Никтоны: История оригинационных мультсериалов Nickelodeon

Animated series brand used by Nickelodeon
the animated series branding from Nickelodeon

Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since its launch in the late 1970s, Nickelodeon's schedule incorporated animation produced by other companies. The channel did not invest in its own original cartoon series until 1989 when producer Vanessa Coffey visited Los Angeles to accept pitches from local animators. Geraldine Laybourne, the channel's then president, greenlit three pitches for full series: Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. On August 11, 1991, the three cartoons premiered as part of a 90 minute block, becoming the first branded Nicktoons. In contrast to the merchandise based cartoons that dominated the 1980s animation industry, Vanessa Coffey and Geraldine Laybourne agreed that the Nicktoons should be creator driven: based on original characters designed by animators. The first Nicktoons debuted to financial success, convincing Viacom to invest in original animated shows for its other network MTV. Until 1998, Nickelodeon's animation division operated out of a rented office complex in Studio City, California. Production moved to an individual building in nearby Burbank on March 4, 1998. Among the first shows produced at this new facility was SpongeBob SquarePants, which by 2004 had become the most profitable program in Nickelodeon history. In 2002, a cable channel also called Nicktoons was launched, followed by multiple international versions. Several original shows have premiered new episodes on the Nicktoons network. In the early 2010s, Nickelodeon debuted the first two Nicktoons based on preexisting TV franchises, as opposed to new characters: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club. These two revamped shows were developed at Nickelodeon Animation Studio following Viacom's purchases of both properties. In 2019, Nick Animation debuted its first streaming exclusive Nicktoon, Pinky Malinky, which was released on Netflix rather than television. Several months later, the studio announced a multi year deal to produce animated content for Netflix, including new properties and spin offs of previous Nicktoons.

Nickelodeon's first original animated program, Video Dream Theatre, was left unaired. It was produced over a half year period in 1979, when the network hired its future president Geraldine Laybourne to make two pilots for the show. Video Dream Theatre used animation to visualize children's dreams in different styles, such as color Xerox. According to an interview with Laybourne herself, Nickelodeon did not broadcast the show because it was deemed too frightening; she commented, "the trouble with kids' dreams is they're really scary. It's a lot about abandonment, it's a lot about suffocation. They don't make very good stories." The network continued to only broadcast externally produced animation until almost a decade later, when animator Ralph Bakshi pitched an original animated series called Tattertown. In 1988, a half hour pilot episode was produced, overseen by Debby Beece (Nickelodeon's senior vice president of programming). Nickelodeon declined to pick up a full series, and the pilot "Christmas in Tattertown" premiered on December 21, 1988, as a standalone Christmas special. The network's next attempt at an original animation was Nick's Thanksgiving Fest, which was composed of two shorts. According to Linda Simensky, the Thanksgiving shorts "gave Nickelodeon executives the confidence they needed to get the animation department started." During the production of Nick's Thanksgiving Fest in 1989, Geraldine Laybourne held a meeting at her house to develop a philosophy for the channel's original cartoons. She played tapes of current animated shows, which her colleagues viewed as merchandise driven and overly commercial. The group decided that Nickelodeon should aim for the opposite of their contemporaries, producing cartoons that would keep their creators in a key creative role rather than prioritizing an efficient "assembly line" process.

