50 Fun Facts About Cartoon Network

Which cartoon dog was the official host of Cartoon Network when it signed on in October 1992?

Droopy. The mournful MGM hound fronted an hour-long guide to the new channel at noon on 1 October 1992, and the first cartoon it showed was Bugs Bunny's Rhapsody Rabbit.

In 1991 Ted Turner bought the library of which animation studio, home of Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones?

Hanna-Barbera. The $320 million deal topped up a vault that already held Tom and Jerry and the early Bugs Bunny cartoons, and a year later Turner launched Cartoon Network to show them.

Cartoon Network launched in 1992 from the headquarters of Ted Turner's broadcasting empire in which US city?

Atlanta. Turner's company was based there, but the channel's own cartoons came to be made on the other side of the country, at a studio in Burbank.

Which 1994 parody talk show made from recycled 1960s superhero footage was an early Cartoon Network original?

Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Short of money, its makers re-edited clips of a 1966 superhero cartoon into a chat show whose host quizzed real celebrities on a monitor; it later helped launch Adult Swim.

Which 1995 anthology of shorts launched many of Cartoon Network's first original series?

What a Cartoon! Its creator promised the network 48 shorts as 48 chances 'to succeed or fail', and the hits, from Johnny Bravo to Courage the Cowardly Dog, were ordered as full series.

Which animator created both Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack for Cartoon Network?

Genndy Tartakovsky. Dexter grew out of his student films at CalArts, and the boy genius's thick accent echoes the one he was teased for as a child immigrant in Chicago.

In Dexter's Laboratory, what is the name of the older sister who keeps wrecking Dexter's experiments?

Dee Dee. She came first: the show's creator drew a tall ballerina for a student film, then invented a short, boxy scientist brother to be her opposite.

What was the original title of Craig McCracken's student film that became The Powerpuff Girls?

Whoopass Stew! Its heroines were the Whoopass Girls, powered by a can of Whoopass; Cartoon Network would not sell a children's show with that word in it, so the girls and their secret ingredient were renamed.

The Powerpuff Girls' arch-enemy Mojo Jojo is what kind of animal?

A chimpanzee. As Jojo he was Professor Utonium's unruly lab assistant, and it was his shove that tipped Chemical X into the mix; the blast that made the girls also swelled his brain.

In which fictional city do the Powerpuff Girls fight crime?

Townsville. Its helpless Mayor keeps a hotline to the girls and rings it for every emergency, while his far cleverer secretary, Ms. Bellum, does the real thinking.

Johnny Bravo's home, Aron City, is named after the middle name of which singer he is modelled on?

Elvis Presley. Creator Van Partible first drew the character as an Elvis impersonator for his college thesis film, Mess O' Blues, and later mixed in the looks of James Dean.

Who voiced Cow, Chicken and the villainous Red Guy in the 1997 series Cow and Chicken?

Charlie Adler. He played the squabbling brother and sister and their tormentor alike; the Red Guy is a comic Devil who turns up in a new disguise to scam them.

In Ed, Edd n Eddy, the boys' endless scams are all aimed at buying which sweet?

Jawbreakers. Creator Danny Antonucci, known for adult cartoons, made the series on a dare to prove he could write for children, and it ran for more than ten years.

In Ed, Edd n Eddy, what surname do the sisters Lee, Marie and May share?

Kanker. Lee, Marie and May live in a nearby trailer park and have decided that the three Eds are their boyfriends, which makes them the one thing every kid in the cul-de-sac fears.

Courage the Cowardly Dog lives in the fictional town of Nowhere, in which state?

Kansas. Muriel Bagge found the abandoned puppy and took him home to the farm there; her husband Eustace has resented the dog ever since.

Which Oscar-nominated 1996 short was the pilot for Courage the Cowardly Dog?

The Chicken from Outer Space. John R. Dilworth's short lost the Oscar to Wallace & Gromit's A Close Shave, but it earned Courage a full series three years later.

