Toonami (British and Irish TV channel) facts for kids
 |
|
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Turner Broadcasting System Europe (Time Warner) |
| Sister channels | Cartoon Network Boomerang Cartoon Network Too |
| History | |
| Launched | 8 September 2003 |
| Replaced | CNX |
| Closed | 24 May 2007 |
| Replaced by | Cartoon Network Too (relaunched version) |
| Availability (at time of closure) |
|
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 732 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 602 |
Toonami was a British children's channel which aired from September 2003 to May 2007.
2006 power outage
On the night of 26–27 July 2006 Cartoon Network Too, along with its sister channels suffered a major technical fault due to a power cut in Soho, London, owing to the 2006 European heat wave, with thunderstorms taking full force overnight.
The power cut caused a mix up of Turner Broadcasting System Europe channels (i.e. Cartoon Network being broadcast on Boomerang and Toonami, with Boomerang being broadcast on Cartoon Network 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 remained unaffected due to its downtime of timesharing. Most advertising was suspended and several of the channel websites were offline also. Those who could still receive the channels had a backup transmission played out, making people confused when Cartoon Network Too and Boomerang were showing episodes of The Flintstones at the same time. These backups where played out with a scrolling message which said "We apologise for the disruption to this programme due to technical problems and we are trying to correct the fault. We will resume normal programming as soon as possible" in multiple languages.
Whilst most channels returned to the air within 5–10 minutes, it took longer for Cartoon Network 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 due to the lack of live action programming aired during the outage.
The idents on Toonami which aired between shows during the power cut 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.
Idents
When the channel launched in 2003, the idents would be the Toonami logo in the Sensor Room, or TOM's face, with a voice whispering Toonami. There were also bumpers in the Sensor Room showcasing the latest games, movies, and shows, with TOM displaying the awkward and dorky personality he was known for on the US Toonami. Sara was also in these bumpers, serving as the straight man to TOM's excited demeanor.
Toonami rebranded in 2004 and got rid of TOM. The idents were on a pale cyan background (alike Cartoonito's) and were based on CNX's idents. They had a black rectangle filling up with white before the white part turned into the Toonami logo.
In 2006, Toonami rebranded for the final time using the logo in an azure background and colored monsters which would play with the Toonami logo. The shutdown ident on the website was the Toonami logo, with the "Too" part pushing away the "nami" and the logo changing into the Cartoon Network Too logo on the same background from the 2004 idents.
See also
In Spanish: Toonami (Reino Unido) para niños
