On October 1st, 1992, Ted Turner and his big ol’ broadcasting company, Turner, launched a channel to house their substantial animation collection that they purchased in years prior from MGM, Hanna-Barbera, and Ruby-Spears. It produced its first original series two years later, entitled Space Ghost Coast to Coast– perhaps you know it– and went on to become a spectacularly popular television network chock full of original series and some acquired, original and acquired films, and so much more. Perhaps there were bad times– that’s debatable, obviously– and there of course were good times, and twenty years later, Cartoon Network is still running strong with fairly creative original series other networks, perhaps stupidly from a business standpoint for some of them, would never have touched with a ten foot pole.
On October 1st, 2012, Cartoon Network will kick off a month-long celebration of animation, music, and more both on the network and online to mark its 20th anniversary. It’ll kick off that Monday, and continue every weekend of the month.
According to the press release, October 1st will kick off the month with special birthday-themed programming throughout the day starting immediately when Adult Swim ends for the night, leading up to new episodes of Adventure Time– the 100th episode!– and Regular Show– an all-new half-hour special!– at their regular Monday night times. And along the way, at a few minutes before 7pm, the network will air a new music video with music by dancehall producer Diplo’s label Mad Decent, and animation by London-based studio ILOVEDUST. So, it’ll be a day chock full of fun stuff.
If you’re interested in what birthday shows and birthday episodes you’ll see that day, here’s the highlights from the press release:
The Oct. 1 birthday tribute will kick off at 6 a.m. ET/PT with a selection of birthday-themed theatrical shorts and series episodes starring many of the immortal Looney Tunes characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety and others. Immediately following, Cartoon Network’s latest cast of original characters – Mordecai & Rigby from Regular Show, Finn & Jake from Adventure Time, Gumball & Darwin from The Amazing World of Gumball – take the stage with an equally hilarious, if more modern look at “birthdays gone awry.” Later in the day, contemporary classics from Cartoon Network’s rich history of originals – The Powerpuff Girls, Kids Next Door, Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Chowder, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Flapjack and My Gym Partner’s a Monkey – join the 20th Birthday on-air revelry.
Highlights of the Oct. 1 all-birthday-themed line-up include the following:
· Adventure Time: “Belly of the Beast” & “Mystery Train” – 8:30 a.m.: In order to cure the stomach ache of a giant, Finn & Jake must break up a big party happening in his belly. Following that, Jake takes Finn on a train ride for his birthday, but things take a turn when they find themselves in a high speed whodunit!
· Chowder: “The Birthday Suits” & “Apprentice Appreciation” – 10 a.m.: Chowder and the gang must make a special delivery to a food suit-themed party. However, when the dish spills over, shrinking their fruit costumes, they must find new costumes before making it to the party. Then, It’s Apprentice Appreciation Day, and Chowder is looking forward to his annual Slawberry Cake. But when Mung hears that Endive is throwing a huge party for Panini, he decides to throw Chowder a bigger party with ice sculptures, a food animal circus, and no slawberry cake!
· Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: “I Only Have Surprise for You” – 12 p.m.: Bloo, Wilt & Coco convince the rest of the Imaginary Friends and Frankie to plan a big surprise birthday party for Mac. However Mac wants no part of it for fear that Bloo will somehow humiliate him. Are Mac’s fears justified in the end?
· The Powerpuff Girls: “Birthday Bash” & – 3 p.m.: Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles are excited to celebrate their birthday, but are unaware that especially dangerous and destructive “gifts” await them from Townsville’s arch enemies Mojo Jojo, Princess, Him and The Amoeba Boys. Afterward, the Powerpuff Girls invite their friends from Pokey Oaks Kindergarten to their house for a slumber party, but do not realize that Mojo Jojo plans to sneak into the house as Mojesha, so he can destroy their plans.
· Codename: Kids Next Door: “Operation C.A.K.E.D” & “Operation P.A.R.T.Y.” – 4 p.m.: The Kids Next Door attempt to stop a birthday party for their arch-enemies, the Delightful Children From Down The Lane. But a big surprise and a monstrous guest stands between them and the greatest birthday cake ever. Later on, it’s Kuki’s birthday, and girls including Numbuh 4 are invited! But what happens if a certain girl tries to sneak out the prized Rainbow Monkey cake?
· Regular Show: “Free Cake” & “Party Pete” – 5:30 p.m.: Mordecai and Rigby want some cake, but lack the money to buy it. They find out its Skip’s birthday and try to throw him a surprise party, but as usual, things go terribly awry. Next, Mordecai and Rigby look for help when their awesome house party turns lame.
There’s a lot to look forward to.
Then, starting the weekend following that Monday, October 6th and 7th, Cartoon Network will begin a month-long event where fans will vote for their favorite characters and shows from the first 20 years of CN content spanning a handful of different categories:
“Bestest Best Friends,” “Catchiest Catchphrase,” “Favorite Blue Character,” “What Show Would You Join?”, “The Baddest,” “Sweet Ride” and “Favorite Four Legged Friend.” Of course, fans also will be able to vote in more traditional categories, including “Favorite Character,” the “Best Action Team,” “Best Gadget” and the “Best Cartoon Place to Live.”
The voting will continue for the next three weekends, while Cartoon Network takes out 7 hours of those days to show a birthday block to remind people to vote, culminating in a Winners Weekend on November 3rd and 4th where America will find out who won in each category. On-air tributes to the winners will air both days– 11AM to 7PM on Saturday, 11 to 6 on Sunday.
Back in March, we let you know about the return of Cartoon Planet, and mistakenly took it as the network’s 20th Anniversary special. We were wrong, obviously, on that (sorry, dudes on Wikipedia). But we’re not mistaken this time.
Cartoon Network turns 20 on October 1st, and you can get into the birthday groove that day starting at 6am. Happy almost-birthday, CN!
If you want to read the whole press release, check it on The Futon Critic.
