Nicktoons of the 2000s · 9:53pm Feb 19th, 2018
We pick up now from the previous chapter on Nicktoons. We now head into the 2000s for Nickelodeon.
PELSWICK
Debuted: October 5, 2000
Ended: November 15, 2002
OK, so this was simply imported, not produced by Nick itself. It's still in here anyway because Nick held the American broadcast rights to this CBC show produced by Nelvana about a 13-year-old boy who uses a wheelchair. He gets into typical situations of anyone even outside of a wheelchair though. David Arquette, known for his role in the SCREAM movies, is Mr. Jimmy, who pops up and gives Pelswick advice so vague that he often doesn't get it until toward the end of each program. However, the Nelvana/CBC/Nickelodeon partnership proved to be a bust after a few months. It crashed and burned. Hard. The three never worked together on a Nicktoon again.
ON HOME VIDEO: PELSWICK was never given the home entertainment treatment in the US.
AS TOLD BY GINGER
Debuted: October 25, 2000
Ended: November 14, 2006
Another Klasky-Csupo production, this is the only one with a theme song performed by a top recording artist ("I'm In Between" is sung by Macy Gray). Melissa Disney, a distant cousin of Walt, is a junior high-school student; she and her friends (Kenny Blank, Aspen Miller, Jackie Harris) try to be as popular as rich girl Courtney Gripling (Liz Georges) with success. Their main foil is Courtney's friend Miranda (Cree Summer) who wants to keep Ginger from running Courtney's life, and even puts Ginger under arrest. However, Ginger and Courtney figure out how to put a stop to their plans. Comic relief comes from her brother Carl (Jeannie Elias) and his best friend Hoodsey (Tress MacNeille). The series was Klasky-Csupo's final original production for Nickelodeon; they attempted to pitch another one (WHAT'S COOKING?) but the series was never picked up.
ON HOME VIDEO: Paramount Home Entertainment issued DVDs of the episodes "Far From Home" (88737) and "The Wedding Frame" (88625). The complete series has been known to be bootlegged.
INVADER ZIM
Debuted: March 30, 2001
Ended: August 19, 2006
One of the cult classics of animation, Jhonen Vasquez is the creator of an alien named Zim (Richard Horvitz), who believes he is the leader in a galactic conquest. He's however a little paranoid. Thus far, he has conquered some parts of the earth but not all parts. The series was part of an action block on Nick called Slam, which aired on Sundays from September 2002 to March 2003, but only on repeats while other series in the block got new shows. It was cancelled in March 2003 due to many pre-emptions and Nick's apathy. Several episodes were rolled out over the ensuing years, mostly on Nicktoons.
ON HOME VIDEO: Anime Works, a division of Media Blasters, has issued many DVDs of this series in conjunction with Nickelodeon, beginning on May 11, 2004.
THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS
Debuted: March 30, 2001
Ended: July 26, 2017
The everyday misadventures of 11-year-old Timmy Turner (Tara Strong), a Dimmsdale resident who grants himself two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda (Daran Norris and Susanne Blakeslee, who also voice Timmy's parents). Other characters include a Schwarzenegger type named Jordan Von Strangle (also Norris), the resident babysitter Vicky and younger sister and Timmy's love interest Tootie (Grey DeLisle), his teacher Mr. Crocker (Carlos Alazraqui), Timmy's classmates Chester (Frankie Muniz, and later Jason Marsden), A.J. (Haneef Muhammad and later Gary LeRoi Gray), and the playground bully Francis (Faith Abrahams). This series originated from shorts on OH YEAH! CARTOONS that aired from 1998 to 2001. Due to the popularity of the shorts, it was picked up as a full series. It originally ended in 2006 after five seasons, but resumed production in 2008 with the birth of a character named Poof (also Strong). There were two characters introduced since Poof's birth, Sparky (Maddie Taylor), who was poorly received upon his introduction in season 9 and was removed the next season to be replaced by Chloe Carmichael (Kari Wahlgren). Beginning with season 10, the show was animated on Adobe Flash. The series moved to Nicktoons in 2017. Creator Butch Hartman announced he would exit Nickelodeon on February 5, 2018. It has been discontinued after the tenth season as a result.
ON HOME VIDEO: Paramount has issued many DVDs of this series for a long time, beginning July 15, 2003 with the release of the feature-length episode "Abra-Catastrophe!" (87929). The series has entitled itself to eight episode compilations for DVD. The six that were released of the main series were "Superhero Spectacle" (87967), "Channel Chasers" (87978), "Timmy's Top Wishes" (88730), "School's Out! The Musical" (88666), "Scary GodParents" (87743), and "Fairy Idol" (88966), and there were two compilations (87976, 88965) in which the title episodes were crossovers with THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS. Seasons 1-6 of the series have been issued on DVD.
