I turn 17 today.
It seems that when you turn 12 or something, you just have the idea that your childhood popular culture icons are slowly disappearing one by one.
Doraemon in Spanish is an example of that. (now that CN PT will get it I'm skeptical of the return)
Then CN HQ.
But still, that just appears to be my conception of all popular culture icons from your childhood disappear before you turn 18.
And now an important PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE: The OFCOM has stated that four Adventure Time episodes from the sixth season, namely "Wake Up", "Espace from the Citadel", "The Tower" and "Breezy". As quoted from a Toonzone spoiler given to me yesterday by BlooMac: "So the first 2 episodes have a major plot for the series - we finally meet Finn's real dad and Finn loses his arm. In the next 4 episodes, Finn is left with one arm until the 6th episode, where he gets his arm back. So CN RSEE is going to air the episodes in the following order - ep. 7, 3, 14, 5... So what? We're going to see Finn with both of his arms, then suddenly with only one, then again with both and then with one? Or will they just edit the episodes, so that Finn also has 2 arms in episodes 3 and 5? And let's not forget that Finn's dad returns in a later episodes. People won't know who this guy is, because his debut is in one of the skipped episodes!"
Today I knew that those episodes are "not suitable for the EMEA markets", which is shameful indeed. But that doesn't mean that the episodes in question feature scenes offensive to cultures within the region, The episodes are considered too violent and will be skipped.
The UG episode "Viewer Special" will be skipped, the reasons why are unknown.
I'll make a recording about something that happened on this blog's Facebook page. Also, the Darwin the Merman Chatfoo posts will be read out loud.
Also, if anyone dares me, an old Darwin the Merman text in Portuguese, translated.
I question myself: why do I have a strange obsession for picturing Mordecai as a merman?
An idea popped up on my head last Tuesday: Park Island. About a merbird who lives in an island which looks like the RS park.
And turned into a merman at 13.
The Thirteenth Year.
Tell me, I feared my thirteenth anniversary. I feared in becoming a merman.
Guess what? It didn't happen.
OK, so recently (yesterday) I came across this Latino fanfic. The Latino community is very mixed-up, based on extreme weeabooisms, excessive fanartery and compulsive merchandise buying. Excessive fanartery is more common, especially with shows like Phineas and Ferb and Regular Show. Those shows also wind up in getting loads of OCs and fanfics. And today, we're looking at a fanfic that looks like an awful cross between a typical Latino fanfic and The Little Mermaid. Here we go. Oh, and it's here, so read it in the best manner possible and translate it on Chrome.
And we can't proceed with this without posting a picture which can be useful before reading my review of it.
OK, let's focus on this fanfic. It's called (literal translation) "Adventure in the Atlantis" and is a RS/TLM crossover.
The fanfic starts in a typical Mordecai/Margaret love affair. Then they accept a trip to Cancún with Rigby and Eileen.
After some boring permutations of insane speech from them, they finally go on an airplane to Cancún, stop at a hotel, then the randomness starts.
They are now at the beach, where, suddenly, he encounters Disney-style mermaids, Stela and Kat. "Look at this hot bird", says Stela. And then they take it to King Triton (from The Little Mermaid and not Darwin the Merman).
King Triton ends up saying "Oh, not again. We're on the 32nd human, hot according to you, to turn them into mermen. Stop it, will you?".
Logically I have a stupidly weird theory related to those Frozen theories but focusing entirely on merpeople, and this appears to be my crazy obsession: create mersonas. And, in turn, create characters for my projects. If I open something on FanFiction.net, expect it to be filled with merworld related works similar to Meeting Kanou-a. Am I physically, mentally and spiritually a merman? Please bang my head.
Then King Triton knows that Mordecai is a bird, not a human. And when he left the hypnotic sounds of the mermaids he found earlier, King Triton turned him into a merman. Or merbird. Or whatever...
OK, so the merman Mordecai seems to be stolen from some place, or is an original drawing, but I don't know about the origin of this. He wanted to make the tail the most sensical as possible and wear a crown and Hawaiian stuff, making him look like a Hawaiian merman/merbird/OK, merman.
Seriously, when you draw a mer-version of a character, it just needs to have some sense with the color combinations, tails and everything. I can only picture Clarence as four different mermen because of his clothes, but still, there was a DA artist who made various iterations of Mordecai as a merman. Notice that the tail color haschangedtwice, and now this Hawaiian design.
