Mayfair Marathon - Vol. 1 (Part 2) | Multi-Cartoon Review

Welcome back, my beautiful fairies, to our review of all the cartoons showcased at the latest “The Mayfair’s The Saturday Morning All-You-Can-Eat-Cereal Cartoon Party”. We have three more cartoon episodes and two more animated shorts to get through. So why don't you get the bowls ready and let's chill out with some cool cartoons? Let's wrap this party up!

“Pizza Bird Delivers!” - Samurai Pizza Cats (1990)

Winner of the strangest title so far (but not the strangest premise, thanks to Turbo Teen), Samurai Pizza Cats (originally Kyattou Ninden Teyandee) was made by Tatsunoko Production and Sotsu Agency, which originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo for a total of 54 episodes from 1990 to 1991. After the show’s original Japanese run, Saban bought the rights to translate the show, and has since dubbed the show into various languages such as English, French, Spanish, and more. The stars of the show are three cats who protect the city of Little Tokyo, which fuses feudal Japan with then-contemporary culture, and is populated by cybernetic anthropomorphic animals. While defending the city from evil, the cats are making a living at a pizzeria with a giant gun on top of the building to launch out of whenever they need to literally shoot themselves into battle. Our heroes for this series are the leader Speedy (voiced by Rick Jones), love-sick Guido (voiced by Terrence Scammell), and cutesy brawler Polly (voiced by Sonja Ball).

This is technically an anime, which is not usually my cup of tea. It’s not that I dislike anime, there’s a lot of anime I like- especially movies. I can’t ever say no to a Ghibli film, and The Mayfair was also where I watched (and loved) Wolf Children for the first time. But anime just typically doesn’t interest me in the same way western cartoons do, as I’m not always fond of anime tropes. Which is good here, because the English dub of Samurai Pizza Cats is one big anime troll. When Saban licensed the English version, proper translations of and information about the original Japanese episodes were either of poor quality or non-existent, so it was decided to write completely original dialogue for the English dub. The English dub of this show is entirely different from its Japanese original, turning into an over-the-top wacky action/comedy full of pop culture references, fourth-wall obliterations, and a total mockery of anime clichés. Now normally this would be perfect for me as someone who can’t stand quite a handful of these clichés, but Samurai Pizza Cats is the very definition of a double-edged sword (or katana in this case… or cat-tana). Samurai Pizza Cats both makes fun of annoying anime tropes… and uses a ton of other annoying anime tropes. This show is very loud and fast-paced, which a lot of anime already is. The characters are constantly yelling, and when they aren’t yelling, they’re talking hyperactively and even stumble over each other’s lines. So while it is genuinely funny in its attacking of anime trappings, it also stumbles into pitfalls itself. And I do want to say that I didn’t hate this show despite its clichés; I mean it when I say I did find this show funny. The theme song even mocks itself with the lyrics: “As soon as someone finds a script we might begin the show.” Setting up the tone of this series and its episode right away.

 

The episode’s premise? Main villain The Big Cheese (voiced by Dean Hagopian) is low on cash and unable to pay his minions, which is already a pretty comedic set-up that mocks generic evil emperor tropes you find in a lot of adventure or fantasy cartoons. This forces his Ninja Crows to find part-time jobs, so recurring evil minion Bad Bird (voiced by the late Michael O'Reilly) takes a job at the pizzeria. Though it is quite funny the villains appear clueless about the identities and location of the Samurai Pizza Cats when there’s a cat-run pizzeria in town with a LITERAL GIANT GUN on top of the restaurant. Guido and Speedy are obviously displeased at their enemy being on staff, but their boss Francine (voiced by Pauline Little) is happy to hire him as the increased traffic to their restaurant has left the two main male leads so exhausted that they literally beg for commercial breaks in the show itself. Get used to the fourth-wall being non-existent in this show, as an overly-dramatic narrator is constantly quipping about our heroes and their situations. Plus, with their identities somehow being secret (despite wearing their armor even when working at the pizza shop), the cats have to pretend they don’t know who Bad Bird is, leading to many comedic misunderstandings and silly names.

