15 Favorite Aspects of "Freakazoid"

Welcome to my 15 favorite aspects of Freakazoid. When I think of this show, I try to remember these particular things as highlights. As an adamant fan of the show, these are undoubtedly the reasons that even though this show is no long on the air, I still pull out the DVDs and watch because, well, they are so endearing and fun. I cannot imagine how the show could be successful without these characters and ideas. Heck, I've eaten up enough of your time. Why not just read on?

1. Cosgrove 

Going into this show, I was in love with Cosgrove. He remains my favorite part of the show, and hey, I even met Ed Asner once. My encounter went like this: 

Me: "I'm a big Freakazoid fan!"

Ed: "Well, I don't see any pictures here."

He was of course referring to the pictures that I could have him sign, which ranged from Elf to Up (I chose the latter). I also got a picture with him, which forever instilled my love of Asner:

Anyways, in regards to Cosgrove, he always knew what to say. I also love his quick evolution from side character who did random things at inappropriate times to a full fledged member of the show. Towards the end, I even found a reason to give him a spin-off. Man, Cosgrove was great, though I worry that my bias towards Asner in general plays into it.

2. Joe Leahy 

The unexpected charm of Joe Leahy is that I forgot all about him going into these recaps. By the second or third episode, he managed to instill himself as one of my favorite characters. He somehow controlled the show while narrating it into weird directions. He even became an integral, real member who walked among the cast. There is so much that I love about him, notably that he satirizes the narrator's job and replaces it with arguments and nonsense. I want more Leahy, now! He was so great and I am glad to see that his acting lessons paid off.

3. Freakazoid’s progression 

You may ask yourself: what progression? The answer is simple. Look at Freakazoid in "Dance of Doom," and then see him in "Two Against Freak." He becomes vulnerable, learns new powers, and somehow subtly matures. He still is afraid of the sewer, but he now has telekinesis and an instructor trying to help him achieve his goals. He actually seems somewhat competent by the end, even if he is still just wise cracking to the villains during most of it. He also learns how to handle Gutierrez by the end, which is a plus: just think of Hero Boy.

4. Relax-O-Vision 

Easily one of the greatest meta commentaries on TV censorship. By taking out the violence and replacing it with calming imagery and "Theme from A Summer's Place," it somehow makes the violence seem more absurd and leaves it to your imagination. Also, the jolt between aggressive tones to peacefulness in rapid succession is comedy gold and when Freakazoid claims to have done a fight that wasted the entire season's animation budget, it only adds to the meta level of humor. Also, the reason that it is great satire is because, well, censoring violence is just really silly sometimes.

5. Meta humor

While Steven Spielberg never appeared on the show as himself, there was cartoons of him explaining to the writers what he wanted. This is only the most obvious of the meta humor. The show wasn't afraid to comment on the production of the show, whether it be their network ratings, how a scene works, or even how mundane certain tropes were. This show managed to introduce a lot of interesting, behind the scenes concepts to cartoons that I don't think too many other shows did. It may seem odd at times, but it only added to the charm that everything was constructed in the most bizarre way possible. They were filming a show, even during its down time. What a brilliant set up that was and is one of the defining features that separates Freakazoid from every other show.

 6. Pop Culture References 

I spent the entire season trying to determine if the Justice League references would equal 100%. We came close, only missing Wonder Woman and The Flash. However, that wasn't the only nerdy reference that they made. There was a lot of shout outs to old school horror like Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolfman. They put a plot that mixed Con Air with the Island of Dr. Morreau. Excessive Spielberg references. This show didn't stop making them, and they managed to work them into the plot. I will admit that a lot of my love for the references only makes the show seem better, and the more that you know about Universal Classic Horror, the funnier some of this stuff will be.

7. The Guest Stars

Jack Palance, Ben Stein, Ricardo Montalban, Craig Ferguson, Tim Curry, Frank Welker, Norm Abrams and even the rarely seen on TV shows: Leonard Maltin. That is only the tip of who this show got to guest star, and they were all used to amazing effect. While some were playing alternative versions of themselves, plenty of them were actual characters that had motives and unique personalities. Also, it is a great introduction for the audience to these people who otherwise would have little purpose to care. I mean, after the Norm Abrams episode, I am ready to get a case of carpenteria. Seriously, this show knew how to get unique people on the show.

