2001 in animation is an overview of notable events, including notable awards, list of films released, television show debuts and endings, and notable deaths.
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Events January January 1: The first episode of Horrible Histories airs, which features occasional animated sequences. January 12: The first episode of Lizzie McGuire airs. January 13: The first episode of House of Mouse airs. January 23: Richard Linklater's Waking Life premieres.
February February 2: John Callahan's Quads!, based on John Callahan's cartoons, is first broadcast. February 3: The first episode of Lloyd in Space airs. February 4: The Futurama episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" premieres, guest starring actress and comedian Bea Arthur. February 11: The Futurama episode "Bendless Love" premieres, guest starring actress and comedian Jan Hooks. The Simpsons episode "Tennis the Menace" premieres, guest starring Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams. February 16: The film Recess: School's Out is released. February 23: Henry Selick's Monkeybone, which combines animation with live-action, is released, but to bad reviews and low audience attendances. February 25: The Futurama episode "That's Lobstertainment!" premieres, guest starring actor, comedian and fellow Simpsons cast member Hank Azaria. However, this episode received polarizing reception from fans and it was often regarded as one of the worst episodes of the series.
March March 3: The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II" premieres on Nickelodeon, thus concluding the first season of the show. March 25: 73rd Academy Awards: Father and Daughter by Michaël Dudok de Wit wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. March 30: The first episode of The Fairly OddParents airs. The first episode of Invader Zim airs. It became a cult classic and adult interest years later.
April April 1: The Futurama episode "The Cyber House Rules" premieres, in which Leela meets up with her former orphanarium playmate Adlai Atkins, now a plastic surgeon, who agrees to grant Leela surgery that will give her two eyes. The Simpsons episode "Simpson Safari" is broadcast, in which the family travels to Africa. April 4: The first episode of Titeuf airs, based on the eponymous comics series. April 8: The Tom and Jerry short The Mansion Cat, produced by Hanna-Barbera, premieres on Cartoon Network's sister network Boomerang."". The Big Cartoon DataBase. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2009. Episode Profile This was the final Tom and Jerry-related piece of media to be produced by Hanna-Barbera before the studio's closure this year, it is also the last Tom and Jerry-related piece of media to be produced with the franchise's co-creator William Hanna still being around (who died two weeks before this short premiered). April 19: Bill Plympton's Mutant Aliens is released. April 20: The dark Invader Zim episode "Dark Harvest" airs. This episode became controversial when it was mentioned at the Scott Dyleski trial in 2006. April 22: The Futurama episode "Bendin' in the Wind" premieres, guest starring musician Beck. April 29: The Simpsons episode "Trilogy of Error" is first broadcast, in which three connected stories from different viewpoints are told, inspired by the film Run Lola Run, all based around Homer Simpson accidentally cutting off his thumb. The episode also guest stars Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz as Thelonious.
May May 13: The Futurama episode "I Dated a Robot" premieres on Fox, guest starring actress Lucy Liu. The episode was seen by over 6 million viewers that night. King of the Hill concludes its fifth season on Fox with the episode "Kidney Boy and Hamster Girl: A Love Story", which was seen by over 8.1 million viewers that night. May 18: The film Shrek premieres and becomes an unexpected box office hit. May 20: The Simpsons concludes its 12th season on Fox with the episode "Simpsons Tall Tales", which was seen by over 13.4 million viewers that night."National Nielsen Viewership (May 14-20, 2001)". Los Angeles Times. May 23, 2001. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com May 26: Rintaro's Metropolis is first released, based on Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis.
June June 2: The first episode of Braceface is broadcast. June 3: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, produced by the Walt Disney Company, is released. It is a box office flop, but becomes a cult film later. During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada). Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed." June 8: The first episode of Time Squad airs. June 20: Season 5 of South Park begins on Comedy Central with the premiere of the episode "It Hits the Fan", which is well known for having the word "sh*t" said uncensored on television. This was the first episode to premiere in the 21st century. June 27: The South Park episode "Cripple Fight" premieres on Comedy Central, featuring the debut of Jimmy Valmer. June 28: The Rugrats receive a star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. June 30: The first episode of What's with Andy? is broadcast. Alt URL
July July 11: Season 3 of Family Guy begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "The Thin White Line", which was seen by just nearly 6 million viewers that night."National Nielsen Viewership (July 9–15, 2001)". The Los Angeles Times. July 18, 2001. Retrieved June 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. July 20: The Portuguese film The Happy Cricket is released. Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away premieres. July 21: The hour-long Rugrats special "All Growed Up" premieres on Nickelodeon in honor of the show's 10th anniversary. The special serves as the backdoor pilot for the spin-off All Grown Up!, which premiered 2 years later on Nick. This special holds the record for the most watched program on Nickelodeon at its premiere, ranking in a total of over 11 million viewers.
