Toonami

Toonami (a portmanteau of the words "cartoon" and "tsunami") was a registered trademark of the Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing American and Japanese cartoons, originating in the United States from March 17, 1997 to September 20, 2008.

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. It has been hosted by two CGI hosts.

In September 2000, Toonami presented special interactive events known as Total Immersion Event|Total Immersion Events or TIEs. These TIEs took place both on-air during Toonami and online at the official site, Toonami.com, and always occurred the week that the block's most popular series, Dragon Ball Z, returned for a new season. The very first TIE was The Intruder, which introduced TOM's companion, an AI matrix known as SARA, who played an integral part in the rebirth of TOM, 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 Steven Blum), though it was the same TOM who still hosted the block.

Dragon Ball Z aired in 1998 when Cartoon Network would air one episode of FUNimation's dub every weekday during its popular Toonami time slot (specifically, 5 pm Eastern Time).

The Dragon Ball anime was released on June 12, 2001 with episodes 14-16 (picking up where their old 1995 dub left off). However, even the first 13 episodes were re-dubbed and were aired as a part of a 28 episode test season, beginning on Cartoon Network in August of 2001.

Apparently, the show was enough of a hit to continue production. The second season (episodes 29-53) aired in the spring of 2002, and a third season (episodes 54-101) was shown that fall (and later re-run outside of Toonami on Saturday nights). The fourth (and final) season (episodes 102-153) was shown during the fall of 2003. Dragon Ball GT began airing on TV in the US on Cartoon Network with the "first" volume of DBGT in America started with a "Bonus Introduction" to the beginning of the series, and then moves on to episodes 17-19. That's correct: FUNimation skipped the first 16 episodes of the series, and instead created an additional "flashback" episode (which is English-only) that retells the events of these first 16 episodes., and Dragon Ball had completed its TV run from beginning to end. Unfortunately, DBGT's Cartoon Network run mimicked the DVD release, starting from FUNimation's English-only recap episode. Cartoon Network immediately began repeating the series from its "true" beginning upon its first run-through, however.

On Saturday September 20, 2008, Cartoon Network canceled the block and aired its final transmission. Employees who worked on the block moved to other parts of the channel. At the end of Toonami's final airing, the host, voiced by Steven Blum, ended the block with a final monologue simply reading:

"'Well, this is the end, beautiful friends. After more than 11 years, this is Toonami's final broadcast. It's been a lot of fun, and we'd like to thank each and every one of you who made this journey with us. Toonami wouldn't have been anything without you. Hopefully we've left you with some good memories. So, until we meet again, stay gold. Bang.'"

Anime was mostly handled by Adult Swim, and a new block "CN Real" replaced Toonami on Saturday nights afterward. Toonami Jetstream remained with the Toonami name until January 30, 2009.

Dragon Ball Z promos and intros

"61 million fans can't be wrong! Dragon Ball Z! Only Toonami..."
— Toonami's 2002 DBZ bump voiced by Peter Cullen.

Toonami was very famous for its promos which showcased upcoming episodes. The Dragon Ball Z promos were particularly loved, and many have been uploaded to YouTube and other Internet sites. The first were voiced by Moltar, who was the host at the time. When TOM took over, however, most were voiced by Peter Cullen (who is most famous for the voice of Optimus Prime) and on occasion TOM himself. Below are some external YouTube links to the promos.

Promo and intro links

Toonami

From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia

Dragon Ball Z promos and intros

Promo and intro links

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