Which villain from a 1960s superhero cartoon was the first host of Toonami in 1997?

Moltar. The helmeted lava man introduced the block's shows for two years, then handed over in 1999 to TOM, a robot voiced for most of his run by Steve Blum.

Which two anime were among the first Toonami brought to American afternoons in the late 1990s?

Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. Both arrived in 1998 as reruns of English dubs first shown elsewhere, and new episodes of each were ordered once they had settled into the after-school slot.

Which anime series was the first shown on Adult Swim, on the block's opening night in September 2001?

Cowboy Bebop. It went out at midnight, two hours after the block opened with an episode of Home Movies that its original network had shelved.

Samurai Jack pits a samurai flung into the future against which shape-shifting demon?

Aku. Mako voiced the demon until his death in 2006, so when the series returned for a final season in 2017 the part passed to Greg Baldwin.

In Codename: Kids Next Door, Sector V fights 'adult and teenage tyranny' from what kind of base?

A treehouse. The series owes its existence to viewers: in 2001 its pilot won a Cartoon Network poll in which the audience chose which of several pilots would become a full show.

Which Japanese band performed the English and Japanese Teen Titans (2003) theme songs?

Puffy AmiYumi. The pop duo recorded the theme in English and in Japanese, and a year later Cartoon Network gave them a cartoon of their own, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.

In Teen Titans, Starfire is an alien princess from which planet?

Tamaran. Starfire is heir to the planet's throne, and her sunny puzzlement at Earth customs hides one of the team's fiercest fighters.

Which software was mainly used to animate Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (2004)?

Adobe Flash. Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust dreamed up the series after adopting dogs from a shelter and imagining a similar home for imaginary friends that children had outgrown.

In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, what is the name of Mac's blue imaginary friend?

Bloo, short for Blooregard Q. Kazoo. Mac's mother decided he was too old for an imaginary friend, so Bloo moved into Foster's, where he stays safe from adoption as long as Mac visits every day.

In Ben 10 (2005), what is the alien device on ten-year-old Ben Tennyson's wrist?

The Omnitrix. It turns up in a crashed alien pod on the first night of a summer road trip, clamps onto Ben's wrist and lets him turn into ten different aliens.

Ben 10 was created by which collective of four comic-book writers, who went on to make Generator Rex?

Man of Action. Its writers had earlier created a Marvel comics team, Big Hero 6, which Disney later turned into an Oscar-winning animated film.

Billy and Mandy win the Grim Reaper as their 'best friend forever' after beating him at what?

A limbo contest. Grim had come for Billy's pet hamster, and the children played him for its life; losing left the Reaper bound to them as a most unwilling best friend.

In Cartoon Network's Chowder, the young hero is an apprentice at whose catering company?

Mung Daal's. Chowder's appetite and haste wreck most of the orders, yet the old chef keeps teaching him, while rival chef Endive's apprentice Panini insists that Chowder is her boyfriend.

In The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, what kind of animal is Bubbie, who raised Flapjack?

A whale. Bubbie found Flapjack adrift as a baby and raised him as her own, and he and the old sea captain K'nuckles still live inside her mouth.

Adventure Time began as a short made for which Frederator anthology series?

Random! Cartoons. Nickelodeon, which had commissioned the short, passed on a full series even after it went viral online, so its makers took it to Cartoon Network instead.

In Adventure Time, Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of what?

Ooo. The magical land is what remains of Earth a thousand years after the Mushroom War, a nuclear conflict that wiped out civilisation.

In Regular Show, Mordecai is a blue jay; what animal is Rigby?

A raccoon. Mordecai dates from the creator's student days, but Rigby began as a Post-it doodle of a raccoon hula-hooping and grew into the irresponsible one of the pair.

In Cartoon Network's Regular Show, what kind of creature is the immortal handyman Skips?

