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Toonami 20th Anniversary Retrospective By: Syaoran Li The Intro:

I’ve already written a review on the complete Intruder trilogy, but I decided to do a little something extra for the 20th anniversary of . Thus, here we are; taking a look over the history of the block, with some of my own memories mixed in, for good measure.

It’s time to press the button. The beginning, and Moltar era (1997-1999):

Toonami, like many aspects of early , can trace its roots back to a little show called Space : Coast to Coast. Premiering in 1994, this show was a parody of late-night talk shows, hosted by (Himself originating from the ‘60s Hanna- Barbera cartoon of the same name), with two villains from the original Space Ghost as his assistants: and Moltar. This show was Cartoon Network's first big hit, and helped to pave the road for not only , but also a block of action cartoons that aired weekday afternoons, called Toonami.

On March 17, 1997, Toonami began its very first broadcast; hosted by none other than Moltar (Voiced by the late C. Martin Crocker), except instead of reusing the old cells as they did for SGC2C, they instead rendered Moltar in CGI, with the Ghost Planet Industries building using the same model used in the later SGC2C intros. Even from the start, you can tell that there was care put into it; the CGI honestly holds up quite well for its age, for how smoothly everything moves.

The bumpers take place in the Ghost Planet Industries building, where SGC2C is hosted; making it feel like this is what Moltar does when he isn't helping to produce Space Ghost's , and also when he's not watching reruns of CHiPs.

"Oh yeah! Welcome to the Moltar Show!" -Moltar (SGC2C)

Initially, it just consisted of mostly action cartoons they had the rights to, like Thundercats and The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (Their newest show at the time, having premiered in '96), with the only series they had being Voltron. Eventually, they would obtain the rights to , which became of their first big shows, before obtaining a little show called Z.

There was more to the block than just the shows and the stylish bumpers; as Moltar would often give sage advice to the , on subjects such as teamwork and why they’re airing so many reruns. He even occasionally reviewed video games, as well. This aspect would become one of the defining aspects of the block, among other things we’ll get to as they happen.

Sadly, I never got a chance to experience the Moltar era during its time; my crappy cable provider, which has changed their name more than their channel lineup, refused to add Cartoon Network for the longest time, and by the time they did, it was the TOM 1.0 era. I'm more familiar with Moltar on SGC2C, though from the clips I've seen of him hosting Toonami, he was great; it's honestly a shame I never got to see the block during his time hosting it. TOM 1.0 era (1999-2000):

“My name is TOM. I’m the new Moltar” – TOM 1.0, in his introduction

In 1999, Moltar was retired, along with its setting of the Ghost Planet Industries building. Now, Toonami was hosted aboard a spaceship called the GPS Absolution, with a small named TOM (Toonami Operations Module. Voiced by ) at the helm. Aside from the visuals, not much changed…though TOM was the focus of a lot of hatred from people that had been with Toonami from the start; feeling he was a poor replacement for Moltar...and, watching some clips of the early TOM 1.0 era, I can kinda see why; the presentation wasn't near as slick yet, on top of TOM's voice lacking the same grit of his predecessor.

At one time, he was seen as a robotic Scrappy-Doo

It was during this era, that my cable provider finally added Cartoon Network, and the first thing I saw when I flipped over was a Toonami broadcast of : The Tree of Might. I’m almost 100% certain it was during the Toonami Full Cycle on April 8, 2000, but I’m not completely certain of that. Regardless, not only did I finally get to see what this “Dragon Ball Z” thing was that people were going nuts over, but I also saw these cool bumpers featuring this robot that reminded me of Bomberman. I actually really liked TOM, to the point I drew fanart of him.

Toonami quickly became my go-to weekday afternoon block, after that timeslot had been dominated by for almost my entire life up to that point. After all, why would I watch reruns of : Lightspeed Rescue, when Dragon Ball Z came on at the same time? Hell, I remember my mom rushing me home after we stayed overnight with her family, just because was about to be on and they didn’t get Cartoon Network (We had other reasons for leaving so quickly, but that goes far beyond the scope of this retrospective).

