Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #149

Originally Posted on 03/17/2007 by Jeff Harris

Exactly ten years ago today, Cartoon Network introduced a brand new animation block. It was the fourth coming of the Super Adventures concept that was in place since day one, almost 15 years ago this year. For Williams Street, it was their second major project and, after the grand experiment that was The Rudy and GoGo Cartoon Show, a BETTER cartoon show. Cartoon Network called it an experment. The viewers called it genius.

We call it Toonami.

Over the years, Toonami has been the home of some of the most recognizable action properties on the planet, from Thundercats, Voltron, Jonny Quest, and Robotech to Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and ReBoot to Batman, Superman, and Justice League to Gundam, Tenchi Muyo, and Zoids to Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and GI Joe to Yu Yu Hakusho, Zatch Bell, and Naruto to Samurai Jack, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and IGPX. Toonami has evolved over a span of a decade, and it inspired me to create this webpage almost nine years ago.

While my attitude about the block has changed, Toonami remains a part of my heart. The strange, actiony part that excites me and gives me heartburn from time to time.

With that said, I had been anticipating how Cartoon Network was going to mark this pivotal milestone in the block's history. Since last year, we've been promised a brand new facelift for Toonami, but nobody was ready for what we were in for. Even that one teaser had just a few microns of hints, with nothing seen at all.

Let's talk about the good, the bad, and the "what the hell" about tonight's anniversary:

The Good:

- Cartoon Network actually set aside a few great montages about the history of Toonami over the past decade. They showed older logos, earlier hosts, and former classic imagery that haven't been seen in ages, including Moltar, Clyde49, and the four stages of TOM, the most recent being introduced tonight (I'll talk about him in a few, trust me). The one thing that kind of bothered me in the first half of the night is that while they showed clips from some of the marquee shows on Toonami, they didn't go into the current era of the block, including scenes with Naruto.

- Toonami discovers the Wii. It took them long enough, but Williams Street and the land-based hosts of Toonami have finally gotten their hands on Nintendo's latest and greatest game system with a quartet of reviews for the system, many of them with high ratings. Now that they have the Wii, maybe we'll see more games reviewed.

- The on-screen graphics actually look better, cleaner, and more professional. As always, Toonami has presentation graphics that look better than the rest of the network. Sean and Jason have said that Toonami was all about packaging, and, at least in this aspect, the packaging was phenominal. The animation looks good too . . . though the designs of the new Toonami are questionable.

The Bad

- As great as the montages were, it would have been nice if Cartoon Network dedicated the entire day, or at least the whole afternoon, to the best of Toonami. Instead, we got the billionth mini-marathon of Foster's and an airing of a Pokemon movie. Today should have been a proud day, but this once again proved that Cartoon Network doesn't give a damn about their past in that aspect. Would have been nice to see a Gundam series or two, Yu Yu Hakusho, or even the day one lineup at 5 PM today, especially since Cartoon Network HAS ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE DAY ONE LINEUP. Would have been neat of them to recreate the exact lineup they had ten years ago back to back with the relaunched block.

- Where's the Toonami name? There's a brand new look to the block, but the Toonami name has been conspiciously absent in the first half of the night aside from the past logos seen in the excellent montages. Perhaps the whole "Toon Ami" look of the logo seen on the official Cartoon Network site ticked some people off so much that they had to reevaluate the logo for the time being. Or maybe I just needed to look at the block longer to see it for myself on the screen.

- Where's Sara? A constant part of TOM's side since 2000 (well, 1999 if you count her saying "Hello" during the first reintroduction of Toonami), Sara is suspiciously missing from the new look of Toonami. Perhaps due to the fact that she was a part of both Absolutions (she was built into the first Absolution and was transferred into the new Absolution after the events of End Game), she couldn't be separated from the ship. Still, she was transferrable and able to become a solidified hologram when the block moved to Saturday nights exclusively. Either something happened to SARA in the (so far untold) story of the new continuity, or her voice artist, "Cowboy" Sally Timms, was too busy to be a part of the new Toonami, and that's understandable since I couldn't imagine anybody else performing as the digital princess.

The "What the Hell?!?"

- Moltar's and Clyde 49's Toonami origins were told in comic form via the Cartoon Network Presents Toonami issues. The origins of the first and second incarnations of TOM were told in comic form and on-air during The Intruder event. The origin of the third incarnation of TOM was told via the Endgame comic. The fourth incarnation of TOM came out of the blue and seems like he has a lot of new friends around him. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they came from. We don't know where they are. And we don't know why the change.

- But the change kind of weirded me out. Is it me, or does the new TOM and his crew look like robotic versions of the popular kid-friendly Thomas the Tank Engine franchise? Seriously, everybody has the same face, but everybody looks different in the same breath. TOM, who has grown from a pudgy little droid to a taller alienlike robot to a buff Power Ranger-esque hero, has now turned into a somewhat smaller, yet better animated hybrid of his last two personas with an even stranger hybrid of Thomas the Tank Engine and the PIXAR house style. A decent look, and it works for the other denizens of this new Toonami base, but for TOM, seriously, what the hell?

- They've done the impossible. Cartoon Network transformed Toonami into the hybrid of two action blocks. Toonami's name (they didn't show the new logo, but they did say it), current host, and older-skewing shows and Miguzi's multiple character hosts format. To be honest, the late SVES block was lackluster at best in the graphics department and presentation and stole most of Toonami's high-profile properties. This is more of a "Tooguzi" presentation at best. With Miguzi on the chopping block, it seems as if Cartoon Network is merging the feel of both Miguzi and Toonami into one block. Weird? You bet. At least their finally upfront, visually that is, about Toonami and Miguzi blending into one block.

That's the anniversary in a nutshell. I wish Toonami much success in the coming years. The block will always see ups and downs, but Toonami will always be . . . Toonami. At least here in the US, unless The Network changes it to something wacky to further alienate the loyal fans or do something as cataclysmic as they've done to the Toonami brand in the UK.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
March 17, 2007