Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #26

Originally Posted on 02/10/2003 by Jeff Harris

Anybody check out Cartoon Network's All-Star Event? If you caught the last three hours, you missed the Toonami presence, with the exception of Toonami vet The Powerpuff Girls. The all-stars of the NBA picked their favorite cartoon stars, and (not-so) surprisingly, the bulk of the shows were action-oriented. It wasn't anime offerings, but we did see Toonami represented big-time in the event, the first time Toonami offerings were involved in a major network-wide event. Thundercats, Space Ghost, Superfriends, and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe aired in the first half along with Hong-Kong Phooey (although I question why they showed an episode with HKP in a minimalized, almost non-existant role) and Godzilla. Like I said, for the first time, Toonami standbys played with the big boys of the rest of Cartoon Network. I would have liked to have seen at least one anime, but I guess they couldn't anime those heroes side-by-side with the NBA stars.

Ah, yes, the Giant Robot Week is still coming to Toonami. Despite the lack of promotion so far, the special event, which will bring Evangelion, Nadesico, Dai-Guard, Robotech, Low Brow and Gigantor to Toonami, is coming in two weeks. We all know what's going to happen in three weeks (the taking of the third hour and the beginning of the next chapter of Toonami with a new look and the Toonami premiere of Yu Yu Hakusho), but perhaps we should look ahead at the infinite possibilities that could come. Shows have been rumored to premiere on Cartoon Network in one capacity or another for a while now. Some of them actually have some juice while some of them needs a little push, a little nudge to tell the network that we, the fans, really want to see them. There's a lot to be done and a lot to process. It could be fun.

Okay, the annual tradition of finding out who's going to be nominated for the Golden Naked Baldheaded Man Awards climaxs tomorrow when the nominations are revealed tomorrow morning, and surprisingly, the animated film that might take it all is an anime film, Miyazaki's Spirited Away. It'll be funny how Disney would react to the nominiation. Who would they root for more, the film they made (Lilo and Stitch) or the critically-acclaimed, award-winning film they reluctantly released to a small market (Miyazaki's Spirited Away)? Still, a Oscar nomination would be a major coup for the anime industry and a testament to the works of Japan's greatest animation master since Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about Oscar night now.

Alright, I'll check with you in a day or two. Got a lot of work to finish up!

Until we are one, later.
Jeff Harris
CNX Creator/Webmaster
February 10, 2003