Saturday, October 9, 2004

Cartoon Chronicles: Super Madness #4

I'm currently holding my mom's Kill Bill Vol. 2 DVD hostage. If she wants it back, she's gonna have to give me back my Usher CD. Seriously, I bought that CD back when it first came out, and my mom's been "borrowing" it sense June. Then again, who am I to talk? I borrowed Jason's Final Fantasy 7 a long time ago, and I still haven't beaten it. I had to give a 6-8 minute speech in my (no surprise) Speech class. Aside from my speech going 6 minutes over the limit (I think it took 14 minutes), I think I did fairly well. It was an informative speech, with a topic of my choosing. I chose to explain the process of animating an... animation. You know, cartoons. I even threw in a few clips from my Clerks and Critic DVDs, just to keep my audience entertained. When the Q&A portion came up, I got a ton of anime questions, especially from the parents in the class who were concerned with what their kids are watching. At least we know some parents are involved with what their kids are watching. I'm back on the job hunt, and I've got my eye on Kinkos. I already know how to use a lot of office equipment, I have data-entry experience from working at Cunningham, and I work well with the public. Besides, my old printer isn't compatible with Windows XP, and I'm sick of printing all of my homework at Kinkos for $0.50 per page. I needs me some of them there employee discounts. And because I just want to annoy the whole lot of you by making you read MORE, here's today's chronicle... Freakazoid That was quite a jolt, Freak. Man, I loved this show. Keep in mind, this wasn't a serious superhero show. For one thing, it was written by Paul Dini (the guy behind the Duck Dodgers TV series and several episodes of Tiny Toons). It was very campy, centered around humor, and never took itself seriously. That's not to say there weren't the occasional daring heroics. The story starts at a conglomerate computer company. They've just released their newest processor chip; the Petticoat Chip™. A programmer, a Scottish stereotype named Roddy, runs into a board meeting with urgent news. If a user, with the P.Chip installed, presses a complex series of keys followed by the Delete key, they will be sucked into the cyber world and turned into a freakazoid! Enter average nerdy teenager, Dexter Douglas. He just got the P.Chip for his birthday, and immediately installed it. However, while turning his back on his PC, his cat walks across the keyboard. Dexter sees what his cat accidentally typed, and tries to delete it. Long story short (too late), Dexter can turn into a superhero known as Freakazoid. Freak has the power to... uh... I think he has super speed. He also has general cartoony wackiness on his side, as well as a few verbal jokes you'd have to be an adult to get. He had no official sidekick, but there were a few candidates; Freakadog, Fanboy, ect. The show also featured a few other heroes and their exploits. This includes Huntsman, a hero with a hyped-up theme song, who would rush to the police department every night, only to find there are no crimes for him to stop. Another was Lord Bravery, an English hero who nobody respected. He once tried to save a man who fell down a manhole, but the victim demanded Superman save him instead. And don't even get me started on the time a bakery trademarked the name "Lord Bravery", and he wound up changing his name to Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes. The show had an amazing level of self-awareness, making jokes at its own cancellation during the second season. Superman The Animated Series had premiered during Freakazoid's second season, and there were several instances when Superman appeared on Freakazoid. There was even an episode where Roddy was teaching Freakazoid new superpowers, so they could get a third season. Sadly, it didn't happen. Freakazoid lasted 2 years on the air, got syndicated on Cartoon Network a couple years later, and has now completely disappeared. Would I recommend it? If you're a geek, then yes. This show thrived on obscure references, and bashed fanboys regularly (ie. the annoying Fanboy character). Next time: Plastic Man. Make no mistake. Pacific Islanders will get insulted. Much Love

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