Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot
Genre	Science fiction Superhero
Developed by	Richard Raynis Duane Capizzi Jeff Kline
Voices of	Jonathan David Cook Pamela Adlon Jim Hanks Gabrielle Carteris R. Lee Ermey Kathy Kinney Kevin Michael Richardson Stephen Root M. Emmet Walsh
Theme music composer	Deddy Tzur
Composer(s)	Inon Zur
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mike Richardson Richard Raynis
Producer(s)	Frank Squillace
Running time	21 minutes
Production company(s)	Adelaide Productions Dark Horse Entertainment Columbia TriStar Television
Release
Original network	Fox Kids
Original release	September 18, 1999 (1999-09-18) – March 5, 2001 (2001-03-05)

Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, also known as The Big Guy and Rusty, is an American cartoon TV show. It is based on a comic book by Frank Miller and Geof Darrow.

The show had 26 episodes. It featured the voices of Pamela Adlon as Rusty and Jonathan David Cook as Big Guy. Other voice actors included Gabrielle Carteris, Stephen Root, Kathy Kinney, Kevin Michael Richardson, M. Emmet Walsh, and R. Lee Ermey. There were also toys made by Bandai and a special promotion with Burger King.

The first six episodes aired on the Fox Kids network in 1999. The show started on September 18, 1999, and ended on October 23, 1999. This meant that 20 episodes were not shown for over a year! In January 2001, Fox Kids began airing all 26 episodes. Later, the whole series was shown on ABC Family in 2002.

On July 12, 2016, you could buy the complete series on DVD-R from Amazon.

Meet Big Guy and Rusty

This cartoon series was made by Columbia TriStar Television and Dark Horse Entertainment. It aired from 1999 to 2001. The show has a deeper story and more developed characters than the original comic book. The comic book felt like just an introduction. But the cartoon series has a strong background story that connects all the episodes. The story takes place in New Tronic City. This is a made-up city in North America that looks a lot like New York City.

The Story of Big Guy and Rusty

The show is about Rusty, who is the most advanced robot ever built. He has human feelings and special "nucleoprotonic" powers. The company, Quark Industries, planned for Rusty to replace Big Guy. Big Guy is a huge war robot and Earth's last defense against all dangers.

However, Rusty is too new to fight these threats alone. So, Big Guy is brought back to teach Rusty how to be a hero. Rusty looks up to Big Guy and thinks he is the best robot ever. But here's the secret: Big Guy is actually a battle suit. It is controlled by a human pilot named Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter! Hunter pretends to be Big Guy's chief mechanic.

Only a few people know Big Guy's secret. Hunter often has to make up clever excuses to hide the truth from Rusty. There are two main reasons for this. First, the truth could overload Rusty's emotional circuits. Second, Rusty finds it hard to keep secrets!

Main Characters

• Rusty (voiced by Pamela Adlon) - Rusty was supposed to replace Big Guy. He is a robot with real artificial intelligence and is powered by special "nucleoprotons." But Rusty is too young to handle the big dangers Big Guy usually faces. So, he becomes Big Guy's sidekick and student. He admires Big Guy greatly, but he doesn't know his hero is a human inside a metal suit. Rusty looks like a small, toy-like child, but he is very strong and hard to damage. He acts like a human child, with strong feelings. Sometimes, Rusty even helps Big Guy feel better when he's down. Don't mess with Rusty, though; he will make bad guys pay! At first, his nucleoproton blasts would knock him over. But he learned to control them. His catchphrase is "No pain receptors" when he gets hit hard but isn't damaged.

• Big Guy (voiced by Jonathan David Cook) - Big Guy is known as the BGY-11. He is Earth's robot champion. But he's actually a heavily armed battle suit piloted by Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter. When Quark Industries couldn't make a real robot with AI, they decided to use a human pilot. Hunter says Big Guy is just a fancy tank. Big Guy is about 30 feet tall and can fly with rocket boots. He is super strong and tough, even though he sometimes gets damaged. He has many weapons, including guns that fold out from his elbows. He runs on a Cobalt/Thorium G Power Core. Big Guy often says patriotic things, which is different from Hunter's real personality. Unlike Rusty, Big Guy usually needs a human pilot to work. This can be a weakness if enemies figure out his secret.

• Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter (voiced by Jim Hanks) - He is the secret pilot of Big Guy. To others, he is known as Big Guy's chief mechanic. He likes Dr. Slate. When he's piloting Big Guy and gets frustrated, he often says "for the love of Mike." This becomes Big Guy's catchphrase.

• Dr. Erika Slate (voiced by Gabrielle Carteris) - Dr. Slate is a scientist at Quark Industries. She created Rusty's human emotional system and acts like a mother to him. She is one of the few people who knows Big Guy's secret. She found out by accident when Rusty hacked into secret files about Big Guy. In one episode, when Hunter is unable to pilot, she pilots Big Guy herself!

• Dr. Axel Donovan (voiced by Stephen Root) - He is the President of Quark Industries, a robot company. He is often shown as someone who cares a lot about money and is a bit cowardly. Dr. Donovan often provides comic relief (funny moments).
  • Pierre Donovan (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman) - He is Dr. Donovan's nephew. Pierre is a teenager who looks and acts a lot like his uncle. He is arrogant and likes to trick people, but he might have some robot skills.
  • R-G-B Robots - These are three robots (red, green, and blue) who work for Dr. Donovan. They have a problem in their programming. They often fail at simple tasks and end up getting destroyed. They are rebuilt without improvements and are also used for funny moments.

• Jenny the Monkey (voiced by Kathy Kinney) - Jenny is a talking monkey who usually sits on Dr. Donovan's shoulder. She often makes fun of the scientists and employees at Quark. She is very good at looking out for herself. In one episode, her origin was going to be revealed, but Big Guy attacked the villain who asked about it!

• Jo, Mack, and Garth (voiced by Pamela Adlon, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kevin Michael Richardson respectively) - They are Big Guy's pit crew and Dwayne Hunter's friends. They work on the aircraft carrier S.S. Dark Horse, which is Big Guy's base. It also stores his airship.

• General Thornton (voiced by R. Lee Ermey) - He is a United States Army general. He leads the government group that created Big Guy. He helps keep Big Guy's secret from Rusty and others.

Villains and Threats

Besides the main villains, many monsters appear in the show. They might only be in one episode or have no special role.

• The Squillacci Empire - These are the first villains in the show. They are squid-like aliens with tentacles. They make crop circles, try to experiment on cows, and do other typical alien things. Big Guy has stopped their attempts to take over Earth many times. It's later revealed that without Big Guy, they would have ruled Earth. They even tried to conquer Earth during the Revolutionary War but were stopped by Big Guy and Rusty. That battle supposedly caused the crack in the Liberty Bell!

• Earl (voiced by Pamela Adlon) - Earl is the E.P. 327, an early version of Rusty. He has an undeveloped emotion system and follows orders very literally. Rusty brought him online to have a friend. But Earl went too far and blew off Big Guy's head! Rusty fought him and removed his power pack. Later, Earl was reactivated to help download information with Rusty. He was ordered to follow Rusty's commands. He succeeded but broke down when Rusty gave him an impossible order (to hide in a corner in a round room). This made him reset and go into defense mode, ignoring Rusty.

• Legion Ex Machina - This name comes from the Latin phrase "Deus ex machina" (meaning "god from the machine"). They are a mysterious group of six very advanced robots. Their goal is to destroy humanity and create a "Robotopia" for robots. No one knows where they came from. But their design is very similar to Big Guy's. They are smart and human-like enough to blend in with people using disguises. Even though they aren't built for fighting, they are surprisingly strong, tough, and fast. This mystery connects the episodes, with clues about their origin and creator appearing over time. It's ironic that the same person who designed Big Guy also created them! The show ended with a cliffhanger. It was discovered that there is a seventh Legion Ex Machina member that Big Guy and Rusty still need to defeat. All Legion Ex Machina members have the same AI and inner skeleton, even if their outer bodies look different. Gilder was the only one who still had his emotion system.

