As a sequel to the Disney version and to remember that this is an Anime site I present to you the top 10 anime that would benefit from Cartoon Network.
Special Mention: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt who already uses Cartoon Network's Animation style.
10. Medabots
While the concept is very Japanese the appeal is very international and would fill a gap which seems to elude Cartoon Network which is of course the robot cartoon.
9. Martian Successor Nadesico
A ship full of anime fans and various normal people with extraordinary skills, sounds like a good recipe for a cartoon.
8. Lost Universe
Also known as the Sci-Fi Slayers, an adaptable cast and a wide sandbox full of gags makes Lost Universe work.
7. Trigun
Strange choice but justified, thinking about how often a show starts off with hardcore slapstick before switching to a more darker tone, (Looking at you Adventure Time) Trigun suits the mold very well.
6. Ninja Nonsense
Onsokumaru is made for this, he's the type of character who'd work well in any scene seeing as he reminds me of the Red Guy from Cow & Chicken crossed with Jake the Dog from Adventure Time.
5. Black Butler
When this show is funny it's really funny, I mean how could you keep a serious face in a show about a Demon Butler that fights with silverware. Plus a 19th century setting would be a change of pace for Cartoon Network.
4. Outlaw Star
Considering the cast consists of a spaceship pilot scared of space, a pint-sized mechanic, a bad tempered Catgirl, a ship battery in the guise of a human female and a samurai girl, you'd be pushed to think of a better setting. Plus Outlaw Star is a former Toonami show.
3. Black Cat
And yet Black Cat is capable of doing exactly that, the manga more so than the anime. Two broke bounty hunters along with a shape-shifting girl fighting for their next meal is a well used concept but has it's merits if done well and Black Cat can do that.
2. Riding Bean
Considering there wasn't really much to work with it definitely has potential, plus I've been looking for a jack of all trades driver in cartoons, the industry could use with one and would open up hundreds of potential plotlines.
1. Squid Girl
But Cartoon Network's history of failed villains would certainly liven up Squid Girl from it's one joke status to a series of hilarious fails as a cartoon about a worthless villain joining such favorites as Mandark, Mojo Jojo, Red Guy, Evil Con Carne & the Many Many Kids Next Door Villains.
Now were getting into the good stuff, moving on with the mini guide we come to Generation one, there will be five entries in this one.
1. Dexter's Laboratory - 1996
A vertically challenged boy builds a huge laboratory in his bedroom and strives to achieve scientific perfection while his sister ruins everything through her so called playtimes.
Verdict: The first of many series by Cartoon Network and it starts off well, Dexter's Laboratory plays the imagination card well and executes a perfect balance between science lingo and comedy, sadly the post 2000 new episodes aren't as funny as the older episodes.
Fact: As already mentioned previously there is a lost episode from Season one called Rude Removal which had too much colorful language to air.
Bonus. Dial M for Monkey & Justice Friends - 1996
One show deals with the exploits of Dexter's Monkey as a superhero, the other spoofs the Avengers and many sitcom shows.
Verdict: Mixed, it's a nice change of pace during a run of Dexter's Lab but neither are that special.
Fact: The Justice Friends have also appeared in Powerpuff Girls.
2. Johnny Bravo - 1997
A muscle bound blonde man with an Elvis accent goes through day to day life flirting with women and generally showing off.
Verdict: Early episodes were decent but the lead character got stupider during newer episodes and as a blonde male myself I'm actually offended by it.
Fact: One of only a handful of animated shows to have star guests, the Scooby Doo crossover being a personal favorite, along with Donny Osmond & Farrah Fawcett episodes and who could forget the Mr T episode.
3. Cow & Chicken - 1997
It's about a Cow & a Chicken, that's it. Oh and a Pant-less Red Guy appears in a lot of episodes.
Verdict: Watching this now it's pretty terrible, as a child I could see why I enjoyed it but now it's quite bad.
Fact: An episode got banned for stereotyping Lesbians, even the pilot episode was refused airtime later on for it's excessive use of smoking scenes.
