22 Years Later, This Is Still Cartoon Network’s Coolest Show (But You Can’t Watch It Anywhere)

22 years ago, Cartoon Network debuted its coolest show that you can’t even watch it anymore…and all evidence of it has been totally buried ever since. Cartoon Network was no stranger to experimentation in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the channel was in the prime of finding its voice. During this era, fans got to see some of the most memorable shows in the network’s history and they still have an impact to this day. But that’s not the case for all of the hits from that era, however, as some shows have had terrible luck.

22 years ago, on May 1, 2004, Megas XLR made its debut with Cartoon Network. This show took inspiration from mecha anime, video games, classic cartoons and more to craft a cool new kind of action show, but you can’t watch it anymore. It’s been wiped out from Cartoon Network’s library, and all efforts to bring it back have been swept under the rug ever since. In a way, that’s made it even cooler after all this time because it remains a hidden gem that you really had to be around to see it when it hit.

Megas XLR Premiered on Cartoon Network 22 Years Ago

Originally making its debut in 2002 as part of Cartoon Cartoon Weekend Summerfest, Megas XLR was first created as a pilot known as “Lowbrow” by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic. During this Summer event that ran for an entire weekend, Cartoon Network had launched a slew of animated pilots and kids would call in and vote for the shows they wanted to see the most from then on. It was through this event we got Megas XLR in full, and fans were then introduced to a much more fully realized version of the show going forward.

Set in New Jersey, Megas XLR followed Coop, a mechanic who suddenly finds a giant robot in a junkyard. Spending his days putting the robot back together with his slacker friend Jamie, it’s soon revealed that this robot actually came from the future and its original pilot, Kiva, has come to the past with the hopes of using the robot to stop the Glorft invasion in the future. Coop’s love of hot rods, video games, anime, and junk food ended up making him the perfect pilot for this super robot too.

Megas XLR only ran for two seasons, and was cancelled due to low ratings with Cartoon Network. Despite seeming perfect for potential merchandise opportunities and more, Megas XLR never really got that chance. It was never shy about its influences, and often showcase a lot of great action within that time. Poking fun at mecha anime releases, Coop would “fail” his way to victory against supremely powerful space beings all the while just having the time of his life. There was really nothing else like it at the time on Cartoon Network, and unfortunately won’t ever get the chance for a proper comeback.

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Megas XLR Can’t Ever Come Back to Cartoon Network

Unfortunately for Megas XLR fans, the show really won’t ever get the opportunity to make a proper comeback to Cartoon Network. While we’ve seen some of their classic shows making a return with either new sequels or reboots, it really can’t happen with this one. It was written off for tax purposes, and thus it meant that no domestic production for the animated series could happen in the future. This also meant it was limited in terms of a potential home release as well, only being available for digital purchase on various platforms.

Even when the show was able to make it out of this slump, it was revealed that Megas XLR actually did get greenlit for a potential revival but was ultimately shelved when Warner Bros. was merged into Warner Bros. Discovery. That further cemented that the franchise likely will never get a chance at making a comeback in that kind of form. Making matters even worse is that it likely won’t even get a proper streaming release either like we have seen with other Cartoon Network classics of that era.

Tubi recently kicked off a major deal to license Warner Bros. classic animated library, and it included a bevy of former Cartoon Network classics that aren’t available to watch on other platforms. But despite all of these shows making their way to streaming, Megas XLR is still nowhere to be found. You can buy each of the episodes with platforms like Apple, or have better luck internationally, but seeing it piecemeal is certainly not the way to go for this one.

This has made being there watching it real time an even cooler experience in retrospect, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s been lost to a generation of animation fans in the decades since.

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