However, they did more than just weekday afternoons, as they’d run a late-night edition called the Midnight Run; aimed at an older demographic, with the shows having less censorship (Including, most famously, airing Wing completely uncut). They also ran a Saturday morning edition, called the Rising ; which mostly aired reruns, though they were the exclusive home of the DBZ Garlic Jr. Saga for a time.

I remember one of the things they did over the summer was air the OVA, Blue Submarine No. 6; which my sister loved, though I was indifferent about it. Though, I do remember the bizarre censorship of it; as our main character had his cigarette digitally edited into a toothpick…but they didn’t remove the smoke coming from it, resulting in the birth of the “smoking toothpicks” in-joke with my sister.

One of the first big things to happen was the first TIE (Total Immersion Event, though some sources call it a “Toonami Immersion Event”), called The Intruder, in fall ’00. I won’t go into detail on it here, since I already reviewed the entire Intruder trilogy, so I’ll skip it. TOM 2.0 era (2000-2003):

In the aftermath of The Intruder, we were left with a new host; TOM 2.0; a taller and slimmer version of his previous self, voiced by none other than (Whom would voice every incarnation of TOM from this point onward). This proved to be a good move, as this incarnation was much better received than his predecessor

He looked and sounded the part

It was also during this era, that there were some…interesting experiments. For starters, there was the laughably bad Toonami on Kids WB, which was just the Kids WB Weekday block but with a Toonami sticker put on it. I did like the bumpers, as we saw TOM doing more than just sitting at a console, but without the iconic drum & bass music or an announcer with a gritty voice, it just didn’t work. Besides, they didn’t have the right kind of shows; Scooby-Doo is the last thing that comes to mind when I think of action cartoons. Thankfully, it was discontinued after a year.

One show that premiered in this era, that I know a lot of people enjoyed, but I never really got into back in the day, was : Chaotic Century. As a kid, this show pissed me off for easily the stupidest reason possible: one of the pilots announced that he was going to "transform" his mech, and all that happened was that he went into some sort of chamber that swapped out the armor, which changed its abilities but didn't do much to change its physical appearance. Keep in mind, I was 11 years old at the time; they say "transform", I think it's going to be like .

One of the stranger things I recall was how, sometime in spring 2001, they heavily promoted that they were going to play : The Movie...only to suddenly change their promos later into the week to say that Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone was airing instead. I never found any info on why the sudden change of plans, but they would eventually air that movie the following November.

There were also attempts to air non-action shows, perhaps in an attempt to try and appeal to a broad audience. While nothing new, given the popularity of Tenchi Muyo during its run, it became more apparent in this era. The example everyone typically goes to is ; which is a cutesy show about hamsters going on adventures, and in no way an action show. Because of it airing alongside Big O and DBZ, Hamtaro ended up becoming an in-joke among years later, as we jokingly describe it as “the most manly anime ever” and being “like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, but with hamsters”.

Even TOM was confused about why they were airing this

One of the things I do remember was a special edition of the Midnight Run, where they ran Interstella 5555; an animated special based on the music of (The first time I ever heard of them). I didn’t get to see it, but the group’s name stuck with me for years; when TRON Legacy came out long after the fact, and I heard Daft Punk did the , I was like “oh yeah; those guys that did that thing for Toonami”.

After Gundam Wing had finished its run, stepped in and made them air the original '79 . However, this proved to be disastrous; while a good show, it did poorly in the ratings compared to its predecessor, and after 9/11 happened, the execs made the decision to pull the show and air more Dragon Ball. This infuriated my sister, as they only had like 5 episodes or so away from the finale, but at the very least, they would air G Gundam as their next series; which proved to be very popular.

They also ran more TIEs during this time; starting with 2001’s Lockdown, or “Blue Team Is Currently In The Lead” Simulator. However, to me it failed to live up to its predecessor; most of the episodes were more a reminder to play the online game…which I was unable to, thanks to the antiquated desktop I was stuck using. Also, I was on Red Team, while, to quote SARA, “Blue Team is currently in the lead”; a fact throughout the entire event, with that line being practically etched into my soul.