August August 7: Osmosis Jones is first released. August 8: The South Park episode "Towelie" premieres on Comedy Central, featuring the debut of Towelie. August 10: The first episode of Samurai Jack premieres on Cartoon Network. August 24: The first episodes of Grim & Evil premiere on Cartoon Network.
September September 2: The adult-oriented block Adult Swim is launched and debuts on Cartoon Network. The first episodes of two long-running series air the same day: Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Sealab 2021. September 3: The first episode of The Legend of Tarzan, produced by the Walt Disney Company, is broadcast. September 7: The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Band Geeks", premieres on Nickelodeon, gaining generally positive attention by both fans & critics. September 9: The first official episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force airs, almost over a year after airing the pilot episode. September 14: The film The House of Morecock is released, the first gay pornographic adult animated feature film. It is directed by comics artist Joe Phillips. September 15: The first episode of Stanley is broadcast. The first episode of The Proud Family is broadcast, produced by the Walt Disney Company. September 24: The sixth season of Arthur airs as Justin Bradley would take over Michael Yarmush's role as the titular character due to voice changing by adult age."Arthur Series Finale Reactions Get Emotional After Characters’ Adult Fates Revealed" by Michileen Martin at www.giantfreakinrobot.com Unfortunately, Bradley failed to repeat this due to regarding his input to be too deep for Arthur as Mark Rendall re-dubbed over Bradley's lines the next year and is chosen to be the next voice for the character. Specific date unknown: Hanna-Barbera is absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation. due to the death of animator William Hannah in March this year.
October October 5: Season 3 of SpongeBob SquarePants begins on Nickelodeon with the premiere of the episodes "Just One Bite/The Bully"."SpongeBob SquarePants, Season 3". iTunes. Apple Inc. May 1, 1999. Retrieved November 26, 2013. "Just One Bite" originally showed the famous boobytrap scenes with gas and fire before Nickelodeon removed it the following year.Jay Lender's statement to SpongeBuddy Mania October 9: Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase is released. The reviews were mixed as a result that it was not a best-seller like Zombie Island and Alien Invaders. October 14: The first episode of 2DTV is broadcast, which ridicules celebrities. October 20: The first episode of Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! airs, an animated version of TV actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (voicing themselves) which is cancelled after only one season. October 25: The film The Abrafaxe – Under The Black Flag is released, based on Lona Rietschel and Lothar Dräger's comic strip Die Abrafaxe. October 28: The film Monsters, Inc. by Pixar and the Walt Disney Company is released.
November November 3: The first episode of Totally Spies! airs. November 5: The final episode of Recess airs. It was supposed to end after the fifth season, but ratings gave the show one more season, which only lasted for 3 half-hours due to the show passing the 65-episode rule. November 6: Season 13 of The Simpsons begins on Fox with the premiere of the latest Treehouse of Horror installment "Treehouse of Horror XII". It was seen by over 13 million viewers that night."National Nielsen Viewership (Nov. 5-11, 2001)". Los Angeles Times. November 7, 2001. Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved February 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com November 7: The South Park episode "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants" first airs, famous for referencing the September 11 attacks and ridiculing Osama bin Laden in the style of World War II propaganda cartoons. November 11: Season 6 of King of the Hill begins on Fox with the premiere of the episode "Bobby Goes Nuts", which was the first to be produced entirely in digital ink and paint; but the show would continue to be produced in Cel Animation from up until the eighth season. November 17: The first episode of Justice League is broadcast. November 18: Dexter's Laboratory revives as Chris Savino took over as series director instead of Genndy Tartakovsky, who moved on to produce the new show Samurai Jack. Unlike the original episodes as the show gained popularity in the 1990s, the new batch was unsuccessful as the popularity of Dexter's Laboratory falls. The Simpsons episode "Homer the Moe" premieres, guest starring the rock band R.E.M. November 22: Episodes 1 through 14 of Happy Tree Friends as a TV-special premieres on MTV for first time, marking the TV debut of Volume 1 - First Blood.
December December 5: The South Park episode "Kenny Dies" premieres on Comedy Central, in which Kenny McCormick falls victim of a terminal illness, while Eric Cartman goes to find a way to lift the ban on stem cell research. The episode ends with Kenny getting "killed off", disappearing entirely from Season 6 before returning right at the end of the final episode of said season, Red Sleigh Down. December 9: The Futurama episode "Roswell that Ends Well" premieres, in which the Planet Express crew accidentally time traveled back to July 1947 and caused the Roswell incident. This episode received critical acclaim and the series won its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (Programming Less Than One Hour) in 2002. The film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is released.