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.
Intro
As the opening credits will have you believe, Freakazoid (Paul Rugg) visits Washington D.C. a lot. The episode opens with Freakazoid at the capital celebrating a job well done. On what? He will not share, but he does state that he decided to start the episode early. What we do know is that it brings out a crowd to adorn him, including Princess Di and Sharon Stone (both Tress MacNeille), who end up fighting for Freakazoid's love. We eventually see that Freakazoid and President Clinton (Frank Welker) are good friends and that Freakazoid managed to deactivate a bomb. By showing his process, he reactivates it and decides to say "Let me be the first to say... ouch."
The issue with the segment is mostly that it feels very dated in 90's pop culture figures. Without context, no one will know who Princess Di or Sharon Stone is, and the joke will not work. Of course, the joke makes no sense to begin with, as it seems odd that two women from totally different economic backgrounds would rustle through a crowd like that.
However, the entire segment ends with a great gag in which a woman known as the Network Censor (Rugg) tries to apologize for the previously seen segment. Midway through conversation, she gets hit by an anvil. If Freakazoid does anything ambitious, it is teaching kids to make fun of people that censor you. It may be a gag way too simple and obvious, but it really works in small doses.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Mo-Ron
Continuing the "live from Washington D.C." vibe of this episode, we return to the lawn of the White House, where a flying saucer shaped like a nipple comes and lands on the lawn. With Clinton, Freakazoid, and an entire army hidden behind barracks, an alien (Stan Freberg) comes out of the ship. He is obese, dumb looking, and talks funny. Most of all, he is only able to say one thing "I am Mo-Ron," which leads Freakazoid to question if there really is intelligent life in the galaxy. Mo-Ron attempts to share information that is deemed important, but he cannot remember it without reciting his only possible dialogue.
The army decides to open fire on the ship, which does little but throw dust onto the ship. Still, Mo-Ron cannot say anything except "I am Mo-Ron." However, this also causes Mo-Ron to wobble unconscious until he falls over. A bit with the Network Censor immediately follows apologizing for the bit, only to end with an anvil on her head again.
This may be a satire of intelligent life in the galaxy, but the joke is so one-note that it is impossible to get more than one laugh out of having an imbecile recite "I am Mo-Ron" for five minutes. Even Freakazoid seems annoyed with it. Mo-Ron may be one of the lesser Freakazoid characters, as he doesn't really contribute much besides low level laughs that sometimes were better off being cut from the script.
Rating: 1 out of 5
The Sewer Rescue
And now the introduction of the second non-Freakazoid Freakazoid segment: Lord Bravery (Jeff Bennett). Including a theme song sung by Rob Paulsen, Lord Bravery is essentially a posh superhero who is too uptight to do any rescuing. Also, from the sound of every accent in this segment, they are probably in Britain. He wants to be so much more, but doesn't use his abilities to achieve that. When he refuses to do things, he essentially gets taunted by saying that the victims will call Superman, who will do anything to save a life.
"The Sewer Rescue" starts with Bravery at his home with mother (Mark Slaughter) and grandmother (Tress MacNeille) hounding him to chores around the house. He is busy listening to something on the computer when the grandmother throws a plant at him. He begins insulting them for not being able to get their own tea from a nearby kitchen. Soon, he is being yelled at for not getting sugar. This leads the two women to request that he goes to the store and buy some things. If not, Superman would do it. That clearly bothers him.
So he is flying and he hears someone crying for help. A man in a sewer (Michael Des Barres) is trapped and needs help out. The segment turns into a shouting match between the two. Bravery even requests a young boy to film him being a hero, even detailing the correct way to frame the shot. When the boy runs away, Bravery becomes too upset to climb down into the sewer to rescue him. The ridiculous nature grows and grows until he also threatens him with a request to call Superman. Eventually Bravery falls into the sewer and despite being able to fly, is also stuck.
Like most of the episode, this character is very one-note. However, his posh nature is not as tiresome as say the insipid Mo-Ron. This is very much a satire on the British reluctance and making a superhero out of it. Even the simple yelling of why Bravery will not go into the sewer is charmingly ridiculous and makes for the highlight of an episode that otherwise feels dated and dragging its feet to fill time.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Transitions
This is followed by more proof that the episode needed padding. The segment begins with a field of asteroids and a camera panning across the universe. We see planets and stars. This is quickly interrupted by a Special Report from the WB. Freakazoid is doing a newscaster-style rant in which he tries to figure out what the WB acronym stands for. His ideas? Water bucket, wimpy boy, or even wet banana. He really doesn't know. The segment ends with the Narrator (Joe Leahy) using one of Freakazoid's made up acronyms to go back into the regularly scheduled broadcast.
