Freakazoid - The Complete First Season
© Warner Home Video
Mania Grade: B+
DVD: Freakazoid (Complete First Season)
Rating: Not Rated
Starring (Voices): Paul Rugg, Joe Leahy, Edward Asner, Frank Welker, David Warner, Ricardo Montalban, Jonathan Harris, Jack Valenti, Corey Burton, Craig Ferguson, Maurice LaMarche
Written By: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
Directed By: Dan Riba, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Distributor: Warner Home Video
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Commentary, Promos, Freakazoid: The Original Freak Documentary
Buy it now!
DVD: Freakazoid (Complete First Season)
Rating: Not Rated
Starring (Voices): Paul Rugg, Joe Leahy, Edward Asner, Frank Welker, David Warner, Ricardo Montalban, Jonathan Harris, Jack Valenti, Corey Burton, Craig Ferguson, Maurice LaMarche
Written By: Alan Burnett, Paul Dini
Directed By: Dan Riba, Ronaldo Del Carmen
Distributor: Warner Home Video
Original Year of Release: 2008
Extras: Commentary, Promos, Freakazoid: The Original Freak Documentary
Buy it now!
DVD Review of Freakazoid - The Complete First Season
By: Robert T. TrateReview Date: Thursday, August 21, 2008
Back in 1995 Warner Brothers had two very popular animated shows on TV, the Animaniacs and Batman: the Animated Series.
Freakazoid is the strange love child of those two shows. Dexter Douglas (David Kaufman) is computer nerd who gets transformed into the Freakazoid (Paul Rugg) one fateful night after hitting a certain combination of buttons on his computer keyboard ("@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg", followed by DELETE.) It helps to have the Pinnacle Chip in your computer so don’t bother trying it home. This nerd decides to protect his home town of Washington D.C. and thwarts the evil attempts of The Lobe (David Warner), Longhorn (Maurice LaMarche), Candle Jack and others. However, this isn’t a straightforward superhero cartoon.
Most of the early episodes are broken into short stories or comedy sketches featuring an eclectic group of other superheroes. Freakazoid may or may not interact with them but each one has the zaniness that made the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck world famous. Fanboy, Legally Lactic Milkman, Toby Danger, Lawn Gnomes and Lord Bravery might not be household names but after watching Freakazoid - The Complete First Season you’ll be asking for more. Each presents a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the superhero business and their cartoons as they satirize and pay homage to genre.
The show is dated with many of its jokes. There are numerous Bill and Hilary Clinton appearances. Princess Diana and Sharon Stone at one point fight over the affection of Freakazoid. Even Pope John Paul II is parodied by giving him multiple takes at blessing Freakazoid. The show today may not play to a younger audience in that respect. Let’s remember, many of us grew up watching the Looney Tunes in reruns and had next to no idea who Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson were but still laughed anyway.
The jokes and many of the segments are quick and to the point. Like it, hate it, or don’t understand it, many times the next joke is already under way. Make no doubt about it, this is a perfect show for someone with a short attention span. Freakazoid can barely sit still nor keep his mouth shut allowing anything and everything to keep the jokes flowing.
What really stands out in the first season is Freakazoid’s “Side Kick Chronicles” where he regales the audience with his failed attempts at finding the perfect sidekick. This look at the superhero genre’s underlings is both brutally honest and hilarious. Another gem in season 1 is “Toby Danger”, a parody on Johnny Quest long before the Venture Brothers ever appeared on Adult Swim. Lord Bravery’s (Jeff Bennett) battle with his name already having been copyrighted was also particularly funny.
If there was ever anything that could be considered the forbearer of shows like Adult Swim, Robot Chicken, Family Guy or films like The Incredibles, Freakazoid would have to be it. The show becomes addicting right from the start and you’ll find yourself humming its theme song for days on end. Freakazoid - The Complete First Season honorably joins the likes of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as classic Warner Brothers Animation. Are you ready for “Super-teen extraordinaire, Freakazoid! Freakazoid! Runs around in underwear, Freakazoid! Freakazoid! Rescues Washington D.C., Freakazoid! Freakazoid! Unless something better's on TV, Freakazoid! Freakazoid!”
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