Toonami UK

Toonami (UK Channel) or Toonami UK was a British children's television channel which took over for CNX and ran from September 8, 2003 to May 24, 2007.

Toonami was a programming block on Cartoon Network UK, until October 2002 when it became a key component of CNX, a new channel launched by Cartoon Network UK, the first Cartoon Network derivative to launch outside North America. CNX also broadcasted martial arts movies and dramas like The Shield and Birds of Prey at night. The network catered towards a young male audience. A year later, CNX was relaunched as Toonami and now targeted a younger audience.

Toonami UK, throughout its existence, also aired cartoons based on DC Comics properties, such as Justice League Unlimited and the first two seasons of Batman Beyond (aired as Batman of the Future). Contractual disputes with Warner TV distribution prevented the channel from showing the third and final season of Batman Beyond and the whole of Superman: The Animated Series, forcing the channel to recycle through the first two seasons of Batman Beyond as a result. This theory is corroborated by the fact that not a single episode of the myriad of Super Friends shows (which were something of a mainstay on the US Cartoon Network channels) have ever been broadcast on a Turner UK channel. In 2004, Toonami UK got rid of TOM and SARA and adopted a new look, featuring spinning and sliding red and black squares in different forms on a light blue background.

From March 6, 2006, Toonami UK changed its focus from action cartoons to entertainment in general and began airing live-action shows such as Backyard Science, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Life with Derek, and Blue Water High. Additionally, the channel's graphics were redesigned, with the black, white, and red logos replaced by a new blue background logo and giggling, blob-like mascots that are used in the channel's break bumpers, promos and idents which contrasted heavily with the original themes of the channel.

Toonami and Cartoon Network Too merged into one channel on May 24, 2007, with the pre-school programming slot Cartoonito taking The original version of CN Too's channel slot as a separate channel.



Criticism
Toonami UK has had its critics since day one after it was relaunched from the previous CNX format. The biggest criticisms came from viewers who wanted more action-animation aimed towards older audiences which had all but disappeared. In March 2006, criticism about Toonami UK increased after the network relaunched itself from an action-animation network into a general entertainment outlet airing teen soaps, live-action sitcoms, and other non-animated programming. The changes were criticised by older fans of the channel, who thought that it was moving away from its original premise as an all-ages channel to take a younger audience. However, the changes to the channel brought a drop in ratings and the live-action shows were phased out over the next few weeks.

Programming

 * Backyard Science


 * Battle B-Daman


 * Batman Beyond (Titled Batman of the Future)


 * The Batman


 * Beyblade


 * Beyblade V-Force


 * Beyblade G-Revolution


 * The Big O


 * Blue Submarine No. 6


 * Blue Water High


 * Chris Colorado


 * Code Lyoko


 * Codename: Kids Next Door


 * Courage The Cowardly Dog


 * Cowboy Bebop


 * Cubix: Robots for Everyone


 * Da Boom Crew


 * Duel Masters


 * Dexter's Laboratory


 * Dragon Ball


 * Dragon Ball Z


 * Dragon Ball GT


 * Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy


 * The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy


 * Gundam Wing


 * Hot Wheels AcceleRacers


 * He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002 TV series)


 * Johnny Bravo


 * Justice League


 * Justice League Unlimited


 * Kong: The Animated Series


 * The Life and Times of Juniper Lee


 * Life with Derek


 * Loonatics Unleashed


 * The Mask


 * Megas XLR


 * Mucha Lucha


 * One Piece


 * Outlaw Star


 * Parker Lewis Can't Lose


 * The Pirates of Dark Water


 * Pokémon (Seasons 1-5)


 * Pokémon: Advanced Generation (Seasons 6,8 and 9)


 * Pokémon Chronicles


 * The Powerpuff Girls


 * Rave Master


 * The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest


 * Ripping Friends


 * Samurai Jack


 * Spawn


 * Spider-Man: The Animated Series


 * Star Wars: Clone Wars


 * Static Shock


 * Stencil


 * Teen Titans (Seasons 1-4)


 * Tenchi Muyo


 * Tenchi Universe


 * Tenchi in Tokyo


 * Time Squad
 * Transformers: Armada


 * Transformers: Cybertron


 * Transformers: Energon


 * Ultimate Muscle


 * X-Men: Evolution


 * Xiaolin Showdown


 * Zixx

Destination Friday
For a short period of time, Toonami UK aired a special programming block on Fridays called "Destination Friday", which ran from 4pm to 9pm. Near the end of its run, Toonami UK's newer shows had only aired once or twice a week, such as One Piece, Code Lyoko and Pokémon Chronicles. Code Lyoko which was later aired across seven days. "Destination Friday" initially repeated the week's episodes for viewers who either want to see them again or missed them the first time round. Between 5:30pm and 7pm, a feature-length animated movie has also been shown. A selection of several Batman animated movies were shown, such as Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. The UK premieres of the Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT movies occupied this slot throughout the summer months.

Technical Faults and Interruptions
On July 27, 2006 in the UK, Toonami, along with the other channels, TCM, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Boomerang +1 and CN Too suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in Soho, London. This was due to the energy supplier EDF cutting power from different parts of Soho one at a time for four hours, purposely, due to the inability as the 2006 European heat wave had hit Turner Broadcasting System Europe. The power cut caused a mix up of channels (i.e. Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang and Toonami, with Boomerang being broadcast on CN 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 didn't have a power cut because of its downtimes of timesharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel websites were offline also.

However, those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people curious into why the incorrect programmes were played out when compared to the EPG CN Too and Boomerang were showing episodes of The Flintstones. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this service. This is due to technical difficulties. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages.

Whilst most channels returned to the air relatively quickly, it took longer for CN 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 on the basis that there's no live action aired during the black out.

The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the black-out 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.

Closure
On May 3, 2007, Turner UK announced that Cartoon Network Too will go 24 hours and Cartoonito will be launched as a standalone channel on May 24, 2007. It was also confirmed that Toonami would close down immediately on the same day. On May 24 at 3am, The original version of Cartoon Network TOO was finally closed down with Cartoonito launching in its slot. On the same day CN Too also replaced Toonami by becoming a 24 hour service with all the programming moved to CN Too. Before Toonami ceased transmission, a message warned viewers about the merge with the CN Too channel. The message was 'Breaking News: Toonami becomes the bigger and better Cartoon Network Too on May 24, 2007.