Which Studios Produced All Cartoon Name Episodes And Movies?

I get oddly giddy talking about early film history, so here's the scoop from the side of a nerd who loves tracing how little gestures became part of cartoon language. If you want the very earliest cartoon experiments that eventually made kissing a cartoon trope, you have to look at pioneering studios and creators like J. Stuart Blackton working for Vitagraph and the French pioneer Émile Cohl (who had links to Pathé and other French distributors). Blackton’s 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' (1906) and Cohl’s 'Fantasmagorie' (1908) aren’t love-story shorts, but they established drawn motion and character play that later allowed animators to stage flirtation and kisses. Around the 1910s, Winsor McCay’s work—think 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1914)—and the more industrial Bray Productions and Raoul Barré’s studio began turning animation into a repeatable product, so romantic bits could appear in serial character pieces. By the 1920s and into the 1930s, studios that you probably recognize—Fleischer and Disney—started making character-based shorts where kisses and courting gags were natural. Fleischer’s early 'Out of the Inkwell' lineage and the Betty Boop era had playful, sometimes risqué smooches, while Disney’s early Mickey-and-Minnie shorts (late 1920s) normalized the on-screen cartoon kiss for mass audiences. So, in short: the very first technical steps came from people like Blackton and Cohl (Vitagraph/independent French houses), then Bray and Barré industrialized the form, and later Fleischer and Disney popularized kisses as a recurring gag. I love imagining how those tiny onscreen pecks travelled from studio experiment to cultural shorthand—it’s adorable and a little magical.

Growing up glued to weekend cartoons led me to build an unofficial Rolodex of studios that almost always make it onto any 'all cartoon' name list. For feature animation, I never skip Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar when I’m naming the big players — they cover the classic fairytale heart and the emotional, tech-driven storytelling. DreamWorks Animation and Illumination bring that loud, broad comedy energy (think the same kind of crowd-pleasing approach). Warner Bros. Animation and the legacy of Hanna-Barbera get a shout for TV-era icons like 'Looney Tunes' or 'The Flintstones'. On the international and auteur side I always add Studio Ghibli, Toei Animation, Madhouse, Bones and Sunrise — they’re indispensable when mixing anime with western cartoon names. Stop-motion and boutique houses like Laika and Aardman deserve space too because their look and craft are so distinctive. Then there are big studio siblings and new players: Sony Pictures Animation, Paramount/Nickelodeon Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Netflix Animation, all of which keep the list fresh with TV series and streaming originals. I like lists that mix eras and regions—gives you a map of styles more than just names — and it’s fun to see which studio vibes stick with you long after the credits roll.

