Toonami



Toonami was previously hosted by Moltar (March 17, 1997 - July 9, 1999) and is currently hosted by TOM (July 10, 1999 - September 20, 2008, May 26, 2012 - present).

The Toonami brand name was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the name of an action-oriented animation channel replacing a former Cartoon Network owned channel CNX, which had been a Toonami/live-action hybrid network.

At midnight on April 1, 2012 (April Fools Day), Adult Swim, aired a lineup of Toonami oriented programming and bumpers and made a tweet the day after, asking if the fans wanted Toonami back. After a significant amount of fan response, Adult Swim asked fans to "stay tuned" hinting that the block will return sometime during the same month. A final bumper related to Toonami aired on Adult Swim May 16, 2012 that finally revealed Toonami's true relaunch date, in the bumper's own text, "5.26.12" is what it stated as the return date of Toonami.

United States
Toonami was Cartoon Network's primary action animation block for over a decade. The block, which made its world premiere on Monday, March 17, 1997, initially replaced Power Zone, Cartoon Network's most recent incarnation of the Super Adventures block which had been a staple on the network since October 1, 1992. Toonami was originally a weekday afternoon cartoon block hosted by Space Ghost villain-turned-producer Moltar at the Ghost Planet Industries building from March 17, 1997 to July 9, 1999.

On Saturday, July 10, 1999, Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami with a new environment, the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution, and a new host named TOM. The night also introduced the Toonami: Midnight Run late night block which was originally a five-hour Saturday night block (technically Sunday) at midnight EST until March 2000, when it moved to weeknights in an hour-long format until January 2002. In 2004, the block moved from weekday afternoons to Saturday evenings, where it remained until its cancelation. Toonami aired on Cartoon Network for the final time on September 20, 2008, after over 11 years of broadcast.

Hosts
Toonami has always been helmed by a computer-animated host since day one. From March 17, 1997 until July 10, 1999, the block was hosted by Space Ghost Coast to Coast's animated director Moltar, who sent an observer robot named Clyde 49 from Ghost Planet to the Earth to study the planet.

On July 10, 1999, Toonami had a new host in the form of TOM (Toonami Operations Module), a wise-cracking, sardonic sentient robot who controlled the block's signal aboard the Ghost Planet Spaceship Absolution. In September 2000, TOM was joined by SARA, an AI program, and a cache of custodial robots dubbed Clydes, named after the original Clyde 49. After the events of The Intruder, TOM was reincarnated in a bigger body and a deeper voice.

On March 17, 2003, TOM and the Absolution both received upgraded appearances, which were detailed in the End Game online comic at Toonami.com. That summer, the fourth generation of Clydes that featured LED-like emoticon faces were briefly seen on the block.

On April 17, 2004, SARA was reintroduced as a fully-dimensional humanoid hologram as were the fifth generation of Clydes, dubbed Clyde 53s.

On March 17, 2007 (Toonami's tenth anniversary), a new look was introduced to the block. TOM's fourth incarnation, which featured a humanoid face opposed to a visor look the character had always been associated with and a body that was shorter than his previous incarnation, was introduced as were a trio of new sidekicks, a robot with painted flames named Flash, a green control robot named D and another incarnation of Clyde, Clyde 54. During this time the block's headquarters transitioned from aboard the Absolution to an unnamed jungle planet. The origins of this new setting and crew of Toonami were never revealed.

Total Immersion Events
Starting in September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Events (T.I.E.). These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com. The very first TIE (and most popular one according to the fans of the block) was The Intruder, which introduced TOM's companion, an AI matrix known as SARA, who played an integral part in the rebirth of TOM, who was upgraded from a short Bomberman-esque character (voiced by Sonny Strait) to a taller, stronger, darker, deeper-voiced incarnation temporarily dubbed as TOM 2.0 (voiced by Steve Blum).

The following two TIEs, Lockdown and Trapped in Hyperspace, continued the adventures of TOM and SARA.

The TIE in September 2003 was a diversion from the TOM and SARA adventures and introduced a new, 2D universe. Immortal Grand Prix (IGPX), created by Toonami producers Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by anime studio Production I.G., aired in five short installments and served as a pilot for the second Toonami original series, which premiered in November 2005 (a brief note: although Megas XLR was the first original American-made franchise to actually debut on the block, it was initially a Cartoon Network original that was planned to air on Friday nights; other Cartoon Network action properties, namely Samurai Jack, Teen Titans, and Justice League, aired on Toonami but weren't exclusive to the block until their final seasons).

The Intruder and Lockdown aired in the UK, but didn't achieve the same amount of success as their American airings.

Kids WB's Toonami
From July 2001 to June 2002, Kids WB aired a Toonami block that was, more or less, the Kids' WB lineup with the Toonami name. It was critically panned by industry observers who noticed the action branding of the block didn't translate content wise, which had added shows like Scooby-Doo and a live-action series created by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine, The Nightmare Room. In spring 2002, Kids' WB announced that they would drop the Toonami name from their weekday lineup, once again making the Toonami brand exclusive to Cartoon Network.

Toonami Rules Saturday Nights
On April 17, 2004, Cartoon Network moved Toonami from weekday afternoons to Saturday evenings with a new demographic of preteen and teen audiences (even though preteens and teens were already watching the block much to the network's dismay) while adding a new lighter-toned action franchise, Miguzi, (produced by Williams Street, the folks behind Toonami, its name is loosely derived from the Japanese word for swimsuit, an in-joke to longtime viewers of Toonami) to weekdays in its place.

Toonami also replaced the block known as Saturday Video Entertainment System or SVES. One big reason for the move from weekdays to Saturday nights only was because the some of the shows on the weekday lineup (such as YuYu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin) became too violent for a weekday afternoon broadcast on the network. The new Toonami line-up showcased anime like Naruto, One Piece, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Zatch Bell, and Pokémon Chronicles, as well as premiered North American productions like Teen Titans, Megas XLR, Justice League Unlimited, and IGPX, Toonami's first original production co-produced by Production I.G. and Bandai Entertainment.

A Month of Miyazaki
On Saturday, March 18, 2006, in honor of the block's ninth anniversary, Toonami began airing A Month of Miyazaki, a four-week celebration of the works of acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Like sibling station TCM's similar marathon in January 2006, Toonami aired a different movie every week between Toonami anniversaries (the marathon began on the weekend of the ninth anniversary of the block and end the week before the second anniversary of the block's move to Saturday nights). The films scheduled for A Month of Miyazaki (which all aired uncut and unedited as per Miyazaki's policy not to have his films altered). However, there were large complaints due to the large number of commercial interruptions during the films, with commercial breaks cutting in about every 20 minutes. The movies were as follows:
 * Spirited Away
 * Princess Mononoke
 * Castle in the Sky
 * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

3.17.07 (Toonami's 10th Anniversary)
On January 27, 2007, a teaser commercial aired during the Xiaolin Showdown marathon on Cartoon Network featuring close up shots of larger Clydes (the remote robot explorers that have been a fixture of Toonami since the beginning) along with the date 3/17/07 and TOM's chest emblem glowing blue. A week later, an extended version of the promo aired on the Toonami lineup.

On March 17, 2007, Toonami celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new packaging and numerous montages celebrating the block. TOM was revamped into a shorter robot who was a commander of a jungle control room with a trio of new robots.

The montages included a look at past hosts, former logos, and a decade's worth of scenes and voiceovers from shows that aired on the block, including The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z.

As part of the anniversary (and to coincide with Cartoon Network's March Movie Madness event), Toonami planned another month of movies:
 * March 03 - The Invincible Iron Man
 * March 10 - Mosaic
 * March 17 - Hellboy: Blood and Iron
 * March 24 - Stan Lee Presents: The Condor
 * March 31 - Spirited Away and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo

Ending
On Saturday, September 20, 2008, Cartoon Network canceled the block and Toonami aired its final transmission. At the end of Toonami's final airing, TOM, voiced by Steve Blum, ended the block with a final monologue, the last part of which, echoed the final words of the character Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop, who Blum also voiced. Finally, TOM 4 jumped off the edge of the platform and flew into the distance.

Eventually a new block replaced Toonami, and that block was titled "Action Flicks." The block featured premieres and reairings of action oriented films. Some of the films on Action Flicks were films that already aired/premiered on Toonami.

Toonami's April Fools Return
On midnight of April 1, 2012, just a mere 14 days after Toonami's 15th anniversary, Adult Swim, which generally changes its programming for April Fools' Day, began to play the movie "The Room" (as they had done the past several years). The scene then switched to T.O.M. (in his third incarnation) aboard the Absolution, greeting the viewers while commenting that it is April Fools' Day, before introducing that week's scheduled episode of Bleach. The Toonami-related programming and bumpers continued throughout the night, featuring Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki, Outlaw Star, The Big O, YuYu Hakusho, Blue Submarine No. 6, Trigun, Astro Boy, and Gigantor''. T.O.M. also presented a review of Mass Effect 3 and promoted the recent DVD releases of the series featured.