CHALKZONE
Debuted: March 22, 2002
Ended: August 23, 2008
Rudy's got the chalk! E.G. Daily provides the voice for the lead character in this quite original series, a 10-year-old drawing-away-his-life fifth grader named Rudy Tabootie. The school bully (Candi Milo) always teases him or gets him into trouble with the cartoon hating school teacher, grouchy Mr. Wilter (Robert Cait). He one day is in detention when he discovers a piece of "White Lightning" chalk, which teleports him into the ChalkZone, in which everything he draws with his chalk comes to life. Coming along with him for the ride are his best friend Penny (Hynden Walch) and Snap (also Milo) his friend in the ChalkZone. This series originated from shorts on OH YEAH! CARTOONS that aired from 1998 to 2001. Due to the popularity of the shorts, it was picked up as a full series. The series' debut was the highest-rated in Nickelodeon's history, with an 8.6 rating / 27 share and 2.8 million viewers. Only six episodes were produced in the series' first season, which ran from March to April of 2002. The next season ran from May to November of 2003, and the season after that from February 2004 to December 9th of that year. Its final season moved slowly, premiering on June 6, 2005 and being more and more occassional in terms of new episodes until August 23, 2008. A soundtrack album was issued (Nick Records 01241 48504 2) in 2003.
ON HOME VIDEO: Nick Picks Holiday includes the series' Christmas episode. Nickstravaganza! 2 contains two episodes and a music video. The complete series was issued as an MOD (manufacture on demand) title through Amazon in 2014; the set does not include the episode "The Smooch" due to music licensing issues.
THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS
Debuted: July 20, 2002
Ended: November 25, 2006
The first computer animated Nicktoon was this sitcom about a braniac (Debi Derryberry) who tries to save the earth from the dreaded alians, the Yolkians. He comes from loving parents (Megan Cavanagh and Mark DeCarlo). His classmates are ULTRA-LORD-obsessed Sheen (Jeffrey Garcia) and Carl (Rob Paulsen) a bespectacled child with an unhealthy obsession with llamas. His main rival (and eventual love interest) is Cindy Vortex (Carolyn Lawrence) whose best friend is Libby Folfax (rapper Crystal Scales). Jimmy Neutron got his start in life as a series of shorts for Nickelodeon (occassionally sponsored by Trident gum). Then he got his own movie, released to great critical and financial success on December 21, 2001, and this led to him getting his own series on July 20, 2002. The series was one of Nickelodeon's strongest-performing shows of the decade, enough to get it through three seasons and 61 episodes. There was to be a fourth season; it didn't happen because of the shutting down of DNA Productions following the box office failure of THE ANT BULLY, which they had produced for Warner Bros.
ON HOME VIDEO: Episode compilations "Confusion Fusion" (87532), "Sea of Trouble" (86265), "Jet Fusion" (87960) and "Attack of the Twonkies" (87977) were issued by Paramount Home Entertainment.
MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT
Debuted: August 1, 2003
Ended: May 2, 2009
After brief work on shows such as FAMILY GUY, THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, and SAMURAI JACK, Rob Renzetti brought his tale of a teenage female robot named Jenny (voiced by Janice Kawaye) who has human friends. She, when not saving the world on a regular basis, is a high-school student. Of its three seasons, two (2003-04, 2004-05) aired on Nickelodeon, and another (2008-09) aired on Nicktoons. After the series ended, Renzetti moved back to Cartoon Network Studios for a brief while before becoming the supervising producer for Disney XD's GRAVITY FALLS.
ON HOME VIDEO: Episodes of this series have appeared on all six Nick Picks compilations thus far. All three seasons are on DVD at Amazon and the iTunes store.
ALL GROWN UP!
Debuted: April 12, 2003 (preview), November 29, 2003 (official)
Ended: August 17, 2008
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of RUGRATS, Nick aired the hour-long special ALL GROWED UP in 2001. The success of the special led to Nickelodeon deciding to greenlight an entire series revolving around the teenaged selves of the leads. Since the grammer of said leads was much more well-informed, Nick advised that the series take the more grammatically correct title. One of three spinoffs under consideration (the others being PRE-SCHOOL DAZE which premiered in 2008 in America and a show involving the Carmichael family which never made it past the thought process) the series' premiere broke the record previously set by Jimmy Neutron as the highest-rated premiere in Nick's history. The series would be put on hiatus several times between 2005 and 2008. Nick aired the final season for the most part between November 2007 and August 2008. The series was Klasky-Csupo's last to run more than one season.
