Freakazoid!

Background

Characters

• Freakazoid – The protagonist of the series. He was once geeky 16-year-old computer ace named Dexter Douglas who became Freakazoid from an overloaded Pinnacle chip inside his computer. He attends Harry Connick High School. To transform into Freakazoid, Dexter says "Freak out!". To change back into Dexter, Freakazoid says "Freak in!". Dexter and Freakazoid sometimes identify as separate identities, and other times consider themselves to be the same person. Catchphrase: "Aw, nut bunnies!" His image and "Freak Out!" superpower are parodies of Shazam.

  The Douglas family

• Duncan Douglas – Dexter's older brother. He is a bully towards Dexter, and is portrayed as a caricature of a high school jock.
• Debbie Douglas – Dexter's mother. She has no clue that her son is Freakazoid, and is in general blithe and clueless. Her lines often involve morose subjects delivered in a cheery tone, a parody of a stereotypical domestic mother.
• Douglas Douglas – Dexter's father. An automobile dealer who thinks a goblin lives in the gas tank of his car. Occasionally used for laughs as a stereotypical technologically inept father figure.
• Mr. Chubbikins – The Douglas' morbidly obese cat that was formerly named Mr. Chubbskins. He jumped on Dexter's keyboard while chasing a butterfly, accidentally typing in the key sequence which activated the Pinnacle chip's flaw, turning Dexter into Freakazoid.

  Allies

• Sgt. Mike Cosgrove – A heavyset, gruff cop with a heart of gold, who is friends with Freakazoid and several other characters. He speaks in a gruff monotone and shows very little enthusiasm for anything. By pointing at something and saying "Cut it out", he has the almost supernatural ability to get people to stop whatever they are doing on command, no matter what they may be doing at the time, be it panicking at the sight of a villain, stealing a television, or attempting to capture Cosgrove and Freakazoid. Cosgrove also possesses the odd power of finding Freakazoid no matter where he is by driving his police car to that particular location. He often interrupts Freakazoid's heroic endeavors to ask him to visit various entertainments, such as the "Honey Harvest Festival" or "a bear riding a motorcycle" which Freakazoid always enthusiastically agrees to, no matter what else he is doing at the time. During this visit, Cosgrove inevitably reveals important information about the plot of the episode, including the villain's location or evil deeds. Freakazoid then rushes off to foil the villain's scheme, leaving Cosgrove to enjoy the attraction for himself. Sgt. Cosgrove also resembles his voice actor.
• Roddy MacStew – Freakazoid's mentor, and expositionist; an ill-tempered Scotsman who once worked for Guitierrez. He first found that the Pinnacle chip was flawed. In the continuation of "The Chip" he was trapped in the Internet. He was later kicked out of the Internet by Guitierrez and resumed his mentor role. His favorite word is "Crud!"
• Steff – Freakazoid's perky blonde girlfriend; her real name is Stephanie. She discovers Freakazoid's secret identity when Cosgrove accidentally points it out aloud in "Mission: Freakazoid".
• Hans – A mysterious agent with a Western European accent, who takes Freakazoid to Professor Heiney's lab.
• Professor Heiney – A scientist, with a lab in the mountains, who Freakazoid often goes to for help. He does research on monsters, zaps them and is often attacked by them at his lab.
• Ingmar – Freakazoid's mute butler, in charge of the maintenance of the Freakalair. He quit in "Mission: Freakazoid" to become a rodeo clown and was replaced by Professor Jones. A take-off on Bernardo, the mute manservant of Zorro and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth.
• Professor Jones – A snooty, cowardly manservant, essentially recreating his role as Doctor Zachary Smith from Lost in Space. He is the replacement to the Freakalair's previous butler, and old friends with him. He does not get along with Cosgrove well and gets little respect from Freakazoid, or anyone else.
• Joe Leahy – The show's very vocal announcer, who sometimes gets more involved than the job usually requires.
• Freakazette – Only mentioned in the first episode for a brief verse during the "Freakazoid and Friends" theme song.
• Foamy the Freakadog – A vicious, rabid dog which Freakazoid had freed from the pound. Foamy is painted blue, has a Freakazoid costume, and is prone to maul and/or beat Freakazoid to a pulp, even on their missions.
• Handman – Freakazoid's brief "right hand man". He is quite literally just a painted face on Freakazoid's right hand who has great difficulty pronouncing Freakazoid's name correctly. He fell in love with and married Handgirl, a painted face on Freakazoid's left hand.
• Expendable Lad – Freakazoid's brief sidekick from the start of "And Fanboy Is His Name". He was taken to the hospital due to injuries sustained from Milk Man's attack that gave him a bruised clavicle. Expendable Lad was subsequently released from the service of Freakazoid.
• Norm Abram – He was kidnapped by the Lobe to make a wooden instrument to destroy Freakazoid, but got free and helped turn the tables against the Lobe and his villain allies. Abram supplied his own voice and trademark line for the episode.
• Leonard Maltin – He was kidnapped by Dr. Mystico during the episode "Island of Dr. Mystico", while Maltin was giving his opinion of the same episode. Freakazoid points out that Mystico's prisoners all have superpowers, and Mr. Maltin's is that he knows every movie ever made. Maltin provided his own voice for the episode.
• Henry Kissinger – A politician who was kidnapped by Dr. Mystico's "orangu-men". In the show, he speaks in a low, groggy, incomprehensible mumble. He is briefly mentioned in one episode after his only appearance.

  Enemies

• The Lobe – Freakazoid's archenemy. He is a supergenius whose entire head appears to be a giant brain. Despite his high intellect, he has very low self-esteem, once even having a scheme foiled by Freakazoid simply insulting the plan, despite actually being impressed by it. No background information of any kind is given for the Lobe; not even his real name is revealed.
• Cobra Queen – Audrey Manatee is a former shoplifter whose encounter with an experimental cosmetic left in the sun too long transformed her into a cobra woman, with command over snakes and other reptiles. In later episodes, Cave Guy and Cobra Queen are a couple. She has a lair in the sewers, and often complained about the lack of light until Freakazoid suggested getting Japanese lanterns. He defeated her when she faints while trying to say "Silly Sally Sells Sappy Seashells in Seattle". Cobra Queen also shows up as part of the team in "Mission: Freakazoid!". She seems to be offended when compared to Sylvester the Cat.
• Cave Guy – A thuggish blue caveman with upper-class diction, education, and taste who speaks in a stereotypical WASP tone. His real name is Royce Mumphry and he subscribes to The New Yorker. He also seems to have an odd fear of Klingons.
• Longhorn – Formerly Jubal "Bull" Nixon, he was once an employee of the Johnny Cat cat litter company until he turned to a life of crime. Because he was searched for by law enforcement so frequently, he had plastic surgery to turn himself into a humanoid Texas Longhorn. He loves country music and, despite being a lousy songwriter, is determined to get a recording contract in Nashville. He also owns a massive truck, nicknamed "Bessie Mae", which is outfitted with all kinds of devices.
• * Turk – Longhorn's sidekick.
• Armando Guitierrez – The eyepatch-wearing man whose company Apex Microchips designed the faulty Pinnacle chip responsible for Freakazoid's creation as well as Freakazoid's first enemy. Physically, Guitierrez resembles Ricardo Montalbán, who provides the character's voice as well. At times, he shows similarities to Khan Noonien Singh from '; also played by Montalban. One of his recurring jokes is demanding others to laugh with him. When he fell to his supposed doom, he asked Freakazoid to scream with him. Originally a normal human being, he briefly gains powers similar to Freakazoid's by exploiting the Pinnacle chip's flaw. By "Hero Boy", he appears as a cyborg in a hooded robe to cover his cybernetic side caused by Freakazoid knocking him into a cyber-pit. He hates being called a weenie, to which he will angrily respond "I am not a weenie! It is YOU who are the weenie!". In "Normadeus", Guitierrez is among the villains invited by the Lobe to witness the destruction of Freakazoid. The Lobe commented that he never got an opportunity to be in the same room as Guitierrez before.
• * Jocko – Armando Guitierrez's henchman.
• Candle Jack – A supernatural villain with a burlap sack over his head, called "the Boogeyman, the for-real one" in the series. He abducts anyone who says his name and ties them up with rope, apparently because "he's a nut." Although he prides himself on being scary, he has a weakness for pie and also seems to enjoy watching F Troop. During "Island of Dr. Mystico", Freakazoid and Cosgrove have him chase around and scare Professor Jones.
• Waylon Jeepers – A creepy little man originally from Venice Beach, CA who created the Medusa Watch, which has the power to turn people into stone. He has also created a similar device that turned beavers into gold, and once summoned the demon Vorn the Unspeakable, with the help of a book entitled How to Summon Monsters the E-Z Way. His schemes seem to deeply infuriate Freakazoid and Jeepers is the shown to be the only villain that Freakazoid genuinely does not like, once going on a long rant. His name is a play on the name of famous country guitarist Waylon Jennings.