Legion Ex Machina Members:

• Legion Ex Machina #1 (voiced by Clancy Brown) - He is the leader of the group. He was the first Legion member to become active and can create complex plans very quickly. He and the others would destroy any member who was not useful. He was destroyed in the final battle.
• Legion Ex Machina #2 & #3 (both voiced by Clancy Brown) - They are almost identical because they lack emotions. They often argue but are completely loyal to #1. They also destroy members who are not useful. They were both destroyed in the final battle.
• Legion Ex Machina #4 (voiced by Clancy Brown) - He first fought Big Guy and Rusty in "Little Boy Robot Lost." He was thought to be destroyed but was later reactivated. He was the only one to develop an emotion system. He temporarily swapped programs with Rusty, which made him act childish. He was captured by Rusty when their minds fully switched. Later, his brain was put into a toy robot. His body was destroyed by a spider robot sent by the other Legion members. He tried to contact the Legion but found out he was to be destroyed. He then tried to cause a nuclear meltdown for revenge. Dr. Slate and Rusty stopped him, and Big Guy destroyed his brain.
• Legion Ex Machina #5 (voiced by Clancy Brown) - He was the first Legion member Big Guy met. He was similar to #2 and #3. He took over a factory and was destroyed when Big Guy threw him into liquid nitrogen, freezing him solid. Rusty then shattered him.
• Legion Ex Machina #6 (voiced by Dean Haglund) - Also known as Dr. Gilder, he was the only member with a fully working emotion system. But his emotions were too strong, which his peers saw as a weakness. He spied on Quark Industries. He first seemed shy but was revealed to be a Legion Ex Machina member. His body was destroyed by Big Guy. His brain was destroyed when Big Guy tried to access his memories, which triggered a self-destruct program. He was the first member destroyed and gave clues on how to defeat the Legion.
• Legion Ex Machina #7 - This member was mentioned near the end of the show and is still out there!

Legion's Creations:

• Argos - The Legion created two robots named Argos. The first was Big Guy's size and tried to get Big Guy and Rusty to join the Legion. Rusty destroyed it. The second Argos was much bigger, like a skyscraper, and very tough. It was sent to steal New Tronic City's power source. Joe destroyed it using its own weapon.
• The Eliminator - This was a heavily armed Quark Industries robot that Dr. Gilder (#6) took over. He used it to attack Donovan. Big Guy defeated it.
• Project Nova - A large three-legged robot with a strong energy cannon. Rusty accidentally switched some programming with #4 and built his own Nova. It fought Big Guy but was later destroyed by Rusty.
• Bad Guy - A robot clone of Big Guy, also called BGY-11X. It was made to replace Big Guy and sneak into the military. It fought Big Guy and was destroyed when Hunter fired Big Guy's hand into its cannon, causing an explosion.
• Lt. Hunter Clone - A robot clone of Lt. Hunter. It was sent to kidnap him and destroy his friends. Rusty destroyed it by throwing it into a helicopter propeller.

• Dr. Neugog (voiced by Tim Curry) - Hieronymous Neugog is a villain who appears in a few episodes. He was a scientist at Quark Industries who studied how the mind works. Neugog created a machine called the "Dynamo" to read minds. During an experiment, a spider fell into the machine. This mutated Neugog into a huge, spider-like monster with a giant brain sticking out of his head! He gained the power to eat brains from living people. He would use a long, tentacle-like mouth to do this. When Neugog "fed," his victims would go into a coma-like state, unable to speak or think. Neugog also gained telepathy and endless knowledge.

Episode Guide

Season 1 (1999)

Season 2 (2001)

Voice Cast

• Pamela Segall as Rusty, Jo
• Jonathan David Cook as The Big Guy
• Gabrielle Carteris as Dr. Erika Slate
• Jim Hanks as Dwayne Hunter
• Stephen Root as Dr. Axel Donovan
• Kathy Kinney as Jenny the Monkey
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Garth
• M. Emmett Walsh as Mack
• R. Lee Ermey as Gen. Thorton

Extra Voices

• Dee Bradley Baker
• Jillian Barberie
• Victor Brandt
• Clancy Brown as Legion Ex Machina #1, #2, #3, #4, #5
• Nancy Cartwright
• Tim Curry as Dr. Neugog
• Brian Doyle-Murray as Po the Obliterator
• Dean Haglund as Legion Ex Machina #6/Dr. Glider
• Jennifer Hale
• Sherman Howard
• Maurice LaMarche
• Kevin Schon