Megas XLR is an animated series that airs on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. It was created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic . Currently reruns air on Cartoon Network's Miguzi programming block.

Originally entitled Lowbrow, the pilot episode was shown during CN's 2002 Summer Contest to determine which cartoon would become a new Cartoon Cartoon ; it was the most popular among viewers. After being delayed from its original debut in December 2003, Megas XLR finally debuted on Toonami in May 1, 2004

The story

In the distant future, Earth is fighting a losing war with an alien race known as the Glorft. In order to save the planet, the human resistance steals a giant robot, Megas (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System), from the Glorft and modifies it. The idea was to send Megas back to the Battle of the Last Stand, which was the last major offensive fought by humanity against the Glorft. Humanity lost that battle, but the members of the resistance believe that Megas can tip the scales and hand the Glorft a decisive defeat.

Before the plan can be executed, however, an attack by the Glorft forces the human hand to send Megas back in time. The prototype timedrive, however, accidentally sends the now-crippled Megas (its head was blown off in the attack) all the way back to the early 20th century. Megas languishes in a New Jersey junkyard until it ends up in the hands of two slackers, Coop and Jamie, around the year 2000. Coop turns Megas into a hot rod project and names it XLR, for eXtra Large Robot.

Kiva goes back in time to retrieve Megas, and when she finds she is unable to pilot it because of Coop's modifications, she decides to train Coop for fighting.

Characters

• Coop: The pilot of Megas, Coop is overweight and has an insatiable appetite. Due to years of playing video games, he is an excellent pilot. He's not exactly the brightest person around—often his amazing heroics are just accidents, and he usually ends up destroying more than he protects.
• Kiva: Kiva travelled back in time from over a thousand years in the future. She has a tough, no-nonsense personality and is highly skilled in many forms of combat. Originally meant to be the pilot of Megas, she can no longer pilot it due to Coop's modifications. Instead, she tries to train Coop.
• Jamie: Coop's best friend and a smart-aleck slacker. His contribution to the team is, well, nothing.
• Goat: The owner of the junkyard in which Coop found Megas.
• Gorrath: The head of the Glorft. Gorrath followed Kiva and led his army back in time to try and retrieve Megas. He hates Coop and often launches attacks to try to kill him and reclaim Megas, but always fails some way or another.

Equipment

Megas has some unusual and familiar components installed onboard—many are taken from other anime series, though there are some original Coop designs among the weapons.

Original equipment

• The Jammer (first appeared in "Battle Royale") – A weapons-grade karaoke system that, when teamed with Coop's (very) off-key singing, is capable of generating a wave of sonic destruction capable of annihilating a space station. Use of The Jammer may very well constitute a war crime—not to mention a crime against all that is music.
• Super-Destructor Mode (first appeared in "S-Force S.O.S.") – A mode that covers Megas from head to toe in missile launchers. It would be devastating—if only Coop had finished debugging the targeting system.
• Mazer Cannon (first appeared in "Universal Controller") – Fires a beam that creates an invincible, deflecting force field around whatever it hits (although weapons that are inside the shield can still be shot out). If the polarity is reversed, it creates a reverse shield that lets everything in and nothing out.
• Energy Sword (first appeared in "Battle Royale") – The hands of Megas can create a huge energy sword.
• Cool Blade Thingy – Blades surround Megas's entire body. Spinning blades have also appeared.
• Nitrous (first appeared in "The Fat and the Furious") – A mode that accelerates Megas's speed a thousand times, enabling it to move at lightning-like speed and leave dead mechas in its path.
• Manual Overdrive (first appeared in "The Fat and the Furious") – A Dance Dance Revolution-style system used as a back-up when the automatic driving gears fail. Coop dances, and Megas mimicks Coop's exact movements. Despite the silliness of the system, this can actually be very handy for use in combat.

Non-original equipment

• Wave Motion Gun (Taken from Space Battleship Yamato, appeared in "Test Drive") – This highpowered weapon comes out of the front of Megas, consisting of not only the cannon, but a sizable portion of the bow of the Yamato as well. Accuracy is an issue, however.
• Autobot Matrix of Leadership (Taken from Transformers, appeared in "The Fat & the Furious") – Though not called by its name, the Matrix somehow wound up in Megas, where Coop and Jamie promptly injected pasteurized cheese spread into it and somehow created a cheese monster.
• Reflex Cannon (Taken from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross , appeared in "Viva Las Megas") – The ultimate weapon of the SDF Macross is now part of Megas's armament.

Episode list

Season 1

1) "Test Drive" (5/1/2004)
2) "The Fat & the Furious" (5/1/2004)
3) "Battle Royale" (5/8/2004)
4) "All I Wanted Was a Slushie" (5/15/2004)
5) "Bad Guy" (5/22/2004)
6) "Buggin the System" (5/29/2004)
7) "Breakout" (6/5/2004)
8) "Dude, Where's My Head?" (7/31/2004)
9) "DMV: Department of Megas Violations" (8/7/2004)
10) "Junk in the Trunk" (8/14/2004)
11) "TV Dinner" (8/21/2004)
12) "The Driver's Seat" (8/28/2004)
13) "Coop D'Etat" (To air 4/26/2005)

Season 2

14) "Ultra-Chicks" (10/16/2004)
15) "The Return" (10/23/2004)
16) "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Coop" (10/30/2004)
17) "Viva Las Megas" (11/6/2004)
18) "S-Force S.O.S." (11/13/2004)
19) "Space Booty" (11/20/2004)
20) "Thanksgiving Throwdown" (11/27/2004)
21) "Terminate Her" (12/04/2004)
22) "Ice Ice Megas" (12/11/2004)
23) "A Clockwork Megas" (12/18/2004)
24) "Universal Controller" (1/1/2005)
25) "Rearview Mirror, Mirror (Part 1)" (1/8/2005)
26) "Rearview Mirror, Mirror (Part 2)" (1/15/2005)

All air dates are U.S. air dates and are in U.S. format (Month/Day/Year).

Theme song

Living here in Jersey
Fighting villains from afar
You've gotta find first gear
In your giant robot car
You dig giant robots
I dig giant robots
We dig giant robots
Chicks dig giant robots
Nice

Trivia

• The pilot episode was extended 15 mintues for the episode Test Drive.
• Mick Foley was the voice of Gorrath in the pilot episode. Clancy Brown is the voice of Gorrath in the series.
• The character Goat is originally from the animated series Downtown.
• The character magnanamus is based on the profile of Bruce Cambell who also lends his voice. His catchphrases are taken from his cult slapstick horror movies "THE EVIL DEAD".
• Pop TV is an obvious parody of MTV (even the logos are almost completely identical).
• A recurring theme in the series is that anything that belongs to Pop TV (and, by extension, MTV) is destroyed. The most likely reason for this is that MTV cancelled Downtown, the animated series created by Chris Prynoski , the director of Megas XLR.
• Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic are huge fans of anime and video games.
• In "Breakout," Megas's double-deuce move seems to be taken from two Strong Bad emails. In one, Strong Bad flips the bird at a viewer. In the other, Stinkoman, whose signature move is the Double Deuce, is introduced.

External links

• Cartoon Network | Megas XLR
  
• TV Tome's Megas XLR guide
• G4techTV interview with Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic