TV Rewind: Freakazoid - "Five Day Forecast/The Dance of Doom/Handman"

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.

Five Day Forecast

The series opens on a scene that will come to be familiar to the tangential nature of the show. Freakazoid (Paul Rugg) is describing a terrible storm in an over dramatic style. Clouds are bursting behind him and it looks like all hell is going to break loose. Without missing a beat, he manages to pull away the dark clouds and reveal a weather chart. He is giving the weather, and states that the weather will get better after these terrible conditions.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Dance of Doom

The first full segment follows the theme song, which reveals everything that we need to know about the show: our hero, Dexter Douglas (David Kaufman) is a computer geek who got sucked into the internet and can now turn into a superhero that runs around in his underwear named Freakazoid by simply screaming "Freak out!" To turn back to Dexter, he says "Freak in!"

Of course, women don't like him, and when it turns out that there is a dance at his school Harry Connick High, he cannot seem to get a date. He decides to spend the time sitting in his room looking at the finances for the rest of his life. His cheerful, upbeat mom (Tress MacNeille) is thankful that he is staying home, but cannot help but chime in "Oh, that's very sad."

Meanwhile, a blue, prehistoric villain named Cave Guy (Jeff Bennett) is running amok in the city. The narrator (Joe Leahy) is revealing important plot points, including a weird guy with a watch that turns rodents into gold. He also states that a mysterious vigilante that has a silhouette similar to Batman could save them, but he is on another network. Instead, we must wonder who can take down Cave Guy, who subscribes to the New Yorker and talks with an upper class accent despite garish appearances. He decides to attack Harry Connick High, which is in the middle of a dance to celebrate Day Lights Savings Time.

Word gets to Dexter, and he is on his way. During his journey of running with his hands in the air while making sounds, Freakazoid is stopped by Cosgrove (Ed Asner), who is excited to see Freakazoid. He offers to buy him a mint, which Freakazoid considers filling. Despite feeling somewhat congested, the two head over to the school afterwards and attempt to take down Cave Guy.

Well, Freakazoid does, anyways. He tries to calm the scared crowd by having them lower themselves to the ground. He then goes after Cave Guy, who ends up chasing him on top of a basketball post. With Cave Guy pulling down, Freakazoid lets go of the back board, which snaps and knocks Cave Guy unconscious. He is thus arrested. Even the man with the watch is told to leave, as he is a nuisance.

Outside, he meets the girls who dump him. They are excited that he has rescues them. After playing games with them, he begins making out with one, and tells the camera that it was cheap and soulless. However, he really liked it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

If you had no idea that this was in the same vein as Animaniacs, the segment joining "Dance of Doom" to "Hand Man" should hip you to the fact. It is mostly a rehash of the familiar theme song to the other show, replaced with almost every villain and character that we will be privy to as the show carries on. It is crazy, often a little off, but nevertheless an acceptable way of showing crossover.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Hand Man

This is supposed to be part of the Sidekick Chronicles, in which Freakazoid looks for a new sidekick to fight crime with. We join our hero fighting the Lobe (David Warner), who has a million guns pointed at him. The Lobe is basically a man with a big brain for a head in a lab coat and wouldn't be too surprising to speak of diabolical schemes. Here he thinks that he has Freakazoid cornered, but it turns out that he has a trick up his sleeve, if you will.

Meet Hand Man, his new sidekick who is basically a drawn on pair of eyes with a French accent and cannot pronounce Freakazoid for the life of him. After forcing Hand Man to sound it out, they finally figure out a way to take down the Lobe, which is through insanity. This is followed by the appearance of Hand Girl, who adamantly begins making out with Hand Man.

This progresses to a Las Vegas wedding chapel scene where the two are kissing at the altar with Freakazoid as priest. He is saying the vows, only to claim that one should have the upper hand. The episode ends with them at an island resort in which the two hands are making out. Meanwhile, Freakazoid has people on his feet, who are arguing that they are cold. 

It doesn't make sense and what starts off as a decent joke feels like it goes a little too far to go for the payoff. However, the general idea of Hand Man works in brevity, and thankfully it may go over, but it doesn't do it by that much.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

These recaps will be a little bit different than my other recaps in that I will grade each segment on their own merits. However, my post-summary will be the same in which I talk about the good and bad elements of the show. 

While I have an undying love for the Animaniacs, I feel that Freakazoid! is slightly more underrated. It only ran two seasons, and the creators have gone on record as saying that they made things up as they went. Luckily the premise and protagonist was ridiculous enough that it didn't matter. However, you have to admire a show that snuck in a Glen or Glenda ("Pull the string") into a children's cartoon. 

I just love the zany nature of this show, and I feel that "Dance of Doom" is a good example of what is to come from the series as a whole. The villains aren't that cleverly diabolical, and instead just really campy and fun. This is like if Batman from the 60's got stuck in a blender with Looney Tunes on a small dose of downers. It is hilarious and very meta. It doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a relief.

I am also a really big fan of Cosgrove. He is the police officer who comes on for five seconds, distracts the hero, and says the most ridiculous thing possible. He is great, and having Ed Asner voice him is genius. I may incorporate his quotes into the show somehow, as I feel that they need to be heard and enjoyed.

I will admit that some of the segments don't work as well as a result, but the energy is there, and I cannot deny that I am going to look forward to watching every episode skewer the superhero genre on a bi-weekly basis. I think more than anything, I picked this show just to have something fun to write about.

*I know that Louie is coming to an end and Breaking Half ends on Monday. Do know that I will be rolling out plans soon to compensate for this in the near future. What will my new TV recaps be? Stay tuned to find out.



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