A yeti. He is voiced by Mark Hamill, and he skips everywhere, never walking, in memory of a girlfriend he lost centuries ago.

In The Amazing World of Gumball, blue cat Gumball Watterson's adoptive brother Darwin is what kind of animal?

A goldfish. Darwin was the family pet until he sprouted legs, and the Wattersons simply took him in as one of their children.

In Cartoon Network's Regular Show, what kind of object is Benson, the short-tempered boss?

A gumball machine. Benson runs the park for its owner and spends most episodes on the verge of firing Mordecai and Rigby for dodging their work.

Which Powerpuff Girl is the trio's self-appointed 'commander and leader'?

Blossom. The level-headed redhead plans the trio's battles and looks after their public image, leaving the temper to Buttercup and the sweetness to Bubbles.

Which British singer voices Garnet, leader of the Crystal Gems, in Rebecca Sugar's 2013 series?

Estelle. Best known for the hit American Boy, she plays the team's cool-headed leader, later revealed to be two smaller Gems, Ruby and Sapphire, fused by love.

Which Lord of the Rings actor voiced Wirt in Cartoon Network's 2014 miniseries Over the Garden Wall?

Elijah Wood. The series was Cartoon Network's first miniseries: its creator pitched it in 2006 and waited eight years to see its ten short chapters air in a single week.

We Bare Bears' Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear live around which West Coast city?

San Francisco. The three brothers, who began in Daniel Chong's webcomic The Three Bare Bears, cross the city in their trademark 'bear stack', one on top of another.

Craig of the Creek's creators had previously written for which Cartoon Network show set in Beach City?

Steven Universe. Matt Burnett and Ben Levin were writers its creator asked for by name; they later left to make Craig of the Creek, which ran for six seasons.

Which media conglomerate took ownership of Cartoon Network in a 2022 merger?

Warner Bros. Discovery. AT&T spun off WarnerMedia, the company that had absorbed Ted Turner's cable networks, and merged it with Discovery in April 2022.

Which sister channel began in December 1992 as a Cartoon Network weekend block of vintage cartoons?

Boomerang. As Cartoon Network filled up with its own originals, the vintage library was moved out, and in April 2000 the weekend block became a full channel for the oldies.

In Ed, Edd n Eddy, which cul-de-sac kid's best friend is a wooden board called Plank?

Jonny. The show's creator insisted that Plank stay an ordinary board and nothing more, so he never says a word on screen and Jonny has to report whatever 'Plank says'.

Which TNT executive did Ted Turner pick to create Cartoon Network and serve as its first president?

Betty Cohen. At the launch she argued that nearly half the audience for cartoons was adult, and she warned that the channel would lose more than $20 million before it turned a profit.

Which rock musician hosted Destroy Build Destroy, the demolition game show Cartoon Network launched in 2009?

Andrew W.K. The 'Party Hard' singer presided as two teams of teenagers wrecked a vehicle, built machines from the debris and, if they won, blew up their rivals' creation.

Which Saturday-morning Cartoon Network block, launched in 2012, was devoted to series based on DC Comics heroes?

DC Nation. Announced in 2011, it reached the air the following March with Green Lantern and Young Justice, and one set of its comic shorts grew into Teen Titans Go!

The Amazing World of Gumball was made at Cartoon Network's European animation studio in which city?

London. The studio opened there in 2007, and Gumball became its calling card: a series that deliberately mixes drawn, puppet, computer and live-action images, often within one scene.

What Sunday-evening family-film block did Cartoon Network introduce in September 2021?

ACME Night. It was named after the fictional company whose gadgets fill the Road Runner cartoons, and it opened on 19 September 2021 with the superhero film Shazam!

Which organisation produced Big Bag, Cartoon Network's 1996 preschool puppet show?

Children's Television Workshop, the makers of Sesame Street. The show's host was Chelli, a Muppet dog built by the Jim Henson Company, who ran a general store with his friend Bag.