In 1996, Albie Hecht, then president of Film and TV Entertainment for Nickelodeon, met with Nickelodeon artists to brainstorm an idea for a new Nicktoons studio. Nickelodeon's new facility, named Nickelodeon Animation Studio, would eventually open on March 4, 1998; Hecht said, "For me, this building is the physical manifestation of a personal dream, which is that when people think of cartoons, they'll say Nicktoons." In June 1997, Nickelodeon began a five year, $350 million investment into original animation. As part of this effort, the company doubled its animation staff and produced many new pilots, including one for SpongeBob SquarePants. Before commissioning SpongeBob SquarePants as a full series, Nickelodeon executives insisted that it would not be popular unless the main character was a child who went to school, with his teacher as a main character. The show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, recalled in 2012 that Nickelodeon told him, "Our winning formula is animation about kids in school We want you to put SpongeBob in school." Hillenburg was ready to "walk out" on Nickelodeon and abandon the series, since he wanted SpongeBob to be an adult character. He eventually compromised by adding a new character to the main cast, Mrs. Puff, who is a boat driving teacher. Hillenburg was happy with the compromise and said, "A positive thing for me that came out of it was [how it brought] in a new character, Mrs. Puff, who I love." Nickelodeon believed CatDog had the potential to be its next breakout hit, and their order represented an investment of $50 million into the series alone. In 1998, Nickelodeon premiered Oh Yeah! Cartoons, which was intended as a "character laboratory" to test out cartoon characters. Creator Fred Seibert described the show as an experiment into a seven minute format that Nickelodeon generally avoided; he said, "they were very willing to try an experiment to see how it would work." The series eventually yielded three half hour spin offs based on segments from the show: The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, and My Life as a Teenage Robot. 1998 also marked the release of the first feature film based on a Nicktoon: The Rugrats Movie, which became the first non Disney animated film to gross over $100 million at the North American box office. On December 8, Nickelodeon's movie division greenlit theatrical adaptations of Hey Arnold! and The Wild Thornberrys, less than a month after Rugrats opened in theaters.

At the turn of the millennium, Nickelodeon noticed that a new competitor, Cartoon Network, was attracting some of its 11–15 year old demographic. Desiring a cartoon suited for older viewers, Nickelodeon producer Mary Harrington contacted Jhonen Vasquez for a series pitch after reading his Squee! comic books. Vasquez pitched Invader Zim, which satisfied Nickelodeon's requests for "something 'edgy'." Nickelodeon also sought out a new action adventure cartoon after commissioning several anime inspired pilots that "didn't go anywhere," according to a New York Times article. In the early 2000s, Nickelodeon briefly continued its strategy of adapting Nicktoon franchises into theatrical features. Executives at the company's movie division decided to reconsider this approach after several films (Hey Arnold! : The Movie and Rugrats Go Wild) were met with poor financial and critical reception. According to the Chicago Tribune, Nickelodeon believed the Hey Arnold! movie "didn't just fail but actually tarnished one of the company's best selling points: its trustworthy brand name." Aside from SpongeBob SquarePants films, Nickelodeon Movies stopped producing animated theatrical features based on their shows. As part of the agreement, Hartman developed original animated and live action concepts for Nickelodeon and its sister channel, Noggin. In a statement, Hartman said, "Working with everyone at Nickelodeon over the past several years has been hugely satisfying and I look forward to forging the same kind of terrific creative alliances with the folks at Noggin." The partnership resulted in three CGI animated shows based on DreamWorks' character library: The Penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and Monsters vs. Aliens.

In October 2009 and September 2010, respectively, Viacom brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Winx Club into the Nickelodeon family by purchasing both franchises. Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced a new CGI animated Turtles series and new seasons of Winx Club with CGI sequences. TMNT and Winx were both inducted into the Nicktoons franchise after Nickelodeon launched them. The two productions comprised Nickelodeon's strategy to reboot two established brands for new viewers: TMNT was intended to reach an audience of boys aged 6 to 11, and Winx was aimed at the same age group of girls. In February 2011, Viacom bought out a third of Rainbow SpA, the Italian animation studio that introduced Winx Club. The purchase was valued at 62 million euros (US$83 million) and led to new shows being co developed by Rainbow and Nickelodeon, including Club 57 and a pilot for the Nickelodeon Animated Shorts Program called "Crazy Block". In the early 2010s, Nickelodeon executives searched for independent animations on the Internet, looking for original ideas. Chris Viscardi, who would later become Nickelodeon Animation's senior vice president, stated that the studio desired to "[get] back to more creator driven things." Sanjay and Craig premiered first, on May 25, 2013. After its debut, Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd optimistically compared the show to the Nicktoons of the 1990s, writing that "the goofy and delightful series represents a positive step back for the network to where it once belonged." In the late 2010s, Nickelodeon revived three existing Nicktoons IP as one off movies, including Hey Arnold! : The Jungle Movie, Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, and Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. The first aired on the Nickelodeon channel in November 2017, while the latter two premiered in August 2019 on Netflix. Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of Invader Zim, stated in 2019 that the studio's support for the revival films waned due to a shift in management: "We had an immense amount of support throughout most of the production. Things just turn on a dime, people get axed, new people come in."

