Cartoon Network (partially lost "Powerhouse" bumpers from TV channel; 1998-2004)

The background color represents weekday evenings and weekends.

Status: Partially Lost

On March 2nd, 1998, Cartoon Network began its second era called Powerhouse which was based on Raymond Scott's 1937 instrumental song of the same name. The bumpers were animated by Primal Screen with various announcers making voiceovers such as Phil Hartman, Harry Shearer, Keith David, Frank Welker, Tom Clark, Carey Means, Doug Preis and even the characters from their shows, items from said skits would turn black and/or white, forming a checkerboard pattern on the screen. Shows that air in other countries reuse the same animations. Since not all shows have their own bumpers they would end up using generic ones. There were also various Coming Up Next bumpers made.

Powerhouse Bumpers

The era had a pattern for the background colors for the time scheme. The colors used were yellow, green, purple, blue, red, black, orange, brown, and white/light blue. Yellow for weekday mornings, green for weekday afternoons, purple for action cartoons (outside of Toonami), blue for weekday evenings and weekends and red for shows airing around midnights, which the color later turned to black, orange was for Halloween, brown was for Thanksgiving, and white/light blue was for Christmas. Years later, Powerhouse launched on the channel's international versions.

1998-1999

During the early months of the Powerhouse era, the Checkerboard and Starburst bumpers were still around until April 1998. Phil Hartman was the first announcer to get removed from the Powerhouse era because spoiler alert, he died, most of his voiceovers are still lost besides Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo. Around summer or fall 1998, the red backgrounds were replaced by black ones, due to the older TV sets struggling to display red backgrounds. By fall and winter of 1998, they also got 3 background colors with orange for Halloween, brown for Thanksgiving and white/light blue for Christmas. The era’s slogan was "Screwy, Ain’t It?”.

2000-2001

On April 1st, 2000, the Boomerang block and channel was launched, which most Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros shows moved to it. Several months later, the orange, brown, and white/light blue bumpers were also discontinued worldwide (excluding Japan). By 2001, the slogan, "Screwy, Ain’t It?" was replaced by "You With Us?" to promote the channel's Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block. When Adult Swim launched in fall 2001, the black background were then rarely used by the channel.

2002-2004

By January 20, 2003, many changes to the bumpers were made with Doig Preis being the only announcer left. The Powerhouse theme was also removed entirely with the show bumpers using either their own theme songs or production music with the Up Next and generic bumpers using their own as well, due to Turner losing rights to Raymond Scott’s masterpiece, the "You’re Watching" bumper were discontinued entirely, the yellow, green and black bumpers were removed from the show bumpers and remaining on the Up Next bumpers until May 2003. The black bumper was then discontinued due to Adult Swim's expanding timeslot. The voiceovers by the characters from their shows were also dropped. They also dropped their slogan that promoted Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. They also stopped using new show bumpers when new shows would release in 2003 to mid 2004.

Some shows like Hamtaro only had bumpers airing on Cartoon Network Latin America along with shows like Baby Looney Tunes and Duck Dodgers (they only used one WBRB bumper and BTTS bumper for their respective shows) airing until summer of 2004. Star Wars: Clone Wars and Megas XLR is the only originals not to get their own bumpers and by then, Time Squad and Captain Planet were the last two shows before the launch of CN City with Japan being the last country to discontinue the Powerhouse bumpers with it lasting until the end of 2005.

Status

Over the years, many bumpers from old VHS recordings were uploaded online. As of 2024 most of the bumpers were found and it's currently unknown how many were made.

On April 21st, 2024, Primal Screen announced it was officially closing its doors by the end of May 2024, the company has yet to state a reason why. Because of this, this makes it difficult for people to find Powerhouse bumpers.

