Freakazoid!: Difference between revisions

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Almost every adventure, Freakazoid would encounter his deadpan policeman buddy, Sgt. Mike Cosgrove, who would offer to take him to some unrelated event or activity ("Hey, Freakazoid! Wanna go out for a mint?" "DO I!") [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|Freak would then drop the adventure, often mid-peril, and go off to someplace fun. He'd resume it shortly thereafter, as if nothing had happened.]]

The excellent voice cast included Paul Rugg as the main character, and [[Ed Asner]] as Cosgrove.

Created by [[DCAU|Bruce Timm and Paul Dini]] during the Renaissance Age of Warner Bros Animation, ''Freakazoid!'' was initially conceived as an action-adventure show (with a bit of comedy), but [[Executive Meddling|at the insistence of Spielberg]], it was [http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2004/07/freakazoid.html re-tooled into a pure comedy], at which point Timm bailed and was replaced by Tom Ruegger as principal showrunner. Although the show attracted a loyal following, the demographic it delivered [[Periphery Demographic|was older than what Kids WB was aiming for]] (the show was marketed toward young children, who not surprisingly didn't quite understand the show's often arcane sense of humor). After a series of baffling [[Screwed by the Network|time-slot changes]] failed to improve ratings, the show was [[Too Good to Last|canceled after just two seasons]]. Despite this, the show later aired on [[Cartoon Network]], and has a [[Cult Classic|cult following]].

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** It makes you wonder if he really is desperate to find crime to fight; why didn't he take on the Lobe, in the episode "The Freakazoid"? He complained about not having any action in the very same episode.

** [[Fridge Brilliance|Because The Lobe isn't one of his villains.]]

* [[Achilles Heel]]: Freakazoid’s weakness is graphite bars charged with negative ions (something of a subversion, as this is rather hard to come by), also "poo gas". However, as Gutierrez points out, "No one likes poo gas".

* [[Achilles' Heel]]: Freakazoid’s weakness is graphite bars charged with negative ions (something of a subversion, as this is rather hard to come by), also "poo gas". However, as Gutierrez points out, "No one likes poo gas".

** As well as cranapple (allergic), and Fanboy's discussions.

*** The latter goes for just about anybody, really.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In "The Chip", Guiterrez (Ricardo Montalban) gives Dexter a speech paraphrased from ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]''. He even says "Kirk, old friend..." before correcting himself.

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* [[Alliterative Name]]: The Douglas Family (Dexter, Duncan, Debbie and Douglas. Yes. Douglas Douglas.)

* [[All Cavemen Were Neanderthals]]: Cave Guy. Although he's surprisingly erudite and articulate.

** "I subscribe to The New Yorker."

* [[Alter Kocker]]: The ''Pope'', of all people

* [[Animated Actors]]: Happens several times during the series, especially the first two episodes.

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* [[Bankruptcy Barrel]]: "So stay tuned to this station. If not we'll be unemployed."

* [[Batter Up]]: {{spoiler|Norm Abram}} did this. Freakazoid was the bat.

* [[Berserk Button]]: Guitierrez doesn't like being called a weenie.

** Freakazoid does not like Jeepers. Probably because Jeepers is the only unfunny villain on the show — he's just very creepy.

** Also, DO NOT ask Freakazoid if he wants to see something strange and mystical. Especially if you're Jeepers.

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* [[Bragging Theme Tune]]: [[Affectionate Parody|Parodying]] the likes of [[Spider-Man]]

* [[Brick Joke]]: In 'The Island of Dr. Mystico', Leonard Martin, while doing a TV review on said episode, mentions to viewers to watch out for [[Living Prop|Emmitt Nervend]] in a walk-on role as a salty dance hall chanteuse. Five minutes into the show, guess who shows up out of nowhere?

** One on the border of this and [[Continuity Nod]]: In Cobra Queen's first appearance, Freakazoid recommends that she liven up her sewer lair with Japanese paper lanterns; she remarks that it is a good idea. When her lair appears again near the end of the second season, she has indeed added Japanese paper lanterns (and is annoyed that Cave Guy doesn't comment on them).

*** The same episode also had several [[Incredibly Lame Pun|jokes about bricks]].

* [[Brown Note]] / [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: In ''The Chip'', Guiterrez tortures Dexter's family by binding them and forcing them to watch Marty Ingels clips.

** In ''Hot Rods From Heck'', Freakazoid subdues one of the titular hot rods by exposing it to a television launched from the Freakmobile. It airs "7 Hours of Tony Danza", which causes the car to explode almost instantly.

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** After defeating the security minister and his aide in ''Mission:Freakazoid'', Freakazoid ties them to a tree and leaves them to their fate: the mime they tortured appeared. [[It Got Worse|And he brought friends.]]

{{quote|'''Anton:''' They will entertain us with cute pantomime until we perish!}}

** Not torture ''per se'', but in "Freak-A-Panel", Freakazoid defeats Cave Guy by dressing up and talking to him in Klingon.

{{quote|'''Cave Guy:''' Oh my, you've created a language based on a [[Star Trek|TV series?]] That's not right!}}

* [[Brought to You by The Letter "S"|Brought to You by the Letter "F"]]

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** "CRUD!"

* [[Chain of Deals]]: Lord Bravery finds out that a bakery has the rights to his name. In return for the rights to his name, the bakery wants the rights of something else's name. And so it goes on.

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: In the first Freakazoid segment ever produced, "Dance of Doom", the character of Waylon Jeepers is introduced and then quickly forgotten about. Much later, in the second season, he would be reintroduced and become the focus of his own episode.

* [[Christmas Episode]] (of sorts): "In Arms' Way".

** "The Chip Parts I and II" takes place during the Christmas holiday.

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* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Freakazoid may act like the biggest goofball in existence, which he actually is, but as any villain can attest, if he wants to take you down, he'll do it....driving you insane the whole while.

* [[Crunchtastic]]: Or so people thought...

* [[Cthulhumanoid]]: "I am Vorn the Unspeakable. I am the enemy of the enemy of he who summons me. And you are?"

* [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]]: In his return episode, we find out that Jeepers has a closet full of gold beavers [[Call Back|because of the watch he used in the first episode]]. Apparently there's not much call for gold beavers, despite them being made of gold.

* [[Cyberspace]]: Where Freakazoid was created.

* [[DCAU]]: While not explicitly part of the DCAU, it is done using a similar animation and character design style. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini even created the characters and drew up the basic designs (except for Dexter; their "Dex" was a much more handsome teen).

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** Armando Guitierrez, who not only enjoys an evil laugh but [[Laugh with Me|demands that everyone around him join in too]].

* [[Evil Tastes Good]]

* [[Explaining Your Power to the Enemy]]: Freakazoid explains his [[Achilles Heel]] to Gutierrez when asked. He even helps build a cage to contain himself.

* [[Explaining Your Power to the Enemy]]: Freakazoid explains his [[Achilles' Heel]] to Gutierrez when asked. He even helps build a cage to contain himself.

* [[Expository Theme Tune]]

* [[Expy]]: The character of Professor Jones, voiced by Jonathan Harris, is essentially an animated version of Dr. Smith, Harris's character from ''[[Lost in Space]]''. The show [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this heavily in his debut episode by having at least 3 different characters asking him if he was on "that show with the robot". [[Word of God|This was one of the reasons he was hired.]]

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** What if you reached for something, and it wasn't there... because it turned into wood?

* [[Fan Convention]]: Fan Boy's natural habitat.

* [[For the Funnyz]]: Forget the cage made out of wacky electrons. This is Freakazoid's ''real'' weakness.

* [[For Want of a Nail]]: Inverted, the world is a better place because of Freakazoid changing things in the Past. Well, maybe not completely better... {{spoiler|[[Pinky and The Brain|The Brain]] is the President of the United States.}}

** Though on the other hand, that last part might be better. {{spoiler|Brain's motivation for ruling the world is depicted out of a wanting to make it better, so perhaps he's ''why'' it's better.}} That still doesn't explain how half the things resulted from preventing the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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* [[Gainax Ending]]: Parodied in "Next Time Phone Ahead," where Dexter is eaten by an alien monster and "The End" appears on-screen. The scene then cuts to [[Steven Spielberg]], who questions the writers over this. The writers admit they did it so they could end the episode early and air ''[[Animaniacs]]'' reruns instead.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Cave Guy.

