Plus it started airing in September 1987, about six months after the puppet version's 96th and final episode in March of that year.
BTW, who would've been a better choice to voice some of the characters on the animated FR, if they couldn't spend more money to get the original puppetteers (especially Richard Hunt for Junior Gorg, who I wish Marvel would've used since the original puppet sounds a lot better than the baby-sounding version in the cartoon) to do their voices? (Although I have to admit, I myself think Rob Paulsen's animated Boober is spot-on to the original Dave Goelz puppet version, kinda like how Frank Welker's Baby Kermit is similar to the original adult Kermit as performed by Jim Henson, as is Greg Berg's Baby Fozzie being similar to the original Frank Oz Muppet)