There is also a pointless but entertaining segment in which Freakazoid plays "Chopsticks" on a grand piano in an amphitheater. There isn't much of a joke other than the ending sounds a little clunky. It kind of works in a weird offbeat way, though never really fits into the actual narrative.
Again, this feels like filler for an episode that had nothing for it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Big Question
The ship eventually lands on Earth, where the inhabitants, Krimson Kvetch (Maurice LaMarche) come bearing a very hard question: what is the doll Barbie's sister's name? After some negotiations with Clinton, Freakazoid tells them Skipper. He accepts that answer, and upon takeoff, tells a cheering group of unseen aliens who are happy with the answer. Mo-Ron is there to give Freakazoid a big hug.
However, this whole segment along with the previous provided plenty of joyful moments to make it madcap and fun. While the Barbie joke may have been a little pointless and dated, it was more in the context that the aliens had no idea and found it significant. There is being dumb on the level of Mo-Ron, and then there is just asking a simple question. Krimson has the edge of the supporting characters this week.
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Legends Who Lunch
The final segment here doesn't really have a punchline. The set up is that Freakazoid is a waiter at a restaurant and is serving a group that is old superheroes. In this particular segment, they are talking about Aquaman and all the pros and cons of his career. That's really all that it is. I suppose if you knew anything about Aquaman, it would make for some comical moments, but otherwise, this just feels like another piece of filler in which the gag is a bunch of old people talking about the past. Maybe this is a satire on war veterans. Who knows.
I am glad that Freakazoid had the ability to introduce nerd culture to children in such a clever way, but I don't see how they could grasp onto this. Sure, Aquaman may have been bigger in the 90's. I don't know for sure. But what they are saying doesn't grasp me on a uninitiated level. It is one of those many segments that felt designed for culture and class in a cartoon, which doesn't always work.
Rating: 2 out of 5
The Ending
The episode ends with Freakazoid in the same amphitheater from the "Chopsticks" segment. He is thanking the crowd for coming. He even states that he hopes that they enjoyed watching it as much as the cast and crew enjoyed making it. Pan over to these people fighting violently among themselves. Freakazoid retracts the statement and states that he hopes that the audience enjoyed it more than they did.
Mo-Ron comes out for one last hurrah. He finally remembers the message. A comet it colliding towards Earth. The amphitheater empties out, and Freakazoid carries Mo-Ron as he gives his final goodbyes. The comet blows up the amphitheater and that is the episode.
It manages to be a humble way to an episode that had little or anything really to offer. There were even some funny moments which could have made it redeemable, including when the audience threw flowers towards the stage as well as other debris. Still, when a secondary character manages to steal the highlight of the episode, you know that you have problems.
However, ending the entire episode with a black and white video about having nothing for next week is rather troublesome commentary on everything we just saw. It is great when you isolate it, but feels like an insult otherwise.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5
This episode did not hold up very well. As much as I enjoy Freakazoid, I will admit that the first batch of episodes were very hit and miss. So far, there hasn't been one that has perfected the formula that made the show great. This episode manages to feature a lot of the worse elements that the show had. With exception to Lord Bravery, who manages to work as the great British superhero satire, there is not much to take away from this episode. Mo-Ron especially feels grating and his long drawn out pauses only makes the rest of this episode feel like it didn't have much going on.
There is plenty of ambition to be sure. The idea that aliens and the White House got together quite a bit may be a very 90's theme, but it still works. However, who knew the characters in the opening were Lady Di and Sharon Stone? These figures do not hold up. This is the grab bag version of Freakazoid where you have to get the reference to get the joke. That is not what I like about the show.
Also, unfortunately no Cosgrove (Ed Asner) this week. Even if he just said two lines in this, it may have been a little better. However, the Network Censor is a great invention and I love this show's attempt to satirize the media by simply dropping anvils on the perceived evil forces. It happened three times in this episode, and every time it was rather great.
I wish that I could say more positive about this episode, but it really does suffer from dated humor and ambition over cohesiveness. Is "The Legends Who Lunch" really interesting to anyone? Did Mo-Ron's lack of intelligence really need to be drawn out and brought up in every segment? This episode suffered from that lowbrow bar that it didn't need to reach for.
I am sure that the show will get better when it begins to have singular stories and not a million smaller segments to fill in time. It just feels sloppy and attempting to rip off Animaniacs. I will give them a pass, as this is only their third episode and they are still finding their voice, but the series is only 24 episodes. Each moment is precious.
Check out more of my work at www.nevpodcast.com where I post every Wednesday and have a podcast called Nerd's Eye View.
Comments
Post a Comment