Yesterday, we started analyzing the first five Nicktoons and their availability on home media. After all, if you want to be able to study animation, you have to be able to watch the animation in the first place. So far, unless a series’ rights have been sold to another entity (Like Doug to Disney) or a new pilot has recently come out (Netflix’s Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling (2019)) it has a home media release and on DVD to boot. Will that trend continue today? Let’s find out.
Hey Arnold! (1996) has been a successful show for Nickelodeon and continues to have media releases today. Most recently, on July 3rd, 2020, a Volume One Vinyl Record of the soundtrack from Enjoy the Ride Records was released and subsequently sold out. As far as the show goes, five VHS episode compilations were released in 1997 and 1998. Shout Factory! acquired the distribution rights and released all five seasons on DVD season sets in 2011 and 2012 (Season four split into two sets). All five seasons were released as a complete series bundle exclusive through Walmart.
Sources:
https://enjoytheriderecords.com/blogs/news/hey-arnold-the-music-vol-1
https://heyarnold.fandom.com/wiki/Hey_Arnold!_videography
Hey Arnold! Logo
The animation-anthology, KaBlam! (1996), featured twenty different series and animated music videos over its four season run. Of the shorts featured, two cartoons would spin-off to become their own series. Outside of the shorts made for KaBlam!, Angela Anaconda ran for three seasons. Additionally, it had a theatrical special as the opening to Digimon: The Movie. Stop-motion series, Action League Now!, ran for one additional season as a stand alone series. Neither KaBlam!, nor either of the spin-offs have seen home media releases. However, the theatrical Angela Anaconda short was released as it is considered a part of the Digimon: The Movie runtime and, as such, is featured on the VHS and DVD releases.
Sources:
KaBlam! Logo
https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/KaBlam!
The Angry Beavers (1997) is the first Nicktoon to not have any VHS releases for any of its four seasons. In fact, it would be quite a while from the premiere of the show to 2010 before any home media was released. Three best-of season sets were released through Amazon’s manufacture-on-demand service. These would be discontinued when Shout! Factory took over media distribution a year later, releasing full season sets, as well as a complete series set from 2011 to 2014.
Sources:
https://nickelodeon.fandom.com/wiki/The_Angry_Beavers_videography
The Angry Beavers Logo
One of the most consequential figures in animation is Fred Seibert. Besides founding Frederator Studios (whose productions will appear as we continue this series), of which he just recently stepped down from, his fingerprints can be found all over Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. In fact, it was his impetus in 1995 to create the What A Cartoon! series for Cartoon Network, an animated compilation of 48 shorts from almost as many different animators, that would go onto spawn a majority of Cartoon Network’s first wave of original animation output.
In 1998 he ran the creative tour de force for a second go around, this time for Nickelodeon. Oh Yeah! Cartoons ran for three seasons and featured 99 animated shorts. Of these shorts, My Life As A Teenage Robot, The Fairly OddParents, and ChalkZone would go on to become their own series (More on those later). Unfortunately, the rest of the animated pilots, and Oh Yeah! Cartoons as a whole, have never been released on home media. Though, there are multiple books from Frederator that feature postcards and posters from the series produced.
Sources:
https://www.awn.com/news/wow-fred-seibert-resigns-wow-and-frederator
https://frederator.com/series/oh-yeah-cartoons/
Oh Yeah! Cartoons Logo
https://logos.fandom.com/wiki/Oh_Yeah!_Cartoons
Fred Seibert Photo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Seibert#/media/File:Fred_Seibert_at_Pixelodeon,_2007.jpg
The third Klasky Csupo series on this list, so far, The Wild Thornberrys (1998) ran for five seasons with two theatrical films. Four VHS tapes, containing two episodes a piece, were released between 2000 and 2004. In addition, three episode compilations were released on DVD. In 2010, Amazon produced season sets with their manufacture-on-demand service. From 2011 to 2013, Shout! Factory re-released the season sets on DVD in addition to a complete series release in 2015.
Sources:
https://wildthornberrys.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wild_Thornberrys_videography
The Wild Thornberrys Logo
https://nickelodeon-movies.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wild_Thornberrys
Next time; skateboards, a sponge, and an alien invasion.
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