Then they find a couple of merman, Cristian (which looks like somebody from DeviantART has lost sense) and Kevin (which seems to be anime-infused). Meanwhile, Margaret tried to search for Mordecai, and Margaret goes out at sea. And then, guess what...
...thanks to King Triton, Margaret becomes a mermaid (click here for more mer-lunacy before you bang your own head and hallucinate and have a dream that you're a merman/mermaid/OK, fine. Anything.). The design looks a bit eugh, but I have a huge question mark on this.
Then they go to an undersea restaurant. The date reaches a sudden climax with that Titanic song (My Heart Will Go On) then they marry as merbirds (?!), meet Rigby and Eileen, they become merpeople (still?) then they play video games, and then everything goes back to normal, like one of those dreams where you are a merman for a few seconds and you suddenly lose your mermanhood. In other words: "OOH WOW! I'M A MERMAN! Now I'm human again...".
OK, so this is very weird. You go to Cancún and then you find out that you're in Atlantica, or King Triton from The Little Mermaid went on vacation to Atlantis because Atlantica is "too tropical", or something else.
This is part of the "Regular Love" series of fanfics, go and read the others. I have banged my head too much in order to become a merman or something. What else can cure me?
Ah, the Darwin the Merman theme that I always wanted...
I'll have to admit, we live in a state where the borders of television are now more and more restrictive. That wasn't the case back in the day. Let's rewind a quarter century;
The 1980s were a phase of high evolution on Portuguese television. In 1980, color television appeared and our eyes were now getting ready, as red, green, blue and all the other permutations of color appear on our screens for the first time. And everybody's been laughing at us because they already had color for quite some time now.
Then RTP experimented with stereoscopic television sometime in the middle of the decade, with an airing of Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Then came the alerts (+, ++) that something was starting on the other channel (Portuguese people only had access to two channeks back then!).
And then, ending the decade in a way similar to the start of it, another large technological advancement spreaded. Satellite dishes.
Satellite dishes revolutionized the way we watched television not only over here but around the world, especially Europe due to the varied programming the channels had. It was a TV fan's dream come true. Now you had access to a dozen of channels of various themes, languages and countries. If you want sardonic comments on this, you must hear NunoMarkl's take on it. Even though you can't understand Portuguese, you can understand some of the concepts behind it.
Kids shows in English were generally restricted to Fun Factory on SKY One and TCC, the first European kids channel in such a language. Then came that moment in September 1993. Cartoon Network didn't exist in Europe back then (the channel hasn't even launched yet) when a revolution known as SKY Multichannels (or, according to Nuno Markl, the scrambled SKY package exclusive to England) sweeped the UK. Channels like the SKY channels and TCC were scrambled and then the European CN launched. It was the beginning of a dynasty. the days when NOS was known as TV Cabo fade further and further into memory
Around the same time, cable television appeared by taking whatever channels they took via satellite, before it slowly evolved. Cartoon Network was one of the channels available at launch, and back then it was a completely different game, timeshared with TNT. More and more people got to learn English by watching the channel, which sadly no longer works with today's society, which I'll explain later on.
At this moment, Portugal was living a new state of televised democracy. Whereas adults could improve their Spanish by watching the so-called imported Spanish channel on channel 18/19/26/whatever channel it was, whatever region it was, we learned Spanish through Doraemon, which remained like this for a long time. Cartoon Network was also a large-scale televised phenomenon. All of a sudden, cable TV was a gift from foreign people from unknown lands that wanted to teach the 90s generation their languages, especially Spanish and English.
Then they slowly started to develop the market for our language, Portuguese. Still, we still had a preference for foreign language channels, as they were still bringing in cable ratings.
But then the over-saturated market started to saturate the opposite language.
The whole "Learned English From Watching Television" aesthetic began to show signs of death around 2003, but it was just MTV getting a localized version. I don't remember MTV Europe, but that was in a time where MTV was starting to change of tack and say "OK, let's start splitting MTV Europe up".
This was very slow. As channels like Disney Channel and FOX started to get healthy ratings, Cartoon Network's dynasty started to lose weight.
But that was a very slow process. 2013 is where things got their major sacrifice.
