November 1998-January 1999: The only Cartoon Cartoons bumper revolved around one show only (and was frequently used after). Over a white background, the Powerpuff Girls float on the top right, while a red worm-like object creeps in from the left. Blossom charges towards it, and gets stuck, with Buttercup following suit a second later. Bubbles frees them by kicking the space between where they are stuck, and the screen zooms out, revealing the red "worm" to be part of a cursive "Cartoon", except the "n" is not completely formed (which Bubbles easily fixes by punching it). From the bottom, Blossom flies up with the word "CAR", and Buttercup does the same with "TOONS". Blossom and Buttercup slam the two segments together, with a blue background with circles beaming forward appearing behind when the logo is formed.
January 1999-August 2003: The Cartoon Network logo zooms up over a blue swirly background, accompanied by circles (probably meant to represent broadcast signals), then, after a few seconds, it thrusts itself forward. This is followed by red and yellow ribbons curling to form a cursive "Cartoon", followed by the letters in "CARTOONS" zooming out one by one (the "OO" zooms out together). A character from the upcoming show pops out of the first "O" in "CARTOONS" and says, "Cartoon Cartoons!" There are some variants, such as for Sheep in the Big City, when Sheep says, "Baa! Baa!" due to his inability to speak. Also, on first-run episodes of Grim and Evil, Grim would pop out of the first "O", with Boskov following suit with the second "O" a second later.
At the end of shows, it would show the aforementioned blue background with Cartoon Network logo (this time zooming out) accompanied by a voice saying "Cartoon Cartoons!" (the voice was not from the preceding cartoon, and in the afternoon, this was sometimes preceded by the same animation on a green background, followed by an iris-out leading into the aforementioned blue background.)
Cartoon Cartoon Fridays: The Cartoon Network logo zooms out, and the letters in it quickly flash on the screen one by one, followed by squares containing Cartoon Cartoon characters swirling away. This is followed by four squares covering the screen (they may or may not contain at least one character from the upcoming show), which in turn is followed by the curling ribbons (these ribbons, however, curl like the regular ones, but from bottom to top instead of left to right, and they are light and dark blue on black). Sound bars containing Cartoon Cartoon characters appear to the beat of the music, and when they clear, the CCF logo forms. A character from the upcoming show pops out of the second "O" in "CARTOON" and says "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays!", as circles beam forward from behind. Codename: Kids Next Door, Grim and Evil, and Time Squad did not have CCF bumpers, and instead used special versions of the regular bumpers.
Characters in the sound bars, from the bottom up: Bubbles, Johnny Bravo, Dexter, Cow, Eddy, The Red Guy.
When the new version of The Cartoon Cartoons Show premiered, when the main theme for the bumpers was the characters featured in a three-dimensional version of each of the show's worlds which became the network's continuity image after it relaunched in June 2004, only the female continuity announcer would say the quote, and the music remixed. The Cartoon Cartoon logo would be more three-dimensional and would be drawn "on" the sky. The Cartoon Cartoons Show is now the only place to find the Cartoon Cartoons name and logo on Cartoon Network.
The background music used during the Cartoon Cartoon bumps is still in usage as it is played over the production logo at the end of some Cartoon Network originals. The graphics are now simply the pre-2004 logo with a black background, and the subtext "A Time Warner Company" ("An AOL Time Warner Company" on shows between 2001 and 2003). It can also be seen on the DVD releases of the shows.
Cartoon Cartoons Logo and Continuity
HISTORY
Cartoon Cartoons were first showcased as World Premiere Cartoons and later in 1993 on The What a Cartoon! Show, a series of comedic animated shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions guided by Fred Seibert, who founded the Nickelodeon-based Frederator Studios years later. The first series to spin off from What-A-Cartoon! was Dexter's Laboratory in 1996. A year later, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken joined Dexter on the Cartoon Network lineup. The Powerpuff Girls became a Cartoon Cartoon in the fall of 1998. Ed, Edd, n Eddy came later as the first Cartoon Cartoons series not to be introduced in a What-A-Cartoon! short.
More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons brand, airing throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes and new shows.
As of September 2005, the name is primarily used for The Cartoon Cartoons Show, a half-hour program featuring episodes of older Cartoon Cartoons that are no longer shown regularly on the network, and Cartoon Cartoon Top 5, which is an hour long program featuring a countdown of the week's five "best" Cartoon Cartoons from the older lineup.
