Freakazoid! is an American superhero comedy animated television series created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini and developed by Tom Ruegger for the Kids' WB programming block of The WB. The series chronicles the adventures of the title character, Freakazoid, a crazy teenage superhero who fights crime in Washington, D.C.[1] It also featured mini-episodes with the adventures of other bizarre superheroes. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television, being the third animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation after Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.
Bruce Timm, best known as a producer of the DC Animated Universe, originally intended it to be a straightforward superhero action-adventure cartoon with comic overtones, but executive producer Steven Spielberg requested it to be a flat-out comedy.[2] The show is similar to fellow Ruegger-led programs such as Animaniacs, having a unique style of humor that includes slapstick, fourth wall breaking, parody, surreal humour, and pop culture references.
The series was one of the first to debut on the new Kids' WB Saturday morning block of The WB, on September 9, 1995. The series lasted for two seasons, finishing with 24 episodes, the final one broadcast on June 1, 1997. Although the series originally struggled in the ratings, reruns on Cartoon Network and a fan following elevated it to become a cult hit.[3] Warner Bros. considered renewing the series for a third season, but deemed it to be too expensive. The show also ranked #53 on IGN's Top 100 Animated Series list.[4]
The show's title character is the superhero alter ego of geeky 16-year-old (later changed to 17-year-old) Dexter Douglas who attends Harry Connick Jr. High School. His name is an allusion to the alliterative names that superheroes commonly have. Dexter gained his abilities from a computer bug activated by a "secret key sequence" that was accidentally activated by his cat Mr. Chubbikins (a reference to the Pentium FDIV bug). The sequence of keys is "@[=g3,8d]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg" (the quotes are included) which also activated when Dexter hit the delete button on his computer. Freakazoid has enhanced strength and endurance, extraordinary speed and agility, as well as access to all the knowledge on the Internet. These make him a powerful and fearsome force for upholding freedom and righteousness, unless he gets distracted by something like a bear riding a motorcycle. He has a base called the Freakalair, a parody of the Batcave, built by his mute butler Ingmar. The Freakalair contains a "Hall of Nifty Things to Know" and even a mad scientist lab. His greatest weakness, as he once explained to Guitierrez, is graphite bars charged with negative ions. He also expresses a great aversion to "poo gas".
Freakazoid also has a variety of other abilities: he once developed telekinesis powered by anger that was never mentioned again after the episode, and once crossed the globe to yell at a Tibetan monk for raking too loudly, but apologizes to him later. He also has the ability to assume the form of electricity and cover long distances instantaneously, although he often simply sticks his arms forward and runs while making swooshing sounds, pretending to fly.
Dexter can change into and out of Freakazoid at will with the words "Freak out!" and "Freak in!". When not in Freakazoid mode, Dexter looks and acts completely normal, and his family is unaware that anything has happened to him. Freakazoid spends this time in an area of Dexter's brain called the Freakazone, where he reflects, has profound thoughts, and watches Rat Patrol reruns.