8. Longhorn 

The most underused villain of all time. Longhorn had an amazingly weird episode called "Hot Rods from Heck," which I think is a Mad Max parody. Also, he may have been a Southern stereotype, but he was an aggressively original take on it. He drove an 18-wheeler, but it also flew. I really wanted to see where this character would have gone if he had the chance to take on Freakazoid one on one again instead of with the group. At very least, I felt like the concepts that the Freakazoid writers had with Longhorn was unmatched by anyone else. Maybe it was the flying 18-wheeler, but he is amazing.

9. Running gags

One of the great things about the show is that they knew that a joke could kill if repeated. While characters were built on lame gags, the plot devices proved to be effective. Whether it was Anubis Market (food so good, you can eat it) or Steff doing  an Airplane knock-off with "That was quite a jolt, Freak," there was a perverse sense of continuity in the show and for those that paid attention, the repetition was infectious. Some of it was more subtle than others, but eventually the show's choice to insert running gags into almost every episode turned into one of the show's biggest strengths. It also introduced some lingo, like Huggbees. Say it a few times. It'll make you feel better.

10. Foamy the Freakadog 

I loved the idea that Freakazoid had a canine sidekick. I also loved that it was a dog who disobeyed him at every turn. He did his own thing, and even if he never rescued Freakazoid, he provided the show with many great moments of slapstick and joy. I get why he wasn't made as a regular character, but I felt like if Freakazoid became domestic, we could have gotten some quality time with his dog on his own journey. Either that, or we could just have him toss Freakazoid around a lot. Either one would be hilarious.

11. Anti-Communist Episodes? 

The least expected thing to ever happen to Freakazoid is that they did a Mission: Impossible parody that took the characters to an area reminiscent or Russia. While Communism wasn't directly addressed, a lot of the symbolism was there, including the overt control placed upon the townspeople and the tanks. This was a very weird episode that turned out to be more about jail breaking, but there is still no doubt that Freakazoid came close to making one of the few children's 90's TV show episodes about Communism. Now that alone is a genius move that I feel will always be overlooked in the show's legacy.

12. Professor Jones 

It took a few episodes, but once Professor Jones evolved from "that guy from Lost in Space," to the ultimate Cosgrove sidekick. Jones was always a prissy character and his disinterest for Cosgrove's masculinity always resulted in hilarious unfair bullying. Also, it was always great to see how they would find ways to send Jones into a panic. Even towards the end, he evolved even further with brilliant narration that was on par in terms of ridiculous to that of Cosgrove's. I just wish that it had been realized that a crime show with Professor Jones and Cosgrove would have been the greatest spin-off ever. Also, Jones' arrival unfairly deemed Roddy MacStew as an inessential character, proved in "Two Against Freak."

13. Frenching with Freakazoid

I will admit that this segment introduced quite possibly one of the greatest fart jokes of all time. Also, I just love Freakazoid's French accent. There is something adorable about it. I just wish that he was teaching me foreign languages more often. As the follow-up with Norwegian proved, there are infinite possibilities that could be easily hilarious filler. Also, it was a nice way to sneak in education without much effort.

14. Lord Bravery

The posh, British equivalence to Freakazoid was probably as great as the secondary characters got. He may have been as reluctant as the Huntsman, but he did his best to solve anyone's problem. Whether it is arguing with his mother or getting rights to call himself Lord Bravery, there is an infinite amount of brilliant moments of British humor packed into this character that makes his pretentiousness more endearing. It is only a shame that he was overshadowed by the Huntsman. He was a far better character,

15. Deadpan

A monotone shape shifter who managed to only appear in one brief segment of the show, but made it work to her advantage. Like Freakagirl, I wish that there was more screen time for her. However, her inability to cope with being a failure is what made her excellent and I felt like in a third season, she could have been great for another opening gag. She may seem useless, but that is what makes her work. I love the simplicity of the character, and she is unfortunately one of the forgotten one offs that deserved a second chance.

Join me next week when I will be posting a two part entry on my Top 50 Favorite Podcasts of 2012 followed by end of the year movie coverage. I have a lot in store and would love to see you come back for more.

Check out more of my work at http://nerdseyeviewpodcast.blogspot.com/ where I have a podcast called Nerd's Eye View.