The History of Toonami, Chapter One
Jeff Harris

Where were you on this faithful day?

Many of us were just coming home from classes or just kicking back. Some of us were plotting bigger things while others were just in awe of what they were viewing. On this faithful day, Cartoon Network ventured into unknown territory. This was the day that Toonami, a block of action programming that predominately features anime, which is often scorned on television in general, was launched. The world was never the same. However, there were other action blocks before Toonami on Cartoon Network that were tame compared to Toonami. So how did we get from repeats of the Fantastic Four to new shows like Megas XLR? The history of Toonami is very interesting.

When Cartoon Network was launched on October 1, 1992, many people weren't sure if the network could make an impact. The network's owner, Ted Turner, had been successful with an all-news network (CNN), a "superstation" (TBS), and a variety network (TNT). This endeavor, which was created for an outlet to broadcast shows from his recently acquired Hanna-Barbera division, was going to have to cater to many audiences. CN subdivided their lineup into sections. Boomerang was the Saturday-morning block of classic cartoons, mornings were filled with mystery shows like Clue Club, Buford, and The Chan Clan, and prime-time were filled with the keystone shows like Flintstones, The Jetsons, Bugs and Daffy, and Tom and Jerry. Of course, afternoons had to cater for a long-ignored segment in kids entertainment. Those who love action cartoons. Fox Kids had just began to penetrate this audience and the king of kids' entertainment, Nickelodeon, won't even target these viewers, so CN had to aim towards them. The inaugural block was called Super Adventures. 

Super Adventures: Catalyst of the Revolution
Featuring shows like Plastic Man, Classic Jonny Quest, Fantastic Four, Thundarr The Barbarian, and various Hanna-Barbera action shorts like Space Ghost, Birdman, and The Galaxy Trio, Super Adventures was a bona fide hit. It only got better with the return of G-Force, and The Centurions. Super Adventures spun-off into two versions: Super Adventures, which aired the classic shorts and a few HB/Ruby-Spears shows on the lineup both on Saturday mornings and late-night Saturdays, and Adventure Afternoons, which featured Captain Planet, Jonny Quest, James Bond, Jr., and the SWAT Kats. The format was totally revamped with Power Zone, which was one of the network's first noticeable changes. Power Zone was the new name of the Saturday late night Super Adventures as well as the new persona for Adventure Afternoons. The block lasted the entire afternoon and included Fantastic Four, Superfriends, Centurions, Speed Racer, SWAT Kats, and Space Ghost. The block was replaced in September 1996 with many the same old shows that already airs on the network like Tom and Jerry Kids, Scooby-Doo, and others. Something was missing. A secret project was in the works at the network during the lengthy action hiatus. Something that would forever change the face of the network. And I don't mean Cartoon Cartoons (that's been on the network since 1995).

The Revolution Begins
Out of the blue, or rather, out of cyberspace, fans started petitions to get shows like Voltron, Thundercats, Robotech, and others back on the airwaves. Somebody bright at Cartoon Network must have heard their replies and decided to give the lagging 4-6 PM EST broadcasting block a power boost. The block would hit the network like a tsunami, a powerful Japanese wave. Thus, on March 17, 1997, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (a show that had a popular run in prime time and has Japanese elements and visual roots), the wildly popular Thundercats (a series with a few Japanese roots created by the late Tobin "Ted" Wolf), and another popular show Voltron launched the Japanese-influenced Toonami. Taking a cue from Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast (leaving many to believe that Ghost Planet Industries have something to do with the block), Moltar is at the controls of the block with Clyde 49 providing the images back to Ghost Planet HQ.

Over the next year, the block matured adding various anime like Robotech, dropped the live-action extreme sports vignettes, and an expanded Saturday evening showing in Fall 1997. Toonami was hot but CN didn't realize how popular it would become until a moon princess and an alien warrior entered into the realm of Toonami. Sailor Moon debuted on Toonami after a disappointing run in syndication and a heavily butchered run on the USA Network on June 1, 1998. This show became the first show on the lineup gaining CN its highest ratings ever. On August 31, 1998, Dragonball Z entered the lineup kicking butt at the 5 PM slot. 

Ups and Downs At Toonami
In October, 1998, Cartoon Network did the unthinkable. They cancelled three older shows (Thundercats, Robotech, and Voltron) from weekdays, cancelled the Saturday showing of Toonami, and kept the dead-in-the-water Real Adventures of Jonny Quest on. To add insult to injury, CN placed its recently acquired Superman-Batman Adventures under the psuedonym Superfriends to confuse Superfriends fans who wanted the shows in its original formats. This show makes you miss the often-aired Challenge episodes immediately. Months later, the network started messing up the rotation of Dragon Ball Z nearly driving fans insane. Fortunately, things changed. 

Toonami 1999 began with a BANG with the Friday Toonami Movies, which aired two Batman movies and three Dragon Ball Z movies, and the trimphant return of Thundercats to the lineup. Toonami is still the best block of programming on Cartoon Network featuring two of the best anime on the planet to boot, and with the addition of ReBoot on March 15, episodes of Dragon Ball Z every weeknight at 12:30, and new episodes of Dragon Ball Z premiering on September 6, as well as new shows that haven't been made public at this point, it can only get better. On July 10, 1999 at approximately 11:58 PM, it did.

A reintroduction of the Toonami format was unveiled on this night complete with a fresh new look, a new setting (the Ghost Planet spacedship Absolution), and, surprising many Toonami fans, a new host in TOM - Toonami Operating Module, who can be described as an upgraded Clyde 49 with the personality of Moltar. This was also the night that saw the debut of Toonami Midnight Run, a five-hour block that paired the current lineup of shows with shows from the first year of Toonami, which includes Thundercats, Robotech, and Voltron! For a lighter action-packed touch, the anime-inspired Powerpuff Girls are also in the mix. In September 1999, Ronin Warriors entered the powerful block, replacing long time Toonami stalwart, Jonny Quest.

In the year 2000, Robotech was replaced by G-Force in the early part of the year, and on March 6, the Gundams arrived! Mobile Suit Gundam Wing premiered on the block and creating a stir throughout anime community, probably because of its near faithful adaptation, its excellent dub, and the fact that the series kept the original Japanese titles, music, and eyecatches. It's on its way of becoming one of the most popular series on the block, not to mention the first anime series to be shown in its entirety in the US. Did I mention that Gundam Wing also comes on during a streamlined Toonami Midnight Run on weekdays? In July 2000, Toonami expanded to THREE hours expansion along with Tenchi Muyo. The block had reached a very high point around fall 2000, when Toonami.com was finally introduced (after three years of the block being on the air), The Intruder miniseries revamped the look of Toonami, the premiere of more DBZ and Sailor Moon episodes, the miniseries Blue Submarine No. 6, the return of Toonami Movies, and lot of interesting stuff is coming to Toonami. Heck, even a Toonami network wasn't out of the question. The future of Toonami was looking very bright!

At least it was. If you want to learn more, check out Vol. 2.