Great—this is the kind of nerdy deep-dive I live for. If you mean “who voiced the main roles” across a bunch of well-known cartoon shows, here’s a broad but concrete map you can chew on. I’m breaking this into a quick explainer, then a curated list of iconic shows and their principal voices, and finally a quick how-to so you can chase down any other titles yourself. First, voice casting is weirdly varied: some shows have a single performer doing multiple leads, others use large ensemble casts, and anime often has separate Japanese and English leads. For Western cartoons you’ll often find star names (Tom Kenny, John DiMaggio, Mark Hamill), while anime will list both original JP actors and English dub actors. Below are a number of staple series and the actors most associated with their central characters. 'SpongeBob SquarePants' — SpongeBob: Tom Kenny; Patrick Star: Bill Fagerbakke; Squidward: Rodger Bumpass; Sandy Cheeks: Carolyn Lawrence. 'The Simpsons' — Homer Simpson: Dan Castellaneta; Marge Simpson: Julie Kavner; Bart Simpson: Nancy Cartwright; Lisa Simpson: Yeardley Smith. 'Family Guy' — Peter Griffin / Stewie Griffin / Brian Griffin: Seth MacFarlane; Lois Griffin: Alex Borstein; Meg Griffin: Mila Kunis (in later seasons). 'South Park' — Stan Marsh & Eric Cartman: Trey Parker; Kyle Broflovski & Kenny McCormick: Matt Stone. 'Batman: The Animated Series' — Bruce Wayne / Batman: Kevin Conroy; The Joker: Mark Hamill. 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' — Aang: Zach Tyler Eisen; Katara: Mae Whitman; Sokka: Jack De Sena; Zuko: Dante Basco; Toph: Jessie Flower. 'Teen Titans' (original cartoon) — Robin: Scott Menville; Starfire: Hynden Walch; Raven: Tara Strong; Beast Boy: Greg Cipes. 'Dragon Ball Z' — Goku: Masako Nozawa (JP), Sean Schemmel (EN); Vegeta: Ryo Horikawa (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN). 'Naruto' — Naruto Uzumaki: Junko Takeuchi (JP), Maile Flanagan (EN); Sasuke Uchiha: Noriaki Sugiyama (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN). 'My Hero Academia' — Izuku Midoriya: Daiki Yamashita (JP), Justin Briner (EN); All Might: Kenta Miyake (JP), Christopher Sabat (EN). 'Pokémon' — Ash Ketchum: Rica Matsumoto (JP), Veronica Taylor and later Sarah Natochenny (EN); Pikachu: Ikue Otani. 'Rick and Morty' — Rick Sanchez & Morty Smith (originally): Justin Roiland; Jerry: Chris Parnell; Summer: Spencer Grammer. 'Adventure Time' — Finn: Jeremy Shada; Jake: John DiMaggio; Princess Bubblegum: Hynden Walch. 'Gravity Falls' — Dipper Pines: Jason Ritter; Mabel Pines: Kristen Schaal; Grunkle Stan: Alex Hirsch. 'The Powerpuff Girls' (1998) — Blossom: Cathy Cavadini; Bubbles: Tara Strong; Buttercup: Elizabeth Daily; Mojo Jojo: Roger L. Jackson. 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' — Scooby-Doo: Don Messick (original); Shaggy Rogers: Casey Kasem; Fred Jones: Frank Welker. 'Looney Tunes' (classic) — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig (and many others) were largely performed by Mel Blanc in the golden era. If you want names beyond this list, the trick is knowing where to look: end credits, IMDb, Wikipedia pages, and the Behind The Voice Actors database are lifesavers. Also, cast interviews and DVD extras often clarify who originated a role versus who voices it now. Personally, tracking voice actor lineages became its own hobby for me—some roles move between performers and it’s fascinating to trace why and when that happened. Hope this satisfies the curiosity spike—you can nerd out on any of these shows for hours, and I still get a kick from hearing Mark Hamill chew scenery as the Joker.

I get a real kick out of digging into film history, and this question always opens up a fun little debate. If you’re asking which studio produced what many film historians call the first animated film, I point at the American Vitagraph Company. In 1906 J. Stuart Blackton made 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' while working with Vitagraph, and that short is often credited as the earliest example of drawn animation captured on film. Blackton’s technique mixed stop-motion, chalk drawings, and frame-by-frame trickery — it’s rough by modern standards but wildly inventive for its time. It wasn’t a polished cartoon character with consistent model sheets, but it established animation as a film technique rather than just a stage trick. That said, I always like to contrast that with what people mean when they say “first cartoon.” If you insist on the first fully hand-drawn sequence that looks like what we now think of as a cartoon, then Émile Cohl’s 'Fantasmagorie' from 1908 is the usual pick. Cohl was working in France, experimenting with hand-drawn figures that morph and glide across a surreal, looping landscape. It’s only about a minute long, but its style — little stick-and-ink transformations — reads as the first true example of drawn animation as an art form. Neither of these early films came from a massive studio system the way we picture Disney decades later. Instead they came from small film companies and independent pioneers tinkering with new possibilities. So, when someone asks “which studio produced the first cartoon ever made?” I’ll answer with a little nuance: the American Vitagraph Company produced the earliest surviving drawn-animation film by Blackton in 1906, and Émile Cohl’s 1908 work in France is often celebrated as the first fully hand-drawn cartoon. Both are predecessors of the studio-driven animation era that followed — Bray Studios and then Disney industrialized the craft — but those very early films retain a charming, experimental spirit that still makes me smile.