With not being paid in three weeks by his evil boss, Bad Bird finds true joy and purpose working at the pizza shop, becoming a model employee to the point where Speedy and Guido fear losing their jobs. However, Bad Bird is soon faced with juggling his new job and his old one with The Big Cheese, where he’s roped into yet another evil scheme: poisoning the city with laughing gas so that people will finally laugh at The Big Cheese’s unfunny jokes. The episode is really good at making Bad Bird likable and interesting enough, as you do genuinely feel for him when he’s forced to go back to the dark side after trying so hard to be good and change his ways. The scene where he and Speedy talk together, with Bad Bird thanking him for the chance to be good before he retreats back to villainy, is quite touching albeit brief due to the fast pace. I assume if I watched the previous episodes (this is canonically episode 21), I’d be more emotionally attached or find the set-up of a villainous fish-out-of-water more compelling. But even without context, the episode is still fun. According to Wikipedia, Bad Bird actually does get redeemed later on in the series, which makes this episode extra nice for both fans of this franchise and newcomers like me. 

Yeah, this show is annoying at times, but it’s also got fun action scenes, strong comedic timing, decent creativity, spunky dialogue, and a sweet aura of just having a ridiculous time with a ridiculous premise. The animation is pretty good for 1990. Anime tends to be extremely detailed, and I really do enjoy the chunky and colorful look this series has going on. This show’s expressions are sublime. The faces these cats pull are hysterical and the physical comedy is up to snuff. However, the expressions also highlight how Guido and Speedy are drawn with more feline features than characters like Polly or Francine, who clearly just have human faces with a crude little cat nose placed on top. But that really is a nitpick. This show has an earnesty and endearing charm in all its cheese, much like many of the shows reviewed so far, and is great fun if you’re an anime fan or not. Samurai Pizza Cats certainly delivers on that front!

“Dr. What” - Roger Ramjet (1965)

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! After the last 1960s cartoon we watched, I was worried about this one being equally as bad. Thankfully, Roger Ramjet is playfully cheeky and adorably simple, but that’s to its benefit rather than a feeling of being archaic. Roger Ramjet is an American superhero cartoon from 1965, starring Roger Ramjet (voiced by Gary Owens) and his American Eagle Squadron. Roger Ramjet himself is a cartoonishly-patriotic hero and jet fighter pilot fighting a variety of campy villains with an exaggerated sense of morality, saving the world with help from his Proton Energy Pills, which give him “the strength of twenty atom bombs for a period of twenty seconds”.

Much like how Samurai Pizza Cats felt like a parody of 1990s anime, this show feels like a parody of stereotypical pulp comics and 1950s animated programming, which I was not expecting something this old to be this tongue-and-cheek. While the show was created by Fred Crippen, the animation style and humor give me memories of Jay Ward and his works like Rocky and Bullwinkle. This was one year after that animated disaster based on King Kong, and already the quality has taken a huge leap upwards. The animation is incredibly simple. But thankfully it’s a show that knows how to work within the limitations of being simplistic, choosing to focus on snappy dialogue and an atmosphere of hokey fun rather than pitifully attempting action and story like King Kong. 

The show has a frenetic pace, breakneck dialogue, and frequent pop culture references, giving the show an appeal for both adults and kids, despite the silly nature of many cartoons of its era. However, it uses that silliness to its advantage to create a charming little series of five-minute adventure shorts. In today’s episode, the evil Dr. What is trying to poison the minds of America’s kids by counterfeiting comic books in which the bad guys win and the heroes are portrayed as incompetent buffoons in order to make the villains seem like cool role models for kids to emulate. Already, the premise is pretty funny. And it thankfully remains endearingly so as the short episode continues. Roger’s own moral outrage at comic books of heroes being portrayed so foolishly, including a running gag where Roger’s comic book has him beaten by a chicken which I won’t spoil the punchline of, is cute in its dorky energy. Not going to lie, I kind of want to read some of these silly comic books where the heroes are taken out by stubbed toes and shoelaces. He’s as much of a satire of overly-moral American superheroes as they can make him, which actually helps in making him rather wholesome. Roger himself is adorably dim, but remains a likable cartoon hero without coming across as too stupid to be unlikable. And that’s a good word for this cartoon: likable. Obviously nothing mindblowing, but it’s clearly taking the piss out of itself. According to Wikipedia, many of the production personnel would go on to be involved with Sesame Workshop after Roger Ramjet's run. So this show clearly paved the way for better things to come in the future. So with that, it’s hard to hate. 

