New From Nickelodeon... Nick Toons TV! (Nickelodeon)

Member Name: angeelu

Product:	Nickelodeon
Date:	10/08/02 (5390 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of cartoons, As Told By Ginger, Hey Arnold!, The Wild Thornberry's

Disadvantages: Not on TV for 24 hours a day

Ok... not many of you may share my views on this, but I certainly think that without Nickelodeon, life would be so much duller.

Nickelodeon have been around for some time, previously airing three channels on digitial TV:
* Nickelodeon
* Nick Replay
* Nick Juniors

However, recently, they have introduced their best channel yet... NickToons TV!!!

NickToons TV airs on digital television from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. For Sky Digital viewers, this channel is on channel 606.

What's on this channel then?
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I should imagine that from the name of the channel you have already gathered that this channel shows only Nickelodeon cartoons.

The cartoons shown on this channel include: 'Hey Arnold!', 'Rugrats', 'SpongeBob Squarepants', 'Real Monsters', 'Angry Beavers', 'The Wild Thornberrys', 'CatDog', 'As Told By Ginger', 'Doug' as well as many others.

Are the cartoons any good?
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I'm perhaps a bit biased in answering this question, as in general Nickelodeon cartoons tend to be my favourites... so 'yes' they re very good. Many of the cartoons will be familiar to you even if you don't have Sky or digital television as the majority have had episodes shown on terrestrial TV at some point. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching any of these cartoons, here's a quick synopsis of what a few of them are about...

AS TOLD BY GINGER
This cartoon follows the life of Ginger and her friends and family. Ginger and her two best friends Macie and Dodie cope with the trials and tribulations of friendships, growing up, coping with their family and generally experiencing life. Aspiring to be popular like pretty blond school girl Courtney and her best pal Miranda, Ginger and her friends are generally down-to-earth girls who realise that the
ir families and friendship are perhaps the most important things in their life.
This cartoon is definitely not just one for the girls however - Ginger's brother Carl and his mate 'Hoodsie' provide constant entertainment throughout the cartoon through their scheming (and often gruesome) plans. 10 out of 10 for this one!

HEY ARNOLD!
Arnold lives with his grandparents... this doesn't stop him enjoying life though. The cartoon starts Arnold and his friends Gerald, Harold, Eugene, Helga and Phoebe - as well as his Grandma and Granpa. Despite being a cartoon, Hey Arnold often has some serious moments in it and often deals with various social issues, though in a light-hearted way that doesn't detract from the enjoyable-ness of the cartoon. 7 out of 10 for this one!

THE WILD THORNBERRY'S
Eliza Thornberry and her family travel the globe in a commvee van. Her parents are nature documentary makers. She has a 16-year-old sister, Debbie, with a typical teenage attitude (i.e. would rather be anywhere but 'hanging around with her little sister and her parents'. In addition they look after a boy who was brought up by orangutans, Donnie, and a chimpanzee, Darwin!
Whilst Eliza's parents are off making documentaries, Eliza learns about the animal world close up. Eliza has a secret - she can talk to animals! This leads her into various adventures then more often than not end up with her getting into sticky situations!
The Wild Thornberry's score 9 out of 10.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
This is a bit of a surreal cartoon, based around a sponge called SpongeBob, who, suprisingly, wears sqaure pants. Other main characters are Patrick, Squidward and Mr Krabs.
The story lines are equally bizarre as the characters and I must admit I've never really got into this cartoon...
Only scores 2 out of 10 in my ratings.

Who is NickToons TV suitable for?
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br>NickToons is suitable for almost any age and any gender. Most of the cartoons are probably aimed at school aged children (approximately 6 and over), though I wouldn't even like to think about putting an upper age limit on the channel! (I'm 22 and spend more time watching cartoon channels than any other!) The beauty of cartoons is that you tend to be able to get something from them no matter what your age - the youngest children enjoy the bright colours and funny looking characters, older children enjoy the story lines and the young at heart enjoy the quick jokes and one-liners that have been dropped in by cartoon makers that go over the heads of younger children.

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I think I've perhaps been rabitting on a little bit now, so I'll conclude by telling you that all the cartoons are shown in half hour blocks (this tends to incorporate two episodes of most of the cartoons). Between each episode there are advertisements that are generally aimed at children (sweets, toys, breakfast cereal, children's films, days out, computer games etc).

I'm unsure of the exact cost of this channel - however, if you already have a package which includes the other Nickelodeon channels it is very likely you will have this added automatically for free.

For more info go to www.nicktoonstv.co.uk

Thanks for reading!
Angeelu :o)

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