The following day, Adult Swim posted a message to their Twitter page, simply stating, "Want it back? Let us know. #BringBackToonami". On April 4, Adult Swim followed up this tweet with one stating, "#BringBackToonami We've heard you. Thank you for your passion and interest - stay tuned."

On May 16, 2012, Adult Swim aired another bumper with the date of Toonami's return reading, "5.26.12", hinting that Toonami would come back to Cartoon Network on May 26, 2012.

Latin America
In December 2, 2002, Toonami premiered on Cartoon Network Latin America, replacing a similarly themed block, Talisman. Toonami aired shows that were already on the lineup such as Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing, and Pokémon as well as served as the home of Inuyasha. Over the years, Toonami added shows like YuYu Hakusho and Saint Seiya, as well as the revamped versions of Cyborg 009 and Astro Boy. However, the block had to move to the late-night slots on CN Latin America due unknown reasons. Mexico moved Toonami to midnight in October 2003 while the rest of Latin America moved the block in November 2004.

In 2005, Toonami had short-lived weekend schedules, which were later replaced by the premiere of Adult Swim in Latin America (October 5, 2005).

In March 2006, Toonami revamped their lineup to include more adult-oriented series, such as Love Hina, taking advantage of the schedule and the refusal of anime on Adult Swim, as well as to compete against the anime channel Animax (now Sony Spin) for new anime series. In June 2006, Toonami premiered anime movies in two monthly variations: Dragon Ball Theatricals (which had 17 different Dragon Ball movies), and Toonami Movies (general animated action movies).

In January 2007, Cartoon Network cut Toonami completely. The movies were no longer aired, save those of Dragon Ball Z. After its cancellation in Latin America (March 26, 2007), the anime programming of the channel gradually vanished, currently the only anime which air on CN LA are Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z Kai and more recently ''Digimon Fusion (Xros Wars). As of January 2010, The block Animaction'' was created that's transmitting on Wednesday evenings that passes action programming and anime programming. This block was removed in April 2011 in Latin America.

Music & Games on Toonami
Toonami had always been a haven for techno/electronica music throughout its history, using original compositions by an Atlanta-based composer Joe Boyd Vigil from 1997 to 2002, many of which were compiled in the CD Toonami: Deep Space Bass in 2001, which is now out of print. His webpage can be found [here]. In 2003, DJ Clarknova took Toonami's beats (both old and new) and mixed them with sound bites from recent Toonami and Adult Swim shows. This resulted in an hour-long compilation of Toonami remixes, called the Toonami Black Hole Megamix, but for unknown reasons was never published. However, the Megamix recently was hosted by Toonami Digital Arsenal, a popular unofficial Toonami multimedia site.

From 2003 to today, Toonami has relied on original and library tracks from various artists from publisher Ninja Tune. On rare occasions, videos from musicians like Daft Punk, The White Stripes, and the Gorillaz aired on the block.

Infrequently, Toonami will air reviews of video games. The review, delivered by TOM, is fairly short and airs during commercial breaks. Games are scored on a 1 - 10 system, 10 signifying an excellent game, 1 signifying a very poor game. (The score system was originally 1 - 5 until 2001.)

Only two games have received a "?" rating, "Dropship: United Peace Force" for the PlayStation 2 and "Slender" for the PC. In the "Dropship" review, TOM explained that he had no idea what to rate the game because he couldn't get past the sixth level. This was accompanied by repeated footage of TOM losing on that level. The synopsis on Toonami Digital Arsenal reads "A robot is [sic] loses his mind over a video game. Hilarity ensues." In the "Slender" review, TOM stated that he was too scared to even finish the game.

Toonami: Deep Space Bass

 * 1) Ignition (2:54)
 * 2) Gundams Are on Earth (Gundam Wing) (2:44)
 * 3) Anvil Snare Remix (Sailor Moon) (2:39)
 * 4) Dragon (Dragonball Z) (2:18)
 * 5) Information Leak (Gundam Wing) (2:39)
 * 6) Arabic (Dragonball Z) (2:37)
 * 7) D&amp;B Remix (Midnight Run) (3:00)
 * 8) Depthcharge (Blue Sub) (5:32)
 * 9) Tension (Tenchi Muyo) (3:25)
 * 10) Prayer (3:36)
 * 11) Crashgroove (2:48)
 * 12) Puff&amp;Bass (Powerpuff Girls) (2:39)
 * 13) Darknight (2:32)
 * 14) Starwind (Outlaw Star) (3:00)
 * 15) Capslock (Ronin Warriors) (2:31)
 * 16) Broken Promise (3:39)
 * 17) Walking Stick (2:47)
 * 18) Spacetime (6:24)

Online Video Services
On March 26, 2001, Cartoon Network launched Toonami Reactor, their first online streaming video service. The three-month service featured streaming episodes from Dragon Ball Z and Star Blazers, the latter of which was an online-exclusive series. Editorial content was provided by the now-defunct Animerica Magazine, published by VIZ Media. After the three-month "trial run" was over, Cartoon Network took it offline and completely revamped it.