* [[Genius Ditz]]: Freakazoid, despite being... well, Freakazoid, has apparently sustained his alter ego's ability with computers.

** As well as all the other information on the Internet.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Freakazoid: "If I know my cartoons - and I do! - I'll be back later on to rescue you from something ''really horrible!''"

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* [[Laugh with Me]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. See the entry for [[Evil Laugh]] on this page.'

* [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]]: Parodied in "Dance of Doom," with [[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]. According to Joe the announcer, he could easily stop Cave Guy, "but he's on [[Fox Kids|another network]]."

* [[Leitmotif]]: Freakazoid, of course, typically the first seven notes of his theme song. Cave Guy and Cobra Queen have them as well, both of which are trumpet based. The full version of the former can be heard in "Two Against Freak" as he heads to Cobra Queen's lair, after which it segues into the latter.

* [[Lemony Narrator]]: Most jarring when he actually has an appearance in the show.

* [[Lightning Can Do Anything]]: Such as create a portal to the past.

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* [[Luxury Prison Suite]]: Gutierrez, who gets a phone line installed so he can connect to the Internet.

* [[Male Gaze]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGFLDghJ_LA Hula girls].

* [[Man in a Kilt]]: Roddy MacStew.

* [[Manly Tears]]: "That made water come out my eyes."

* [[Magic Floppy Disk]]: A VHS tape, and Dexter's brain.

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** Cave Guy was a take-off of Jim Backus, specifically echoing [[Gilligan's Island|Thurston Howell III]].

* [[No Fourth Wall]]: Used straight... and subverted.

* [[Official Couple]]: Freakazoid/Steff. Oddly, Dexter/Steff, though named in the 'Freakazoid and Friends' song, does not apply as Steff doesn't find out about Freakazoid's secret identity until later.

** Cave Guy and Cobra Queen hook up during the second season.

* [[Off Like a Shot]]

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* [[Perpetual Expression]]: Emmitt Nervend's [[The Un-Smile|Unsmile.]]

* [[Phlegmings]]: Foamy the Freakadog.

* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: The Huntsman is ''not'' happy about being a superhero who never manages to do any crime-fighting in his own segments.

* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: The Toby Danger sequences; [[The Venture Brothers|perhaps they came a decade too early.]]

* [[Post Modernism]]: And how.

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* [[Relax-O-Vision]]: The [[Trope Namer]].

** It also featured a variation with Scream-O-Vision, whereupon anything remotely scary, from Candle Jack to kissing and was followed up by the word "Scream" and a small clip of someone doing just that.

* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

* [[Ride the Lightning]]

* [[Rogues Gallery]]: Freakazoid's consists of [[My Brain Is Big|The Lobe]], Candle Jack, [[Contemporary Caveman|Cave Guy]], Cobra Queen, [[A Load of Bull|Longhorn]], [[Master of Disguise|Deadpan]] and Arms Akimbo. Actually this gallery appears as a group before each villain does individually, in fact, in the first episode a couple of villains (Eye of Newt and Booger Beast) are mentioned and seen among the group for the first and last time. Also, in the first season, Kid Carrion (a skull-faced, cowboy zombie whose character is never developed) appears various times with the group. Armando Gutierrez plays a large role in three Season 1 episodes and returns in Season 2, though only appears alongside the other villains in the finale. In the second season, Waylon Jeepers and a new villain named Vorn join the crowd, along with Invisibo and his swinging theme song.

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* [[Shout-Out]]: To ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'' in the theme song, among others.

** In "Freak-a-Panel," after Joe gives him attitude, Freakazoid threatens to replace him with the announcer from ''[[Earthworm Jim (animation)|Earthworm Jim]]''.

