Cartoon Network Europe And TNT Classic Movies Channel Transition/Handover

Hatmaker Studios (now a part of Corey McPherson Nash), produced an animation for the transition between Cartoon Network and TNT Classic Movies in Europe, every night at 8pm CET (7pm UK), Cartoon Network closes for the night and hands over to its sister channel TNT Classic Movies. The animation features one of Cartoon Network’s earliest mascot characters (used exclusively in presentation) – Hi-Ball the Jester.

The Transition
Hi-Ball wears an hourglass on his wrist to remind him how much time Cartoon Network has left for the day, when the time’s up, Hi-Ball pulls down the switch switching from CN mode to TNT mode starting the transition sequence and electrocutes him in the process. Then a stick of a dynamite explodes (a pun of Turner Network Television’s acronym and the well known explosive also called TNT), then the TNT Classic Movies logo appears and announcing famous Elvis Presley Movies. The transition animation features somewhat weird characters, such as a mouth with lips and teeth, an eyeball with with and a propeller, a toothbrush and a match.

Video of the Handover

RC's Viewpoint
From what I remember, the transition stopped airing on Cartoon Network Europe after the channel became a 24-hour service, although on most providers the channel still timeshared with TNT. Cartoon Network Poland adapted and reused the same animation many years later but this time for TNT Classic Movies’ spiritual successor – TCM.