TV Rewind: Freakazoid - "The Chip: Part 1"


*Special note: There will be no Sunday edition of TV Rewind this week. Make sure to come back next week when things are back to normal.

Hello and welcome to TV Rewind, a series that will explore the shows of yesteryear and dissect them one episode at a time. My goal is to explore lesser known programs that you may not be aware existed. For my first series, I have chosen Freakazoid!, a beloved cartoon that ran on the WB from 1995-1997 and made for some weird, Animaniacs-style parodies of the superhero genre. I will attempt to give you the goods every weekend, just like the actual show. While I may not do it every week, make sure to look out for double headers in which I review episodes on Saturday and Sunday.


*Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally made it to the full story episodes! This is the point of the show that I have been looking forward to for a long time. While segmented shows will come and go week to week, we have gotten to my favorite version of the episodes.

The Chip: Part 1

I must admit that this is the Freakazoid that I remember being fond of as a child. Where many episodes prior relied too heavily on smaller bit characters to fill out time, it feels they are on the right path to telling the ridiculous stories that we have come to associate with the show. This isn't quite the variety show anymore. What better way to announce this than with a two part episode detailing Freakazoid's (Paul Rugg) origins?
The episode starts with an introduction by motion picture president Jack Valenti (voiced by himself), who is consulting the audience on the mail that he receives. A lot of it has to do with how wonderful his cheeks are. However, he eventually gets to a letter detailing a fan's wish to know more about the origin of Freakazoid. This prompts Valenti to announce that they have a motion picture made detailing this very story. It cuts to the rest of the episode.
In a boardroom at Apex, the very Scottish Roddy MacStew (Craig Ferguson) is yelling at Armondo Gutierrez (Ricardo Montalban) over the defects of the Pinnacle chip. MacStew claims that it will cause irrefutable damage and turn people into a "freakazoid," which he claims is what it sounds like. Gutierrez doesn't care for MacStew's ramblings and tosses him out of a window. This of course prompts MacStew to yell a few profanities, which happen to be excessive use of the word "crud!"
We finally get to see Dexter Douglas (David Kaufman) in his natural environment for more than a few minutes. It is Christmas Day and he is gathered with the Douglases as they open presents. There is his apathetic mother Debbie (Tress MacNeille), absent minded father Douglas (John P. McCann), his athletic brother Duncan (Googy Gress), and the beloved obese cat Mr. Chubbikins (Frank Welker). As they open presents, Duncan gets more exercise equipment, and Dexter gets a computer chip that will make his computer faster. His mother is bored by his ramblings and tells him to shut up as he excuses himself to test it out.
In his room, he installs the computer. However, when he connects to the internet, he looks for the code necessary to access it. He searches his messy floor as Mr. Chubbikins walks all over the keyboard chasing a moth. When Dexter finally finds it, he sits down at the computer and is perplexed by a code that appears on the computer:
"@[=g3,8d]\=-9]/hk%fg"
What is not known is that the Pinnacle chip is accessed by typing in this sequence and then pressing the delete button. This will cause the Freakazoid effect to take place. Dexter does just this and he is soon transported into the computer in a realm that looks very much like the inside of a computer. He rides wires and travels over valleys of chips. His visit is very bizarre, but it eventually turns him into Freakazoid, which he wrestles with for most of the rest of the episode.
Once out of the computer, he uncontrollably goes back and forth between Dexter and Freakazoid simply by pulling on a zipper. Freakazoid decides to take advantage of the new found strength and wrestles Duncan in the bathroom, which makes the Douglas parents proud to finally see Dexter taking part in a non-nerdy activity. He does take a break from this fighting to travel to Tibet to tell a guy raking dirt to be quiet. It should be noted that he is travelling at lightning speed, which seems to be incoherent to the rest of the series, which sees Freakazoid running at a normal pace with his hands in the air.
Around this time, MacStew shows up to the Douglas residence and asks to speak to Dexter. Debbie answers and questions his motives. MacStew eventually passes him off as his driving instructor, claiming that he is teaching on this holiday because he is a very bad driver. Once MacStew meets Dexter/Freakazoid, he gives all of the exposition necessary for Dexter to understand the new found powers. Eventually Gutierrez has found MacStew and Dexter, which prompts them to get arrested. The only way out was to have Dexter turn into Freakazoid and stop them, which Dexter doesn't know how to do.
At the headquarters of Gutierrez, the interrogation begins. Dexter tries providing personal information like home address, but what Gutierrez really wants is the Pinnacle chip. He wants to know the powers of Freakazoida s well. When it is discovered that Mr. Chubbikins types the information, they have an psychologist for cats (Rugg) talk it over. It eventually comes to the point where Gutierrez demands that he talks, or his also kidnapped family will be executed. This creates a cliffhanger.
There is also a running gag that Valenti provides a breakdown of the MPAA rating system. He pulls out a board with magnet characters representing family. From G to NC-17, he discusses which of these figures are fine seeing what rating. Most of the characters are removed because they were not interested in the film, or suffer from a lazy tummy. Eventually the last ones standing are grandpa and Sgt. Scruffy, who is just a dumb dog, making the situation all the more ridiculous. 


