 - The Magician's Hat (Yugoslavia) August 21 - Project A-Ko Versus Battle 2: Blue Side (Japan) August 24 - Riki-Oh 2: Child of Destruction (Japan) August 25: City Hunter: Bay City Wars (Japan) City Hunter: Million Dollar Conspiracy (Japan) "Eiji" (Japan) Marina the Manga Artist Goes to Camelot (Japan) August 26 - Soreike! Anpanman: Minami no Umi o Sukue! (Japan) September 14 - The Fine Feathered Friend Movie (United States) September 15 - Kobo-chan Special: Filled with Autumn!! (Japan) September 22 - Tenjōhen – Utsunomiko (Japan) September 28 - War of the Birds (Denmark) October 1 - Aries: Shinwa no Seiza Miya (Japan) October 17 - Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (Japan) November 1 - New Karate Hell Weird: Blood Apocalypse (Japan) November 16 - The Rescuers Down Under (United States) November 21 - The Nutcracker Prince (Canada) & (United States) November 29: Peter in Magicland (Germany) Werner – Beinhart! (Germany) December - Desperta Ferro (Spain and Germany) December 15 - Chibi Maruko-chan (Japan) December 20 - Dragon and Slippers (United States, United Kingdom, and Hungary) December 21 - New Karate Hell Weird: Blood War Gate (Japan) December 22 - A Wind Named Amnesia (Japan) December 28 - Sword for Truth (Japan) December 29 - The Adventures of Lotty (South Korea) Specific date unknown: The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (United Kingdom) From Tale to Tale (Soviet Union) Naksitrallid (Estonia)
Television series debuts
Date Title Channel Year January 1 Maya the Bee Nickelodeon 1990 September 1 Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone Syndication 1990 The New Adventures of He-Man September 3 Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny & Friends Syndication, Fox Kids 1990–1994 September 7 TaleSpin The Disney Channel, Syndication 1990–1991 September 8 Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Fox Kids Bobby's World 1990–1998 Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates 1990–1991 Zazoo U 1990 New Kids on the Block ABC Little Rosey 1990–1991 The Wizard of Oz 1990 The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 NBC Tom & Jerry Kids Fox Kids 1990–1993 Gravedale High NBC 1990 Kid 'n Play September 14 Tiny Toon Adventures Syndication, Fox Kids 1990–1992 September 15 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures CBS, Fox Kids 1990–1991 Captain Planet and the Planeteers TBS 1990–1996 Piggsburg Pigs! Fox Kids 1990 September 16 The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda Syndication 1990–1991 September 17 Wake, Rattle, and Roll September 29 Widget September 30 The Dreamstone ITV, CITV 1990–1995
Television series endings Date Title Channel Year Notes January 21 Fantastic Max Syndication 1988–1990 Cancelled November 19 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers The Disney Channel, Syndication 1989–1990 November 24 Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone Syndication 1990 November 28 DuckTales 1987–1990 Ended December 1 Alvin and the Chipmunks NBC 1983–1990 The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 1990 Cancelled Gravedale High December 7 The New Adventures of He-Man Syndication December 8 Zazoo U Fox Kids Kid 'n Play NBC December 14 New Kids on the Block ABC December 15 Piggsburg Pigs! Fox Kids December 28 The Wizard of Oz ABC
Births
January January 4: Spencer Rothbell, American television writer (Clarence, Victor and Valentino, Twelve Forever) and voice actor (voice of Miguelito in Victor and Valentino, Colin in Twelve Forever, continued voice of the title character in Clarence).