Saturday Video Entertainment System

Saturday Video Entertainment System, known as SVES by the fans of the block, was launched by Cartoon Network and it was aired from March 1, 2003 to April 10, 2004.

SVES was a new 7-hour (7:00 PM - 2:00 AM) action-animation franchise that featured former Toonami programming as well as other animated action shows that didn't "fit" on Toonami or Adult Swim.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) This block was quite a similar to Toonami, in which, it would later moved to it in a following year in 2004.
 * 2) SVES marked Cartoon Network's first prime-time lineup completely devoted to action, featuring shows such as: Zoids: New Century, .hack//SIGN, G.I. Joe, Dragon Ball, Pokémon, etc.
 * 3) Aside from it, they also aired shows for both anime and Western, such as Dragon Ball Z, G Gundam, Cyborg 009, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Jackie Chan Adventures, Rurouni Kenshin, X-Men: Evolution, Duel Monsters, Teen Titans, Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, Yu Yu Hakusho and mh:terribletvshows:Dragon Ball GT.
 * 4) SVES was packaged like a video game, with a Samus Aran-like character (from Metroid) in bumps reminiscent of older arcade game designs.
 * 5) The promos, bumpers and the commercials were pretty good to watched. The intro was also very catchy to listen, as well as the designs.
 * 6) The animation for SVES was outsourced as opposed to Toonami’s animation which was done in house.
 * 7) Acted pretty much the same as Toonami (and even DID air many of its same shows), except airing on a Saturday, and shared many of the same staff. One notable difference is unlike Toonami, which edited many show's intros out at the time, this block kept them.
 * 8) They had a story that focused on Celeste, But, at the end of the block, Celeste would take off her helmet, revealing it to be a female character.
 * 9) Despite the block was ended in 2004, it was probably can be one of Cartoon Network's unforgettable programming blocks, along with Miguzi (the latter itself would be taking over for weekday afternoon).

Trivia

 * Many considered SVES the death blow for Toonami, which as it turns out was both true and not true, considering Toonami was cancelled, and then revived as a Saturday night block that replaced SVES in April of 2004.
 * It was created by Cartoon Network's Williams Street division, the same people who created Adult Swim, Toonami and even Miguzi.
 * Although, when it first aired or ended, some of them never even heard of it.