Deviation Actions
Well, the day has finally come. Soon the Hub will be no more and the Discovery Family Channel will be on the air. As the Hub enters it's final hours I find it only fitting to look back on it's four year run. Let's take a look back shall we.
Discovery Kids turns into the Hub
The last moments of Discovery Kids followed by the first minute of the Hub. Ah a an old network turn into a new network is a fascinating sight, it's almost like watching a baby being born... Okay it's not like that at all but you get what I mean.
During it's early days the Hub took a page from Cartoon Network and had several promos where characters from other shows interacted with each other in mini crossovers. They continued this trend for awhile but it disappeared later on in it's run (they did bring it back for special occasions though). This might be my favorite of the crossover promos, Pinkie Pie decorates Dan's car which causes Dan to loose his temper (big shocker). There never was a "Dan Vs. Pinkie Pie" crossover special, but I'm pretty sure somebody has written a fanfiction based on this promo and if that isn't the case somebody write that fanfiction. Dan Vs. unfortunately won't be joining Discovery Family's new line up, but luckily every episode of the series is now available for streaming officially on youtube for free, give it a watch some when you've got some free time, it's definitely an underrated show.
(Sorry I couldn't find a full screen version of this promo) MLP fans will probably recognize this promo, it ran at the end of almost every episode of season one. It became a meme throughout the Brony fanbase, not because the show itself was popular, but for just three simple words...
"Are You Ready For the Summer"
I always like to rewatch this promo when Summertime comes along. Pinkie Pie, Dan, and Megatron sing about summer... Wow that might be the oddest combination of characters ever and it's even weirder to hear them sing together.
"Equestria Girls" ("California Girls" Parody)
Before it became known as an MLP spin off movie series featuring techincolor horse humans, "Equestria Girls" was an MLP promo parodying Katy Perry's hit song at the time "California Girls". This promo is notable for featuring the first official mention of the MLP fandom name "Bronies" and when the fan favorite background character DJ PON-3 was officially named DJ PON-3 (a name that was given to her by the fanbase). Ah the fanbase was so young back then. Memories...
A holiday themed crossover promo. It starts off as just a bunch of characters singing "Jingle Bells", but then the Joker pops up and sings his preferred version of the song and it truly becomes epic. I don't know wether or not this was an intended reference to the Kids WB promo where Joker sang the song, but I like to think that it was. 
Another crossover promo. This one ran during the Season 2 premiere of MLP (back then the two parters were aired one week away from each other. You wipper snappers got it easy today!). Also thought I would give a mention to Littlest Pet Shop since it was the second most popular show on the Hub. For those of you who don't get the joke in this promo, Rainbow Dash and Blythe are both voiced by Ashleigh Ball. So basically this promo is Ashleigh Ball imitating Ashleigh Ball while Ashleigh Ball criticizes Ashleigh Ball...Voice acting can get pretty weird sometimes.
This promo became so popular that they not only did the Hub turn this into a real game but they gave it a sequel as well... Speaking of those games I hope they're still available to play when the switch to Discovery Family happens. Those games are awesome.
One thing that used to be a holiday tradition on the Hub was the "Naughty or Nice" marathon. In the first two years characters from each of the Hub's show's would be put up together in an online poll where people could vote for their favorite naughty or nice character, the winners would be given marathons on the Hub on Christmas day (as you might have predicted an MLP character won both categories each year). In 2012 they did it a little differently with the "Naughty or Nice" awards, instead of just voting for a naughty and nice character people could vote for several characters in various naughty and nice categories ("Best good deed" and "Best Evil Laugh" being examples) mainly shows besides MLP could get some screen time on Christmas. The marathon was also hosted by Pinkie Pie and Discord (I'm surprised we don't see them pair up more often). Even though I never watched the marathons I can't help but feel a bit sad that there probably won't be another one ever again. I guess you don't know what you've got until it's gone. I also now realize that we'll never have a "Naughty or Nice" marathon hosted by Yakko, Wakko and Dot. Speaking of which...
In late 2012 Animaniacs started airing on the Hub, introducing the series to a new generation of kids. Not only that but Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress MacNeille reprised their roles as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot for several promos. Warner Bros. cartoon fans rejoiced.
After Animaniacs came to the Hub Tiny Toon Adventures followed shortly after. There was another ad I wanted to place here where Joe Alaskey reprised his role as Plucky Duck, but I couldn't find it. So you're just going to have to settle for Buster Bunny being squashed by the Hub logo.
Fraggle Rock was one of the few shows to be run on the Hub since day one. On April 21st 2013 the Hub paid tribute to the show by airing a special marathon to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series, complete with Q and A bumpers with Red and Gobo Fraggle (preformed by Karen Leigh Prell and John Tartaglia respectively (Jerry Nelson had unfortunately passed away one year earlier). I also remember that the Hub used to air Muppet movies a lot, the network was very kind to the creations of Jim Henson.
Pinky and the Brain Help the Animaniacs Take Over the World of the Hub
"He who controls the Animaniacs marathon on the Hub controls the World!...Of the Hub...But a world none the less!"
On Labor Day 2013 the Hub ran an Animaniacs marathon including new bumpers featuring the Brain. Maurice LaMarche of course returned to reprise the role (Pinky didn't speak in any of the bumpers). Actually I've often wondered why the Hub never got the rights to air the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series, you'd think that after the Animaniacs reruns did so well that would be the most obvious direction to go (they could have at least aired the Christmas special).
However that and all other Hub marathons before it couldn't even compare to the biggest and longest marathon they ever aired. The MLP Mega Mare-a-Thon ran every single episode of Friendship is Magic from season 1 to season 4 plus the first Equestria Girls movie (coincidentally this was the same month were FXX marathoned every single Simpsons episode and when Disney XD marathoned every season one episode of Gravity Falls to promote season two. Was August "marathon every single episode of a show" month? Was that a thing?). Inbetween commercial breaks for the episodes the mane six answered questions from the fans. But apparently that wasn't enough pony for the Hub so after all the Friendship is Magic episodes aired the Hub ran three movies from Generation 3 which included new "Pinkie Pie's Scrapbook" bumpers which completely obliterated the fourth wall (what else were you expecting from Pinkie Pie). It was almost like the Hub knew that it was going to end soon so they decided to pay tribute to their most popular show. Never before and probably never again will there be a MLP marathon this big.
We began with the beginning of the Hub so it only makes sense that we show it coming to an end, just like Discovery Kids before it the Hub must retire to make room for a new network and the circle of TV channel life continues. It does seem odd that there's barely any cartoon footage in this promo. I guess they're trying to show how different Discovery Family will be from the Hub, but still it's odd to see all this footage from Nature and Science shows and then all of a sudden see Transformers Rescue Bots and Twilight Sparkle pop out of nowhere. It feels like one of Sesame Street's "One of these things is not like the others" sketches.
Will Discovery Family be more successful than the Hub? Will it be less successful? Only time will tell, but still looking back on it's history I don't think the Hub was a total flop. True it was not as successful as Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, but it still gave us some new entertaining shows and introduced some older material to a new generation. Plus in a world where most TV networks turn the other way when it comes to girl oriented shows the Hub gave them a shot and proved they could not only be successful, but be super mega hits like MLP. In fact you could argue that without the Hub a lot of it's original content would probably have never been put on the air.
To put it simply, it could happen only on the Hub.
Did I miss any of your favorite Hub moments, feel free to comment about them below.
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