Roger Ramjet is a fun time if you like quick five-minute shorts with awkward but engaging senses of humor. It lasted for over 5 seasons, so there’s plenty to enjoy. Nothing more to add other than now I want to see what would happen if Roger Ramjet joined the MCU. (Nah, he’s too good for them.)

“The Video Nappers” - Wolf Rock TV (1984)

Oh boy, I don’t get to pick the cartoons played at The Mayfair, so I don’t get to pick what I review in this marathon. So let me be blunt and state that there are a few types of cartoons I never review out of personal annoyance: political cartoons like propaganda is an obvious one, but another genre I avoid like the plague are celebrity cartoons. There’s many reasons why I don't like reviewing these types of shows. 

1. I don’t like celebrity culture. And having to look all this stuff up bores me to tears. It can also gross me out with all these self-indulgent, consumerist, and narcissistic lifestyles. That sort of stuff just makes me uncomfortable. 

2. I don’t like spending most of my research time on celebrities. When I do reviews I like learning about the animation, the writing process, how the show got developed, maybe the voice actors’ background at the very most, etc. I don’t want to waste my time on some singer or athlete I don’t care about. 

3. These shows generally age extremely poorly to the point of researching them being absolute cringe at best and disgustingly humiliating at worst. Little Ellen or Mike Tyson Mysteries anyone?

4. It’s hard to decide what counts as a celebrity based cartoon sometimes. Do cartoons made by celebrities count? For example, can you call Kuu Kuu Harajuku a cartoon based on Gwen Stefani, or simply created by her? Does it count when all the characters are original creations not based on anyone? Do cartoons starring celebrities in different roles not based on themselves count, such as Marie Osmond in my previously-reviewed Rose Petal Place? Does Bobby’s World count as a cartoon based on Howie Mandel, or one of his characters?

So with that said, I didn’t like looking up who the late 1980s radio personality and disc jockey Wolfman Jack was in preparation for this review of a cartoon based on his radio persona. All I know is that he existed, he had a very over-the-top and popular personality on the radio, and that was enough reason to give him a cartoon the same year as Turbo Teen. And this show frankly makes that show look like a masterpiece- unironically this time!

 

Wolfman Jack (real name Robert Weston Smith)

Wolf Rock TV was produced by the infamous DIC Enterprises, as well as Dick Clark Productions. The show lasted a pathetically short run of only 7 episodes, not even the standard 13, due to extremely low ratings. The ratings on this show were so bad that re-runs of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts were what replaced it. This means people were more willing to tolerate Scrappy-Doo than this cartoon. (Yep, we’re in trouble!) The series eventually re-aired in syndication in 1989 with Kidd Video, another infamously terrible cartoon based on rock music, in a segment known as The Wolf Rock Power Hour. No big shock that due to the licensing Hell this show was by its inception, there’s practically no physical copies or any way to watch this show legally other than through bootlegs found online, though some animation cells and merchandise relating to the show have surfaced. Yes, we’re dealing with a show so bad that it actively was scrubbed from ever being aired or released again. Buckle up!

From my tone of writing, you can figure out that I did not like this cartoon one bit. Even ignoring my biases for celebrity based cartoons aside, this cartoon is garbage. It tries to have a fun atmosphere of highly-energetic tunes and wacky music-related escapades, but the execution is bare-bones and underbaked. Considering this is also the first episode of the entire show, it does a horrible job establishing any character, story, or even formula. The premise is that Wolfman Jack hosts a rock music TV program with three teenagers, a comic relief parrot named Bopper, and a stuffy rock-hating manager named Mr. Morris. None of the characters have any personality or memorability whatsoever, not even Wolfman Jack himself. It’s even difficult to remember their names. The show mixes animation with music videos and live-action interviews with real life rock stars. For example, this episode has a brief interview with the late rock queen Tina Turner. You think this show would have great music at the very least, what with being a show based on music, starring a radio jockey, and having a score composed by Shuki Levy and Haim Saban (the same people who composed the soundtracks and theme songs to shows such as The Real Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget, M.A.S.K., Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and the Power Rangers franchise). Not to mention this show has a cast of really talented voice actors, including ones already talked about in this marathon, such as Frank Welker, Pat Fraley, Linda Gary, Tress MacNeille, Danny Mann, and Maurice LaMarche. But no! The theme song not only has a bland melody and unmemorable lyrics, sounding like generic stock music you’d find in a Roblox game, but the overall soundtrack across the cartoon is boring as well. I don’t get any sense of passion from the original music in this show, nor in the stories they tell.

