Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #170

Originally Posted onn 04/09/2008 by Jeff Harris

A week has passed since the announcement to create a new fantasy/adventure block on Friday nights, and nothing official has come out about our favorite block Toonami since then, causing people like myself to essentially freak out and say that Toonami is officially dead. I now have a clearer head about the situation and can see what's going to happen throughout the year:

- Beginning in late-August, Cartoon Network premieres a new Friday-only fantasy/adventure block.

- Shows scheduled to be a part of the new block includes Star Wars: The Clone Wars (August), Ben 10: Alien Force (August), The Secret Saturdays (September), and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (March 2009).

- The future of the Toonami brand and any major third-party acquisitions haven't been officially announced by Cartoon Network as of the time of this writing, meaning that any acquisitions and renewals could air either on the Friday block or the Saturday block (if it remains to be Toonami).

These are what I know.

If you've been following the history of Toonami like I have, you'll notice that Cartoon Network hasn't made any official announcements about third-party acquisitions since 2005, the year they acquired Zatch Bell, One Piece, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, numerous movies, and, of course, Naruto. Since then, it has been noticed that third-party announcements have been sparsely made, often taking place weeks before a show's premiere or leaked in pre-release schedules months in advance. They don't make enough noise about them in advance because they are seen as secondary to the first-party productions and shows either Cartoon Network or their parent company Time-Warner have a vested interest in (Warner Bros. has such a relationship with Clone Wars, since WB is responsible for releasing the movie theatrically and both TNT and Cartoon Network are broadcasting the series).

If you've been following the history of Toonami like I have, you know that the lack of news often means lack of diversity on Toonami. We'll still be getting episodes of Naruto and One Piece, but the rest of the lineup will be varied from week to week, depending on the whims of the programmers at the time. Long ago, as real Toonami history watchers know, there was a constant continuity on the block. We expected something new in the spring (mostly March), in the summer (mostly July), and in the fall (mostly September), but as of late, newer action properties premiered outside of Toonami. Those that did come on were often an afterthought. Three of the most recent Toonami properties, Storm Hawks, Bakugan, and Blue Dragon were just placed on Toonami as an afterthought. Sure, Storm Hawks did eventually air first-run episodes on Toonami for a while, but it was only for a while and scrapped.

If you've been following the history of Toonami like I have, you know there are always lulls in programming from time to time. There are times when the block are at great heights as well as times when its lower than a gutter. The block is pretty much at a low point as a lot of Toonami fans, the Toonami faithful are, and understandably as well. Toonami has been dealt a critical blow with the refocus on fantasy/adventure programming to Friday nights.

Looking at the big picture with a clearer head, here's a couple of possible scenarios:

SCENARIO A: Toonami isn't canceled but rather reorganized as what it was supposed to be when the 2004 relaunch took place, an action-animation block aimed towards the tween and early teen audience. They explicitly said that Friday night is the "fantasy/adventure" block, not the "action" block. Perhaps they didn't say it outright, but Toonami may still have a place at Cartoon Network.

SCENARIO B: Toonami is relegated to an action encore block on Saturday nights. Toonami could return to four hours, but half of the block will be comprised of repeats of shows that aired eariler in the week like Clone Wars and Secret Saturdays or earlier in the day like Ben 10 and Transformers: Animated along with weekly premieres of a few shows like Naruto and One Piece and a couple other shows in the mix.

SCENARIO C: Toonami is cancelled. Everything with the exception of the hosts and name migrates to Friday nights creating a four-hour block (two hours of originals followed by at least an hour of repeats) that essentially keeps the Toonami tradition of quality action programming alive, just, sadly, without the Toonami branding.

Out of all of these, Scenario B is probably the most likely outcome if Toonami isn't cancelled. Scenario A would be a godsend, but considering the current atmosphere, it's a long shot. Scenario C is more likely, but then the question of what to do with Saturday nights would become a bigger problem, and comedy repeats shouldn't be on the agenda since they already make up the weeknight and weekday lineups.

We have a long time before August gets here, and these plans aren't set in stone yet. But, at least now, I can see the chiselers on the horizon.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
April 9, 2008