SARA

SARA is TOM's AI matrix companion introduced in part one of the first Toonami Total Immersion Event, The Intruder, on August 18, 2000. Although her voice was heard in Toonami's intro, saying "hello", from the time TOM was introduced in 1999 to her actual introduction during The Intruder. SARA was originally voiced by British alternative singer "Cowboy" Sally Timms, with her current incarnation voiced by Dana Swanson.

SARA v1.0
Designed by Professor William Gill, an innovator in artificial intelligence, SARA was the factory standard matrix in large starships and freighter for a long time. The matrix could serve as all roles aboard a ship for deep space missions, including navigator, pilot, and captain. Something Moltar considered when he decided to move primary Toonami operations into space. Of course, he didn't know how to fully implement the unit right away aside from a few basic commands. SARA was always on the Absolution, but prior to the events of "The Intruder," she was in stasis. Sara became fully operational after being activated by the custodian droid known as TOM. Almost immediately, the two characters clicked with each other. After TOM was consumed by the intruder, SARA transferred TOM's AI matrix into a brand new shell, designed by SARA herself, which was more serpentine and battle ready. Over time, SARA has become a voice of consciousness for TOM. She had a major role in the second Total Immersion Event, Lockdown. In the third Total Immersion Event, Trapped in Hyperspace, she was attacked by a virus named Swayzak.

In 2003, SARA still looked the same, except she was a blue-green color. Her design lasted until Toonami moved to Saturday nights.

SARA v2.0
On April 17, 2004, when Toonami moved to Saturday nights, SARA was redesigned to have a full women's body instead of just a head. Her color was also changed to white, and she was no longer on the data screens. She was instead a hologram projection, floating around the Absolution. She also shared some of the announcer duties with TOM, mostly during bumpers to go to commercial breaks or to return to the show.

On March 17, 2007, SARA was phased out along with the Absolution, though there is a possibility that she was the data screens.

SARA was brought back for one night only during the Adult Swim's Toonami April Fools Stunt on April 1, 2012 (included the rare SARA bumper and the intro).

SARA v3.0
On April 28, 2013, when the Toonami look overhaul (TOM 5, Absolution Mk III, etc.) was to take place as previously announced, Toonami fans received a special surprise. A redesigned SARA, SARA v3.0, complete with a new voice actor, Dana Swanson. She now currently hosts the block alongside Tom.

During The Intruder II, SARA was seemingly destroyed by the Intruder. However, TOM was able to recover the Absolution's entire infrastructure mainframe with the hopes that enough of her data would be contained within it to restore her. This proved successful, as in the final episode, SARA is seen restored with a slightly different look, and now experiences sporadic glitches. She also stated that she didn't know what parts of her were lost forever and what new parts might come from the new system on Shogo 162.

#BringBackSara
BringBackSara was a campaign started by Toonami fans on Twitter to try to get Adult Swim to know that they wanted SARA to return as TOM's co-host on the newly revived Toonami block, where she had yet to make an appearance.

On the Tumblr, the crew stated that they intended to bring SARA back when they had the budget to animate her in HD. They also stated she would have a new voice since they wouldn't be able to afford Timms. On March 10, 2013, it was announced a new comic will be released showing where Sara and the Clyde's were. When Tom 5 and the new Absolution were announced it was stated "no Sara and Clydes yet", hinting her return. Eventually she returned on April 28, 2013.