Rating: 4.5 out of 5




Okay, so Cosgrove was once again not in an episode. I will admit that I do not see how it would logically work for this to happen, as this is the origin story. We have yet to get to the portion of the history in which it would make sense for Freakazoid to befriend a cop. However, I must admit that a close second as far as great mentors go is Roddy MacStew. He may basically be a stereotypical version of Scottish people who say "crud" way too much, but when voiced by Ferguson, there is a lot of great moments that are drawn from him. He is so wacky that even his interior monologue in this episode manages to show a man going crazy. However, the best moment came when it is finally revealed what MacStew plans to be to Dexter: a driving instructor. Such a brilliantly absurd yet reasonable scenario.
Another positive note is that we finally get to spend time with Dexter and his family. Up to this point, we saw him in "Dance of Doom," and that was it. He was in and out almost in two minutes. We never got to understand him. Now that we do, it is a nice parallel to the nerd culture of that of obese Star Trek lover Fan Boy. He is still weak and has a bad hunch, but he has some smarts to him that doesn't come across as creepy. This makes him exceptionally likable and even if the origin of Freakazoid (which is played out every week in the credits) seems a little bit too much like Tron, it also feels like it predates the Matrix in the concept of going into a computer to find your destiny.
Also, it is another reference to an ooey gooey worm. If you remember, it also made an appearance in "the Cloud." Maybe he will pop up again, or is this pretty much just a coincidence? 
It is also great to see Mr. Chubbikins, the beloved fat cat that started this whole mess. He is silent, bumbling, yet very lovable. It is hard to imagine not liking this character if you like cats. Also, he should be popping up randomly from here on out. I really hope he does. He is so awesome.
However, what makes this episode really good is not only the narrative, but the fact that they wrangled in actors of merit. It is true that Mark Hamill in a previous installment, but here we see the biggest guest star to date: Ricardo Montalban! He is pretty much playing a parody of the villains that he would have played anyways. This one feels very much like a James Bond parody, what with the eye patch and sinister walk. It may be a subtle nod to old school villains, but it is still infectious if you get it.
It is also nice to know that Jack Valenti actually voiced himself. For years I thought it was just another voice actor. However, it makes the segment in which he dissects the MPAA ratings all the more satisfying. It is ridiculous, silly, and also very informative to a generation who has yet to have concern for the ratings. This is what I like about the show. It manages to remain informative at times while also providing laughs.
It is also pretty great to just hold this as a sign of how far we have come since the 90's in terms of technology. In this episode, we see nothing more than a few lines of text being the gateway into the realm. It was simpler then, and just the notion of computers makes it a pretty fun think to look back on. 
This episode feels like it achieves the right balance of childhood nerd (even if there were no deliberate Justice League references). Computers, 80's villains, Scottish men, and beating up jocks is all part of the amalgamation that is the 90's youth. This is a solid look into the show and will hopefully be a basis for more grand episodes in the weeks to come



Check out more of my work at www.nevpodcast.com where I post every Wednesday and have a podcast called Nerd's Eye View.

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