Freakazoid!

Encyclopedia : F : FR : FRE : Freakazoid!

---

Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid! is an American animated television series, created by Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation that aired for two seasons from 1995 to 1997. 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/writer Tom Ruegger and the Animaniacs team to turn Freakazoid! into a flat-out comedy.

Freakazoid! makes frequent use of stock footage which was often gratuitous and nonsensical, 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 even "a man wrestling a bear for no reason."

Plot

The show's title character is the superhero alter ego of geeky teenager Dexter Douglas. Gaining his abilities from a rather spectacular computer bug (becoming absorbed into his computer and instantly gaining all the information on the internet), Freakazoid has enhanced strength and endurance, extraordinary speed, agility, and, unfortunately, negligible amounts of sanity. He also has the ability to assume the form of electricity and cover long distances instantaneously, although he often simply sticks his arms forward and runs while making swooshing sounds with his mouth, thus pretending to fly. These changes make him a powerful and fearsome force for upholding freedom and righteousness in his home town of Washington, D.C., unless he gets distracted by something like a bear riding a motorcycle. His greatest weakness is being in a cage with graphite bars charged with negative ions.

Dexter can change into and out of Freakazoid at will with the words "Freak out!" and "Freak in!" (respectively). When not in Freakazoid mode, Dexter looks and acts completely normal, and his Sunnydale Syndrome-suffering family is unaware that anything has happened to him.

Characters

Enemies

Freakazoid! features a number of campy villains and enemies, including:

• The Lobe, a supergenius whose entire head appears to be a giant brain (voiced by David Warner). Despite his high intellect, he has very low self-esteem. No background information of any kind is given for The Lobe; not even his real name is revealed.
• Cave Guy, a thuggish blue caveman with upper-class diction, education, and taste. His real name is Royce Mumphries and he subscribes to The New Yorker. Cave Guy is essentially a parody of the "Bizarro" comic concept.
• Cobra Queen, 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 Cobra Queen are a couple. She often complained about the lack of light in her lair until Freakazoid suggested getting Japanese lanterns.
• Longhorn, a trucker and cat litter thief who underwent plastic surgery to make him resemble a longhorn bull. He loves country music and his truck, "Bessie May". Longhorn often seems to be angry; his voice resembles that of Johnny Cash.
• Armando Guitierrez, the man whose company, Apex Microchips (not to be confused with Apex Digital), designed the faulty Pinnacle chip responsible for Freakazoid's creation. Physically, Guitierrez resembles Ricardo Montalban (with the addition of an eyepatch), who provides the character's voice; at times he shows similarities to Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek -- also played by Montalban.
• Candle Jack, a supernatural villain who abducts anyone who says his name aloud, which people invariably do. He often floats, speaks in whispers, and is always seen holding a candle. Even if someone doesn't say his name he likes to scare them anyway. Has a weakness for pumpkin pie.
• Waylon Jeepers, a creepy little man 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, and once summoned "Vorn the Unspeakable," a demon apparently based on Cthulhu, with the help of a book entitled How to Summon Monsters the E-Z Way. His name is a play off of the famous country guitarist Waylon Jennings.
• Invisibo, an invisible, smartmouthed pharaoh who is only visible via the staff he carries. Freakazoid gave Invisibo his name because "you're invisible and it's my show". When Invisibo protested his name, Freakazoid said "But the trading cards already say Invisibo!" At this point, Invisibo accepted his name and laughed maniacally. An "Invisibo theme song" was sung throughout much of the episode. It consisted mainly of the following lines:

:"Where did he go, that Invisibo!"

At least Freakazoid found it catchy.

Arms Akimbo, a spoiled teen model turned extortionist after years of posing left his arms frozen in a jaunty pose, hands on hips. When fighting, he strikes with his oversized elbows.

Milk Man, just your random villain, only shown/mentioned in the episode And Fanboy was his Name. Shown on a news report in a pitch battle with Freakzoid and his (then) sidekick, Expendable Lad. Injured during the battle, Expendable Lad was sent to the hospital with a "Bruised Clavicle" and was subsequently released from the service of Freakazoid.