I love digging into the roots of animation — those scratchy, high-energy black-and-white shorts feel alive in a way modern polish sometimes hides. A few of the biggest names that come to mind are Walt Disney's studio, which gave us 'Steamboat Willie' and the early 'Silly Symphonies' entries; Fleischer Studios, responsible for the jazzy, surreal world of 'Betty Boop' and the sea-blown antics of 'Popeye the Sailor'; and Warner Bros.' early cartoons (the Termite Terrace crew) that launched Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters like Bosko. Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer’s shop produced the endlessly clever 'Felix the Cat', which was a huge sensation in the silent and early sound eras. Beyond those, there were studios like Bray Productions and Terrytoons (think 'Farmer Al Falfa'), Ub Iwerks’ studio with 'Flip the Frog' and 'Willie Whopper', plus Universal/Walter Lantz’s work on 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit' and early Andy Panda shorts. Each studio had its own flavor — Disney’s sync and storytelling, Fleischer’s rotoscope-driven realism and surrealism, Warner Bros.' slapstick timing — and I love how those contrasts still read clearly when you watch them today.

I get a small thrill out of tracking down every single episode legally, and over the years I’ve built a little ritual for it. First, I use an aggregator like JustWatch or Reelgood — they’re lifesavers because you can type in the series title and instantly see which streaming platforms, rentals, or purchases carry it in your region. If I’m hunting for something with a long catalog or weird licensing (think 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' or a vintage cartoon), that quick search saves me from opening five different apps. Next, I check the show's official home: the network’s website or app. Big channels and studios often have entire seasons on their platforms (or at least an official clip library), and sometimes only the network app carries the complete archive. For more niche or older cartoons, I’ll look at ad-supported services like Tubi, Pluto, or the Roku Channel; they sometimes have whole runs of classic series that aren’t on subscription platforms. If episodes are missing from streaming, I consider digital purchases on iTunes, Google Play, or Amazon — purchasing can be the only way to legally own the full episode list when licensing is fragmented. I also use public libraries and physical media as part of the hunt. Libraries often have DVDs or Blu-rays with complete seasons, and buying box sets is still a great option for long-term collectors — plus you get extras like commentaries and production art. A couple of practical tips: set watchlist alerts in your streaming services, follow official social accounts for licensing updates, and double-check region availability (some shows move country to country). Finding everything legally can be a scavenger hunt, but it’s way more satisfying when you support the creators and keep your conscience clear — and honestly, it makes rewatching 'SpongeBob SquarePants' feel a little sweeter when you know it’s above board.

Odd little favorite of mine: when people say the "classic plane cartoon film," the one that immediately pops into my head is 'Plane Crazy', and that was produced by Walt Disney Productions. It’s one of those neat historical artifacts — an early Mickey Mouse short (well, early Mickey prototype) co-created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks around 1928. They originally made it as a silent short and screened it to test audiences before sound became the standard, and later it got a sound re-release after 'Steamboat Willie' swept people off their feet. I love thinking about how tiny, scrappy teams back then could do such inventive work with hand-drawn cels and clever gags. The studio wasn’t the giant it is today; it was still finding its voice, experimenting with timing, character design, and simple mechanical humor — and 'Plane Crazy' shows that raw inventiveness. For me it’s charming to watch those flight gags now and trace modern aerial animation back to these playful roots. It’s one of those shorts that makes me grin, imagining the animators hunched over light tables, trying to make an airplane behave like a cartoon character — somehow timeless and very of its era, which is why I keep going back to it whenever a vintage plane cartoon comes up.