ON HOME VIDEO: Paramount Home Entertainment has issued the following episode compilations: "Growing Up Changes Everything" (87942), "Lucky 13" (87983), "O' Brother!" (88633), "...And Loving It!" (88735), "Interview with a Campfire" (88757), "Dude, Where's My Horse?" (87732), and "R.V. Having Fun Yet?" (87733). The last two of the compilations have only been issued in Region 1. To date, there have been no region 1 releases of anything else from the series, although all five seasons were issued on DVD in Region 4.
DANNY PHANTOM
Debuted: April 3, 2004
Ended: August 24, 2007
After an accident with an unpredictable portal between the human world and the "Ghost Zone", a teenager (David Kaufman) becaomes part-human/part-ghost and is sent to rescue the world (and his town of Amity Park) from subsequent ghost attacks using various supernatural powers. Aided by hos two best friends (Rickey D'Shon Collins and Grey DeLisle), he was later joined by his older sister. For most of the series' run, they are the only people who know of his double life. The series, from the creator of THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS, has gained an audience in its own respect. The series premiered in April 2004, though it was originally slated for Fall 2003.
ON HOME VIDEO: The complete series was issued on Shout! Factory (SF 14675).
FATHERHOOD
Debuted: June 20, 2004
Ended: November 27, 2005
The first original Nicktoon to air on Nick at Nite, the series revolves around the Bindlebeeps (Blair Underwood, Sabrina Le Beauf, Giovonnie Samuels, Marc John Jeffries and Jamai Fisher). The mother and the father try to be model parents but at the same time they learn a thing or two from their own quirky children. The series was based on the best-selling book by Bill Cosby, who co-created and co-executive produced this series.
ON HOME VIDEO: Season 1 was released in February 2015 by Amazon Video. It is unknown when - and, more importantly, unlikely that - Season 2 will be ever be released through said platform, or whether either season will show up on DVD, due to Bill Cosby's criminal conviction, trial and (eventually) imprisonment for sexual assault.
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER
Debuted: February 21, 2005
Ended: July 19, 2008
A dramatic series from Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the series revolves around a 12-year-old named Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) and his friends, who must bring peace and unity to the world by ending a three-nation war with the Fire Lord. It is set in an Asia-like universe in which some people can manipulate the classical elements with psycho-kinetic variants of the Chinese martial arts known as "bending". The series' distinctive style is a free interpolation of Japanese anime and American art styles, and relies on the imagery of East-and-South-Asian, Inuit and New World societies. The series was widely hailed by many who have seen it, and was popular enough to convince M. Night Shyamalan, the director of such films as THE SIXTH SENSE and UNBREAKABLE, to make a movie out of the show. Unfortunately, THE LAST AIRBENDER turned out to be the biggest mistake he ever made. Despite it being a box office success, the critics and fans of the original show pounced on it. The series was followed by THE LEGEND OF KORRA in 2012.
ON HOME VIDEO: The complete series was issued on DVD by Paramount. (UPC: 032429228420) The seasons of the series (referred to as books) are also available individually (80119 for the complete Book 1: Water, 85119 for the complete Book 2: Earth, 85272 for the complete Book 3: Water).
CATSCRATCH
Debuted: June 9, 2005
Ended: February 10, 2007
Doug TenNapel adapted his graphic novel GEAR for the small screen with this toon of a wealthy group of feline brothers (Wayne Knight, Kevin McDonald, Rob Paulsen, Maurice LaMarche) who claim the inheritance of a the wealthy, deceased owner of their property. One of them is obsessed with the affectionate neighbor (Liliana Mumy). Their competitive rivals are the Chumpy Chump Brothers. Three two-page comics of this were published in Nickelodeon Magazine.
ON HOME VIDEO: CATSCRATCH was never given the home entertainment treatment. However, Nick Picks vols. 3, 5 and 6 contain episodes of the show.
THE X'S
Debuted: November 25, 2005
Ended: December 13, 2006
Twisty spy series has Patrick Warburton, Wendie Malick, Lynsey Bartilson, and Jansen Panettiere voicing spies employed at SUPERIOR who must defeat the evil Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings, or S.N.A.F.U. while concealing their identity from the outside world, which they often have difficulty doing. The series, from little-known Carlos Ramos, received mixed reviews from critics and had a run of only twenty episodes.
ON HOME VIDEO: THE X'S was never given the home entertainment treatment. However, Nick Picks vols. 4, 5 and 6 contain episodes of the show.
