A Tribute to Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theater | A Retrospective

[@darthgoku90]

Yep, those were the days. Cartoon Network was riding high by the late 90s, with its blend of classic cartoons (Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera), CN's own original hit shows (Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls), and anime on the Toonami block (DBZ, Voltron). The Cartoon Theater was the icing on the cake for us. I remember watching Batman: Mask of the Phantasm for the first time thanks to it. They even got Mr. LaFontaine to voice the promos for Toonami's initial airings of the first three DBZ movies. CN was just all about quality back then. Hope they got something special planned for CN's 30th anniversary this year, beside another Teen Titans Go marathon at least.

[@Harri927]

I love Cartoon Theatre so much when I was a kid. I miss it so much.

[@samrtnr97]

I have the faintest memories of this block due to me not watching a ton of CN as a kid but the images of the logo parodies definitely stuck out to me back in the day. Also, I'm not sure when this airing occurred but I definitely recall seeing a Sunday afternoon airing of Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown in the mid-2000s that stuck out to me as a Peanuts fan slowly learning about the original theatrical movies starring those characters at the time.

[@ericjohnson5462]

Agreed

[@MissBarker93]

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers Millionaire Dogs.

[@BalmungHH0]

I grew up watching Cartoon Network during its late-90's/early-00's golden age. While I was a kid that mostly stayed in my little niche of the network with Toonami and the handful of Cartoon Cartoon's I enjoyed watching, Cartoon Theater is definitely a block I remember well, because I'd always see the promos for all kinds of movies with that iconic logo set piece. Even though I don't recall watching many of the movies (though I did see a few, like Balto and such), the image of Cartoon Theater itself is a vivid piece of my childhood memories. It's one of those things I didn't appreciate at the time, but now look back on fondly...

[@FordFalcon1962nBlue]

CN officially died out around 2009ish to 2010ish- the only show keeping it alive was adventure time, that was their milking cow, oh and gumball for the years after

[@kenyaholloway-reliford8213]

I loved Wakko's Wish

[@claymathewselevator8121]

I still can’t believe they were able to air Dumb and Dumber on Cartoon Network

[@josephzielinski8817]

Don LaFontaine (1940-2008).

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

0:49, I was familiar with Boomerang Theater

[@rudymalone1]

Me too!

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

@@rudymalone1 I still remember growing up with that because it did air Hanna-Barbera themed movies like Yogi's Ark Lark (which was a TV Movie that was meant to be part of Yogi's Gang), The Flintstones meet The Jetsons and The Flintstones: I Yabba-Dabba-Do!

[@kootunesscrewy]

1:38 Fun Fact: All of them were from the classic Tex Avery MGM cartoons. 5:44 I kinda find Tales as the last fantastic Tom and Jerry production, lol. Special Shorts was good, but it felt like a copy of Looney Tunes Cartoons.

[@trigunlover11]

I agree, this was the best thing to watch ever growing up on the Cartoon Network channel. :D

[@SnellbyKay]

I have really good memories of this block. Good video!

[@tavvyprods1275]

There is so much I want to say about how I love this block and how it influenced me to be the animation enthusiast I now am, but you mostly got me covered. I sometimes imagine reviving this block as “Cartoon Theatre 2.0” and showing movies like Billy And Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure, Over The Garden Wall, some of the 2010’s Scooby Doo movies, Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Dead Leaves and the 1986 Mario OVA.

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

ACME Night was sort of a Revamp version of Cartoon Theater.......if you can technically call it that.

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

5:21, Who Framed Roger Rabbit did air on Cartoon Network, but some of the scenes had to be edited to make it PG Rated. 5:33, Several Scooby-Doo movies would still air on Cartoon Network. 5:36, Somehow I remember that movie (which I never thought it'd be hated this much when I got older). 5:38, I like that movie.