In 2018, Nickelodeon began to shift from focusing only on cable broadcasting to what it describes as a "studio model" that provides content for third party companies. The decision was made based on the sharp decline of cable viewership due to the rise of streaming services. The series premiered on the platform on January 1, 2019. On November 13, 2019, Nickelodeon expanded their relationship with Netflix with the announcement of a multi year output deal, under which Nickelodeon Animation Studio will produce "original animated feature films and TV series based on both new and existing IP." On February 21, 2020, Nickelodeon's Glitch Techs premiered on Netflix, becoming the second Nicktoon to receive a digital only release.

Note: Animated series made for Nickelodeon's other brands (namely Nick Jr. and Nick at Nite) are not included in this list.

# Title Seasons Episodes Premiere date Finale date 1 Doug 4 52 1=1991 1=1994 2 Rugrats 9 172 1=2004 3 The Ren & Stimpy Show 5 52 1=1996 4 Rocko's Modern Life 4 52 1=1993 1=1996 5 Aaahh!!! Real Monsters 4 52 1=1994 1=1997 6 Hey Arnold! 5 100 1=1996 1=2004 7 KaBlam! 4 48 1=1996 1=2000 8 The Angry Beavers 4 62 1=1997 1=2001 9 CatDog 4 68 1=1998 1=2005 10 Oh Yeah! Cartoons 3 34 1=1998 1=2002 11 The Wild Thornberrys 5 91 1=1998 1=2004 12 SpongeBob SquarePants 14 299 1999 present 13 Rocket Power 4 71 1=1999 1=2004 14 As Told by Ginger 3 60 1=2000 1=2006 15 The Fairly OddParents 10 172 1=2001 July 26, 2017 16 Invader Zim 2 27 1=2006 17 Action League Now! 1 12 November 18, 2001 February 10, 2002 18 ChalkZone 4 40 1=2002 1=2008 19 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius 3 64 1=2002 1=2006 20 All Grown Up! 5 55 1=2003 1=2008 21 My Life as a Teenage Robot 3 40 1=2003 1=2009 22 Danny Phantom 3 53 1=2004 1=2007 23 Avatar: The Last Airbender 3 61 1=2005 1=2008 24 Catscratch 1 20 1=2005 1=2007 25 The X's 1 20 1=2005 1=2006 26 El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera 1 26 1=2007 1=2008 27 Tak and the Power of Juju 1 26 August 31, 2007 January 24, 2009 28 Back at the Barnyard 2 52 September 29, 2007 November 12, 2011 29 The Mighty B! 2 40 April 26, 2008 June 18, 2011 30 The Penguins of Madagascar 3 80 November 28, 2008 December 19, 2015 31 Random! Cartoons 1 13 December 6, 2008 December 20, 2009 32 Fanboy & Chum Chum 2 52 October 12, 2009 July 12, 2014 33 Planet Sheen 1 26 October 2, 2010 February 15, 2013 34 T. U. F. F. Puppy 3 60 April 4, 2015 35 Winx Clubrefn|group=note|name=winxclub1|Nickelodeon Animation Studio produced the Winx Club revival series, made up of seasons 5–7, in co development with Rainbow. Paramount owns the copyright to these seasons and, until 2023, co owned the Rainbow studio itself. Max & the Midknights