4. I Am Weasel - 1997
Originally a side cartoon for Cow & Chicken became a full fledged series about a perfect at everything Weasel and a hopeless at everything Baboon.
Verdict: I think I missed the joke of this show, because I find the cartoon a good example of social status bullying by having a poor baboon be the butt of the gags created by a rich weasel.
Fact: Cow & Chicken frequently appear in the episodes as plot points along with the Red Guy.
Bonus: I do a mean impression of Weasel.
5. Powerpuff Girls - 1998
Scientist creates three super-powered kindergarten girls while trying to create a perfect little girl. Said super powered girls are now the crime fighters of the city.
Verdict: This show is fantastic, and surprisingly deep and sometimes dark, I don't even care if it's girly, pink and cute, what I see is pure genius.
Fact: Creator Craig McCracken's talent for making girly shows watchable seems to spread to his spouse as he's married to Lauren Faust of My Little Pony fame, another show that is girly and watchable.
Bonus: The Powerpuff Girls are being rebooted, look forward to it.
I waited a bit to release this list but here it is, the Top 10 best Cartoon Network Characters.
10. Johnny Bravo from Johnny Bravo
Although I hated how they treated him in the show, I liked his work as Cartoon Network presenter, especially during the height of Toonami popularity.
9. Kevin Levin from Ben 10
Unlike the main character Ben 10, Kevin actually goes through a number of deep and meaningful character changes in order to achieve his hero status, not to mention he has an awesome power and is the best character to use in the Cartoon Network fighting game.
8. Gumball Watterson from Amazing World of Gumball
This entry is purely down to the performance of child actor Logan Grove, probably one of the best child voice actors I've heard in a long time. Every scene Gumball has is pure gold and you truly believe that Gumball is a child and not an adult playing one.
7. Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory
While slightly full of himself, Dexter always makes things as interesting as possible with his inventions. It's the creative mind of a genius and his ability to adapt within a normal family is what makes Dexter a good character.
6. Mordecai from Regular Show
Mordecai is JG Quintel, lets get that out of the way now. What's interesting about Mordecai is that despite being a slacker, he's actually really smart, it would be far too easy to make two idiots, so having one of the duo of Mordecai & Rigby be smart is a good move and serves the series better for it. Plus I like his character origin as an Acid Trip.
5. Ed from Ed, Edd & Eddy
All the Eds deserve to be on this list but in keeping to one character I chose Ed especially, mainly because his knowledge of movies matches some of my main interests and secondly he's voiced by the same man who did Kira Yamato in Gundam Seed.
4. Lin Chung from Hero 108
Lin Chung looks like the typical invincible hero type but is subverted by his flaws as being easily distracted by his own artistic vision which doesn't instantly turn the show into a one hero only show. (Yes I realize I just made a pun and not a good one either)
3. Nigel Uno (Numbuh 1) from Codename: Kids Next Door
No he's not on here because he's British, actually yes that is one reason but the other is that he is grade A awesome. The perfect mold for a typical leader character, reckless, committed to the team, insanely loyal, commands up most respect and looks awesome doing it.
2. Bubbles from Powerpuff Girls
Another character from a trio that should all be on this list but Bubbles stands out as the only character who acts her age. Blossom behaves if she's an adult, Buttercup behaves if she's in high school, Bubbles actually acts like a kindergartner which makes it all the more awesome when she beats up monsters and villains.
1. Jack from Samurai Jack
It's not even his real name yet he accepts that as the name given to him by the Aku Future World inhabitants. Samurai Jack only talks when he has to, otherwise they can shoot pretty much the entire episode with no dialogue and he'd still accomplish more than an equal character with dialogue. It's the show's biggest strength and you truly believe Jack is a real warrior because of it.
Ask any creator of popular cartoons where their ideas came from and you might be surprised how much you find out; it's considered fact that the Simpsons is a yellow skinned representation of the creators own family while in anime land the likes of Evangelion are created to represent the creators depression, but what if I was to tell you that Regular Show originated from a short about an acid trip? Need more convincing? This is the story of "2 in the AM PM"
Regular Show gets away with a lot of adult jokes in an era that still finds the likes of Shezow mind corrupting. (Yeah that's a pretty stupid show to complain about) So adult works may come as no surprise when you dive into the origins of creator J.G.Quintel's work. As a student he first designed a short about a lollyman called the "Naive Man from Lolliland" which starred a character that would later be called Pops in Regular Show where said character tries to pay for a bill with candy.