Speaking of stories, this episode is about these two bumbling street musicians who ruin their instruments and decide robbing a music museum of rock-and-roll artifacts that Wolfman Jack and his crew are at is the best course of action. The villains, if you can call them that, have no thought or logic to their plans. They could rob a music store for new instruments, or any store for their money, but instead choose to rob a highly-guarded and popular museum display of instruments belonging to music icons. The story itself is non-existent because the characters are too bland to be invested in and the writing has no characterization or humor whatsoever. Because this show isn’t about the story. This is simply a glorified animated bumper for music videos. Not original music videos, but music videos you could get from any other music-focused channel at the time. This episode features Huey Lewis’s song “The Power of Love”, famous for featuring in the soundtrack for the movie Back to the Future. And by features, I mean it just plays the entirety of the music video itself in the middle of the story before clumsily cutting back to the “adventure”, including both footage of Huey Lewis and clips from Back to the Future. So if there was the smallest of chances you were actually invested in this dreadfully dull cartoon, it cuts away to a disconnected music video unrelated to the episode. 

 

This is one of the first cartoons I’ve ever seen that really doesn’t want to be a cartoon. The animated sections are so flavorless that they feel like an obligation to haphazardly glue this poor music video on. The cartoon is completely obsolete, and I doubt it was even convenient or entertaining for the time either. Surely it would’ve been easier buying the cassette, recording the music video onto a VHS, going to the theatre to watch the movie it was attached to, or better yet, just waiting for it to play on the radio. Wolfman Jack probably would’ve played it! Speaking of, Wolfman Jack as a character barely does anything in his own cartoon other than give the kids advice to save the day and give half-hearted interviews and minute-long documentaries on rock stars. This cartoon implies he has magical powers, but as expected, the show does nothing with the concept of a magical werewolf radio host. Even if you liked the celebrity this cartoon is attached to, you’d be severely let down by how little the main star is utilized. The animation isn’t terrible and the voice acting is passable, including Frank Welker doing his Slimer voice for Bopper, but this cartoon is a product of its time in the worst possible way, to the point where watching it nowadays feels pointless. 

With that being said, I do want to see cartoons like this preserved. Even bad cartoons need to get archived, and I am a staunch believer in that any cartoon should be accessible to anyone. I’m a huge supporter of cartoons being freely available online and on various other media outlets like DVDs, and Wolf Rock TV is no exception… even if, yes, the quality is absolutely terrible. I feel I’ve preached long enough, but the pitiful story is an afterthought, the cardboard characters wish upon stars to become real, the antagonists aren’t a threat and make no sense, and the celebrity influence is surface level. If you want to watch this cartoon, and I mean really want to watch it, your best bet is watching “The Power of Love” music video and an episode of your favorite cartoon right after or in between. It’s no big shocker that Wolf Rock TV was fed to the wolves for a reason. 

“Dizzy Dishes” - Little Audrey (1955)