Allies

Aiding Freakazoid in his surrealistic battles are:

• Sgt. Mike Cosgrove, a heavyset, gruff cop with a heart of gold, who is friends with Freakazoid and several other characters. He has the almost supernatural ability to get people to "cut it out" on command, no matter what they may be doing at the time. Often has nothing better to do than engage in hobbies or visit tourist traps with Freakazoid (such as building a Go-kart or getting a mint). Strangely, he always manages to find Freakazoid with his police car, no matter where he is at the time (he will even catch up with him in different countries, car and all). He is voiced by (and physically resembles) Ed Asner.
• Roddy MacStew, Freakazoid's mentor, expositionist, and driving instructor; an ill-tempered Scotsman (voiced by Craig Ferguson) who once worked for Guitierrez. He first found that the Pinnacle chip was flawed. In the continuation of the first episode he was trapped in the Internet. Favorite quote: "Crud!"
• Steff, 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".
• Ingmar, Freakazoid's mute manservant, 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. An obvious take-off on Alfred of Batman fame.
• Professor Jones, a snooty, cowardly manservant (voiced by Jonathan Harris, 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 show with a robot"). Does not get along with Cosgrove well.
• Joe Leahy the announcer (playing himself), who sometimes gets a little more involved than the typical narrator.
• 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). Since she never was elaborated on in the show, most fans assume her to be Steff, having turned into a Freakazoid with blonde hair and blue outfit.
• Foamy the Freakadog, a vicious, rabid dog which Freakazoid had freed from the pound. Foamy is painted blue, has a freakazoid costume, and is prone to maul and/or beat Freakazoid to a pulp.
• Handman, Freakazoid's brief "right hand man". He is quite literally just paint on Freakazoid's hand.
• Expendable Lad, Freakazoid's brief sidekick from the start of And Fanboy was his Name he is taken to the hospital due to injuries sustained from milk.

Other characters

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

• Mo-Ron, a dimwitted alien voiced by Stan Freberg. His name was later changed to Bo-Ron, apparently to appease network censors' concerns that use of the word moron might be offensive. In one episode Lord Bravery refers to him as "Mo-Ron or Bo-Ron or whatever his name is".
• Fanboy, 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. Fanboy's age is never specified; he could be anywhere between his late teens to early thirties. Voiced by Stephen Furst.
• Deadpan, a plain-looking (almost blank-faced) woman with an appropriately 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 after and nonchalantly pointed her out. She had only one appearance in a short segment before the opening credits for episode 1x13, The Wrath of Guiterrez.
• Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Princess Diana make frequent cameos in the show, partly because Dexter Douglas lives in Washington.
• Barbra Streisand also makes a number of appearances, most notably in the episode "Dexter's Date," which features a parody of Hello, Dolly!.
• Hero Boy, 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 anime Astro Boy. Hero Boy has the catchphrase "I must succeed!", though he is invariably shrugged off by the monsters he fights.
• Steven Spielberg, the show's executive producer.
• Paul Harvey, a loud, obnoxious man who often interupts the story to give background information on a villain, or to spoil the ending. He is an obvious parody of the famous radio personality, and his scenes in the series frequently feature "The Rest of the Backstory."
• Lonnie Talbot, 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!"

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, a John Cleese-esque superhero in an outfit slightly resembling that of a Roman soldier. He doesn't do much in the way of superheroism, in fact, he's very snooty and cynical. Likewise, he gets as little respect and recognition as a superhero from the general public and even his wife and mother-in-law, with whom he lives. At one point he loses his name due to a copyright dispute with a bakery of the same name, after which he changes his name to Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes. Jeff Bennett provided the voice, a very close imitation of Cleese's.
  
  His theme song, delivered in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan, is as follows:

:He feels no pain / He can fly quite fast

:In feats of strength / He is unsurpassed

:His grip is firm / Never quavery

:Britannia's superhero / He's Lord Bravery.

:Lord Bravery!/Lord Bravery! / Lord Bra - ver - y!!!

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: