My Life as a Teenage Robot
Encyclopedia : M : MY : MYL : My Life as a Teenage Robot
| |
| From Left to Right: Jenny, Brad, and Tuck | |
| Format | Animated |
| Run time | 22 minutes |
| Creator | Rob Renzetti |
| Starring | Janice Kawaye Chad Doreck Audrey Wasilewski Quinton Flynn Moira Quirk Candi Milo Cree Summer |
| Country | United States |
| Network | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | August 1, 2003 – Present |
| No. of episodes | 28 (13 more in production) |
My Life as a Teenage Robot was an American animated television series, produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon cable channel. The creators and Nickelodeon have cancelled the show.
My Life as a Teenage Robot (as abbreviated) stars a 6-foot tall robot girl named XJ-9 (who prefers to be known simply as Jenny). Jenny lives in the town of Tremorton, in the year of 2072. Jenny likes to go to the mall, fit in at high school, and hang out with her friends Brad and Tuck, instead of saving the world. Her creator (a.k.a. "Mom"), Dr. Wakeman, designed her as a highly sophisticated battle robot and wants her to stay away from the human race. Brad likes what Jenny does and often helps her out, but his brother, Tuck, doesn't care for action and only gets involved reluctantly. She has an ongoing rivalry with the Krust Cousins, Brit and Tiff, the popular girls in school, and even has a human suitor, a somewhat stereotypical nerd named Sheldon, but Jenny loves a robot named the Silver Shell (he was created by Sheldon, who "wears" him like Iron Man wears his suit), but then later disliked him for being a spy. Jenny is also being pursued by Queen Vexus, leader of a robot clan called the Cluster, to join the Cluster. So Jenny can't get her life evened out, but she does what she can.
The series was based on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short My Neighbor is a Teenage Robot, and was created by Rob Renzetti. This show first aired on August 1, 2003. It has never come to DVD on its own, but was often paired with other Nicktoons, like Danny Phantom on compilation DVDs.
The show has lasted for two seasons, and the third season has been planned to air from late 2006-2007. Due to low ratings, there will be no fourth season. The show has since been dubbed into several languages for foreign broadcast and also airs regularly on the Nicktoons Network.
Characters
Major characters
- Jenny Wakeman
- Nora Wakeman
- Brad Carbunkle
- Tuck Carbunkle
- Sheldon Lee
- Brit and Tiff Krust
- Don Prima
- Queen Vexus
- Jenny's Sisters
- * XJ-1
- * XJ-2
- * XJ-3
- * XJ-4
- * XJ-5
- * XJ-6
- * XJ-7
- * XJ-8
- Smytus
- Krackus
- The Space Bikers
- * Letta
- * Olgo
- * Tammy
- * Lenny
- * Sledge
- The Teen Team
- * Orion
- * Squish
- * Misty
- Vega (and her friends)
- * Shell
- * Drab
- * Tuff
- Cluster Ambassador
Episodes
For a full list of episodes, see List of My Life as a Teenage Robot episodes.
The Cluster
The Cluster is a society of robots controlled by Queen Vexus in a manner similar to (and probably inspired by) the Borg of Star Trek. They seek to enslave humans, and have tried many times to assimilate Jenny.Jenny was first invited to The Cluster in a very friendly way. Now, she is ambushed by its queen, Vexus, to join The Cluster, usually by forced control. So far, they only took control of Jenny twice, but many more attempts to ensnare her will most likely occur. Vexus is not easy to point out, she comes in forms of humans and other robots. When she comes out of her disguise, she is a robot that looks similar to a queen bee and she always addresses Jenny as "Jennifer". When she is defeated, Vexus slashes something (usually electronical) and turns into the portal to Cluster. When Jenny opens it again, it is no longer the portal to The Cluster.
Vexus claims that the Cluster is a place where robots live in peace, for she feels that the robots of the universe have suffered "discrimination" and "unequal treatment" by humans. This, however, is merely a lie that Vexus uses to keep her (literally) iron fist in control of the planet. The true goal of the Cluster is to rule the universe and make the human race (among other species) their slaves. And one of the uses for human slave labor is to make "Clustard", a frozen yogurt treat concocted by the Clusterians.
Cluster Prime, the Cluster homeworld, is the capital of Vexus's empire. On the outside, it appears to be the robotic paradise that Vexus claims it is. Here, the robots work, play, and live peacefully. However, these robots may just as much be slaves to paradise as the humans are slaves to labor, as revealed in Escape from Cluster Prime. In this episode, we find out that Vexus uses lies and deception to keep her "loyal subjects" unaware of her true goals. One such scheme has Vexus hoarding the entire planet's supply of golden computer chips (for powering up a robot's weapon systems) and framing Jenny for the theft to discredit her. This way, Vexus can keep the planet from rebelling against her, and, at the same time, continue to be glorified by her people.
Trivia
- The name XJ-9 is similar to X-5, the name of a robot of Cartoon Network's Atomic Betty.
- It is never specifically stated exactly what year the series takes place in. The only real clue is in the episode I Was a Preschool Dropout, when Brad listed "Super Bowl 100" as one of the events Jenny missed. With "Super Bowl XL" having already taken place in 2006, it would be 2066 by the time Super Bowl 100 rolled around. The episode also states that Jenny has been activated for five years. By this evidence, it can be assumed that the year is at least 2071 when the series starts. Of course, this is up for debate.
- The Teen Team (in Teen Team Time) is modeled after the Teen Titans. Orion resemebles Cyborg, Squish resemebles Beast Boy, and Misty is sort of a cross between Raven and Jinx. The Teen Team is also similar to the "Team Teen" from an episode of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (In another connection, Janice Kawaye is the voice of both Jenny and Ami).
- This show was originally based off of the cartoon short My Neighbor is a Teenage Robot, which was featured on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons series. In this short, Jenny appeared to look more Japanese, and the title had a Asian appearance as well.
- For a short time, this series aired on TeenNick.
- Raggedy Android marks the first time that Jenny cries.
- In the episode Sibling Tsunami, the villains of the episode are called the Mad Hammer Brothers. Interestingly, they look similar to the Super Mario Bros. and have the same Italian accent.
- In the episode Pest Control, Vladamir is a parody of Mickey Mouse. Also, right when the episode is ending, Vladamir was to wear small, old Mickey Mouse shorts.
- In the episode A Robot for All Seasons, the kid who gets the hair tonic is a parody of Charlie Brown.
- Rob Renzetti was also the director of Oh Yeah! Cartoons.
- Sibling Tsunami reunites two voice actresses of Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Janice Kawaye and Kath Soucie.
- The original names for this series were My Neighbor is a Teenage Robot and also simply Teenage Robot.
- In the episode "Attack of the 51/2 Foot Geek," the gang causing trouble is called the "Lonley Hearts Club Gang". This is a reference to the Beatles' album and song, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
External links
- [My Life as a Teenage Robot] at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- [The Teenage Roblog] The official blog. Updated almost daily by alexkirtoon (Alex Kirwan) and RobotRenzetti (Rob Renzetti).
- [The Teenage Roblog X] The unofficial blog.
- [Teenage Robot on TV.com]
- [The Tremorton ProBoard] An important fan discussion forum and many fan stuff.
- [teenagerobot.tk] Videostreaming of many episodes dubbed in English, Spanish and German.
- [Teenage Robot on Youtube.com] The MLaaTR videos and episodes in Youtube.com
- ''[Petition by blak] Petition for a 4th Season or a "series finale" (thanks to Petition Online).
- [El Laboratorio] Website devoted to Mrs. Wakeman
- [Jenny & Brad at Animated Couples] Webpage listing hints of romance between them
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