• Invisibo – Real name: Ahmon Kor-Unch. An invisible, smart-mouthed pharaoh who is only visible via the Anubis staff he carries. While he was sealed away inside a sarcophagus, Duncan pushing Dexter into his sarcophagus resulted in the sarcophagus' seal being broken, enabling Invisibo to be free to resume his crime spree. Freakazoid gave Invisibo his name because "you're invisible and it's my show and we already had a title card made up and it makes me happy!" Invisibo accepts the name, saying it has a "somewhat sinister ring to it." Freakazoid defeated Invisibo by destroying his staff and locking him back into his sarcophagus which is taken away by the authorities. In "Normadeus", Invisibo regained his invisibility powers and is among the villains invited by the Lobe to witness the destruction of Freakazoid where the Lobe gave him a party hat to be visible.
• The Nerdator – A man who planned to kidnap all of the nerds in the world and absorb their knowledge to become a "Super-Nerd". His plan succeeded until Freakazoid convinced him of the downsides of being a nerd. The Nerdator discontinued his plot. He was last seen kidnapping "good-looking, but vapid airheads". His character design is a parody of the Predator.
• Vorn the Unspeakable – A demon summoned by Waylon Jeepers, who bears a resemblance to H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu.
• Arms Akimbo – A spoiled model turned extortionist who, after years of posing, was left with his arms frozen in a jaunty pose, hands on hips. When fighting, he strikes with his oversized elbows. His first appearance is in a local shop selling "oops insurance", a form of protection racketeering which mainly consists of him breaking something of value, before comically following it up with a small "oops".
• Milk Man – Only shown/mentioned in the episode "And Fanboy Is His Name". He is shown on a news report in a pitched battle with Freakazoid and his then-sidekick, Expendable Lad. As the name implies, he uses milk as his theme.
• Deadpan – A plain-looking female supervillain with a monotonous voice. She is a shapeshifter who once tried to conquer Washington by transforming into Freakazoid, but this plan was quickly foiled when the real Freakazoid appeared immediately after and nonchalantly pointed her out. She had only one appearance in the cold opening for "The Wrath of Guitierrez".
• Mary Beth – Cosgrove's former girlfriend, a cosmetics executive, and a monster. She is short-tempered and when angered, turns green, develops a deep raspy voice, and often lights candles by shooting flame from her nose. Her plan to steal Freakazoid's hero essence to remain immortal is foiled and, as a result, she shrivels, dies, and becomes a pile of dust. Her name is a play off of the cosmetics giant Mary Kay.
• Janos Ivnovels – The ruthless dictator of Vuka Nova and Minister of State Security. He is responsible for capturing Freakazoid's family and imprisoning them in the High-Security Wing of Chesky Beresch Prison, the toughest prison in Europe. He and his subordinate Colonel Anton Mohans were defeated after Freakazoid and his friends rescued the Douglas family. Janos and Anton were last seen being tortured by the mime and his pals. He is a one-time villain, having appeared in "Mission: Freakazoid".
• * Colonel Anton Mohans – A vicious thug who finds it relaxing when Janos tortures his prisoners.
• Dr. Mystico – A mad scientist who turns orangutans into human-like beings in "Island of Dr. Mystico", a parody of H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau. He seeks to take over the world, though he always seems to say Cleveland instead. He has a white cat, similar to Ernst Stavro Blofeld. His first name may actually be Wendell, since he once says, "They called me mad, insane, Wendell!". He also bears a striking resemblance to his voice actor Tim Curry.
• Kid Carrion – A zombie cowboy who was never named, and only appeared in "Relax-o-Vision" and "The Lobe". He can be seen in the opening credits standing next to Candle Jack. He bears a passing resemblance to the revamped version of the Scarecrow from Bruce Timm's The New Batman Adventures, yet seems to be a parody of the villain Tex Hex from the 1987 Filmation cartoon series Bravestarr.
• Eye-of-Newt' – A strange one-eyed creature with a hairstyle resembling Newt Gingrich's; his name is a reference to Shakespeare's Macbeth''. He has no dialogue and is a background villain, although it seems that he is frequently recaptured by heroes like Freakazoid or the Huntsman.