Who the Hell is Little Audrey? Well, allow me to introduce you to her. Little Audrey was a cartoon series created back in 1947 only because Paramount Pictures decided not to renew the license on Little Lulu, the comic strip character created by Marjorie Henderson Buell. Nope, not joking! Their animation department, Famous Studios, created Audrey only because they were lazy and cheap. Goes to show you how much effort they put into her, eh? She was mostly from the design of veteran animator Bill Tytla, who reportedly was inspired by his daughter Tammy. Little Audrey herself would be voiced by Mae Questel, whose character voices included Betty Boop, Olive Oyl from the Popeye cartoons, and most of Paramount's other major female cartoon characters. Following her animated success, Famous Studios animator Steve Muffatti drew a short-lived Little Audrey comic strip in 1951. Harvey Comics purchased the rights to all of Famous' original properties in 1958, thus acquiring the rights to all of Adurey’s cartoons and comics. By 1960, Little Audrey was the best known of Harvey's female characters due to her multi-media presence (comic books, television/theatrical animation, and newspaper strips), although her popularity was later eclipsed by the company's other female characters, Little Dot, Wendy the Good Little Witch and Little Lotta. (A lot of little-somethings, as you can see!) But when the most exciting one of your company’s characters is Casper the Friendly Ghost, your collection of characters isn’t that exciting. However, she and the other female Harvey Comic characters were purchased by DreamWorks and eventually rebooted with the 2018 cartoon Harvey Girls Forever! The reboot was successful enough with 4 seasons, but was eventually cancelled after low ratings and taken off of Netflix in 2025. 

Little Audrey isn’t the most interesting thing in the world, as her only real defining trait is a big imagination, but thankfully her short is decently entertaining for what it is. Audrey is indulging in an exciting sci-fi story, until her mother makes her wash the dishes. Audrey has the idea to take the dishes to her inventor’s garage and make a contraption to wash for her. As it does the work, Audrey goes to sleep and dreams about aliens in teacup saucers with the power to disintegrate anything their weapons touch. Only Audrey, with her superweapons, can stop them. Audrey herself is adorable, albeit following conventions seen in dozens of other cartoon little girls. But her antics are decently enjoyable for what they are, and it’s fun to see her use these quirky inventions inspired by common household objects to fight back aliens. But there’s simply not a whole lot of content within this short, however. Little Audrey isn’t bad, but it’s fairly generic and it’s easy to see why she isn’t often looked back on fondly. If you enjoy 1950s animated shorts, I guess it can be your cup of tea, but it’s only really enjoyable for cute visuals rather than interesting scenarios or wit.

“Magnetic Menace” - Mighty Orbots (1984)

1984 seems to be the main year we’re getting all these shows from, eh? Mighty Orbots is an American-Japanese mecha anime created by Fred Silverman, probably to cash in on the popularity of other robotic Japanese anime and western cartoons like Transformers. It was created in a joint collaboration of TMS Entertainment, Inc., Intermedia Entertainment, and MGM/UA Television. It was directed by veteran anime director Osamu Dezaki and features character designs by Akio Sugino. And oh boy, am I genuinely excited to talk about this one!

Opening Narration: “Earth, the 23rd Century. A time of robots and aliens, and of destruction and terror. Can the Galactic Patrol, defender of the United Planets stop the evil computer, Umbra? You bet they can, meet Rob Simmons the secret inventor of feisty Ohno, mighty Tor, versatile Bort, elusive Boo, Bo the master of the elements, and Crunch the metal muncher, super robots forging together at Rob's command to form Mighty Orbots, champion of the Universe.”

In this sci-fi future of the 23rd Century, humans, aliens and robots have banded together to promote peace throughout the galaxy, forming the United Planets, all under the watch of the Galactic Patrol. But a powerful criminal organization called SHADOW is out to destroy both the United Planets and the Galactic Patrol, led by a cyborg-supercomputer known as Lord Umbra. SHADOW is your generic evil organization trying to take over the galaxy, but you can’t deny they don't have serious style. But a genius inventor Rob Simmons, who is secretly a member of the Galactic Patrol, creates six special robots who can use their unique powers to stop Lord Umbra and unite together to form a giant robot called Mighty Orbots.

