Toonami was a British children's channel which aired from September 2003 to May 2007.

History

Toonami was a programming block on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

, until June 2002 when its programming was moved to the soon-to-be launched CNX, a new channel launched by Cartoon Network UK, the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America. CNX also broadcast

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s, adult-oriented animation like the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

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and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

originals, and dramas like '' The Shield'' and '' Birds of Prey'' at night. The network's audience was young adult males. Almost a year later, CNX was relaunched as Toonami and now targeted towards a much younger audience. However, TOM (who was TOM 2, despite America already having switched to TOM 3) was ''not'' voiced by Steven Blum (minus when ''Lockdown'' aired on the channel in 2003), instead given a new voice actor: Christian Stevenson, otherwise known as DJ BBQ. Stevenson earlier hosted the CNX show ''Trailer Park'' alongside Ed Leigh. Previously, when Toonami was still a block on Cartoon Network UK, the block used TOM 1 and had a voice similar to

Tansit This is a list of characters on the Cartoon Network animated television series, ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', which later moved to Adult Swim from 2001 to 2004, and then to Gametap from 2006 to 2008. Main characters Space Ghost Voiced by Ge ...

from ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animation, adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast t ...

'' narrating in its bumpers, which many fans believed to be TOM's voice. In 2005, Toonami was added to the TV and video on demand kids' package for VNL's HomeChoice (now

TalkTalk TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group that originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television an ...

). Broadcasting for the channel involved using advanced MPEG-4 compression technology, the first TV channel in the world to do so. On 6 March 2006, Toonami changed its focus from action cartoons to entertainment in general, as the channel moved to Sky 602 and began airing five live-action shows: ''

Backyard Science ''Backyard Science'' is an Australian educational children's television show based on the Dorling Kindersley book of the same name that aired from 2003 until 2007. The series was originally commissioned by Super RTL and TVOntario, and had 78 epi ...

'', '' Parker Lewis Can't Lose'', ''

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'', '' Hangin' with Mr. Cooper'' and '' Life with Derek''. Additionally, the entire design of the channel was overhauled, with the stark, simplistic black, white and red logos replaced with blue, as well as the introduction of giggling, blob-like mascots that populate the advertisement bumpers and channel idents. On May 24, 2007, Toonami shut down at 3am after almost four years of airing. The old version of

Cartoon Network Too Cartoon Network Too (stylised CN Too) was a British television channel that was owned by Turner Broadcasting. CN Too was the sister station of Cartoon Network, and it often aired programmes a while after they are shown on the main Cartoon Netwo ...

had closed down at 7pm the day prior. The latter was moved to Toonami's space and Cartoonito launched in

's old slot as a channel.

2006 power outage

On the night of 26–27 July 2006 Cartoon Network Too, along with its sister channels, suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in

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, owing to the

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, with thunderstorms taking full force overnight. The power cut caused a mix-up of Turner Broadcasting System Europe channels (''i.e.'' Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang and Toonami, with Boomerang being broadcast on Cartoon Network Too). Boomerang +1 was off-air for some time, while TCM, reverted between TCM France and other programming during the times it was able to provide a service.

TCM 2 TCM Movies (formerly Turner Classic Movies) is a British pay television channel featuring classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film libraries, which include many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM titles. History It was ...

remained unaffected due to its downtime of time-sharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel

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s were offline also. Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people confused when Cartoon Network Too and Boomerang were showing episodes of The Flintstones at the same time. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this programme due to technical problems, and we are trying to correct the fault. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages. Whilst most channels returned to the air within 5–10 minutes, it took longer for Cartoon Network Too to resume programming, and it was also joked on various animation based forums by Toonami UK viewers, many of whom have made note of their disdain for the direction in which Turner took the brand in the UK, that the backup transmission was more entertaining, purely due to the lack of live action programming aired during the outage. The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the power cut displayed the message "Sorry! Toonami is broken, we'll be right back as soon as we fix it.". These idents have since been re-used in disclaimers warning viewers not to try stunts on various shows at home.

Idents

When the channel launched in 2003, the idents would be the Toonami logo in the Sensor Room, or TOM's face, with a voice whispering Toonami. There were also bumpers in the Sensor Room showcasing the latest games, movies, and shows, with TOM displaying the awkward and dorky personality he was known for on the US Toonami. Sara was also in these bumpers, serving as the straight man to TOM's excited demeanor. Toonami rebranded in 2004 and got rid of TOM. The idents were on a pale cyan background (alike Cartoonito's) and were based on CNX's idents. They had a black rectangle filling up with white before the white part turned into the Toonami logo. In 2006, Toonami rebranded for the final time using the logo in an

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background and colored monsters which would play with the Toonami logo. The shutdown ident on the website was the Toonami logo, with the "Too" part pushing away the "nami" and the logo changing into the Cartoon Network Too logo on the same background from the 2004 idents.

Programming

*''

'' *'' Batman: The Animated Series'' *''

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'' *'' Beyblade'' *''

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'' *'' Code Lyoko'' * ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters colle ...

'' * ''

Dragon Ball GT is a 1996–1997 Japanese anime television series based on Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dragon Ball'' manga. Produced by Toei Animation, the series premiered in Japan on Fuji TV and ran for 64 episodes from February 1996 to Novem ...

'' * ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 '' Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ...

'' *'' Duel Masters'' * '' Hangin' with Mr. Cooper'' * '' He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' * '' Justice League'' * ''

Justice League Unlimited ''Justice League Unlimited'' (''JLU'') is a 2004–2006 American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and ...

'' * '' Kong: The Animated Series'' * '' Life with Derek'' * '' Megas XLR'' * ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'' * '' Parker Lewis Can't Lose'' * ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' * '' Rave Master'' * '' Samurai Jack'' * '' Star Wars: Clone Wars'' * '' Static Shock'' * ''Stencil'' * ''

Teen Titans The Teen Titans are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, frequently in eponymous monthly series. As the group's name indicates, the members are teenage superheroes, many of whom have acted as sidekicks to DC ...

'' * '' The Big O'' * '' Transformers: Energon'' * ''

Ultimate muscle is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. N ...

'' * '' X-Men: Evolution''

References

External links