However his second short "2 in the AM PM" is ten times more adult than the Lolliland short. The short begins with 2 gas station workers who sound familiar, mainly because they are the voices of Mordecai & Benson, Mordecai of course is JG Quintel while Benson is voiced by his friend Sam Marin.
Anyway the two workers are bored until they eat some candy containing acid, this is when the trippy bit begins as both characters keep turning into different things including a gumball machine and a blue jay, yeah the whole cartoon is an acid trip and those forms I just mentioned were the design choices for Mordecai & Benson for Regular Show; so the million dollar question is: Was Regular Show created from Acid Trip? Who knows? It's not my place to ask people about their personal habits; if you consider the content of Regular Show and the fact that Mordecai is the creator himself then it's possible but it's something that Quintel wouldn't want to admit.
No preview video, the short is mature rating and you know the rules by now.
Returning back to the mini-guide, this time we view the early days of Cartoon Network, only four shows this time.
1. Captain Planet & the Planeteers - 1990
A show syndicated by Cartoon Network big boss Ted Turner about a group of teenagers from various parts of the world using the powers of the elements and angst to summon a flamboyant superhero named Captain Planet to save the world from war, pollution and other bad things which we're preached not to do.
Verdict: Under so bad it needs to be seen to be believed but after a while the novelty wears off.
Fact: Although it predates Cartoon Network itself, it's still listed as a Cartoon Network creation due to it's creator being Ted Turner.
2. The Moxy Show - 1993
Hard to describe this one but I'll do my best; it's a clip show hosted by a CGI dog voiced by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait of Police Academy fame.
Verdict: To be honest my memories of this one are a little thin, while I remember Moxy the dog I don't really remember what he did.
Fact: This cartoon holds many titles, first Cartoon Network made series, first CGI series made by Cartoon Network and first hybrid animated series by Cartoon Network. On a much more negative note this show was created by Scott Fellows, the guy behind Johnny Test.
3. Space Ghost Coast to Coast - 1994
A spoof half animated talk show hosted by 60s Hanna Barbara superhero Space Ghost, in which the superhero interviews real life celebrities.
Verdict: Very clever idea which has only ever been copied once by Phineas & Ferb. Again another series I didn't see often but the stuff I did see I enjoyed.
Fact: Space Ghost Coast to Coast became the leading force that would later lead to the creation of Adult Swim.
4. What a Cartoon - 1995
A number of upcoming cartoon creators showcasing their work before the network for syndication into full series.
Verdict: The five shorts that did become shows will be talked about another time, as for the others we had a mixture of one joke shorts and a number of missed opportunities.
Fact: The series of shorts also jump started the careers of Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame and Butch Hartman of Fairly Odd Parents fame who would go to Nickelodeon.
Bonus: What a Cartoon Sequels & Clones
The Cartoon Cartoon Show, made after What a Cartoon would also bring to life, Robot Jones, Mike, Lu & Og, Kids Next Door and Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy.
The Cartoonstitute brought to life Regular Show along with Fort Awesome & coming soon release Uncle Grandpa.
Nickelodeon's Oh Yeah Cartoons brought to life Fairly Odd Parents, Chalk Zone & Teenage Robot and briefly gave life to What a Cartoon reject Mina and the Count.
Predating Oh Yeah Cartoons was Kablam but only Angela Anaconda was syndicated for a series later bought by Fox but did air on UK Cartoon Network.
Oh Yeah Cartoon's sequel Random Cartoons could only come up with Fanboy & Chum Chum, however Cartoon Network swooped down on another short called Adventure Time; yes you guessed right, Adventure Time was originally supposed to be for Nickelodeon but Cartoon Network bought it instead, not the first time Cartoon Network pinched a great idea from Nickelodeon having done the same with Ed, Edd & Eddy.