Lockdown was, at least, better than 2002’s Trapped in Hyperspace; where there was no real point to the televised aspect beyond a reminder to go to their website to play a game. If you were unable to play, you got nothing out of it; with an unsatisfying televised ending in which the conflict was resolved off-screen. I remember seeing this TIE mentioned as a footnote in an issue of Nintendo Power, without nearly as many promo commercials as its predecessors; it honestly felt like it was barely a blip on the radar. Granted, unlike how the earlier TIEs aired each part in front of that day's episode of Dragon Ball Z, they had the bright idea for this one to air in front of Hamtaro. TOM 3.0 era (2003-2007):

In 2003, TOM was given his first upgrade in quite some time, with a more muscular body, but the same voice we know and love. This was another era of change for the block, as they began to push the envelope on what they could get away with showing during daytime TV. Most notably, Yu-Yu Hakusho, 009, and Rurouni Kenshin premiered in this era; all 3 allowed through with less censorship than you’d usually see.

TOM's stronger-looking body reflected the new direction nicely

During the first year of this era, the block had what would be its final TIE, and the only one to not involve TOM or SARA. This was Immortal Grand Prix; a 5-part miniseries that served as the to the Toonami original series, IGPX. Honestly, I didn’t even know this was a thing until long after the point; I first heard of IGPX when it became a regular series a couple years later, so I don't really have anything to say about it.

It was an amazing start, though sadly, in 2004, the block would leave weekdays and move to Saturday evenings. This was inconvenient for me, as I only got to see just a few episodes of Dragon Ball GT before the move (Although, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise), on top of missing the later episodes of Kenshin. In its steed for afternoons was a new block, called Miguzi…which, let’s face it, the only thing people remember it for is Code Lyoko.

However, in 2005, a little show called premiered, which was when I started to watch Toonami again regularly. Naruto quickly became the block’s most successful show since DBZ concluded, and felt like the beginning of a new era. As an interesting bit, the Adult Swim lineup immediately after Toonami wrapped up for the night felt like a spiritual extension; as the “up next” bumpers would specifically name off shows like and , instead of just saying “Adult Swim up next”.

An example of the above, during an August 2005 airing of

It was during this era that Toonami aired something I thought would never find its way over here: Pokémon Chronicles. Although, I’ll admit I only really cared about seeing the 3-part episode, The Legend of Thunder…and I missed the premiere because my sister talked me into seeing X-Men: The Last Stand with her. Thankfully, I would catch it in reruns a few months later, along with a large chunk of the rest of the series.

Probably the most laughably short-lived addition was Wulin Warriors; a marionette show that was cancelled after 2 episodes. Nobody wants to remember this happened; in fact, the staff at Toonami mentioned in the Pre-Flight that it was one of the shows they were forced to air by the network execs, much like Hamtaro. I remember watching it exactly once, and felt it was alright, but a poor fit for the block.

Now, one show that came about during this era is very much the embodiment of “love it or hate it”: Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo. This show was a nonsensical parody of , and while I’ll admit I didn’t like it at first, it quickly grew on me and became one of my favorite shows on the block.

Honestly, this may be the most popular and iconic era of Toonami; given how I've seen more parodies using this era's theme than any other, with fake promos for Dragon Ball Z Abridged, among other shows they'd never air.

SiIvaGunner even spoofed it, in January 2017

Around early 2007, they began to run special bumpers, hinting toward something big coming on March 17; the 10th anniversary of the block. However, what would come is often considered the worst era of Toonami. TOM 4.0 era and cancellation (2007-2008):

“Is Toonami a failed experiment, destined for destruction?” – Moltar, circa ‘98

On March 17, 2007, Toonami debuted its new on-air look; gone are the Absolution and SARA, and now we have a bizarre new version of TOM, whom has an actual face. He’s now hosting the block from a jungle base, with two other of similar design (D and Flash). Many fans hated this, drawing comparison between TOM 4.0 and Thomas the Tank Engine. Although, during the first few weeks of the TOM 4.0 era, they aired compilations of old Toonami bumpers; highlighting past events, shows, and hosts. It was a nice trip down memory lane, and also provided my first glimpse at Moltar.