But before we can actually dive into the episode properly, I want to absolutely gush over the visuals of Mighty Orbots. Next to Dinosaur/Dinosaurs!, this is easily the best-looking of all the Mayfair cartoons. Being half-Japanese, the show adopts an action anime look, but blows something like Samurai Pizza Cats out of the water. Everything about this show’s visuals are vividly detailed and intensely immersive. The entire show looks like an animated music video dripping in 1980s pop sci-fi, full of bright lights and otherworldly machines. The cosmos in this show swim so beautifully across space, with incredible color and shine. The scenes of robots and spaceships flying genuinely look cinematic with how well they’re staged and shot. The characters are extremely expressive and their movement is smooth and flowing. Umbra himself is one of the coolest-looking villains I’ve ever seen in a cartoon. His entire face absorbs the screen in deep swirls and piercing eyes. His omnipresent and imposing figure reminds me a lot of Wizeman the Wicked from the NiGHTS games. I have my problems with him as a villain, but at least he looks awesome. And yeah, this show just looks awesome. It’s brimming with detail, rich in vibrancy, and fluid in expression.

Umbra himself has one of my favorite villain designs in any cartoon.

But before I get totally suckered in by the visuals, how about we actually look over the episode’s story? The plot of this episode starts with the two female robots, twins Bo and Boo, who go to see rock star robots Dragos and Drax in a concert for free as a reward for saving their spaceship from asteroids… unaware that the stars are SHADOW agents! Unfortunately, as much as I did love this show (especially its visuals), I gotta say that Umbra is a fairly stock-standard villain. His lair inside a decaying, fiery planet’s shell is cool. But his goals of taking over the galaxy are as basic as they come, and being seated inside a planet’s core for this episode, he’s not allowed to really go out and do anything particularly amazing. His voice is that stereotypical Dr. Claw-type growl and he seems to be very robotic in terms of both his dialogue and actual character. I get he’s a computer, but compared to the rest of the colorful characters, he stands out for a bad reason. He’s sadly not very interesting aside from his character design.

Being the first episode, we get a decent variety of action and characterization to establish the show’s tone and cast. What shocked me about this episode was that one of the writers was the late Michael Reaves, who also wrote for some of my favorite cartoons of all time, such as Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. (Funnily enough, his second ever cartoon writing credit was for Space Sentinels.) And I can definitely feel his influence with the dialogue and pacing. The five main robots all have a charming rapport with each other, their character quirks shining in both combat and casual scenes out of battle. They do genuinely feel like a team, with a real friendship going on. They encourage each other in battle, don’t belittle weaknesses, and show deep concern for each other even outside of deadly scenarios. I especially love the Bort, the clumsy and indecisive one. The twin sisters are also incredibly cute with contrasting personalities of Boo being shy and Bo being confident. The characters are distinct and charming, and the expressive animation and unique abilities really helps sell them as a genuinely cool action hero team. I especially like the relationship between Ohno (voiced by Noelle North, who was the voice of Cubbi Gummi and Calla on Adventures of the Gummi Bears) and Rob Simmons (voiced by Barry Gordon, who was the voice of Donetello on the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Ohno is the group’s mother hen, despite being the oldest and the first made by Rob, she is both the smallest height-wise and the most morally uptight. She is always bossing around Rob and treating him like her son despite being the one made by him, but it comes across as endearing rather than condescending. They bicker like an old married couple, but you never get the sense they hate each other and it’s all in good fun. I especially love Ohno bossing around big ol’ Tor, letting him know who’s the real leader of the team- in her own way.

 

Dragos and Drax’s music ends up making a magnetic monster out of their sound energy, that like most of the characters in this show, has a really stylized design. Being made of magnetic waves, it feeds off of metal. So the monster puts the metallic robot heroes into genuine peril as it tries to leave Earth defenseless to SHADOW as it consumes all the planet’s technology. It’s a fun climax to watch unfold: full of great action, cool set pieces, and flashy effects. Even if Dragos and Drax are taken out like total chumps, the final battle with the magnetic monster is quite a literal blast that takes the heroes across the galaxy in a thrilling chase.

This cartoon might actually be a hidden gem! With a catchy theme song, sparkling animation, and likable characters, what’s not to love? Well, what leads to Mighty Orbots's main problem isn’t necessarily the quality itself, but the place it found itself in. The 1980s were just overflowing with sci-fi and robot cartoons, to the point that this show doesn’t stand out that much despite the genuinely good quality work. Might explain why this one only lasted 13 episodes. With that being said, it is still a good cartoon. Probably nothing you haven’t seen before, but it’s a good showcase of not needing to reinvent the wheel to still spin. Mighty Orbots is wonderful if you enjoy sci-fi anime and giant robots, even if it’s not the absolute best in terms of its genre. I’m glad I gave it a shot, and maybe you will too!

