If you are a listener to Secret Identity than I'm willing to bet you like cartoons as much as Brian and I. If you grew up in the 1970's or 1980's you had a treasure trove of amazing classic shows to choose from in picking a favorite!
For me it has to be 1978's BATTLE OF THE PLANETS! Being one of the first syndicated cartoons, the networks had it on EVERY DAY! Thank you WTNH Chanel 8 out of New Haven, CT for indulging me.
BATTLE OF THE PLANETS featured Mark, Jason, Princess, Tiny and a goofy kid named Keyop! The five were orphans who would help save the Earth time and time again by invaders from space, mostly from Spectra... led by the crazy (and may have been a girl) leader, Zoltar. The show would feature alien attacks by big turtles, mummies and armadillos. Everything I would just eat up!
The show had its origins in Japan in the early 1970's. When American producer Sandy Frank bought the series GATCHAMAN, he was forced to make several changes including no one dying, happy endings and a cute R2-D2 type robot names 7-Zark-7. Since Japanese cartoons could be violent and feature death and American's couldn't they had a little problem. After editing the shows the episodes were about 20 minutes long, so added stock footage and long montages of transmuting awesomeness!
But... a few years ago I picked up all the GATCHAMAN episodes and I have to say... way better than BATTLE... but this is favorite cartoons from my 'youth' and I was an older dude when I watched them.