TOM still had the voice, but hearing it come from this felt wrong

During this era, an episode of Naruto aired with what may be the very first time a Toonami show aired with its own content warning, and really showed how far the block came. I mean, having a guy rip out his still-beating heart as part of a kamikaze attack was not something that would have flown during the old daytime run of the block; I’m still shocked they even got away with that pre-watershed.

In general, though, the TOM 4 era was the point where things really started going downhill. By 2008, the block was only 2 hours long, with reruns of and Jack as the only things keeping it from just being all Naruto, which had hit the infamous "Sea of Filler", as fans nicknamed it (3 straight seasons of nothing but filler, before the story resumed).

However, there were more problems going on with Cartoon Network than just the issues with Toonami. While there were many things one could point to on where things went wrong, perhaps the most infamous thing to occur was a failed guerilla campaign for the movie. To make a long story short, this botched campaign cost the network millions of dollars in damages and resulted in a man known as Stuart Snyder taking over as the CEO of the network. This was the beginning of the dark age for the network, or CN Real; as they brought forth a torrent of low-quality live-action shows in a blind attempt to compete with the and . Many of us at the time assumed Toonami would be safe, it was just going through a rough patch, but it'll recover and start getting more shows again; after all, it's not the first time the block was dominated by just reruns, as Moltar delivered a speech on why they were airing so many reruns instead of new shows just a decade prior.

Finally, on September 20, 2008, the unthinkable happened; Toonami was cancelled. The news first broke at an anime convention in , GA that morning, that the regularly scheduled Toonami broadcast for the night would be the final one. However, most people didn’t know unless they hung around until the end of the night’s airing of , or for some like myself, we found out in the following days.

For the most part, the broadcast played out like any other from the TOM 4.0 era, until they got to Samurai Jack; where the usual voiceovers were removed from the bumpers for that show; as if to give it a moment of silence. Finally, rather than the usual “LATER” card being shown at the end of the broadcast, as they’ve done for years, we instead get a final speech from TOM, set to sad music, as D and Flash shut down the base.

“Well, this is the end, beautiful friends; after more than 11 years, this is Toonami’s final broadcast. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’d like to thank each and every one of you who made this journey with us. Toonami wouldn’t have been anything without you. Hopefully, we’ve left you with some good memories. So, until we meet again, stay gold…bang” –TOM 4.0’s farewell message (With a nice reference at the end)

When I heard the news, I was shocked; thankfully, I did get a link to the YouTube video of TOM’s final farewell, allowing at least a little closure. Still, it felt like a part of my childhood died that day; it was something that meant a lot to me, and left a much deeper impact on me than other programming blocks.

It also felt like Cartoon Network was trying to purge all anime that wasn't Pokémon at the time; while Naruto stayed on after the end of Toonami, it aired very sporadically, as it would frequently be postponed for a random movie. Even on Adult Swim, they kept moving around so much that I ultimately lost track of it, because I never knew when it was on.

In the following years, there wasn't anything for me to fill the void that Toonami left behind; sure, there were some fan-made spiritual successors, and 4Kids' Toonzai block on The CW, but they never appealed to me. At the very least, I did revisit Outlaw Star, an old favorite from the TOM 1.0 era, except I watched it uncut for the first time. The banned hot springs episode was great, for the record. , and TOM 3.5 era (2012-2013):

“Some people say Toonami was just a bunch of bumpers. Those people are a bunch of cunts” - Pan-Pizza (Rebel Taxi)

In 2010, Cartoon Network saw the premiere of a show called ; which single-handedly kick-started the revival of the network, after the whole CN Real fiasco had come to pass. A couple years later, the network celebrated its 20th anniversary, and it wasn't long after before it was time for the annual Adult Swim April Fool’s Day airing of 's …but, it didn’t go as planned. The movie began as normal, when suddenly we zoom out to see the movie being displayed on the monitor of the Absolution, as TOM 3.0 greeted us before going into a night filled with classic anime.