Missing Bumpers

CN Originals

Dexter’s Laboratory

• Yellow Bumpers (Mandark Gets Distracted and Dodgeball)
• Yellow Bumpers (Body Reverse and Root Beer) (PICTURE OF ROOT BEER BUMPER FOUND)
• Yellow Bumpers (More)
• Yellow Bumpers (Without voiceovers)
• Green Bumpers (Mandark Gets Distracted and Dodgeball) (ARGENTINAN VERSION OF DODGEBALL BUMPER FOUND)
• Green Bumpers (Body Reverse and Root Beer) (ARGENTINAN VERSION OF BUMPERS FOUND) (BODY REVERSE) (ROOT BEER)
• Green Bumpers (without voiceover expect Alien Octopus)
• Blue Bumpers (with Phil Hartman voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Root Beer)

Johnny Bravo

• Yellow Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Yellow Bumpers (Diner and Car)
• Yellow Bumpers (more)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceovers)
• Green Bumpers (Diner and Car) (LATIN AMERICAN VERSION OF CAR FOUND)
• Green Bumpers (More)
• Green Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (with Phil Hartman voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover)

Cow and Chicken

• Yellow Bumpers (Ballerina and Walk)
• Yellow Bumpers (Bathtub and Red Guy vs. Supercow)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Green Bumpers (Ballerina and Walk)
• Green Bumpers (Bathtub and Red Guy)
• Green Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (with Phil Hartman voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Flying Chicken and Cookies)

I Am Weasel.

• Green Bumpers (2001)
• Blue Bumpers (more)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Water & Pixie Fairies)
• Black Bumpers (1999)

Powerpuff Girls

• Yellow Bumpers (Midflight and Strike Pose)
• Yellow Bumpers (Blocks and Laser Beam)
• Yellow Bumpers (More)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Green Bumpers (Midflight and Strike Pose)
• Green Bumpers (Roaches and Buttercup in Hearts) (ARGENTIAN VERSION OF BUMPERS FOUND) (0:04, and 1:13)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Buttercup in Hearts, Blocks, and Laser Beams)

Ed, Edd n Eddy

• Yellow Bumpers (Sidewalk and Sandwich)
• Yellow Bumpers (Cart and Pool) (JAPANESE VERSION OF CART BUMPER PARTIALLY FOUND)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Green Bumpers (Sidewalk and Sandwich)
• Green Bumpers (Cart and Pool)
• Green Bumpers (Bottle and Jawbreakers)
• Green Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (Bottle and Jawbreakers)
• Blue Bumpers (Pond and Rollercoaster) (without 2003-2004 version)
• Blue Bumpers (More)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Pond and Rollercoaster)

Mike, Lu & Og

• Yellow Bumpers (Turtle Chase and Feathers)
• Yellow Bumpers (More)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (with 2003 version)

Courage the Cowardly Dog

• Yellow Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Yellow Bumpers (Food Fight and Scare Mask)
• Yellow Bumpers (Bathtub and Chicken Coop)
• Yellow Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Green Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Green Bumpers (Food Fight and Scare Mask)
• Green Bumpers (Bathtub and Chicken Coop)
• Green Bumpers (More)
• Green Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Blue Bumpers (More?)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover)

Sheep in the Big City

• Yellow Bumpers (2002)
• Blue Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover, just Coffee, Dodge, Blast, and Car Splash)
• Blue Bumpers (Sheep Transform and Ice) (without voiceover) (BRAZILIAN VERSION OF SHEEP TRANSFORM AND NO SOUND EFFECTS FOUND) (ICE BUMPER WITH NO SOUND EFFECT FOUND)
• Black Bumpers (2001?)

Time Squad

• Blue Bumpers (You’re Watching)
• Blue Bumpers (More)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (with 2003 version)

Samurai Jack

• Blue Bumpers (2001-2004)

Grim and Evil

• Blue Bumpers (More)
• Blue Bumpers (without voiceover)
• Blue Bumpers (with 2003 version)

Whatever Happened to… Robot Jones?

• Blue Bumpers (with voiceovers)
• Blue Bumpers (with 2003 version)

Codename: Kids Next Door

• Blue Bumpers (with voiceovers)
• Blue Bumpers (with 2003 version)

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

• Blue Bumpers (with Grim and Evil music of Powerhouse arrangement) (LA only)

Evil Con Carne

• Blue Bumpers? (LA only)

Star Wars: Clone Wars

• Blue Bumpers? (Japan only)

Megas XLR

• Blue Bumpers? (Japan only)

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends

• Blue Bumpers? (Japan only)

Gallery

Footage

A mega compilation of powerhouse bumpers.

Videos

"Powerhouse" song featured in many bumpers.

External Links

• Cartoon Network Wiki page on the channel's Powerhouse era.
• Cartoon Network Wiki page listing most of the Powerhouse bumpers.