KAPPA MIKEY
Debuted: February 25, 2006
Ended: September 20, 2008
"The first anime to be produced entirely in the United States", declared press materials for the Nicktoons Network series, which was produced by the Animation Collective. The concept, a series of vignettes revolving around an American boy (michael Sinterniklass) who finds himself taking the starring role on the popular Japanese TV show LILYMU, owes a lot to Japanese anime, which it is a homage and/or a send-up of.
ON HOME VIDEO: A compilation of episodes from the show, titled "Lost in Transportation", was issued by Starz Home Entertainment (read: Anchor Bay) (DV14738) on September 18, 2007.
EL TIGRE: THE ADVENTURES OF MANNY RIVERA
Debuted: March 3, 2007
Ended: September 13, 2008
One of those shows with a lead character of ambiguous ambition, it follows a 12-year-old from Miracle City, Mexico named Manny Rivera (Alanna Ubach). He posessess such amazing superpowers that he cannot decide whether to use them for good or for evil. This stems from who he is paternally related to: not only does he have a superhero for a father (Eric Bauza) but he also has a supervillain for a grandfather (Carlos Alazraqui). The series was created by Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, a married couple who based much of the series on Gutierrez' own life.
ON HOME VIDEO: The complete series was released on a DVD box set called Season 1 (the only one there was of the show) as an Amazon exclusive on November 23, 2011.
TAK AND THE POWER OF JUJU
Debuted: August 31, 2007
Ended: January 24, 2009
Hal Sparks stars as Tak, who is able to posess a magic power; the Jujus bestowed this power upon him to serve as a link between realms both his and theirs. He is sent to protect the people of Pupununu from the evil spell of Tlaloc. The series, which also features the voices of Lloyd Sherr, Patrick Warburton, Kari Wahlgren, John DiMaggio, Dannah Feinglass, Rob Paulsen, S. Scott Bullock and Maurice LaMarche is based on the successful platforming video game developed by Avalanche Software and published by the now-defunct THQ in 2003.
ON HOME VIDEO: TAK AND THE POWER OF JUJU was never given the home entertainment treatment.
BACK AT THE BARNYARD
Debuted: September 29, 2007
Ended: November 12, 2011
Only the second Nickelodeon animated film to spawn its own series, after JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, BARNYARD got this adaption as a result of its success at the box office, though the film was poorly received by professional critics. As with the movie, this was Steve Oedekirk's baby about the lives of animals on a farm. Just like the film, the leader is a cow named Otis. In the movie, he was voiced by Kevin James. In the series, he is voiced by Chris Hardwick, who you may better know as the host of @MIDNIGHT on sister channel Comedy Central; you may also recognize Hardwick if you watch AMC's THE WALKING DEAD.
ON HOME VIDEO: A compilation of episodes from the show, titled "When No One's Looking", was issued by Paramount Home Entertainment (89226) on August 5, 2008.
THE MIGHTY B!
Debuted: April 26, 2008
Ended: June 12, 2011
Amy Poehler co-created this series which has her as the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, an ambitious Honeybee girl scout believing that if she could collect every Honeybee badge in San Francisco, she will become the titular superhero figure. The series premiered the morning following the premiere of Poehler's Universal film BABY MAMA. At the time, she remarked: "[I would] go to bed and stay in my pajamas until 10:30 a.m. and watch MIGHTY B." Despite the warm praise the show received, it was only ever renewed for one more season. During its run, it won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.
ON HOME VIDEO: A compilation of episodes from the show, titled "We Got the Bee", was issued by Paramount Home Entertainment (89337) on February 24, 2009. There was another DVD titled "BEEing Bessie Higgenbottom" which is only available as an MOD title from Amazon.com.
MAKING FIENDS
Debuted: October 4, 2008
Ended: November 1, 2008
The Internet cartoon comes to the small screen and is about an evil little girl (creator Amy Winfrey) who plans to control her town with homemade monsters but who becomes uprooted by another little girl (character designer Aglaia Mortcheva) that sees happiness in everything, and sees her as her best friend. It premiered with no advance notice to become the highest-rated original program on Nicktoons Network. Its abrupt cancellation came six episodes later.
ON HOME VIDEO: Before the series was picked up by Nicktoons, Winfrey sold Making Fiends T-shirts and DVDs with the web episodes at her "souvenir shop". A 2-disc complete series was released on DVD June 9, 2009 with all six episodes of the first and last season of the show. It is shown in the gift shop of the official website, but is only available as an MOD title on Amazon.com.