Now that we’ve watched all ten of these cartoons, why don’t we rank them all from worst to best? Drink the milk from your cereal bowl and put away your dishes, it’s time for the final ranking!

RANKING WORST TO BEST:

10. Wolf Rock TV - “The Video Nappers”

This cartoon was mercy-killed quickly, and I completely understand why. The cartoon is completely obsolete and atrociously antiquated. There’s no story or characters to latch onto, only an animated excuse for a music video- and not a unique one at that either. Even if you were a fan of Wolfman Jack, this cartoon will only disappoint you… you know, if it doesn’t bore you to sleep first. And pardon my plebian mannerism, but isn’t rock and roll supposed to be a bit more exciting than this? 

9. King Kong - “Jinx of the Sphinx”

It’s ugly, it’s boring, it barely qualifies as animation at all… but at the very least, it was shorter and less painful than Wolf Rock TV. This one I can see being ironically enjoyed at least because of its hokey nature. But as for me? I couldn’t stand it. 

8. Little Audrey - “Dizzy Dishes”

Our first decent cartoon in this ranking! With that being said, it’s a fairly generic 1950s short with nothing new brought to the table. Thankfully, it’s not painful and its cutesy energy doesn’t overstay its small welcome. 

7. Roger Ramjet - “Dr. What” 

As endearingly silly as a cartoon you can find, it’s Roger Ramjet's delightful five-minute short that offers way more fun, humor, and self-aware playfulness than Little Audrey ever could.

6. Looney Tunes - “Scrambled Aches”

Objectively, this one should rank higher. But in the Mayfair rankings, I tend to enjoy the more outlandish works of art over cartoons I’m already very familiar with. With that being said, it’s still Looney Tunes: witty, gorgeously-animated, endlessly lovable and rewatchable. How can you hate it?

5. Turbo Teen - “Darkrider's Wolves of Doom”

The entire theater was laughing at this show from how ridiculous the premise of this talking teen car was. Cheesy-cool, full of action, and with the corniest writing that will leave you scratching your head yet begging for more.

4. Samurai Pizza Cats - “Pizza Bird Delivers”

This show is a double-edged sword. It makes fun of bad anime tropes in a playful and cheeky manner, but it also contains a lot of bad anime tropes itself unironically. The dialogue is very fast and it’s just plain weird and the suspension of disbelief is a bit headscratching. Again, how does the villain not notice the giant gun on top of the pizza parlor? Anyway, this Sailor Moon/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hybrid is corny but charismatic. It feels like an abridged parody of itself, and this results in a funny and high-energy anime bound to catch a few chuckles.

3. Mighty Orbots - “Magnetic Menace”

The animation is stunning, worth watching for the visuals alone. The heroes themselves are still likable and the action is fairly decent, but where this one falls apart is with a fairly standard story and the villains are rather trite in this one. But hey, a great time if you’re a fan of gundam anime. 

2. Space Sentinels - “The Return of Anubis” 

Wow, I didn’t expect to love this show as much as I did. The characters are charming, the villain was good, the concepts it explored were interesting, the dialogue was witty, the diversity was impressive… What a genuinely great time with such a cheap production that would soon pave the way for some of the most iconic shows of the 1980s.

1. Dinosaur/Dinosaurs!

Yeah, I couldn't help but love this one. Wonderful stop-motion animation, endearing and educational, and with the strength of balancing both light cheekiness and heavy atmosphere very well. An entire world modeled from nothing but clay, yet feeling so fleshed-out and dramatic, while still managing to be a lot of fun. The most artistic out of all the cartoons watched today for this monster of a marathon.

...And so that ends our Mayfair marathon! Hopefully we had a great time together. Please, let me know if you like this format of huge compilations of short reviews looking over dozens of different shows and shorts. I’ll eagerly return to the Mayfair, excited for more wild animation and unpredictable cartoon calamity. Until then, I think it’s time I go, as the kids say, touch grass. Too much TV has turned my brain to cake batter. (Unless it already was cake batter!) See you beautiful fairies next time!