Freakazoid, or Freakazoid!, is a animated television show created by Warner Brothers that ran for two seasons in 1995-1997. Recently, rumors have been going around about a live-action Freakazoid movie starring Jim Carrey.

The main character of the show is its namesake, the superhero alter ego of geek Dexter Douglas. Gaining his abilities from a rather spectacular computer bug, Freakazoid has enhanced strength and endurance, extraordinary agility, and unfortunately negligible amounts of sanity. This makes him a powerful and fearsome force for upholding freedom and righteousness, unless he decides to go see a bear driving a motorcycle instead.

Freakazoid faces a number of campy villains including The Lobe, a bulbous-headed supergenius (voiced by David Warner); Cave Guy, a thuggish caveman with upper-class diction, education and taste; Cobra Queen, a former cosmetics expert turned reptile woman; Longhorn, a frustrated country-western singer who surgically turned himself into a minotaur, and the man whose company designed the faulty chip responsible for Freakazoid's birth, Guitierrez (voiced by Ricardo Montalban). His partners are Roddy MacStew, an ill-tempered Scotsman who once worked for Guitierrez; the snooty, cowardly manservant Professor Jones (voiced by Jonathan Harris, essentially recreating his role as Doctor Zachary Smith from Lost In Space, thus explaining numerous jokes where the character is asked if he was on a show with a robot); a heavyset, gruff cop named Cosgrove (voiced by Ed Asner), and Freakazoid's perky blonde girlfriend Steff. Other associates include the John Cleese-esque superhero Lord Bravery; the impressive yet useless Robin Hood/Charlton Heston amalgam The Huntsman, the dimwitted alien Mo-Ron (later, Bo-Ron) and the obese, pimply, and doting Fanboy, whose name is self-explanatory.

The humor of the show varies from slapstick to parody and obscure cultural references. Due to the lack of a proper fourth wall, much of it is self-aware humor - for instance, after the first appearance of the "Freakmobile", the show goes immediately into an impromptu commercial for a toy version; later in the episode, Freakazoid addresses an audience, congratulating the staff on how hard they've worked to make the show toyetic. A strange running gag involves a repeated credit for "Weena Mercator as the Hopping Woman", though no such character appears in any episode.

Cameo appearances of the show are a noteworthy feature. While the original cast stands on their own feet, there have been appearances of characters from other Warner Bros cartoons such as Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs, portrayals of many celebrities (including producer Steven Spielberg), and guest appearances by such figures as Jack Valenti, Leonard Maltin, Norm Abram, and Mark Hamill as themselves. One original character, Emmitt Nervend, plays no role whatsoever other than constant cameos and a Where's Waldo-esque hunt for him (the closing credits informed the audience as to how many times he could be found in that particular episode).

External links