  Other characters

• Mo-Ron/Bo-Ron – An obese and dimwitted alien from the planet Barone's. His name was later changed to Bo-Ron, to appease network censors' concerns that use of the word moron might be offensive. In one episode Lord Bravery refers to him as "Mo-Ron or... Bo-Ron, whatever." He is a parody of Ro-Man, the ridiculous-looking monster from the notoriously bad science fiction film Robot Monster. His first appearance was when he tried to deliver Earth an ”important message”, only to forget what it was. This message turned out to be a comet heading towards Earth, which caused everybody to flee the area. He also appeared in an episode that was a parody of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
• Fanboy – An obese, acne-stricken, socially awkward fanboy and would-be sidekick to Freakazoid who obsesses about numerous comic books, TV shows, and movies from The Black Hole to Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope. Fanboy's age is never specified. He could be anywhere between his late teens to early 30s. He bumped into George Takei at a comic book shop and gave chase, causing Takei to run into traffic and nearly get hit by three cars.
• Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton make frequent cameos in the show, partly because Dexter Douglas lives in Washington, D.C.
• Barbra Streisand also makes a number of appearances, most notably in the episode "Dexter's Date", which features a parody of Hello, Dolly!.
• Hero Boy – The title character from Freakazoid's favorite TV show that is first shown in the episode of the same name. Hero Boy has no powers and his black and white show is a parody of the animated series Astro Boy. Hero Boy has the catchphrase "I must succeed!", though he is invariably shrugged off by the monsters he fights, including the giant ones, when his pathetic fighting techniques fail miserably.
• Steven Spielberg – The show's executive producer. His most notable appearance was in part of an episode where Freakazoid, the Brain from Pinky and the Brain, and Wakko Warner from Animaniacs get into a disagreement over which of their shows he likes best. In "The Nerdator", Steven Spielberg is among the nerds that are captured by the Nerdator. During this time, he was directing a sequel to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial called E.T. Returns.
• Paul Harvey – A loud, obnoxious man who often interrupts the story to give background information on a villain, or to describe, rather than show, the ending of an episode. He is a parody of the radio personality of the same name, and even borrows the catchphrase "the rest of the story" from the real Harvey.
• Lonnie Tallbutt – A werewolf that begs Dexter for help. His name is a combination of that of Lon Chaney, Jr. and Lawrence Talbot, the character Chaney played in the 1941 movie The Wolf Man. He is prone to grabbing people's shirt collars and yelling "You don't understand!"
• Emmitt Nervend – A short, hunchbacked man with straw-like hair and a frozen grimace who usually shows up at least once an episode, always in the opening credits, but usually in the background. He stands looking at the camera, never saying a word. Sometimes things happen to him directly, like him standing outside a restaurant collecting donations while dressed as Santa Claus and ringing a bell, birds pecking his head, or laser beams shooting just above his head. The end credits will often contain a credit revealing how many times Emmitt can be found in a particular episode. His appearance was drawn by Mitch Schauer.
• Weena Mercator as The Hopping Woman – A person acknowledged whenever credits are used in an episode. However, no episode or sketch has ever featured a hopping woman. Her name also appears with multiple spellings: "Mercator" in "Dance of Doom" and "Mercatur" in "The Cloud".
• Yakko Warner – The oldest brother of the Animaniacs. Yakko is played by Rob Paulsen.
• Wakko Warner – The younger brother of the Animaniacs. Wakko is played by Jess Harnell.
• Dot Warner – The youngest sister of the Animaniacs. Dot is played by Tress MacNeille.
• The Brain – A genius from Pinky and the Brain. The Brain is played by Maurice LaMarche.

