Comments on: Freakazoid! Season 1

By: Tiny Toon Adventures Season 1 Volume 2 » Comics Worth Reading

Tiny Toon Adventures Season 1 Volume 2 » Comics Worth Reading — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:26:32 +0000

[...] (due late 2009). TTA (along with the other, early series like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid!) were done in conjunction with Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, ensuring that there was a great [...]

By: MrColinP

MrColinP — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:35:46 +0000

Freakazoid is a ripoff of Madman. It doesn’t matter whether or not Allred was told this by one of the show’s animators (although he claims that Timm himself told him). Just compare the two, and you’ll see it’s a ripoff: They both have blue skin, black around their eyes, and full bodied solid colored “longjohn” style costumes with gloves and boots and an exclamation point on the chest. They both hang out with scientists with huge brains and they’re both surrounded by “wonky” or “campy” retro styled sci-fi/ horror/ superhero pastiches that are a throwback to the 60s and 70s. At best the tone is the biggest difference, but as noted on the show’s Wikipedia the shift away from action was a decision made by Spielberg, not the show’s creators. This is not a comment on the quality of the show; it’s very good as far as this stuff goes. It’s just that the concept was ripped off of Madman.

By: Freakazoid! Season 2 DVD Announced » Comics Worth Reading

Freakazoid! Season 2 DVD Announced » Comics Worth Reading — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:47:58 +0000

[...] 11 episodes on two discs complete the series, since Season 1 was out in July. Bonus features [...]

By: The Dude

The Dude — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 04:28:17 +0000

I absolutely LOVED Freakazoid, but it certainly didn’t lay the groundwork for Adult Swim. I’m not even sure it had more than a minor influence on the flagship shows on that block/network. Space Ghost Coast to Coast laid the groundwork for Adult Swim, and with very little assistance from outside programs.

By: Gossip Girl Season 1 » Comics Worth Reading

Gossip Girl Season 1 » Comics Worth Reading — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:22:56 +0000

[...] evil regime. This is the second Warner anti-piracy film rewrite. The Wizard of Oz one on the Freakazoid set earlier this month was even weirder, since we were supposed to infer that our gang of lead [...]

By: Matt Jeske

Matt Jeske — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:36:13 +0000

Fanboy Radio interview with Mike Allred. I understand why you're questioning the sourcing, but you can listen to the interview. I dunno, maybe I'm naive, but it seems likely to me that Mike Allred would know Bruce Timm or someone who worked at Warners animation. Then again, maybe not.

By: Freakazoid!!! « moonlit garden

Freakazoid!!! « moonlit garden — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:11:04 +0000

[...] just found out via Comics Worth Reading that Freakazoid is FINALLY on DVD. I was a little afraid that it wouldn’t hold up to my [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:49:49 +0000

I wouldn’t call it a rip-off. Madman might have been one of the original inspirations (although I’m a little leery of “I heard somewhere else that he said he was told” sourcing), but the two wound up very different creations.

By: Various and Sundry: DVDs, Tech, HDTV, and More » Blog Archive » Time for another Link Dump Adventure!

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:13:13 +0000

[...] a great review of the Freakazoid DVD set by KC Carlson. I know I’m even more inspired to go buy it [...]

By: Matt Jeske

Matt Jeske — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:42:13 +0000

Hey, I loved Freakazoid when it was on. It was on TV at the same time as The Tick and Earthworm Jim, which seemed to have similar vibe to me. Here’s a little tidbit you might not know – Freakazoid is in some part a rip-off of Mike Allred’s Madman. According to Allred (in a Fanboy Radio interview) he heard from some the animators when they were first developing the show, that they were being told to draw directly from his Madman Comics.

By: KC

KC — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:30:01 +0000

It was.
Those of us working the DC booth that year heard it approximately 4,753,189 times that summer.

By: odessa steps magazine

odessa steps magazine — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:02:10 +0000

I believe that was the same year.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:21:49 +0000

I remember a con where I kept hearing “Qui a coupe’ le fromage?” over and over as the DC booth played the clip. Good stuff. I’m looking forward to watching it now — I’ve seen less of it than I should have.

By: odessa steps magazine

odessa steps magazine — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:07:06 +0000

I have ranted for years about how the crappy time slot killed this show. Thanks to Jamie Kellner and the “big kids go first” idea. (Jamie Kellner went on to kill all the wrestling programming on the Turner channels, so he’s like the grim reaper of popular culture). Let’s put shows that college kids and adults might like and put them on first in our schedule and the shows for little kids (like tweety and sylvester mysteries) in the latest time slots. That’s make sense. We all know kids in college or kids that age love to get up at 7AM on a Saturday morning and young tykes love to sleep in so they can watch their shows at 11:30. It still angers me to this day.

That said, I love Freakazoid. My favorite memory (apart from the F-Troop clip) is being in SD (how timely) and getting to explain to HOward Chaykin just what that weird cartoon was (Toby Danger) that they kept playing over and over again at the DC booth.

By: Charles RB

Charles RB — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:33:13 +0000

It didn’t get proper time slots? Damn. Got a prominent just-after-school one on ITV’s CITV block over here.

By: Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:33:31 +0000

Must own now. Finally I can throw away the worn out VHS tapes.

By: Bill D.

Bill D. — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:17:56 +0000

“I’m Jack Valenti, and these are my cheeks!”

Oh, man, did I love this show. I’m gonna need to Neflix these ASAP, if not outright buy them at some point.

By: Adam_Y

Adam_Y — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:32:50 +0000

I love Freakazoid…it got a pretty good airing over here in the UK.

I really liked the way that he held his fist out and made a ‘zoom’ noise when running about, like a superhero would if they flying. Top stuff.