One of the biggest events of my childhood came in 1990 with the Saturday morning special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue. This was no normal cartoon special. This was being broadcast multiple times and on every channel. As far as I knew that was the only time something like that ever happened. As a child I knew this was a big deal. To this day I think it was the only time that happened.





What was so special that all the major networks would actually work together? It was the war on drugs. Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue featured all your favorite 80's and 90's cartoon characters to warn you of the dangers of drugs. In this particular case it was marijuana.





The show featured many cartoon characters across the the networks. It had characters that were no longer even on TV. Some of the more popular characters to be featured include the Muppet Babies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Chipmunks, Alf, and many more.





The story starts with a little girl having her piggy bank stolen by her big brother and we discover he is using marijuana. We later see the brother at the arcade (I guess no one told the producers about the video game crash of 1983) being offered crack. He doesn’t get the chance because Bugs Bunny interrupts impersonating a police officer (pretty sure it's a crime).





Back at home the parents are worried that their son is acting different because they have no clue what puberty is. His sister acts like its no big deal because she doesn’t want to be a narc. Pooh tries to convince her to narc.





Once again Michael the older brother is with friends that want to try crack. He doesn’t want to but a friend steals his wallet (he needs the money for crack after all) and he chases them. This is when things get crazy. Lots of strange stuff happens including a bunch of cartoon characters singing about saying no to drugs.





Michael wakes up at home understandably thinking he must have had some bad stuff and got a bad trip.Michael accidentally hurts his sister and she runs away. He feels bad but then some more trippy stuff happens. While the cartoon characters are trying to save Michael's life by giving him crazy delusions his sister finds his drugs and is tempted to take them so she can be like him. Fortunately the cartoon characters stop messing with Michael's mind in time for him to stop his sister from doing drugs.





Michael realizes that he is a bad influence on his sister and that he has a problem. His sister says that their parents can help them. During the whole show the cartoon characters seemed to have done no good and it was only the interactions with his sister that made any real difference. The short ends with the brother and sister going to talk to his parents. There may or may not exist a deleted scene where his parents laugh and tell him they smoked marijuana all the time in the 60’s and that it’s no big deal.





The film was shown in 9 countries often with intros from the leaders of the countries government. Many of these countries have since legalized marijuana in some or even in all forms.The show was produced by McDonald's which some may argue was worse for kids health than marijuana or the cause of a greater epidemic. Most cartoon companies of the time were involved in the show.





I recall the next Monday at school and it was all anyone could talk about. Eventually the school even had a VHS and we all got to watch it at a special assembly. It is surreal to look back on it remembering how it was the biggest thing to happen in my childhood on the pop culture front. Real life events that I recall like the Berlin Wall coming down did not seem to be as big a deal as this show.





Looking back now I see how strange it is. Released as a movie it probably would be rated

PG or PG-13 for its portrayal of drug use but was clearly marketed towards kids.

The story like many kids programs is strange and as an adult you can see many problems.

You could argue it encourages drug use as a way to see your favorite characters.

This may sound ridiculous but kids do not know the difference from reality and make believe.



The characters commit crimes like impersonating an officer and do not really help at all.

Everything could just be ab ad drug trip he is having. The only one that really has an impact on the

boy is his little sister when he hurts her and when she is about to take drugs. You could cut the show

down to a minute if we focused on the things that actually had an impact on Michael choosing to stop

taking drugs.





It made marijuana this big evil thing but now in most state it is legal at least in some forms. It is very likely in my lifetime I will see marijuana become legal in all of the US. Even the recreational use will probably become fully legal in my lifetime. In some places like Canada where the cartoon was shown marijuana will soon be completely legal. At least they also show more serious drugs like crack being bad.





While it was a big deal for a few days in elementary school it seems its lasting impact has been negligible. I will always have fond memories of what a huge deal it was for me in elementary school though.





Did you ever see the show? Was it a big deal where you were? What do you think of it now? Let us know below.



















