Freakazoid! facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Freakazoid!
Title card
Created by	Bruce Timm Paul Dini
Developed by	Tom Ruegger
Voices of	Paul Rugg Edward Asner Jeff Bennett Craig Ferguson Googy Gress Jonathan Harris David Kaufman John P. McCann Tress MacNeille Ricardo Montalban Tracy Rowe David Warner Frank Welker
Narrated by	Joe Leahy
Theme music composer	Richard Stone
Composer(s)	Richard Stone Steven Bernstein Julie Bernstein Gordon Goodwin Tim Kelly Carl Johnson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	24 (47 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Steven Spielberg
Producer(s)	Mitch Schauer Paul Rugg Tom Ruegger Rich Arons John P. MacCann
Running time	22 minutes (approx.)
Production company(s)	Amblin Entertainment Warner Bros. Animation
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	The WB (Kids' WB)
Picture format	480i (4:3 SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	September 9, 1995 (1995-09-09) – June 1, 1997 (1997-06-01)
Chronology
Related shows	Tiny Toon Adventures The Plucky Duck Show Animaniacs Pinky and the Brain Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

Freakazoid! is an American superhero animated television series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and developed by Tom Ruegger for the Kids' WB programming block of The WB. The series chronicles the adventures of the title character, Freakazoid, a crazy superhero who battles with an array of supervillains. The show also features mini-episodes of adventures of other bizarre superheroes. The show was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the third animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation during the animation renaissance of the 1990s.

Bruce Timm, best known as a major principal of the DC animated universe, originally intended it to be a straightforward superhero action-adventure cartoon with comic overtones, but executive producer Steven Spielberg asked series producer and writer Tom Ruegger and the Animaniacs team to turn Freakazoid! into a flat-out comedy. The show is similar to fellow Ruegger-led programs such as Animaniacs, and the humor is unique in its inclusions of slapstick, fourth wall firings, parody, surreal humor and pop cultural references.

The series was one of the first to debut on the new Kids' WB Saturday morning block of The WB, on September 9, 1995. The series lasted for two seasons, finishing with 24 episodes, the final one broadcast on June 1, 1997. Although the series originally struggled in the ratings, reruns on Cartoon Network and a fan following have elevated the series to become a cult hit. Warner Bros. even flirted with the idea of renewing the series for a third season, but deemed it to be too expensive. The show also ranked #53 on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series list.

Background

The show's title character is the superhero alter ego of geeky 16-year-old (later changed to 17-year-old) Dexter Douglas who attends Harry Connick High School. His name is an allusion to various superheroes' alliterative names (e.g. Bruce Banner, Peter Parker). Dexter gained his abilities from a computer bug activated by a "secret key sequence" that must be typed (a reference to the Pentium FDIV bug). The sequence of keys is "@[=g3,8d]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg" (the quotes are included), as seen when Roddy MacStew types the combination in "The Chip (Act 2)". The bug manifests when the user presses Delete after entering the string, and was first activated when Dexter's cat crawled onto the keyboard. Becoming absorbed into his computer and instantly gaining all the information on the Internet, Freakazoid has enhanced strength and endurance, extraordinary speed and agility and negligible amounts of sanity. These changes make him a powerful and fearsome force for upholding freedom and righteousness, unless he gets distracted by something like a bear riding a motorcycle. He has a base called the Freakalair, a parody of the Batcave, built by his mute butler, Ingmar. The Freakalair contains a "Hall of Nifty Things to Know" and even a mad scientist lab. His greatest weakness, as he once explained to Armando Guitierrez, is that he can be imprisoned in a cage with graphite bars charged with negative ions. He also expresses a great aversion to "poo gas".

Peripheral powers come and go: Freakazoid once developed telekinesis triggered by anger that was never mentioned again after the episode, and once crossed the globe to yell at a Tibetan monk for raking too loudly, but apologizes to him later in the same plot. He also has the ability to assume the form of electricity and cover long distances instantaneously, although he just as often simply sticks his arms forward and runs while making swooshing sounds with his mouth, pretending to fly.

Dexter can change into and out of Freakazoid at will with the words "Freak out!" and "Freak in!". When not in Freakazoid mode, Dexter looks and acts completely normal, and his family is unaware that anything has happened to him. Freakazoid spends this time in an area of Dexter's brain called the Freakazone, where he reflects, has profound thoughts, and watches reruns of The Rat Patrol.

While the show's setting is set around Washington, D.C., the locale often varies with the show's humor, taking Freakazoid to locations around the world as needed.

Characters

• Freakazoid (voiced by Paul Rugg) – The protagonist of the series. He was once geeky 16-year-old computer ace named Dexter Douglas (voiced by David Kaufman) who became Freakazoid from an overloaded Pinnacle chip inside his computer and hit the delete button after Mr. Chubbikins walked on his keyboard. He attends Harry Connick High School. To transform into Freakazoid, Dexter says "Freak out!" To change back into Dexter, Freakazoid says "Freak in!" Dexter and Freakazoid sometimes identify as separate identities, and other times consider themselves to be the same person. Catchphrase: "Aw, nut bunnies!" His image and "Freak Out!" superpower are parodies of the comic book superhero Shazam (Captain Marvel).

The Douglas family

• Duncan Douglas (voiced by Googy Gress) – Dexter's older brother. He is a bully towards Dexter and is portrayed as a caricature of a high school jock. When Dexter becomes Freakazoid, Duncan is usually the victim of his mischief.

• Debbie Douglas (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – Dexter's mother. She has no clue that her son is Freakazoid and is in general blithe and clueless.

• Douglas Douglas (voiced by John P. McCann) – Dexter's father. An automobile dealer who thinks a goblin lives in the gas tank of his car. Occasionally used for laughs as a stereotypical technologically inept father figure who tries to keep Dexter and Duncan in line.

• Mr. Chubbikins (vocal effects provided by Frank Welker) – The Douglas' morbidly obese cat that was formerly named Mr. Chubbskins. He jumped on Dexter's keyboard while chasing a butterfly, accidentally typing in the key sequence which activated the Pinnacle chip's flaw, turning Dexter into Freakazoid.

Allies

• Sgt. Mike Cosgrove (voiced by Edward Asner) – A heavyset, gruff police sergeant with a heart of gold, who is friends with Freakazoid and several other characters. He speaks in a gruff monotone and shows very little enthusiasm for anything. By pointing at something and saying "Cut it out", he has the almost supernatural ability to get people to stop whatever they are doing on command, no matter what they may be doing at the time, be it panicking at the sight of a villain, stealing a television, or attempting to capture Cosgrove and Freakazoid (in the Animaniacs comic series, he even once managed to get Yakko, Wakko, and Dot to "Cut it out", something that many others had tried, and failed, to do). Cosgrove also possesses the odd power of finding Freakazoid no matter where he is by driving his police car to that particular location. He often interrupts Freakazoid's heroic endeavors to ask him to visit various entertainments, such as the "Honey Harvest Festival" or "a bear riding a motorcycle" which Freakazoid always enthusiastically agrees to, no matter what else he is doing at the time. During this visit, Cosgrove inevitably reveals important information about the plot of the episode, including the villain's location or evil deeds. Freakazoid then rushes off to foil the villain's scheme, leaving Cosgrove to enjoy the attraction for himself. Sgt. Cosgrove also resembles his voice actor.

• Roddy MacStew (voiced by Craig Ferguson) – Freakazoid's mentor, and expositionist; an ill-tempered Scotsman who once worked for Guitierrez. He first found that the Pinnacle chip was flawed. In the continuation of "The Chip" (detailing how Freakazoid gained his powers), he was trapped in the Internet. Roddy was later kicked out of the Internet by Guitierrez and resumed his mentor role. His favorite word is "Crud!"

• Steff (voiced by Tracy Rowe) – Freakazoid's perky blonde girlfriend; her real name is Stephanie. She discovers Freakazoid's secret identity when Cosgrove accidentally points it out aloud in "Mission: Freakazoid".

• Hans (voiced by Larry Cedar) – A mysterious agent with a Western European accent who takes Freakazoid to Professor Heiney's lab.

• Professor Heiney (voiced by Ed Gilbert) – A scientist, with a lab in the mountains, who Freakazoid often goes to for help. He does research on monsters, zaps them, and is often attacked by them at his lab.