I got pulled into the credits for 'Kambi' one evening and couldn’t stop grinning at how many teams were involved. On the production side, the show is listed under Kambi Productions as the primary producer, with a handful of co-producers handling financing and distribution. The actual frame-by-frame animation work was largely done by an overseas animation partner — a common setup these days — while the in-house art team focused on key character designs, storyboards, and direction. Visually, 'Kambi' wears a hybrid 2D look: character animation feels hand-drawn with slightly elastic linework, but backgrounds and effects use digital painting and subtle 3D passes for depth. The pipeline combines TVPaint-style frame-by-frame roughs with rigging and compositing in Toon Boom Harmony and After Effects, giving it a polished yet warm aesthetic. I love how the handmade lines survive the digital process — it keeps the soul of traditional animation while using modern tools, and that mix is exactly why I keep rewatching the opening scene.

Growing up, holiday TV had a special place in my life, and 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas!' was the crown jewel. The 1966 cartoon was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's animation division — officially credited to MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Chuck Jones, fresh off his Warner Bros. days, directed and produced it, bringing that sharp, expressive animation style that made the special feel like a perfect blend of cheeky and sentimental. The special also had Boris Karloff narrating and voicing the Grinch, with music by Albert Hague and lyrics from Dr. Seuss, which gave it that timeless mix of warmth and mischief. Whenever I watch those opening notes and the first cynical quips, I’m transported to a living room filled with holiday chaos and laughter, and it still warms me up in a comforting, slightly mischievous way.

Wow — trying to catalog every cartoon title from the 1990s feels like trying to gather every seashell from a coast that stretched for miles, but I love the idea of laying out the big, beautiful clusters. There were thousands of shows worldwide across kids' programming, prime-time adult cartoons, Saturday morning staples, syndicated action series, and imported anime that hit Western TV in waves. I can't possibly list every single one, but here are wide-scope highlights and reliable categories to give a real sense of that decade: American classics like 'Rugrats', 'Doug', 'Rocko's Modern Life', 'Animaniacs', 'Tiny Toon Adventures', 'Pinky and the Brain', 'Freakazoid!', 'Batman: The Animated Series', 'X-Men: The Animated Series', 'Spider-Man: The Animated Series', 'Gargoyles', 'Beavis and Butt-Head', 'The Simpsons' (which dominated the era), 'The Tick', 'Darkwing Duck', 'DuckTales' (spanning into the early 90s), 'ReBoot', and later hits like 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'Johnny Bravo', 'Cow and Chicken', 'The Powerpuff Girls', 'Ed, Edd n Eddy', 'Courage the Cowardly Dog', and 'SpongeBob SquarePants' which just squeaks in at the end of the decade. On the anime and imported side, the 90s were seismic — titles that reshaped Western fandom include 'Sailor Moon', 'Dragon Ball Z', 'Yu Yu Hakusho', 'Rurouni Kenshin', 'Cowboy Bebop', 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', 'Pokémon', 'Digimon', 'Trigun', 'Outlaw Star', 'Berserk', 'Cardcaptor Sakura', 'Serial Experiments Lain', and 'Slam Dunk'. Those shows arrived at different times and in different formats — some on broadcast TV, some on cable, and a lot through VHS and early fan-sub communities — and they brought distinct styles, tones, and audiences into the mix. Europe and other regions had their own gems too, plus syndicated cartoons and tie-in series like 'Aladdin', 'Gargoyles' spin-offs, and various TV adaptations of video games and comics. If you want to plunge deeper into the full ocean, there are decades-spanning indexes on sites like IMDb and Wikipedia that list regional schedules, but for quick nostalgia hits I always go back to a few dozen shows listed above and follow the rabbit hole from there. The 1990s weren't just a decade of cartoons; they were a tectonic shift in variety and tone, and even now flipping through those titles brings a rush of color and theme-song earworms. It's a nostalgia avalanche that still makes me smile.