Gephyrophillia | Page One #12

Originally Posted on 06/20/2002 by Jeff Harris

G Gundam's premiere, originally scheduled for July 1 at 5 PM EST/PST, has been delayed until further notice. This is one of those times in which the usual mantra "Premieres are subject to change" ring oh so true. Too bad. Guess I'll have to wait to see that freaky "Sailor Gundam" called Noble Gundam until another day.

Cartoon Network's premiering GI Joe on July 1 at 1 AM, immediately following Midnight Run.

July seems to be having marathon runs during Toonami's sibling block Adult Swim "Action," including one featuring the five episodes of Cowboy Bebop that matter (that'd be The Ballad of Fallen Angels, Jupiter Jazz, and The Real Folk Blues), but since that's not Toonami, why am I mentioning it here?

August will have dual premieres on Toonami with a revamped Masters of the Universe on August 16 at 4 PM and Transformers: Armada on August 30 at 6 PM.

The next season of Dragon Ball and the "final" season of Dragon Ball Z haven't been scheduled on the lineup yet, but it's a safe bet that they'll be around by mid-September. But don't worry. The earlier seasons of Dragon Ball and DBZ will be seen a mere 24 times during the week on every Toonami block except the World's Finest Toonami better known as Rising Sun.

Toonami.com, as well as the rest of Cartoon Network's official site, has been retrofitted and revamped. It looks nice. And there will be new shows on the horizon at Toonami Reactor, but they need to be kept from the general public at this time. Oh! Look! No promo image for the Faux-nami lineup on the broadcast network which shall be remain nameless.

Remember a time when Scooby-Doo, Toonami, and Powerpuff Girls were Cartoon Network exclusive franchises? It seems that at least Scoob and Prof. Utonium's kids have become the darlings of the broadcast network's lineup, without even acknowledging where they came from originally. I bet cable operators are thrilled at that. Nick Jr. on CBS (soon to be Nickelodeon on CBS) and the One Saturday Morning Powered by Zoog on ABC (perhaps going to be ABC Kids) tell where their shows are from. At least the broadcast network has admited that their "cute little block" sucks in a recent promo.

Toonami Japan launches later in the month on Cartoon Network Japan, and get this bit of irony. The entire lineup is comprised of shows originating from North America, from Toonami US vets Batman and ReBoot to diverse shows like Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Shadow Raiders, and Justice League. And to kick things off, it appears that they're airing a pair of Toonami-themed movies that haven't aired here, like Tenchi The Movie 2 and Jonny's Golden Quest, which was a USA Network original produced by Hanna-Barbera.

And now that we have rewound the events of the past week, let's get back to the present with this little bit of fanboyish glee.

Did you see the cover images of the new Thundercats comics from Wildstorm this week? I did, and man, do they rock. Well, most of them rocked. I'm a huge fan of J. Scott Campbell's work, ever since he made Gen13 a success back in the early 90s. Danger Girl, his first creator-owned title, was good when they came out (and it wasn't often). In recent years, Campbell became an awesome cover artist, helping reignite the G.I. Joe franchise in comic form and helping bring the Amazing Spider-Man back to prominence alongside another legendary artist John Romita, Jr. and writer J. Michael Stracyznski. He's a great artist . . . but that cover image to the first issue, Thundercats #0, doesn't leave much to be desired. I'm sure the interiors look great, but the cover wasn't connecting with me. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to get the comic, but still, Campbell could have done a little better. Maybe it's just the coloring. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. The picture on the left is by premiere Superman artist Ed McGuiness, who first made his mark with the Deadpool regular series, Mr. Majestic, and Fighting American prior to taking on the Man of Steel. If his previous works are any indication, EMc's Thundercats run will be very impressive.

On that note, I bid you adieu. What? You were expecting something else? Okay, okay. Here goes. In mid-July, the Satellite will be online here at CNX. What is The Satellite? Do you really want to know? Okay, I'll give you this nibble, a little taste. It's the historical preservation of the block known as Toonami as well as inspirations of creativity from the Revolution. Think of everything that I have done here at CNX over the nearly four years of existance as mere practice. The Satellite is about to go online. And you won't see CNX the same way again.

Until we are one, later.

Jeff Harris
Webmaster
June 20, 2002