1980’s bizarre monster-mashup cartoon Drak Pack deserves a reboot

In 1980, everything changed for animation in America. President Jimmy Carter signed the FTC Improvements Act of 1980, limiting the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to regulate children’s programming, among many other things. Ronald Reagan was elected the same year: As president, he championed an immense wave of pro-corporation deregulation that loosened the 1970s rules that limited ads during kids’ shows. Suddenly, toy-company-backed cartoons like Mattel’s Hot Wheels show were no longer classified as advertising. The immediate result was a wave of animated shows backed by Hasbro, Mattel, and other toy companies — well-funded shows supported with copious advertising and merchandise. And weird little one-off, non-toy-based shows like 1980’s Drak Pack all but disappeared from Saturday-morning TV.