On November 14, 2001 [2], Cartoon Network relaunched Toonami Reactor with all online-exclusive programs such as Star Blazers, Patlabor, The Harlock Saga, and Record of Lodoss War as well as videos from Daft Punk and Toonami-themed games. In the summer of 2002, Toonami Reactor was revamped again under the Adult Swim aegis and, with a joint venture with VIZ's Weekly Shonen Jump, programmed it as Adult Swim Pipeline. {C}{C On April 25, 2006, a little over five years since the launch of the now-defunct Toonami Reactor, Cartoon Network and VIZ Media announced plans [3] to launch Toonami Jetstream [1], a new ad-supported streaming video service featuring Toonami series like Naruto, Samurai Jack, Megas XLR and IGPX and the internet webcast premieres of Hikaru no Go, MÄR, The Prince of Tennis, MegaMan Star Force, MegaMan NT Warrior and Zoids: Genesis, the latter two of which haven't premiered as of March 2007.

Toonami Jetstream launched on July 17, 2006 (after a brief unofficial sneak preview that began on July 14), and currently shows Naruto, Samurai Jack, Hikaru no Go, MÄR, Prince of Tennis, Zatch Bell!, Pokémon, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Mega Man Star Force, and Dragon Ball.

On January 30, 2009, Toonami Jetstream ended its run. Since then, many of the shows aired until cancellation now currently air on Cartoon Network Video on its main web site.

Cartoon Network's Toonami
The series that appeared on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from March 17, 1997 to September 20, 2008. Note: The dates under "End Date" are the last time the series appeared on Toonami or Toonami's Midnight Run. Some series had multiple runs that were not always consecutive.

Movies

 * Batman (1989 live-action film)
 * Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero
 * Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (edited for content)
 * Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
 * Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman
 * Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix
 * Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui
 * Bionicle: Mask of Light
 * Castle in the Sky (Month of Miyazaki)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Return of Cooler (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (edited for content)
 * Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (edited for content)
 * G.I. Joe: Spy Troops
 * G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom
 * Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (edited for content)
 * Hellboy: Blood and Iron
 * Hellboy: Sword of Storms
 * Hot Wheels: Acceleracers - Breaking Point
 * Hot Wheels: Acceleracers - Ignition
 * Hot Wheels: Acceleracers - The Speed of Silence
 * Hot Wheels: Acceleracers - The Ultimate Race
 * Hot Wheels: World Race
 * Justice League: Starcrossed
 * Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel
 * Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
 * Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Month of Miyazaki)
 * Pokémon 3: The Movie
 * Pokémon: The First Movie
 * Pokémon: The Movie 2000
 * Princess Mononoke (Month of Miyazaki)
 * Sailor Moon R (edited for content)
 * Sailor Moon S (edited for content)
 * Sailor Moon Super S (edited for content)
 * Spider-Man (2002 live-action film)
 * Spirited Away (Month of Miyazaki)
 * Stan Lee Presents: The Condor
 * Stan Lee Presents: Mosaic
 * Superman: Doomsday (edited for content)
 * World's Finest
 * Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo
 * The Batman vs. Dracula
 * The Invincible Iron Man
 * The Iron Giant
 * Tony Hawk in Boom Boom Sabotage
 * Ultimate Avengers
 * Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light (edited for content)

Specials

 * Blue Submarine No. 6 (4-part OVA) (edited for content)
 * IGPX (micro series)
 * Naruto: The Adventures of Naruto!…Oh, And Everyone Else Too! / One on One: Every Genin For Themselves!
 * Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate!
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars (miniseries)
 * ReBoot: Daemon Rising
 * ReBoot: My Two Bobs
 * Zatch Bell!: Friends Getting Stronger
 * Zatch Bell!: Zatch and Kiyo's Odyssey

Trivia

 * TOM was made into a character in FusionFall.
 * TOM 4 was the least popular incarnation, and a lot of work to animate, since he had a face, that according to most people, looked like Thomas the Tank Engine.