In 2013, ESPN America shut down, due to issues with the branding used and with BT Sport. In the same month, the Disney channels got an English audio track, but not every show got it.
I've incessantly asked ZON/NOS about the return of CN HQ, but they say no. Sometimes they say stuff like "You must go to England" and I answer stuff like "But that version of CN is different and I know about every CN there is".
OK, so at least 25 channels in English is OK, but in Portugal, where we claim to have good English, we technically have bad English.
All our claims of having a good English end up in disaster. We mix up concepts and omit sounds, making our English less normal than it's supposed to be. It would be a problem if CN HQ was a single feed again, with colored subtitles in fifteen languages, but then again it would drown the viewer in a sea of text.
But still, the game of trends is pretty much won by Portugal. We are losing English goods.
Some time ago, MTV Rocks and Dance had their British versions throughout continental Europe. We got to see British ads without going to the UK. I was jealous of their ad style. Then they decided to split off the feeds with these feeds now operating from the Czech Republic, where the music market is stronger than the kids market.
Portugal is a country that is suffering from Anglophobia - fear of TV channels that broadcast in English without any kind of translation in Portuguese. We have to face what's coming - otherwise the BBC channels will be removed. We did got to see the World Cup in English for a little while on Bragatel, as they had CBeebies/BBC Four and BBC One for a little while, until the TV provider ended their game. Back then the language interests game was in a different league, involving French (M6) and German (RTL). This game had to do with rights involving Sport TV. But that's another concept. We in Portugal want to see the English TV industry grow further and further into a nice amount of channels, varied themes and other kinds of unexplored concepts.
We have never seen Coronation Street, but they will never take our EastEnders.
As a preview for my next post, here's Samagi Sampath's English as a Life Skill, a presidential initiative from 2013. Over fifty lessons were made, accompanied with DVD and CD, and the lessons aired on TV weekly via Rupavahini.
Also, notice the abuse of the woman singing "English as a Life Skill" in a perfect English accent, which doesn't actually correspond to the accent of the people in the video I'm going to show. This is a Sri Lankan show, so except a heavy South Asian dialect.
/|\This one is the first lesson I've seen. It's about suggestions, or "sajishans".
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
PLEASE COME BACK!!!!!!!
Calm down, because there's another edition of A Regular Love Affair on CN HQ tomorrow and we're missing out on it!
There will be two marathons, one in the morning, another one in the afternoon. But CN PT misses out on that and is busy with their Saturday morning premieres.
Do you really want to see a promo? This is the one CN UK is airing:
I'm so nervous because I haven't had CN HQ for more than a year and updating this blog seems to be a very complicated issue. You can't make a blog about a channel you used to get.
Just as a reminder that until CN HQ returns, this blog will talk about sardonic CN-related comments, and very rarely about the channels. But considering that Nigeria and Egypt form a good chunk of my viewers, I'll try and keep posting the highlights.
Alright, now Turner has a lot of issues in the EMEA region.
-First, we have the shows on BM CEE airing in the wrong laanguage audio tracks.
-Then, we have CN PT givingthe wrong episode titles.
-Then, CN RSEE suffers from it as well.
-We also have the shows on CN CEE starting later or earlier than scheduled, like CN PT.
These are the aspects that make some of Turner EMEA's operations a comedy and they need to be sacked. Logically, I'd pick up these mermen:
Wouldn't it be amazing to see merpeople sack the awful controllers of some CN and Boomerang feeds (at least in another dimension)?
I just found out today: there's a Toonzone user, supposedly based in Angola, that joined in January of 2011, has made 45 posts, two posts were made today and sometimes don't make some sense!
Red Arrow :D has posted two more videos of the Norwegian dub of Teen Titans GO! because CN NL got another language mix-up and got to see the show again in Norwegian (he initially thought that it was Danish) and his answer (after mine) was the following: "i think he meant thats what he thinks is the funniest cartoon and by the way Bra show is the best one."
That doesn't seem to be, in Koen's opinion, the funniest cartoon and I don't know what's supposed to be "Bra show".
Most of his posts did make minimal sense, like Homsar thanking Marzipan for the flowers she sent him when he was in the hospital. What makes it look utterly lunatic is the fact that his signature has a link to one of those spam site. And the spam site "sells" Viagra.
Viagra, the famous manly pill, is being sold on a spam blog called "cialisonlineshop2015". I've already covered the issue of that UAE website getting a Toonzone account last summer and it seems that we have to take action by trying to either ban the user or remove the link to the aforementioned site and give him some Merthyr Tydfil and expulse his counter-manliness from the site the same way as we tried to stop Ramdesh in September 2013 from posting links to illegally watch Shuddh Desi Romance countless times.
An article on the change of hands of OatC on Asian feeds of Cartoon Network.
Cartoon Network feeds in South East Asia (CN SEA proper, CN TW and CN PH) have lost the rights of Oggy and the Cockroaches to Nickelodeon SEA. One of the seasons was co-produced with CN SEA.
This decision also affects India, where Oggy and the Cockroaches will move from the local CN to the local Nickelodeon.
CN SEA, CN PH and CN TW have all lost the rights to air it on January 1st. It’s still airing on CN IN and CN PK, despite the announcement.
The last known OatC-related marathon, Happy Birthday Oggy, aired on the Pakistani feed on December 25th, anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the modern-day country of Pakistan.
The South East Asian feeds premiered Clarence on January 5th. In terms of third-party shows, Gon, Monk the Little Dog and Fish N’ Chips (this one also airs on CN KR) are the only shows of the kind airing on the main regional feed.
EDIT: The Thai version of Boomerang has also removed Oggy and the Cockroaches. More details on the schedule below:
On January 14th, Thailand will get a localized version of Toonami, after launching a successful, FTA version of Boomerang on August 1st, 2013.
The channel will be owned by M Turner – a joint-venture between Major Kantana Broadcasting and Turner.
Phil Nelson, Turner’s senior vice president and managing director of North Asia and Southeast Asia Pacific made this statement about the Toonami Thailand launch:
“This launch demonstrates Turner’s confidence and commitment to Thailand and follows on the success of Boomerang, the No 1 kids’ cable and satellite channel with an amazing audience share of 72% year to date.”
Khun Siamrus Lauhaskkasame, MD, Major Kantana Broadcasting also made this statement about the Toonami Thailand launch:
“Toonami’s unique array of animated series and movies in the local language will ensure that it becomes a top entertainment destination and we are confident that Toonami will be as successful and popular as Boomerang has become in Thailand.”
The channel will carry Toonami Asia’s shows in Thai. Considering that with Thailand being the country of the CN Amazone, and with two of Turner’s youth brands getting localized versions in Thai, will Cartoon Network get a separate Thai feed soon? Only time will tell.
EDIT: The channel will be available on PSI’s free-to-air satellite service on channel 90, a promo airing on Boomerang Thailand confirms that. Currently the spot is occupied by a female entertainment channel called S.E.X.Y. WOMEN TV. Considering that the aforementioned channel is not available on the Ku-Band offer, Toonami TH will most likely be a C-Band exclusive.
This article came from the now-defunct (for now, at least) RegularTaxi. (left to right: Dekigusu (or Dekisugi), Shizuka, Nobita, Tamako, Doraemon, Giant, Dorami, Suneo, Nobisuke, Jaiko)
Shocking news for fans of Fujiko F. Fujio’s (or Shin-Ei’s, TV Asahi’s as well) animation masterpiece Doraemon. This past November the show was removed from Canal Panda.
Tudo por Animes em PT-PT says that the show is now unavailable to air on the channel. We now know the reason why: Cartoon Network Portugal, through the synergies of Boing Spain, grabbed the rights to air it.
For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a (long) historical overview:
(Black-and-white photograph of what seems to be an episode where Sewashi, Nobita’s future son, appears)
Doraemon’s first manga issue was published on September 3rd, 1969. The first television adaptation aired on Nippon Television (where available, other areas with no NTV station got it on other stations and hours or days after the original airings) but was unsuccessful and had 26 pairs of episodes. This anime was produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and animated by Nihon Hoso Eigasha. The show continued in reruns on individual commercial television stations like Hiroshima Home Television (which has the same network as the 1979 and 2005 adaptations) in 1975, RKK in Kumamoto in 1977/78, and T34/BBT (Toyama Television) in 1979. Fujiko F. Fujio was so angry and sent a letter to Toyama Television and stopped airing it by the ninth episode. In 1980, Nippon Television officially announced that they could no longer sell the show to local stations.
In 1979, TV Asahi premiered a successful adaptation of Doraemon (the picture above comes from an early episode). It became Shin-Ei’s most popular property and is TV Asahi’s most popular anime.
Doraemon arrived to Spain on December 23rd, 1993, thanks to Luk Internacional’s licensing and subsequent airing through various autonomous television stations. This dub was distributed by Telemadrid, which was, in turn, the first station to air the anime. The show was also dubbed into Galician, Basque and Catalan through autonomous stations that were broadcasting in their language. In turn, the dub premiered nationally through TVE 2 and Canal Panda.
It was also via Canal Panda that Portugal discovered the anime in Spanish, subtitled in Portuguese.
(if CN PT existed back then it would look like this)
Meanwhile, Canal Panda closed down in Spain, a new dub was made at a Basque studio (Mar Digital) and CN ES got pay TV rights that were relinquished once Canal Panda left the Spanish market. Oh, and RTP 1 aired Doraemon around 2002, with a dub which, according to Desenhos Animados Esquecidos, had references to Pedro Abrunhosa, Jaiko was called Gigantina like the old Spanish dub and Doraemon was pronounced “Doremon”.
2005 led to the premiere of a new anime, also on TV Asahi, at the same time as the 1979 version got for at least a decade by then. The anime seems to be a remake of the 1979 version, with longer episodes. For example: there is an episode where Giant enters a TV studio (and Doraemon wants to make Giant appear singing in a professional way at 3am). In the 1979 show it lasted ten minutes while in the 2005 show it lasted twenty minutes. It also has scenes that aren’t shown in the original.
I started to get into Doraemon again by the end of 2009, but I only catched it at the 23:30 timeslot on Canal Panda (which was followed by Ninja Hattori and Kiteretsu before it closed down at 01:00) very rarely at 07:00, but the last lot of episodes seemed to be a salad composed of short telemovies, two-parters, the last few episodes of the 1979 show, some 80s episodes and a few episodes of the 2005 anime. When (Panda) Biggs launched on December 1st, 2009, the 2005 version (also in Spanish with subtitles) was one of the shows they had on offer at launch, but was removed due to unknown reasons. Was the 2005 version deemed unpopular with the Portuguese audience? That’s at least my theory.
In February of 2010, Canal Panda premiered 2112: The Birth of Doraemon, the last known premiere of Doraemon in Spanish on Portuguese screens. This seemed to mark the death knell for Doraemon on Portuguese screens.
Eventually, in the very start of 2011, Canal Panda brought the show back from the scheduling limbo, but this time with a completely new Portuguese dub. A few netizens in recent years complained about the lack of the Spanish version and want it back (just like the netizens that want CN HQ back).
Then in April of 2011, the show was removed again, then it returned, removed, returned, removed, returned before it disappeared without any announcement at all.
In July of 2014, an English dub produced by TV Asahi and Bang Zoom! Entertainment debuted on Disney XD. This version is highly “Americanized” and seems to be a slight deconstruction of the Japanese product. They tried to bring the anime to the US in the mid 80s but it was considered “too ethnically Japanese”.
Now we know the reason why: as stated at the start of the post, the show has moved to CN PT. There are a few mysteries involved: will the second audio track be in Spanish or (least likely) Japanese? Will the version be 1979 or 2005 (which was never dubbed)? Will the channel abuse of it like Boing ES, airing the movies every week? Will we get a new dub? When will it air? Only time will tell. Will keep you all updated.
OK, this is a very complicated issue.
RegularTaxi went on temporary issues. I really wanted to post about Toonami Thailand's Facebook page, the rebrand on BM CEE and the fact that the launch of BM NL was a fraud.
Unfortunately, this ended up marking the death knell of RegularTaxi. After nearly two months on the internet, the game is up.
"Why?", you ask. Well, according to the Twitter page, this happened: the website was hosted on Freezoy. Those who run Freezoy are liars. They want unlimited access to everything and they end up being supreme liars.
It corrupted RegularTaxi's database and decided to put it into the trash can for good.
26 posts, most of them written by me, others written by artnerfy, yet the #SaveCNHQ website is still active, yet it will most likely be removed anytime soon.
