July 17th: Let's Go Retro
Toonami’s original line-up consisted of four shows: Thundercats, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, and Robotech. These shows were supplemented by Hanna-Barbera’s stock of old-school superheroes, from Space Ghost to the Herculoids to the Galaxy Trio. All of these shows had aired on television in full prior to Toonami’s creation. With the exception of the new Jonny Quest, they had all been off the air for a good, long while. Yet these were the shows that formed the building blocks of Toonami and all the revolutionary things that would become of it in the years to follow.
It was a trend that would continue for some time. Ronin Warriors, Reboot, Batman: The Animated Series, Sailor Moon, and even Toonami mega-star Dragonball Z would become part of the block many years after their initial runs in the United States were over. Then, of course, there were shows that may have been new to Americans, but were far from new in the literal sense: Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, and G Gundam may have only first appeared in the US on Toonami, but in Japan, they’d all come and gone a long time ago. Every so often, you could even expect one of the "founding fathers", like Voltron or Thundercats, to make a return to the line-up, if only for a little while.
Times changed, however, and eventually that trend no longer held true. Once the Dragonball franchise had aired its last episodes, Toonami’s line-up would soon become all New Blood, all the time. There was nothing specifically wrong with that, but it did mark a change in the status quo. Yet even then, there were glimpses into the past: Dragonball Z would return to the line-up multiple times, and even now Samurai Jack, a show nearly a decade old at this point, airs on Toonami.
The progression here is pretty plain, though: when it started, Toonami began life as a showcase of old favorites in the world of action cartoons. As time passed and its success grew, it became the proving grounds of a new generation of action cartoons. However, that transition never would have been possible if those first four shows had not been successful. Now, I believe we’ve reached a new transition for Toonami, an era where it is no longer trusted to be the home of new action cartoons. So if it is no longer a proving ground, perhaps the time has come for it to become a showcase again. Perhaps it is time Toonami returns to its roots and introduces new generations to the classics of bygone eras.
Perhaps it is time for Toonami to go retro.
That is not to say I feel Toonami should abandon the present altogether, mind you: when Naruto dies, it is a safe bet Toonami dies with it, after all. However, the second hour of Toonami has turned into a virtual limbo, with programs being switched in and out without warning. Blue Dragon came and went with nary a peep, and I find it hard to believe Ben 10: Alien Force is going to do much more. Samurai Jack has stuck around a lot longer than I expected it would, but its stability heightens my point: rather than waste that 10:00 slot on repeats of a currently-airing show, why not try using it to do the same thing Samurai Jack is doing: reminding this new generation of action cartoon fans to look to the past?
I am not simply talking about shows Toonami itself has already aired, though certainly that would should be part of it. Thundercats and Voltron are still household names, after all, while Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z still remain among the biggest titles in the anime business. However, if we were to reach outside those constraints, the options suddenly become much more open, and consequently more rewarding. Take, for example, The Vision of Escaflowne, one of the most highly regarded anime out there. It has a complete dub of the full series available in the United States, but only the first 13 episodes aired on television thanks to Fox Kids’ bungling. Adult Swim, Toonami’s brother-in-arms, has aired the Escaflowne movie; why not give Toonami a chance to air the series itself? Or how about Teknoman, a syndicated anime that aired on UPN - which likewise had a completed dub which only saw the initial batch of episodes aired? The show is solid, old-school action-adventure and would fit perfectly on Toonami, particularly since there has been something of a drought in terms of hot mecha action as of late.
My point, ultimately, is that the past holds many gems either forgotten or else overlooked by history, and Toonami may very well be in the perfect position to remind us all of their existence. The shows would likely be cheap to buy and easy to air, the network would have little to lose and much to gain by giving them a try, and overall I believe it would strengthen Toonami and the diet of most modern cartoon fans. The potential is there if anyone ever chooses to grab it, and I believe we would all benefit if someone did. After all, you can’t know where you’re going if you forget where you’ve been.
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