[@henrydulaney1850]

This was truly a big memory of my childhood, I used to watch it every Saturday night. But somehow in the closing of it I used to have weird hallucinations of the black thing dusting the sign and probably bad dreams. Now I realize it was a feather duster and nothing to be alarmed of. The man who hosted was an absolute legend his name his voice will be remembered forever, Don LaFontaine. I used to always do imitations of him as a kid and pretend I was the announcer, the memories live forever of him. Long story short of how he got that voice, the words come from Don himself, "When I was 13 years old my voice cracked in the middle of a sentence, Mom I'll help you with the dishes." Right there. Next day he was very quiet in school and didn't say a word until his teacher asked him why he was so quiet and his voice came out deep. I truly would want them to bring back CT and bring back the great days of Cartoon Network. Those bumpers of the falling piano, seasick boat, flexing muscle with a battleship tattoo, words of "Coming up next. It's Super Chunk followed by Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre on Cartoon Network.

[@gabe_s_videos]

What made these special was that, no matter what the movie was, whether it was an obscure, quirky film, a feature-length TV special or mainstream feature films with the scope and budget of a TV special, it was ALWAYS presented as capital A art. Cuz that's what it was to us.

[@47Cartoonguy]

Couldn’t have said it better myself

[@gabriellitewski7988]

The good old days are dead

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

6:09, I was shocked to know that all 3 Back to the Future Movies did end up airing during ACME Night, which seems kind of random when you think about it. And I didn't even know that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) aired during ACME Night either, even though the franchise is now technically owned by Nickelodeon right now when you think about it. Again, sort of a random choice to make when you think about it. But I can except some of the other films like SCOOB!, Man of Steel, Shazam, Detective Pikachu, Ready Player One and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part since Warner Bros. actually did work on those movies and Cartoon Network did start out as Hanna-Barbera (because of SCOOB! trying to start a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe).

[@tmwk__]

6:46 god that hit me right in the feels…

[@coreypayne1208]

It was always a toss up whether to watch Cartoon Theater or SNICK on Saturdays depending on what was airing on either

[@jakster16]

The struggle was real. The same happened to me when I had to choose between watching Toonami during their 4-6pm blocks, Fox Kids, and Disney's One Too on UPN.

[@angelitofernandezNYC]

You made me laugh, you were like oh do you remember millionaire dogs? Immediately I’m like no! and then you respond a half a second later of course not. Lol

[@mafeuk]

Awesome video. I always remember very fondly that era of Cartoon Theatre. Speaking of that last point you made about Acme Night, if you were in charge of the programming for Cartoon Network what changes would you make?

[@Blizzard-kf3qm]

They just aired the 1978 Superman movie this Easter. I honestly don’t know what to think about that.

[@ColbertAwesome]

7:01

[@GuardianKyle]

It hurts knowing Cartoon Network is nothing like it was from the 90's and 2000's.

[@nomenyesman8296]

Thank you for the Nostalgia ride👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Tim Curry was great in Scooby Doo and The Witch’s Ghost

[@claymathewselevator8121]

This was my introduction to Osmosis Jones

[@dinkyrobb9993]

What if next year MeTV Toons will be add movie are called MeTV Toons cartoon theater For 2025 or 2028.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Wallace and Gromit is awesome

[@47Cartoonguy]

have a favorite memory of Cartoon theater? tell me in the comments

[@thefantasticretroreviewer3941]

For some reason I don't remember growing up with this segment from Cartoon Network before, which seems odd. But I won't make a big deal over it.

[@kenyaholloway-reliford8213]

I vaguely remember the actual bumpers from the Powerhouse Era (though during the City Era, I liked the bumpers with Ed as the usher, especially the one where the Eds were trying to get into the theater by pretending to be Mac's imaginary friends). But I recognized the statue logo, and might recall the dusting bumper.

[@philipkippel3615]

Hope Funtastic History Part 4 will be uploaded soon.

[@bujilou]

The Best

[@Anonymous.Throne]

I loved Cartoon Network until 2004, that’s when it fell off to me. The last time I cared about CN was Loiter Squad

[@FordFalcon1962nBlue]

for me it was more around 2006ish 2007ish, when the ' teenager shows ' and stupid stuff started taking over like ' out of jimmys head '

[@LD-xn8jj]

The new block sucks acme night it should have looney toons