TV Rewind: Freakazoid - "The Cloud"

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.

*Before I dive into this week's episode, I want to announce something interesting. As I am going based on the outline of the DVD releases, the actual episode is different from the one that aired. The DVD has paired "The Cloud" segment with a rerun of "Candlejack." However, in syndication, "The Cloud" was paired with "In Arm's Way," which will appear later on in the series. Since we have already covered "Candlejack," the segment will be edited out and focus entirely on the sole new segment "The Cloud." "In Arm's Way" will appear later on when it is reached on the DVD set.

The Cloud

The episode begins with two hikers climbing up the side of a mountain. It is dark and very scary. They are looking skyward towards a glowing cloud. They begin talking to it only to see a third part drop from it. Luckily he is tied to a rope. The two try and pull him to safety, but alas, there is no luck and he is left on a lower cliff. Suddenly, a party screams and acknowledges the reason that he did so is because the man now looks like a clown.

This cuts to an opening credits sequence very similar to North by Northwest. It is very funny in how simple it is. One arrow comes across the screen to point to the credits. It is very anticlimactic and subtle. It is a nice set-up to what would be one of the most stern Freakazoid parodies to date.

After the credits, it focuses in on Freakazoid (Paul Rugg), who is riding a train and sleeping on another man. When being awoken on account that Freakazoid is using his toupee for a pillow, the man introduces himself as Lyle Spanger (Clive Revill). The begin talking and it is realized that they are both heading to the town of Schnitzel to do something. Freakazoid tunes out when Spanger begins to go on an elaborate rant that causes text reading "Way too much info!" to flash across the screen.

Once in Schnitzel, Freakazoid meets Hans (Larry Cedar), who is going to be Freakazoid's guide as he goes up to the mountain to explore what Hans calls spooky things. They take a chairlift up to the mountain, which gets Freakazoid excited, as it reminds him of Disneyland. However, Hans insists that the ride that he is speaking of has been removed. This causes him to overreact and cry his heart out.

Once at the top of the mountain, Freakazoid and Hans go into a laboratory where he meets Professor Heiny (Ed Gilbert). They are really good friends. In fact, their opening conversation is spoken almost simultaneously:

"Ooey gooey was a worm, oh gooey worm was he. He sat upon a railroad track, a trail he did not see. Ooey gooey."

Once this was said, the two get down to business to try and figure out how to take down the cloud. They notice that Spanger is also in the mountain for some reason. Spanger gets abducted by the cloud and turns into a clown zombie. This causes much speculation, though Freakazoid is still bummed out by the ride being closed at Disneyland.

Suddenly, who should knock upon the door but Cosgrove (Ed Asner), who wants to take Freakazoid to do some go cart racing. When Freakazoid refuses, he suggests that Freakazoid take care of the big cloud outside. Freakazoid acknowledges that the mountain air made Cosgrove cheerful and springy, which gave him the idea to get it for Cosgrove's birthday.

Once Freakazoid was outside and by the cloud, the perpetrator finally shows his face. It was the Lobe (David Warner), who created the cloud. After an exposition on how the Lobe wishes that clowns took over the world, Freakazoid insults him and tells him that it was a bad idea. The Lobe gets discouraged and leaves. However, this isn't without Freakazoid secretly being enthused by how clever the plan actually was. 

The segment ends with everything going back to normal and Freakazoid and Cosgrove finally riding off to do go cart racing.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

It is a shame that I am left with only one segment to review this week, but at least it was a really good one. If anything, we should be excited to note that Cosgrove is finally back and I miss his spirit. He is so eager to do go cart racing that he doesn't seem to notice the chaos going on outside. In fact, it is a wonder that he didn't turn into a clown on his way up the mountain. This isn't his funniest segment, but just the whole candid demeanor is enough for me to be glad that he is back.

I really enjoy that the segment takes a fairly serious concept of abduction and turns it into a farcical premise that involves clouds and clowns. It makes no sense, but in the Freakazoid world, what does? The terror is replaced with punchlines and the overacting is replaced with what feels like a small promo for the days when there were better rides at Disneyland. Yes, there is so much that works when Freakazoid does satire correctly. Even the "Ooey gooey" bit, as much of tangent as it was, is fun.

This show has a strong sense of fun most of the time, and even the oddball characters like Hans choice to break out and say "spooky stuff" in a tone that screams "for lack of a better phrase." While secondary segments often don't work on the show, secondary characters in the main segments are often brilliant caricatures of old school characters that are meant to instill fear. Hans is such a great character that it is a shame that he won't probably be back as a regular.

It is hard to tell if this segment was an advancement in the right direction solely on the purpose that this isn't actually chronologically in the right place, instead paired up pointlessly with "Candlejack." However, it is still a great segment, and I am kind of a big fan of the simplicity and mundane outline of the North by Northwest credits parody. Hopefully the next episode will see a full episode of fresh and new stuff.

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