• Ingmar – Freakazoid's mute butler in charge of the maintenance of the Freakalair (according to Freakazoid, he constructed it himself from scratch). He quit in "Mission: Freakazoid" to become a rodeo clown and was replaced by Professor Jones. A take-off on Bernardo, the mute manservant of Zorro and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth.

• Professor Jones (voiced by Jonathan Harris) – A snooty, cowardly manservant, essentially recreating his role as Doctor Zachary Smith from Lost in Space (every time Jones appears in a scene, someone asks him if he was "on a TV show with a robot"). He is the replacement to the Freakalair's previous butler and old friends with him. Jones does not get along with Cosgrove well and gets little respect from Freakazoid, or anyone else.

• Joe Leahy (voiced by himself) – The show's very vocal announcer, who sometimes gets more involved than the job usually requires.

• Freakazette – Only mentioned in the first episode for a brief verse during the "Freakazoid and Friends" theme song (which plays to the same theme as Animaniacs).

• Foamy the Freakadog (vocal effects provide by Frank Welker) – A vicious, rabid dog which Freakazoid had freed from the dogcatcher's van. Foamy is painted blue, has a Freakazoid costume (complete with hair), and is prone to maul and/or beat Freakazoid to a pulp, even on their missions, due to his rabid condition.

• Handman (voiced by Paul Rugg) – Freakazoid's brief "right hand man". He is quite literally just a painted face on Freakazoid's right hand who has great difficulty pronouncing Freakazoid's name correctly. He fell in love with and married Handgirl, a painted face on Freakazoid's left hand.

• Expendable Lad – Freakazoid's brief sidekick from the start of "And Fanboy Is His Name". He was taken to the hospital due to injuries sustained from Milk Man's attack that gave him a bruised clavicle. Expendable Lad was subsequently released from the service of Freakazoid.

• Leonard Maltin (voiced by himself) – He was kidnapped by Dr. Mystico during the episode "Island of Dr. Mystico", while Maltin was giving his opinion of the same episode. Freakazoid points out that Mystico's prisoners all have superpowers, and Mr. Maltin's is that he knows every movie ever made. Maltin provided his own voice for the episode.

• Henry Kissinger (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – A politician who was kidnapped by Dr. Mystico's "orangu-men". In the show, he speaks in a low, groggy, incomprehensible mumble. He is briefly mentioned in one episode after his only appearance.

• Norm Abram (voiced by himself) – He was kidnapped by the Lobe to make a wooden instrument to destroy Freakazoid, but got free and helped turn the tables against the Lobe and his villain allies. Abram supplied his own voice and trademark line for the episode.

Enemies

Freakazoid! features a number of campy villains, including:

• The Lobe (voiced by David Warner) – Freakazoid's archenemy. He is an evil genius whose entire head is a giant brain. Despite his high intellect, he has very low self-esteem, once even having a scheme foiled by Freakazoid simply insulting the plan, despite actually being impressed by it. No background information of any kind is given for the Lobe; even his real name is never revealed.

• The Cobra Queen (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – Audrey Manatee is a former shoplifter whose encounter with an experimental cosmetic left in the sun too long transformed her into a cobra woman, with command over snakes and other reptiles. In later episodes, Cave Guy and the Cobra Queen are a couple. She has a lair in the sewers and often complained about the lack of light until Freakazoid suggested getting Japanese lanterns. He defeated her when she faints while trying to say "Silly Sally sells sappy seashells in Seattle" (he later wonders how that actually worked). The Cobra Queen also shows up as part of the team in "Mission: Freakazoid!" She seems to be offended when compared to Sylvester the Cat.

• Cave Guy (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating Jim Backus) – Royce Mumphry is a thuggish blue-skinned caveman with upperclass diction, education, and taste who speaks in a stereotypical WASP tone (see Locust Valley lockjaw). He subscribes to The New Yorker. Cave Guy also seems to have an odd fear of Klingons (possibly because of the made-up language they use).

• Longhorn (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – Jubal "Bull" Nixon was once an employee of the Johnny Cat cat litter company until he turned to a life of crime. Because he was searched for by law enforcement so frequently, he had plastic surgery to turn himself into a humanoid Texas Longhorn bull. Freakazoid pointed out that this did not prevent him from showing up on America's Most Wanted every week. He loves country music and despite being a lousy songwriter, he is determined to get a recording contract in Nashville. Longhorn also owns a massive truck, nicknamed "Bessie Mae", which is outfitted with all kinds of devices.
  • Turk (voiced by Hal Rayle) – Longhorn's henchman.

• Armando Guitierrez (voiced by Ricardo Montalbán) – The eyepatch-wearing man whose company Apex Microchips (not to be confused with Apex Digital) designed the faulty Pinnacle chip responsible for Freakazoid's creation as well as him being Freakazoid's first enemy. Physically, Guitierrez resembles his voice actor Ricardo Montalbán. At times, he shows similarities to Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; who was also played by Montalbán. One of his recurring jokes is demanding others to laugh along with him. When he fell to his supposed doom, he asked Freakazoid to scream with him. Originally a normal human being, he briefly gains powers similar to Freakazoid's by exploiting the Pinnacle chip's flaw. By "Hero Boy", he appears in a hooded robe to cover the cybernetic side of his head, which was caused by Freakazoid knocking him into a cyber-pit. Guitierrez hates being called a weenie, to which he will angrily respond "I am not a weenie! It is YOU who are the weenie!". In "Normadeus", Guitierrez is among the villains invited by the Lobe to witness the destruction of Freakazoid. The Lobe commented that he never got an opportunity to be in the same room as Guitierrez before.
  • Jocko (voiced by Paul Rugg) – Armando Guitierrez's henchman who is completely inarticulate.

• Candle Jack (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A supernatural villain with a burlap sack over his head called "the Boogeyman, the for-real one" in the series. He abducts anyone who says his name and ties them up with rope, apparently because "he's a nut." Although he prides himself on being scary, he has a weakness for pie and also seems to enjoy watching F Troop. During "Island of Dr. Mystico", Freakazoid and Cosgrove have him chase around and scare Professor Jones.

• Waylon Jeepers (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A creepy little man originally from Venice Beach, California who created the Medusa Watch, which has the power to turn people (and pigeons) into stone. He has also created a similar device that turned beavers into gold. In one episode, Jeepers once summoned the demon Vorn the Unspeakable with the help of a book entitled How to Summon Monsters the E-Z Way. His schemes seem to deeply infuriate Freakazoid and Jeepers is shown to be the only villain that Freakazoid genuinely does not like (whereas the rest of the villains appear to have a friendly relationship with Freakazoid off-battle), once going on a long (and unscripted) rant. His name is a play on the name of famous country guitarist Waylon Jennings.

• Invisibo (voiced by Corey Burton impersonating Vincent Price) – Ahmon Kor-Unch is an invisible, smart-mouthed pharaoh who is only visible via the Anubis staff he carries. While he was sealed away inside a sarcophagus, Duncan pushing Dexter into his sarcophagus resulted in the sarcophagus' seal being broken, enabling Invisibo to be free to resume his crime spree. Freakazoid gave Invisibo his name because "you're invisible and it's my show and we already had a title card made up and it makes me happy!" Invisibo accepts the name saying it has a "somewhat sinister ring to it." Freakazoid defeated Invisibo by destroying his staff and locking him back into his sarcophagus, which is then taken away by the authorities. In "Normadeus", Invisibo regained his invisibility powers and is among the villains invited by the Lobe to witness the destruction of Freakazoid where the Lobe gave him a party hat in order for him to be visible.

• The Nerdator (voiced by Aron Kincaid) – A man who planned to kidnap all of the nerds in the world (which also included Steven Spielberg) and absorb their knowledge to become a "Super-Nerd". His plan succeeded until Freakazoid convinced him of the downside of being a nerd. The Nerdator then discontinued his plot. Nerdator was last seen kidnapping "good-looking, but vapid airheads". His character design is a parody of the Predator.

• Vorn the Unspeakable (voiced by Richard Moll) – A demon summoned by Waylon Jeepers, who bears a resemblance to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu.

• Arms Akimbo (voiced by John Schuck impersonating Edward G. Robinson) – A spoiled model turned extortionist who, after years of posing, was left with his arms frozen in a jaunty pose with his hands on his hips. When fighting, he strikes with his oversized elbows. His first appearance is in a local shop selling "oops insurance", a form of protection racketeering which mainly consists of him breaking something of value (or causing a building to detonate spectacularly), before comically following it up with a small "Oops."

• The Milk Man – Only shown/mentioned in the episode "And Fanboy Is His Name". He is shown on a news report in a pitched battle with Freakazoid and his then-sidekick Expendable Lad. As the name implies, he uses milk as his theme as he wields a milk gun in battle.

• Deadpan (voiced by Bebe Neuwirth) – A plain-looking (almost blank-faced) female supervillain with a monotonous voice. She is a shapeshifter who once tried to conquer Washington by transforming into Freakazoid, but this plan was quickly foiled when the real Freakazoid appeared immediately afterward and nonchalantly pointed her out. She had only one appearance in the cold opening for "The Wrath of Guitierrez".

• Mary Beth (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – Cosgrove's former girlfriend, a cosmetics executive and a monster. She is short-tempered and when angered turns green, develops a deep raspy voice, and often lights candles by shooting fire from her nose. Her plan to steal Freakazoid's hero essence to remain immortal is foiled and, as a result, she shrivels, dies and becomes a pile of dust. Her name is a play off of the cosmetics giant Mary Kay.

• Janos Ivnovels (voiced by Jim Cummings) – The ruthless dictator of Vuka Nova and its Minister of State Security. He is responsible for capturing Freakazoid's family (and a mime who was apparently from Animaniacs) and imprisoning them in the High-Security Wing of Chesky Beresch Prison, the toughest prison in Europe. He and his subordinate Colonel Anton Mohans were defeated after Freakazoid and his friends rescued the Douglas family (and the mime). He is a one-time villain, having only appeared in "Mission: Freakazoid".
  • Colonel Anton Mohans (voiced by Larry Cedar) – A vicious thug.

• Dr. Mystico (voiced by Tim Curry) – A mad scientist who turns orangutans into human-like beings (and vice versa) in "Island of Dr. Mystico" after being kicked out of the university where he worked at. Dr. Mystico set up his laboratory on an island to continue his experiments. He seeks to take over the world, though he always seems to say Cleveland instead. He has a white cat similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Dr. Mystico's first name may actually be Wendell, since he once says, "They called me mad, insane, Wendell!". He also bears a striking resemblance to his voice actor.
  • Sparkles - Dr. Mystico's pet white cat.
  • Orangu-Men (vocal effects provided by Jim Cummings) - A group of creatures created by Dr. Mystico by splicing the DNA of humans and the orangutans that are native to his island. Fatima, Ackbar, and Ringo are three of Dr. Mystico's henchmen.

• Kid Carrion (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A zombie cowboy who was never named and only appeared in "Relax-o-Vision" and "The Lobe". He can be seen in the opening credits standing next to Candle Jack. Kid Carrion bears a passing resemblance to the revamped version of the Scarecrow from Bruce Timm's The New Batman Adventures, yet seems to be a parody of the villain Tex Hex from the 1987 Filmation cartoon series Bravestarr.

• Eye-of-Newt – A strange one-eyed creature with a hairstyle resembling Newt Gingrich's; his name is a reference to Shakespeare's Macbeth ("Eye of newt and toe of frog..."). He has no dialogue and is a background villain, although it seems that he is frequently recaptured by heroes like Freakazoid or the Huntsman.

Other characters

A few characters fall somewhere in the space between "allies" and "enemies" to land squarely in the category of "nuisances".

• Bo-Ron (voiced by Stan Freberg) – An obese and dimwitted alien from the planet Barone's. His first appearance was when he tried to deliver Earth an ”important message”, only to forget what it was. This message turned out to be a comet heading towards Earth, which caused everyone to flee the area. He also appeared in an episode that was a parody of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

• Fanboy (voiced by Stephen Furst) – An obese, acne-stricken, socially awkward fanboy (hence his name) and would-be sidekick to Freakazoid who obsesses about numerous comic books, TV shows, and movies from The Black Hole to Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope. Fanboy's age is never specified; he could be anywhere between his late teens and early 30s. He bumped into George Takei at a comic book shop and gave chase, causing Takei to run into traffic and nearly get hit by three cars. Despite his different obsessions, Fanboy has never heard of Stan Lee. In "Freak-a-Panel", Fanboy is among the dropped characters that confront Freakazoid following Cave Guy's defeat.

• Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton (voiced by Frank Welker and Tress MacNeille) make frequent cameos in the show, partly because Dexter Douglas lives in Washington, D.C.

• Barbra Streisand (voiced by Tress MacNeille) also makes a number of appearances, most notably in the episode "Dexter's Date", which features a parody of Hello, Dolly!.

• Hero Boy (voiced by John P. McCann) – The title character from Freakazoid's favorite TV show that is first shown in the episode of the same name. Hero Boy has no powers (save for flying) and his black and white show is a parody of the animated series Astro Boy. Hero Boy has the catchphrase "I must succeed!", though he is invariably shrugged off by the monsters he fights, including the giant ones, when his pathetic fighting techniques (consisting of weakly pounding on his enemies) always fail miserably.

• Steven Spielberg (voiced by Frank Welker) – The show's executive producer. His most notable appearance was in part of an episode where Freakazoid, the Brain from Pinky and the Brain, and Wakko Warner from Animaniacs get into a disagreement over which of their shows he likes best (only for Spielberg to ask them "Who are you people?"). In "The Nerdator", Steven Spielberg is among the nerds that are captured by the Nerdator. During this time, he was directing a sequel to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial called E.T. Returns.

• Paul Harvey (voiced by Paul Rugg) – A loud, obnoxious man who often interrupts the story to give background information on a villain (as seen in episodes introducing the Cobra Queen and Longhorn), or to describe, rather than show, the ending of an episode (demonstrated in "Candle Jack"). He is a parody of the radio personality of the same name, and even borrows the catchphrase "the rest of the story" from the real Harvey.

• Lonnie Tallbutt (voiced by Mitch Schauer in human form, Jim Cummings in werewolf form) – A werewolf that begs Dexter for help. His name is a combination of that of Lon Chaney, Jr. and Lawrence Talbot, the character Chaney played in the 1941 movie The Wolf Man. He is prone to grabbing people's shirt collars and yelling "You don't understand!"

The elusive Emmitt Nervend, who is often only seen briefly between frames of animation on the show

• Emmitt Nervend – A short, hunchbacked man with straw-like hair and a frozen grimace who usually shows up at least once an episode, always in the opening credits, but usually in the background. He stands looking at the camera (as pictured), never saying a word. Sometimes things happen to him directly, like him standing outside a restaurant collecting donations while dressed as Santa Claus and ringing a bell, birds pecking his head, or laser beams shooting just above his head. The end credits will often contain a credit revealing how many times Emmitt can be found in a particular episode. His appearance was drawn by Mitch Schauer.

• Weena Mercator as The Hopping Woman – A person acknowledged whenever credits are used in an episode. However, no episode or sketch has ever featured a hopping woman in it. Her name also appears with multiple spellings: "Mercator" in "Dance of Doom" and "Mercatur" in "The Cloud".

• Yakko Warner (voiced by Rob Paulsen) – The oldest brother of the Animaniacs.

• Wakko Warner (voiced by Jess Harnell) – The younger brother of the Animaniacs.

• Dot Warner (voiced by Tress MacNeille) – The youngest sister of the Animaniacs.

• The Brain (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) – A megalomaniacal genius and a genetically-altered laboratory mouse from the TV series Pinky and the Brain.

Mini-segments

Freakazoid! also features several mini-segments, primarily during the first season. Each of these have their own theme songs, title cards and cast, and only rarely "cross over" into the continuity of the main show. These segments include:

• Lord Bravery – Nigel Skunkthorpe (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating John Cleese) is a superhero from the United Kingdom in an outfit slightly resembling that of a Roman soldier. He does not do much in the way of superheroics; in fact, he is very snooty, cynical and unwilling to do unpleasant tasks in the course of his duties, such as entering a sewer to perform a rescue. Likewise, he gets little respect and recognition as a superhero from the general public and even from his wife and mother-in-law, with whom he lives, and is generally the laughing stock of the superhero community. At one point, he loses his name due to a trademark dispute with a bakery of the same name, after which he changes it to Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes. He has been mistaken for a party clown. His theme song is delivered in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan's song "A British Tar". In "Freak-A-Panel", Lord Bravery is among the dropped characters that confront Freakazoid following Cave Guy's defeat where he is the one who mentioned their dimished roles after the first season. This caused Freakazoid to give them jobs washing the Freakmobile.

• The Huntsman – The Huntsman (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating Charlton Heston) is an imagining of what Robin Hood would be like if he was portrayed by Charlton Heston. He can never find enough crime to fight and secretly suspects that the police are hiding crimes from him because they do not trust him. It is also possible that he was so good at being a superhero that his villains simply gave up trying. He was once a hunter called Marty Feeb who saved a chunky elf from being eaten by a crow. The elf rewarded Marty Feeb with a magic sack of corn. Upon eating it, he was granted strength, speed, and shining teeth, and became the Huntsman. He also has a brother called Hector Feeb, who he claims lives in a townhouse. The Huntsman can be summoned by a police officer blowing into the Horn of Urgency on top of the local police station, and his battle cry is "Into action!". When he appears before the police lieutenant Artie King (voiced by Dorian Harewood), the Huntsman is told in those two episodes that either a rookie mistakenly blew the horn or the blowing of the horn was a false alarm. After walking out while making a claim that the police are hiding crimes from him, he would often kick the water dispenser. The Huntsman is possibly a parody of the comic book character the Green Arrow. His trademark phrase is "Darn the luck, darn!" His sketches are often themed around beginning with a lengthy, overly heroic opener, with a title that would indicate an action-oriented episode, that ends up being a short anticlimactic skit of the Huntsman not being needed after all. In one of his episodes, it was mentioned that he had fought the Lobe and Cave Guy and he is shown fighting Cave Guy and Candle Jack in his opening. The Huntsman was once seen as the umpire during the Superheroes/Villain All-Star Benefit Softball Game. When Freakazoid, Arms Akimbo, and Cave Guy both asked his opinion on a play, he responded that he had looked away to have some berry water and did not see if the play was an out or a safe. In "The Freakazoid", the Huntsman gives a request to Freakazoid to help him find work and also lost the address to the superhero convention that was being held on some moon. In "Freak-A-Panel", the Huntsman is among the dropped characters that confront Freakazoid following Cave Guy's defeat where he was the one who asked him why they were kicked off the show after the first season. When Freakzoid told him, Lord Bravery, Fanboy, and Mo-Ron/Bo-Ron that they should've gotten the memos from the producers, the Huntsman stated that he can't get mail as he lives in the woods. Freakazoid does get them jobs washing the Freakmobile.

• The Lawn Gnomes – Baffeardin (voiced by Clive Revill), Huska (voiced by Carl Ballantine), Honna (voiced by Rose Marie), and Quist (voiced by Larry Gelman) are a group of gnomes-turned-lawn gnomes that come to life at night in a parody of Gargoyles. Infamous for their mischief back in 995 AD, they were advised by the Great Mystic Gnome (voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne) to change their ways before it gets worse for them. After planning to do so in a week, the four gnomes were cursed to become stone by day by the powerful wizard Rathgar (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) after they tripped him and previously attacked his younger Viking brother Erik the Large (also voiced by LaMarche). They would revert at night during which time they were given the opportunity to mend their ways to fight evil alongside mankind, after which the curse would be lifted. During this one-time sketch, Freakazoid did his commentary on it.

• Toby Danger – A (somewhat) loving parody of Jonny Quest, featuring the voices of Scott Menville, Don Messick (in his last role before he died), and Granville Van Dusen (all of whom provided voices for JQ), that was originally written by Tom Minton as a 12-minute stand-alone short for Animaniacs, but slotted into Freakazoid! after that series was greenlighted and had an eight-minute opening. The completed 12-minute Toby Danger storyboard was trimmed by director Eric Radomski to fit into the available Freakazoid! time slot.

