Toons of the 2000s

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Here we are, just a short while away from closing out the decade. It brings upon us a time of reflection, contemplation and lists. Tons and tons of lists and opinion articles. With this being the first decade of animation toonzone has fully borne witness to, who are we to deny ourselves the shameless indulgence of revisiting the best and worst moments? It can't be avoided. Not just because we are weak-willed. Nay, it is our duty to provide you with a review of the decade in animation.

It's been a time of exciting change, with unmistakable emotional highs and lows. We've seen two dimensional animation nearly make its exit. A network built around cartoons made a big push towards live-action. Broadcast children's television came to an end. Almost as a counter-balance, headway was made in the acceptance of animation as a storytelling medium for adults in film, digital distribution, the DTV market, and even in television. With the advancements made in internet technology, animated shorts became more accessible to the general public. A surprising variety of design styles found their way into advertiser-backed animation on television. There's so much more to discuss, and it can't all be covered in this one post. 

We'll be doing a series of blog posts letting you know what we thought of the decade from 2000 to 2009. Why not 2001 to 2010, you ask? It's a pop-culture thing. It'll make sense we do our best of the 10's list. Trust us.

You'll see at least three posts a week starting Wednesday. We'll run these posts through mid-December, with the entire project culminating in the Top 25 Animated Television Series Countdown. Are you excited? Because I sure as hell am.

Here's what's coming up:

• The Fall and Rise of 2D Animation (Part 1, 2, 3)
  
• Significant Headlines from the 00's
• Top 5 Animated Features
• The End of Broadcast Kids' Television (Part 1, 2, 3) 
• Top 5 Animated Shorts
• Anime That Made It To US Television This Decade
• Anime We Hope Never Come to America
• The End of DCAU - A Retrospective
• Top 5 Disney Animated Television Series
• Top 5 Nicktoons
• Top 5 Toonami Programs  
• 00's Shows You May Not Have seen, But Really Should
• Bottom 5 Cartoons
• Anime That Still Hasn't Made It To America
• Top 5 Cartoon Network Shows
• Top 5 Most Influential People in Animation 
• DVD and Digital Distribution (Part 1, 2, 3,)  
• Top 25 Animated Television Series Countdown (25-21, 20-16, 15-11, 10-6, 5-1)  
• Next Decade Speculation
• Outro and Special Thanks
  

So, buckle up and get ready to be taken back through the highs and lows with toonzone's Toons of the 2000s.

Like what you've seen so far? Don't forget to follow us on twitter. Blog and news updates are posted daily.