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.
Dexter's Date
We have officially done it. We have reached season 2 of Freakazoid! I want to thank everyone for sticking with me through the rough and tumble. I'm hoping that this season is a lot better, though when you begin with "Dexter's Date," it is easy to assume that it will. After a brief, incoherent musical number that isn't worth mentioning (it really does feel like filler), it immediately jumps into the episode.
With a little help from the Narrator (Joe Leahy), we get the back story to everything that is going to happen tonight. Dexter (David Kaufman) is walking out of Harry Connick High and sees Steff (Tracey Rowe). He asks her out on a date, which leaves her puzzles on Dexter's dating life. However, she agrees to eventually to go out on a date in a very unconvinced way.
Cut to six months later, and the Douglases are driving Dexter and Steff to the Washington Gardens for their first date. Mother Debbie (Tress MacNeille) is very encouraging, but warns Dexter about his allergies to cake sheets. This starts a brief awkward conversation between the couple as they walk in. As they sign in, the waiter (Rob Paulsen) makes fun of them because Debbie made the reservations for them at this very nice auditorium. He ends up making them sit on the love seat nearby.
News breaks out about a fiasco happening at the nearby NCB Studios. The Lobe (David Warner) is taking everyone hostage and is watching a show that is Seinfeld in looks and names, but never outright referenced. He has taken the employees kidnapped and is waiting for Freakazoid (Paul Rugg) to show up. When Dexter hears this news, he runs into the bathroom, turns into Freakazoid, washes his hands, and jumps out the window.
After crashing through the NCB building's walls, he runs into the Lobe, who is now getting antsy for some action. Freakazoid states that he needs to get back to Washington Gardens, because he is on a date. He promises that he will fight the Lobe soon, but not tonight. The Lobe doesn't like this and starts getting into a scuffle that results in him tied up in electrical chords in a chair. Freakazoid accidentally rips a chord and gets electrocuted before heading back to Washington Gardens.
Outside, he runs into Cosgrove (Ed Asner). In the least climactic interaction to date, Freakazoid tells Cosgrove that the Lobe is tied up inside. However, Cosgrove is more interested in going out for yogurt. Freakazoid is not interested and decides to try and take off. He is slower than usual tonight and has electric current running through his system. When Freakazoid leaves, he turns to the camera and asks the audience if they want to go out for some yogurt. This is immediately finished with a "Maybe later."
Back in the bathroom, Freakazoid tries turning back into Dexter. Something about the electrocution is keeping him from turning back properly. Cue a long line of pop culture figures with iconic faces, including David Letterman in blue face. In the brief segment that he is Dexter, the waiter finds him kissing the mirror in a fit of relief, assuming that he is practicing the first kiss. As he drags him out, however, he turns into the Skipper from Gilligan's Island. This gag happens another time before the waiter begins panicking that he is losing his mind. The one hilarious gag in this whole sequence is that Freakazoid has managed to pull the sink out of the bathroom. After finding Dexter holding it, the waiter nonchalantly throws it against the wall. There is something so subtle and brilliant about that moment that tickles me.
Meanwhile, the Lobe decides to come visit the Washington Gardens. Employees are excited to see him and immediately prepare. This is odd notably because he is a villain who just wrecked NCB Studios and hasn't been seen at that establishment in years. Still, he shows up with his henchmen Medulla (Jeff Bennett) and Oblongata (Larry Cedar). Without much delay, the Lobe breaks into an extensive song routine called "Bonjour, Lobey" (parodying Hello Dolly) that goes on for 4+ minutes and features singers (Jess Harnell) complimenting the Lobe's big head and how diabolical he can be. There is also an unexplained extended riff with a Louis Armstrong in blue face. This is all very showy, but still feels like the show's most realized filler to date.
Eventually, Freakazoid and the Lobe have a discussion about how to turn Freakazoid back into Dexter. The Lobe simply states that he needs to drink tap water. First, however, he needs to chase him just so that the Lobe can get some thrills. He does so in an extended riff that features them crashing through the kitchen, riding desert carts, and climbing over tables. Very destructive. The dinner patrons find it amusing and applaud anyways.
The episode ends with the Lobe being arrested and Cosgrove asking Freakazoid about the yogurt invitation. He still says no and runs to the bathroom to drink tap water. This works and he rushes down to Steff, who is enthused about the spectacle that she just witnessed. As she affectionately gets intimate with Dexter and kisses him, he faints.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Before I continue with my analysis, let me share some factoids. My Justice League theory is making more sense every week. On the Freakazoid season 2 DVD, they had advertisement for Green Lantern and Batman Beyond themed films. However, this is not the same as referencing the Justice League, but makes me understand that I am not looking at the business side of Warner Bros as closely as I should be.
Also, before I dive into my disinterest in the "Bonjour Lobey" number, here is what I found at the end of the credits:
"One time a space ship full of aliens came down and kidnapped our writing staff. The aliens threatened to blow up the Earth with a solonite bomb unless the writing staff wrote a big, splashy musical number for the Lobe. The writing staff worked for days on the song. The aliens were so pleased with it they agreed not to blow up the Earth. So the next time someone says, "I don't know why they did that real long musical number in Freakazoid," you can tell them. You can tell them of the time a rag-tag group of cartoon writers saved the Earth from destruction. And that each new day that dawns over this great, big blue planet of ours is due to these brave individuals."
With modern technology, that was easy to stop and read. I got to admit that I really enjoy this gag and it almost makes up for my lack of interest in the segment that they are talking about.
Like I've stated, I never understood the appeal of "Bonjour Lobey" as anything more than filler. I get the idea of him making a grand entrance, but it still feels a little flat, even with the excessive references to the Lobe's big fat head. It keeps going on and on so that by the time it gets to the Louis Armstrong parody, I just wanted it to end. It wasn't a terrible song, but it felt like the show just needed to fill time, and they did it in a very odd and unsuccessful way.
The rest of the episode was pretty solid on the account of we finally get to spend time with Steff and Dexter, which hasn't happened to date. We get to see the awkward dynamic and the parody of awkward first dates was really good. I still love the sink tossing gag, even if it was very inessential. I just enjoyed that every time something was going right for the waiter, Freakazoid turned into a blue faced celebrity.
However, this episode felt a little flat in other places for me. Like "In Arms Way," there were good ideas, but it felt like there wasn't any time to build an interesting central plot. We had the wild Freakazoid/The Lobe chase, but it didn't fit tonally with the other half, which was never established beyond Dexter running to the bathroom. It had a few laughs, but the dynamics have been played stronger.
However, the recurring gags of Debbie waving from the car saying "Have a good, now" and the mob guys saying "Now there's a happy man" are great. Freakazoid is a show that excels at taking those small awkward moments and playing them right before the point of overkill. They aren't funny by themselves, but the art of repetition serves in their favor. I hope the show does it more often.
I just wish that the Lobe's plot was more interesting than wanting Freakazoid to chase him around. It felt kind of like an obvious and boring concept only made more annoying by the song number. However, I found it peculiar why they could make such a reference to Seinfeld without stating that it was Seinfeld. I mean, the names Jerry, Newman, and Kramer are all referenced and the studio is NCB, so why not go the whole mile? Of course, this is the WB that we are talking about, but it felt like an odd moment that could have lead to an interesting segment about the Lobe skewering sitcoms instead of crashing Washington Gardens.
It was a decent episode and it had its moments, but I don't consider it one of my favorites. I know that "Bonjour Lobey" has its fans, but not me. It felt like an additional thing to make this episode longer, even if the post-credits gag really made up for it.
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