Cartoon Network Goes Prehistoric

 Remember when the Cartoon Network website was a thing? It's been a little over two years since it was shut down, but with Cartoon Network turning 34 this Thursday, I thought I'd share this neat little tidbit about the website in its early days. Some might even call this the "Prehistoric Era" of the website. You'll see what I mean in a moment. So let's travel back with this piece from the August 10th, 1998 edition of The Atlanta Constitution.

Turner yammers for 'toons'

    Remember when he was just the "Mouth of the South"? Now Ted Turner also is the "Mouth of Virtual Bedrock."
    Starting today, you can log onto the Web and hear the distinctive Turner tone bellowing—are you ready for this?—"Yabba-dabba-DOO!"
    OK, maybe "bellowing" is too strong a word for what Turner can be heard doing on http://www.cartoonnetwork.com, the 3-week-old Internet site for the Atlanta-based, Time Warner-owned cable channel.
    In conjunction with the site's "Best of Bedrock" feature, Cartoon Network has asked some famous voices to record Fred Flintstone's equally famous catch phrase.
    Last week, it was Jean Vander Pyl, the actress who originally voiced such classic cartoon characters as Pebbles Flintstone and "The Jetsons" Rosie the Robot. This week, it's Cartoon Network President Betty Cohen and Flintstones' creators Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, in addition to Turner.
    Turner, vice chairman of Time Warner, may work harder than Fred Flintstone, but apparently both men share a love of yabba-dabba-DOO-ing. Word around Cartoon Network is that Turner enjoyed the recording session in his CNN Center office, providing more than good enough takes.
    To access the recordings, which are up through Sunday, go to "Best of Bedrock" and click on "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like these audio clips can be found these days. I'm not shocked considering how old they are, but the idea of Ted Turner howling "Yabba Dabba Doo" is something that I only wish I could hear.  While I can't share these recordings, I've got something you'll probably enjoy just as much. It's a commercial for the CN website from around 2000. It's probably the only video where you'll see both Huckleberry Hound and Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and you really can't beat that.