Kablam! is finally available legally!!!

Long time readers to the blog might remember a post I made about the mid-90's Nicktoon Kablam! It's a show that I have a lot of history with, something that I've come back to time and again since 2004. Suffice to say that it was a show that I have grown up with, and watching it as I move on into adulthood proves just as endearing as when I first saw it. I wanna get back into how, exactly, I was able to watch this show. While I did get introduced to the show on Nicktoons after my family switched to satellite, that wouldn't last long. The year after, Nicktoons had a rebrand to Nicktoons Network. With the rebrand came some schedule changes, pushing exclusive content upfront and phasing some shows out. Kablam was sadly one of the shows to leave fairly quickly after the rebrand, having been confined to 4 am anyway. While it did pop up again for a thanksgiving weekend event in 2007, that was that for the show airing on TV.

The Animation Capital of the World (before it got live-action shows.)

So how was I, a young boy who was enamored by this show that seemed to leave as fast as it came, supposed to find it again? That's where early video streaming came in. Thankfully fans saved DVR recordings to upload to Youtube and wherever else they see fit. Notice how I said fans. Nickelodeon themselves never really played ball with fans of Kablam after Nicktoons Network dropped the show. There were no DVD releases (not even any VHS releases when the show was on either!) Episodes or even clips weren't on TurboNick, their online video service. The show wasn't brought up by the network much at all, almost like it didn't even exist. It was up to the fans to hunt for episodes, since Nick wouldn't be much help.

I just wanted to have this here because nostalgia.

Things did seem to turn around after Nicksplat played Kablam in 2016 and 2017. Nick showed that they seemed to care about the show, only being restrained in that care because of the numerous rights issues involved in the different creators of every short. Somehow the stars aligned for a few nights and it was on again and just as quickly went away. It was a feeling I like to call "too good to last." I just thought that was that and continued to watch episodes on YouTube whenever I felt the urge to come back to the show.

Now let's flash forward a year. Just yesterday, I was going on Crunchyroll News in what's a routine activity to me. I did notice that when I stopped by, I got a message saying that VRV, a service that includes Crunchyroll had a 30 day free trial going. I shrugged that off as just another ad until I scrolled down until I saw an article for a new "channel" coming to VRV. VRV goes into many different mediums and genres, from anime to horror movies to cartoons. This latest channel was a major shock to me, even if it's fairly in line with what VRV tries to offer. It now has Nicksplat. I was wondering if my eyes were decieving me. My immediate reaction was "So I guess Teennick is done? There's no reason for it to exist." My next thought was "Kablam on this when?" Now here's where my sarcasm kicked in. I knew Kablam wouldn't be on there. Anyone could guess that it wouldn't be on there. Until I found out it was.

I'm gonna give a shoutout to Nickandmore on Twitter for letting me know about this godsend. I was just scrolling down his twitter feed on a whim, amused that he had Action League Now as his banner picture (is that what that giant picture that stretches across the top of the profile is called?) Then I found out Kablam was on Nicksplat. Just to put it in perspective, this show, a show that I have loved almost my entire life, that until recently had seemed like it never existed in the eyes of the network that birthed it, is somehow available on the same service as fucking Hanebado and Steins;Gate 0.

What.
The.
Hell.
Is.
HAPPENING?
Am I in some bizarro fever dream reality where the heavens throw me a bone? Am I in the best timeline? It feels like anything could happen these days, like anything's possible. Ending hunger? Easy! World peace? Sure! Haruhi season 3? How about 10 more seasons! Needless to say, I will be subscribing, and continue to subscribe as long as more episodes of the show are added. This news improved my mood tenfold and make me feel like things will turn out alright. We are in the Kablam timeline, we're all gonna make it.

Join me again next time, same Kablam time, same Kablam network!






(Pete and Pete for streaming when?)