• Fatman and Boy Blubber – The misadventures of two morbidly obese superheroes (voiced by Marc Drotman and Paul Rugg, respectively), in a parody of the Batman TV series. Their only segment involves them coming to the aid of Louis, an overweight boy who loves sweet buns and is being tormented by bullies. After attempting to capture the bullies, and failing due to their extreme lack of physical fitness, Fatman and Boy Blubber deliver a pseudo-inspirational speech to Louis about their own struggles with being overweight, and how they often end up eating fast food and snacks instead of having sensible meals. When Louis asks what the point of the speech is, Fatman changes the subject to ask if Louis has any more sweet buns in his lunchbox; the hero then tries to confiscate the food (it is unclear whether he is attempting to prevent Louis from gaining more weight, or simply wants the sweet buns for himself), and begins beating Louis up with Boy Blubber when the boy refuses to give the sweet buns to them and starts to evade them. Fatman and Boy Blubber also make an appearance during the episode "Hero Boy" where it is revealed the episode is actually a storybook being read by Fatman to some children. When he asks a kid if he is going to eat the food the kid has, Fatman is given a no gesture. When Fatman asks if he can have it, the kid gives it to him.

Humor

The humor in Freakazoid! relied heavily on slapstick, parody and pop cultural references. Due to the series being metafiction, much of the series was self-aware humor (i.e. breaking the fourth wall); for instance, after the first appearance of the Freakmobile, the show goes immediately into an impromptu commercial for a toy version, and later in the episode, Freakazoid addresses an audience, congratulating the staff on how hard they have worked to make the show toyetic. A typically strange running gag involves a repeated credit for "Weena Mercator as the Hopping Woman", though no such character appears in any episode. Her credit is usually preceded by a number of other fictional names and followed by a fictional director. The show also incorporated humor aimed at the then-newly founded WB Network, such as questioning the meaning of the initials "WB", e.g., "Weird Butt" or "Wet Bananas" instead of Warner Bros.

Freakazoid! made frequent use of stock footage, including the peaceful scene of a field of flowers ("Relax-O-Vision"), numerous people screaming ("Scream-O-Vision"), traditionally dressed Bavarians dancing and slapping each other, a man being shot in the belly with a cannonball and a man wrestling a bear.

Cameo appearances were also a major element of the show's humor. At various times, Freakazoid! hosted appearances by characters from other Warner Bros. Cartoons such as Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs and even an insinuation appearance of the Batman from Bruce Timm's animated version, which has a similar drawing style (its concept of old movie-style title cards at the beginning of each episode was also replicated in Freakazoid!). Portrayals of many celebrities (including producer Steven Spielberg) and guest appearances by such figures as Jack Valenti, Leonard Maltin and Mark Hamill as themselves were also commonplace. Norm Abram had an entire episode, "Normadeus", built around him. One original character, a bizarre-looking man named Emmitt Nervend, plays no role whatsoever other than enabling a Where's Waldo-esque hunt for his constant cameos (complete with the number of his appearances announced in the closing credits).

One of the show's longest cameo appearances was when Wakko (from Animaniacs) and the Brain (from Pinky and the Brain) appeared in a scene in which they argue with Freakazoid over which of their shows is Steven Spielberg's favorite, with Freakazoid arguing that his show was the favorite because "we got a memo" (Tiny Toon Adventures was not represented in the discussion as it was on Nickelodeon at the time, while the others were on Kids' WB). However, when the trio confronts Steven over the issue, he simply replies: "Who are you people?".

In popular culture

The sixth season episode of Teen Titans Go!, "Huggbees", aired on November 14, 2020 and features Freakazoid helping the Teen Titans defeat the Lobe and the Brain when they join forces. It was mentioned by Freakazoid that Steven Spielberg would have to approve the crossover which led to Robin sending a message to Steven who approves of the crossover. According to Rugg, the production team for the show had sent him a script involving Freakazoid in December 2019 which he approved. The episode includes voice work from original VAs on Freakazoid! including Rugg, David Warner, Ed Asner, and Joe Leahy.

See also

In Spanish: ¡Fenomenoide! para niños