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.
We have reached the time in Freakazoid's history where we get overly Spielbergian. To inform those who didn't grow up in the 90's, Spielberg produced a lot of cartoon shows through his Amblin Productions company for Kids' WB, which was a subsidiary of WB. This included shows like Animaniacs, which were very driven by pop culture references. Put them together, and it almost seemed like a connected universe technique to in some way lampoon Spielberg's work. Animaniacs did that with some frequency and while we have gotten hints of Spielbergian culture in Freakazoid, it has yet to be a prominent feature.
Cue "Next Time, Phone Ahead." An egg-shaped spaceship lands in the forest and indistinguishable aliens begin running around. One is even seen holding a roll of toilet paper. When they hear humans coming, the aliens run back to the spaceship. However, the one with the toilet paper roll doesn't make it back to the ship. This leaves the humans confused on what the aliens wanted.
For those that haven't picked up yet, this is going to be an E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial parody.
The next scene shows Dexter (David Kaufman) sitting in his room looking out the window. Suddenly, his mom Debbie (Tress MacNeille) asks him to take out the trash. Once outside, he notices something riling by the trashcans. He approaches with caution, but not before being eaten to death. The credits roll and a card reads "The End."
Cut to a television screen showing static. We are in the writer's room for Freakazoid with none other than Steven Spielberg (Frank Welker), who is annoyed with the over simplicity of the episode. He wants more. However, the writers in the room are insistent that they should just cut the episode short and play Animaniacs reruns. Spielberg likes that idea, and the theme song for that show begins playing. 20 seconds later, it cuts back to Spielberg, who doesn't want to go down that road. He alters the script and the plot to the episode is back on track.
Dexter takes out the trash as planned, but isn't killed. He ends up back in his room where he is looking out the window. We get a glimpse into his brain, where Freakazoid (Paul Rugg) is seen lounging about. He calls it the Freakazone, where he drinks coffee and watches TV reruns. It is a brief gag, but allows us to see where Freakazoid is the other half of the time. When the episode continues, it turns out that there was an alien rummaging through the garbage. It crawls into Dexter's room where it reveals itself to be Bo-Ron (Stan Freberg).
If you remember back a few episodes to the White House episode, Bo-Ron is essentially Mo-Ron. I have no idea why the names changed, but it doesn't change the character at all. He is a dimwitted alien who just wants to hug people. Dexter turns into Freakazoid, and the two begin plotting a way to get Bo-Ron back to his home planet. In return, Bo-Ron calls him Red Underwear Man. Awkward humor ensues as Dexter tries to explain Bo-Ron's existence to his parents.
Towards the end, the Douglases are tired of having him around and decide that he needs to leave. Freakazoid decides to help Bo-Ron find a phone plan (in a segment where multiple phone companies fight via old war footage). Once they do, they begin calling people, only to get answering machines. Eventually, they find someone and Bo-Ron leaves. The next day, Dexter is shocked to see the phone bill, which is many lengths long.
While it is nice to see the Bo-Ron character not be pathetically one note, his character is still a large nuisance. However, given a competent plot, he does kind of work. I especially enjoyed when Freakazoid was teaching Bo-Ron the dos and don'ts of the world, including the reason why he should stay out of daddy's sock drawer. It is absurd fun, but still nothing more than an apt episode. At most, we get a better understanding about how Freakazoid and Dexter work as the same person, and I really enjoy that technique.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Nerdator
The segment begins back in the writer's room, where they are pitching ideas. Suddenly, they throw up their hands and decide once again to just play Animaniacs reruns. Spielberg approves and suddenly we see the last 20 seconds of the theme song. Instead of going back to the writer's room, we dive straight into the segment.
Special thanks to the Narrator (Joe Leahy) in this segment, as he drives a lot of the exposition. Nerds everywhere are being abducted by an alien. Even figures like Bill Gates (Maurice LaMarche), whom Spielberg knows personally,Tom Snyder (Rugg), Fan Boy (Stephen Furst), and Spielberg, who is currently filming E.T. 2: The Return Home. All of these nerds keep disappearing. Suddenly, Dexter gets abducted and we see where everyone is going.
They are aboard a ship lead by the Nerdator (Aron Kincaid), who has all the nerds locked up. Nerdator decides to provide exposition on why he has abducted them all. He points out that nerds of all breeds (though he considers Newt Gingrich just to be a chubby kid) possess knowledge. Nerdator wants to be the ultimate nerd and therefore rule the universe. He has left the handsome celebrities to control the world, and it isn't going well.
As he is sucking the knowledge out of all the nerds, Dexter turns into Freakazoid and decides to converse with Nerdator on why this is a bad idea. Cue all of the familiar, dated tropes of nerds. They have bad acne, are not coordinated, and will never get a girlfriend on account that they just want to be friends. This turns the Nerdator into a raving monster who wants no more part of the nerd's knowledge. He ends up sending everyone back where they came from and instead abducts the handsome people (whose disappearance nobody noticed), and Freakazoid says that he couldn't complain about this choice. He ends up getting pie with Steff (Tracey Rowe). While it is not established as Brad Pitt, we hear someone say "This is the Pitts" as the final line of dialogue as he is getting his brain sucked out.
Not a particularly engaging segment, but just another chance to share nerd's deficiencies as humor. While it is done to benefit the story, it is still a very dated take on the subject and almost feels too easy. However, unlike "Fatman and Boy Blubber," there is some genuine thought put into this pointless premise. However, the E.T. 2 gag is pretty brilliant. That almost makes the entire segment worthwhile.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Overall rating: 3 out of 5
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On one note, we sadly do not get any Cosgrove this week. In fact, it could have arguably made "Next Time, Phone Ahead" slightly more interesting to have a police officer character parodied from E.T. The general premise itself wasn't that bad, but it lacked any real momentum and the gag of just calling home felt uninspired. While we see the Bo-Ron character actually get quality time, it still didn't feel significant enough.Even Nerdator felt pointless and used for filler. It may have had some good gags, but it still felt like an episode that existed for no other purpose than to say "That happened."
However, what makes this episode worthwhile is the Spielberg writing room gags. This wraparound feature ended up saying more about the episode than the segments did. They just wanted to cut things short and play Animaniacs reruns. They even do, though Spielberg is convinced that they need to keep the show running properly. I just like that Spielberg is kind of teaching kids about meta humor and even the Bill Gates joke in "Nerdator" feels like breaking the third wall. I applaud this show for not only glorifying nerd culture (though simultaneously kind of bashing it), but allowing humor to give a behind the scenes look at how movies work.
I promise you, this won't be the last that we hear from Spielberg. He'll be back down the line. In fact, I argue that this episode could have just been Spielberg in the writing room and it would have been better. Still, I like the dynamic of showing both Freakazoid and Dexter in the same episode. It really adds depth to the story and makes it feel more authentic. Here's hoping that somehow we can get Cosgrove to be in the mix.
Also, I noticed something. What's the deal with Newt Gingrich? I feel like this is the third time that the show has made a joke about him. Maybe I should add that to my quest of finding patterns, which includes Justice League references and Star Trek actors (this week we saw William Shatner). Still, I find Joe Leahy to be the underrated force in the week to week laughter, as his humor brings the most amount of meta per episode.
Also check out more of my work at http://nerdseyeviewpodcast.blogspot.com/ where I have a podcast called Nerd's Eye View.
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