What started out in a quick rip-off dispute with Luke Bevan's RegularCapital despite the fact of it not being a rip-off started everything. I recently made a Facebook page for it, but with bad timing.
It joined the Je Suis Charlie protests for a few days, just like my blog.
But now, unless there is a loophole to this situation, this is the end of the line for RegularTaxi. Goodbye and thanks to my (and artnerfy's) hard work and dedication in trying to compete with all the other internationally-based CN/Boomerang international news blogs.
CN HQ's Facebook page has a promo of it, but I don't want to show it to you this time.
I've seen the Waffles episode on CN PT last Saturday morning and I can't stand it.
Based on the sequel posted on the BM CEE blog, it's time to take a look at the history of Boomerang HQ's shows in full detail. It is, basically, another way to look at how the channel evolved in nearly ten years.
As we all know, BM HQ launched five years after the USA and the UK. BM LA, BR, FR, IT and ES launched in the meanwhile and expanded the brand to a broader audience. The channel's initial purpose was to air Turner's huge library of classic cartoons around the world, mostly based on shows that Cartoon Network feeds ceased airing a while earlier. The library consisted of the MGM cartoon library (Tom and Jerry + Tex Avery in general), pre-1948 Looney Tunes (especially Merrie Melodies), the a.a.p. Popeye shorts and Hanna-Barbera content. There were a few other shows that sometimes were neither here, nor there, but still part of the schedule on Boomerangs worldwide.
The huge library, capable to entertain generations very easily, was capable to create TNT, TCM, Cartoon Network and Boomerang. It was a time where Cartoon Networks around the world were starting to axe their classic cartoons in order to make more room for more recent shows, some of them are on our memories while others eventually became underrated.
The concept behind Boomerang was successful in some countries, especially Germany which stayed faithful to their original format for long (despite adding the occasional modern show but was neither here nor there), but unsuccessful in countries like the USA, where the channel holded on with the logo for long and the rebrand resulted in angry netizens wanting the old Boomerang back (from what I've seen on Toonzone, but it won't come back).
Boomerang in the EMEA region stayed true to the initial formula for long, as the channel aired classic cartoons daily and around the clock. Let's take a look at the channel's show history:
When the channel launched in various markets around the world, it focused on classic cartoons from the HB library, and Europe was no exception. According to josie, it felt like watching CN UK/Europe from the mid-90s again. It was a classic cartoon fan's dream come true. The channel included a lot of eternal classics like Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes (especially the Merrie Melodies shorts), Scooby-Doo's various versions in rotation, Popeye (initially the a.a.p. shorts, as already mentioned), the Tex Avery shorts and The Flintstones plus Hanna-Barbera's 60s and 70s classics like Top Cat (which was popular in Sri Lanka), Wacky Races, Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Scooby-Doo Show, Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, Josie and the Pussycats, The Jetsons, Huckleberry Hound, Atom Ant, Snagglepuss, Jabberjaw, QuickDraw McGraw, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Inch High, Private Eye, Magilla Gorilla, Lippy The Lion and Hardy Har Har (which was shown as a filler around 2008) and Pixie and Dixie. The channel was also home to HB's more recent output, like their well known shows from the 80s and 90s, mostly kid/youth versions of their older shows: A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry Kids, The Flintstone Kids, Yo Yogi!, Droopy and Dripple, Droopy: Master Detective, The New Yogi Bear Show, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, The Addams Family and Flintstone Frolics.
In 2006, the channel got third-party shows for the first time, most of them were British. I'm talking about two shows from the now-defunct Thames Television: Count Duckula and Danger Mouse, both of them were made by Cosgrove-Hall. The channel also premiered Heathcliff and The Mask. From Hanna-Barbera came the animated adaptation of Dumb and Dumber and 2 Stupid Dogs, which is highlighted in the picture. I recall waking up very early on a few Saturday mornings in June 2008 because I wanted to see 2 Stupid Dogs. I haven't seen that show in ages on an actual television. These new additions continues to recapture the spirit of Cartoon Network Europe in the 90s.
Another slow year was 2007. The channel premiered The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries and the 1979, "half-hour" and 1980 "dual-segment" versions of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. The 1979 episodes usually commenced with the intro of TVP 2's Kino Bez Rodziców programming block, which aired near midday on the aforementioned public channel. Assume it as the spiritual successor of the "Hanna-Barbera Hour" earlier on. The intro was done all in a crayon-esque style, starting with the image of a teddy bear on a bed, before a door closes and a bloke in a purple pajama turns on the TV, to reveal rainbow static with the words "KINO BEZ RODZICÓW" in it. Despite meaning "Movies Without Parents" it was an HB block, and the intro would usually be followed by the Hanna-Barbera "Comedy" logo from the 90s before the show started. I don't know why did they use TVP's prints, that still remains a mystery to me.
The channel also premiered Cartoon Network original shows for the first time, airing two obscure shows that CN HQ had stopped airing a while earlier: the forgotten Mike, Lu and Og and the less-than-forgotten Sheep in the Big City.
In 2008, the channel was now fully available in Polish, resulting in the removal of certain classic shows from the schedule, some of them moved to overnight slots. Shows that weren't dubbed into that language were removed. The channel also started to air their own ad breaks in a sub-feed broadcasting exclusively to that market, setting the tone for the relaunch of CN PL the following year. ZON/NOS added the channel and the EPG had Portuguese descriptions until at least the end of the year. In terms of shows, another CN show, Time Squad, joined the schedule along with another third-party show called King Arthur's Disasters. Remember it? I didn't like this cheap show... (I was about to use a picture from King Arthur's Disasters but instead I decided to use this as a metaphor because they had the show at a lower price, just like a Polish bloke buying at Biedronka)
Major changes occured in 2009. Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo join the schedule while a number of classic cartoons leave the schedule and never come back, like the Eds after their first contact with the Kanker Sisters. The King Features Syndicate Popeye shorts from the early 60s premiered (mentioned on EPGs as Popeye Classics), whose premiere promo had "In The Navy" by The Village People. The larger HB properties were still on the schedule, but was still enjoyable. We would finally see Duck Dodgers for the first time and also The Garfield Show - unrelated to Garfield and Friends - the first French show to settle on BM HQ.
In 2010, Pink Panther and Pals (sandwiching the modern version of The Ant and the Aardvark) arrived to the channel, ironically without airing the original. The 1989 Paddington Bear show produced in association with Central Television premiering around the end of the year was quite a surprise, considering that a lot of new shows premired on the channel. 2011 was a major turning point. Cabovisão removed the channel, 60s episodes of The Jetsons returned and the channel now had the Cartoonito block. This was a sign that things on the channel were starting to go downhill. Also the channel started cross-promoting with CN HQ (the reverse was valid as well) and also split to create BM CEE, which had a poor schedule by my standards.
Time flies when you're having fun! In 2012 the number of classics was decreasing and the channel got a new look. While in Eastern Europe things were stabilizing, over here things were going on in the opposite direction.
This continued throughout 2013, which was the last year where I could watch the channel. The channel now had "New" bugs, premiered Animaniacs, which was quite nice, considering that I haven't seen that show in a long time on an actual television but became a sort of "Kids' WB" channel instead. The amount of WB shows was increasing on the channel and became a mere shadow of it's former self. (image from an old showing of the Top Cat episode King for a Day on Rupavahini (Sri Lanka), where the show is popular)
In 2014, things stabilized with the return of several classic shows, like Top Cat or A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. There was only one downside: we couldn't see those shows anymore because the channel disappeared from our screens because CN PT said so.
And 2015? Well...
Uh... no.
I know that the rebrand only had a minor shake-up and that the channel kept the classic shows but Monday marks the end of an era.
The end of nearly ten years of classic cartoons.
Only Tom and Jerry will stay firm, but only in the overnight slots.
It's like the channel has lost it's purpose. It's like the channel turned to a bland, family-oriented channel that warns us about changing times and formats.
So, in conclusion, Boomerang is no longer a good channel. It is now a weirdly-implemented channel which wants to compete with pre-school channels and wants to focus on more recent content.
I know that there is enough room left for classics but that's not their priority right now.
In conclusion: today is the final day of BM HQ and CEE's classic cartoon heritage and also the end of the line for the line, the channel's longtime logo. Enjoy the remaining classics like Clarence and try to find the good things to fill out what used to be regular viewing of Boomerang.
I'd like to thank BM HQ for the countless hours of entertainment it gave from 2008 to 2013. We need to continue thriving in the future and try to find new shows to watch.
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