** The time travel episode features an opening for a fake show called ''[[Quantum Leap|Quantum Freak]]'' which also features allusions to films like ''[[The Graduate]]'' & ''[[The Defiant Ones]]''.

** In "Dance Of Doom," Freakazoid segued to a proceeding scene by shouting "PULL DE STREENG!" a la [[Bela Lugosi]] in ''[[Glen or Glenda]]''. The cast added on the DVD commentary that it was actually inspired by watching ''[[Ed Wood (film)|Ed Wood]]''.

** Freakazoid's costume was based on an early costume worn by ''[[Madman (Comic Book)|Madman]]''. The creator of Madman was never given credit, however.

* [[Show Within a Show]]: "Hero Boy", an ''[[Astro Boy (anime)|Astro Boy]]'' parody that's Freakazoid's favorite cartoon, and "Real Life Police", a ''[[Cops (series)]]'' parody Cosgrove participates in.

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** CLONE!!

* [[Speak of the Devil]]: In his debut episode, Candle Jack abducts anyone who says his name.

* [[Special Effect Failure]]: Parodied.

{{quote|'''Joe:''' The special effects aren't very scary. Please pretend they are. Thank you.}}

** The scene is then shown with obvious wires holding up Invisibo's floating scepter and a device throwing Dexter to simulate an invisible man throwing him.

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** After averting Pearl Harbor, Freakazoid sees how he's changed things and first is Sharon Stone in ''[[Macbeth]]'': "She's good. She's good. She's real good. Sharon Stone can act!"

*** Same episode also shows how the world is a better place: "No Chevy Chase movies" and "Rush Limbaugh is a bleeding-heart liberal!"

*** In "Freak-A-Panel", Tom Minton (creator of ''[[The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries]]'' and supposed physical inspiration for [[Pinky and The Brain|the Brain]]) is shown holding a sign that reads "[[Yogi Bear]] is a robot."

** "Diane Sawyer acts sincere, but she's really faking it."

** The episode "Lawn Gnomes" is a parody of the first episode of Disney's [[Gargoyles]], with brave and honorable castle grotesques replaced with cowardly and amoral garden gnomes. Another episode has Freakazoid sitting on a high-rise grotesque made to look like Goliath. Not-Goliath is explaining the long and complicated story of his people and would not stop until he was offered a Pez Dispenser.

* [[Taking the Bullet]]: Non-fatal version, Steff pushes Freakazoid out of the way of Jeepers's Medusa watch, getting turned into stone.

* [[Talking the Monster to Death]]: Freakazoid defeats Cobra Queen by subjecting her [[Snake Talk]] to a tongue-twister. Afterward, he says, "[[Lampshade Hanging|I wonder why that worked]]?"

** Also, Cosgrove can do this to anybody in the show.

* [[The Teaser]]: Many episodes featured a scene before the opening credits.

* [[There Was a Door]]: In "Dexter's Date", Freakazoid crashes through a wall full of TV monitors while trying to stop the Lobe. The Lobe immediately scolds him for causing the damage and not using the door instead.

* [[Three Shorts]]: The format used in the first season; in the second season, the show switched to doing full 30-minute stories.

* [[Throw a Barrel At It]]: [[Trope Namer]] shows up in short "Toby Danger in Doomsday Bet".

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: When Guitierrez wants to know Freakazoid's weakness.

{{quote|'''Guitierrez:''' Oh, we're wasting time. What is your weakness?

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* [[Uranus Is Showing]] : During episode 2, we are greeted to a spaceship zipping through space. Then out of nowhere, Freakazoid pops up, points at a planet, and gleefully states [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMOeV5MLOvc "That's Uranus!"]

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: It is pretty much impossible for any single person to catch every reference and allusion, as some can get exceptionally obscure (such as showcasing Venice Beach regulars circa 1995). Thankfully the show is funny enough that you don't need to get even half of them to enjoy it.

* [[Villain Song]]: "Bonjour, Lobey" in "Dexter's Date", a blatant parody of "[[Hello, Dolly!]]".

* [[Villains Out Shopping]]: The Lobe in "In Arms Way."

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]