I remember the internet went crazy, and a friend of mine telling me to "turn on Adult Swim right now; Toonami is back”, and I flipped over to catch Outlaw Star. This prank proved so successful, that it had everyone trying to convince Adult Swim to bring back Toonami in full; even Steve Blum himself got in on it. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long; it was announced that Toonami was indeed making its triumphant return on May 26, 2012.

To quote the promos, "Toonami's back, bitches"

With the revived block, came what fans have nicknamed TOM 3.5; as, design wise, it’s still TOM 3.0, but shinier. Given how the block didn’t have near as big of a budget as it had in the past, resulting in a lot or recycled footage, they made up for it by having TOM say a lot more; each edition of the block had its own unique intro speech. The promos and bumpers also return to the style from the original TOM 3.0 era, which works quite well.

With the block’s return came two new shows: Wonderland (Of which I was not a fan of) and (Not bad, but I lost track of it mid-way through). These aired alongside Bleach, which was a carry-over from the Adult Swim Action block, along with reruns of their popular classics, like Cowboy Bebop.

As the block went on, it gained more high-profile shows, like (A show I adored) and , among others. They also brought back some of their old shows, like Naruto and even IGPX (Which they had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the rights to it back).

One of the rules the staff has for the rebooted Toonami, from what I've read, is that they will not air any series older than Cowboy Bebop (Going off of when the shows premiered in ). On one hand, it is a shame that this means they’ll never air Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, but on the other, this helps to keep the block fresh and introduce new shows, instead of pandering to nostalgia (After all, we have The Splat for that). TOM 5.0 era (2013-present):

On April 27, 2013, the new look for the block debuted; with a new TOM, still with the same voice. This time, his design is like a halfway between 2.0 and 3.0, which honestly looks really cool. We do still have the Absolution, which was upgraded, and the return of SARA (In a redesign of her appearance from the TOM 2.0 era).

TOM 5.0, broadcasting from the Vindication (post-Intruder II)

During this era, they obtained the rights to air One Piece, as they aired it alongside Naruto and Bleach; showing off how they had the Big 3 of Shonen anime. There was also the premiere of , the new series from the creator of Cowboy Bebop; it being a first for Toonami, as new episodes of it premiered same day that they aired in Japan. Also, by nothing short of a miracle, they secured the rights to one of their most highly requested series: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

They also began to occasionally things up and show a movie, much like they would in the past; although, now they're on late enough at night to get away with showing films like and the Rebuild of Evangelion series, as well as fan favorites like Dragon Ball Z: - The Legendary Super Saiyan.

In 2015, the block received its first TIE since the 5-part IGPX miniseries, in the form of what I had wanted for years: The Intruder II. I’ve already detailed it in my review on that, along with its sequel, Intruder III, so I’ll skip past them.

Things kept getting bigger and better for the block, and with its 20th anniversary fast approaching, many began to wonder what they were going to do for it. Given how, in the TOM 3.5 era, we saw him talk briefly with TOM 4.0, I was hoping that maybe, we’d get to see TOM 5.0 have a conversation with Moltar. While we kinda got that a little sooner than expected, the circumstances of which we got it were not the happiest

On September 17, 2016, C. Martin Crocker passed away. In tribute, Adult Swim aired the very first episode of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (In production order) as a special presentation, with silent bumpers explaining his contributions to Adult Swim as a whole. They even went one step further, and have the near-complete SGC2C series available free to watch on their streaming site.

A couple days later, at the start of the night’s Toonami broadcast, TOM received a transmission from none other than Moltar, informing him that he’s leaving Ghost Planet Industries to return to his home planet, and will not be coming back, before boasting about being the better Toonami host. TOM wishes Moltar of luck, before fading into an image of Mr. Crocker himself.

“May your ovens say forever lit” - TOM 5.0, to Moltar

After all this time, and through some rough patches, Toonami is still here; still building us a better cartoon show. The shows may come and go, and the graphics may be redesigned ever so often, but the heart and soul of it is still there after all this time. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future has to offer in regard to Toonami. That concludes this rather lengthy retrospective. Later