DOMO TV
Debuted: October 2008
Ended: February 2009
Japanese import about a brown monster with an ambiguous expression who hatched from an egg. The Tsuneo Goda creation enjoys watching television and listening to rock music, and lives in a cave. In the US this series aired on Nicktoons Network. In Japan it aired on co-producer NHK. It was the first Japanese project to bear the Nickelodeon name.
ON HOME VIDEO: Vol. 1 of DOMO has been issued on DVD by Phase 4 Films.
THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR
Debuted: November 29, 2008 (preview); March 28, 2009 (official)
Ended: December 19, 2015
Basically, the titular webbed folk from the film; Tom McGrath, Andy Richter, and Conrad Vernon remain the voices of Skipper, Mort and Mason respectively; however Chris Miller, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Christopher Knights, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, are replaced by Jeff Bennett, John DiMaggio, James Patrick Stuart, Danny Jacobs and Kevin Michael Richardson in the respective roles of Kowalski, Rico, Private, King Julien, and Maurice. There's also a new otter resident named Marlene (Nicole Sullivan) and Alice the zookeeper (Mary Scheer) stops by on occasion. The adaptation of the popular film was popular enough in its own right to spawn a movie.
ON HOME VIDEO: Episode compilations were issued by DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment and distributed on that company's behalf by Paramount Home Entertainment.
RUGRATS PRE-SCHOOL DAZE
Debuted: November 16, 2008
Ended: December 7, 2008
Arguably the shortest lived Nicktoon and shortest-lived Nickelodeon series in the world, this other spin-off of RUGRATS revolves around Angelica Pickles and Susie Carmichael as pre-school students. It was adapted from the RUGRATS episode of this name. It was announced that the new spin-off was to feature new looks for the two characters. There were some complications involving their planned designs. The series was shown in the UK, where it had received a lukewarm response, then some time later aired on US television. The series was a major failure and is considered one of the worst spinoffs ever produced as well as one of the worst Nicktoons ever made. This was the final television program produced by Klasky-Csupo.
ON HOME VIDEO: All four episodes are extras on "Tales from the Crib: Snow White" (87752) which was released on September 27, 2005.
GLENN MARTIN, DDS
Debuted: August 19, 2009
Ended: November 7, 2011
This is included, again, because the series aired on Nick at Nite. The Canadian/American claymation show is about a man who takes his family on a cross-country field trip to strengthen the bond of his family after he accidentally burns his house in Freeland, Pennsylvania. The series was co-created by Michael Eisner, who from 1984 to 2005 was the CEO of the Walt Disney Company. VAs for this one are Kevin Nealon, Catherine O'Hara, Peter Oldring, Jackie Clarke and Judy Greer. The first few episodes incorporated a laugh track so as to imitate 1970s sitcoms, including some Eisner greenlighted when he was at ABC during the decade. It was removed for later episodes because co-creator Eric Vogel thought that the show had "too much internal thinking" to have a laugh track. Originally airing immediately after SPONGEBOB on weekdays, GLENN got his family van moved to 10:30PM Friday nights following complaints from a Florida mom. Nick at Nite would never again air a single Nicktoon, new or old, after the show's 2011 cancellation.
ON HOME VIDEO: GLENN MARTIN, DDS never rode all the way to your DVD player.
FANBOY AND CHUM-CHUM
Debuted: October 12, 2009
Ended: July 12, 2014.
Two hyperactive, odd, energetic, and slow-witted children (David Hornsby, Nika Futterman) dress up as superhero-themed people and go around creating havoc wherever they go, following their enthusiastic obsession with superhero comics. The series was roundly panned by online reviewers, though it did receive some initial praise from mainstream publications.
ON HOME VIDEO: Paramount Home Entertainment issued three DVDs of the show and included certain episodes of it as extras on DVDs of SpongeBob SquarePants ("Triton's Revenge", UPC 097368948341, and "SpongeBob's Frozen Face-Off", UPC 097368227941, which each have two episodes of this show).
Next chapter of this will be "Nicktoons of the 2010s."
Invader Zim, ChalkZone, My Life As A Teenage Robot, Danny Phantom, and Avatar the Last Airbender are some of my favorite shows. XD
4800970
Agreed! But did you ever stop and think how as the decade was coming to a close, a lot of "bad" Nicktoons were being made and subsequently moved to
the Nicktoons' graveyardNicktoons (the channel)?Don't you mean FIRE
Also
Nostalgia Critic
4800995 Well Nickelodeon certainly made a lot of bad cartoons after the 2000s. :')
4801225
Yes and only a small handful of amazing ones!
4801244 True dat.
4801274
I specifically outlined which were best in his "Nicktoons of the 2010s" list.
4801275 Cool!