  Mini-segments

• Lord Bravery – Nigel Skunkthorpe is a superhero from the United Kingdom in an outfit slightly resembling that of a Roman soldier. He does not do much in the way of superheroism; in fact, he is very snooty, cynical and unwilling to do unpleasant tasks in the course of his duties such as entering a sewer to perform a rescue. Likewise, he gets little respect and recognition as a superhero from the general public and even from his wife and mother-in-law, with whom he lives, and is generally the laughing stock of the superheroes. At one point, he loses his name due to a trademark dispute with a bakery of the same name, after which he changes his name to Lord Smoked Meats and Fishes. He has been mistaken for a party clown. His theme song is delivered in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan's song "A British Tar".
• The Huntsman – The Huntsman is an imagining of what Robin Hood would be like if portrayed by Charlton Heston. He can never find enough crime to fight and secretly suspects that the police are hiding crimes from him because they do not trust him. He was once a hunter called Marty Feeb who saved a chunky elf from being eaten by a crow. The elf rewarded Marty Feeb with a magic sack of corn. Upon eating it, he was granted strength, speed, and shining teeth, and became the Huntsman. He also has a brother called Hector Feeb, who he claims lives in a townhouse. Huntsman can be summoned by a policeman blowing into the Horn of Urgency on top of the local police station, and his battle cry is "Into action!". When he appears before Lt. Artie King, the Huntsman is told in those two episodes that either a rookie mistakenly blew the horn or the blowing of the horn was a false alarm. He is possibly a parody of the comic book character the Green Arrow. His trademark phrase is "Darn, the luck, darn!" His sketches are often themed around beginning with a lengthy, overly heroic opener, with a title that would indicate an action-oriented episode, that ends up being a short anticlimactic skit of the Huntsman not being needed. In one of his episodes, it was mentioned that he had fought the Lobe and Cave Guy, and he is shown fighting Cave Guy and Candle Jack in his opening. Huntsman was once seen as the umpire during the Superheroes/Villain All-Star Benefit Softball Game. When Freakazoid, Arms Akimbo, and Cave Guy both asked his opinion on a play, he responded that he had looked away to have some berry water and did not see if the play was an out or a safe.
• The Lawn Gnomes – Baffeardin, Huska, Honna, and Quist are a group of gnomes-turned-lawn gnomes that come to life at night in a parody of the Gargoyles animated series. Infamous for their mischief back in AD 995, they were advised by the Great Mystic Gnome to change their ways before it gets worse for them. After planning to do so in a week, the four gnomes were cursed to become stone by day by the powerful wizard Rathgar after they played a prank on him and previously attacked his younger Viking brother Erik the Large. They would revert at night during which time they were given the opportunity to mend their ways to fight evil alongside mankind, after which the curse would be lifted. During this one-time sketch, Freakazoid did his commentary on it.
• Toby Danger – A loving parody of Jonny Quest, featuring the voices of Scott Menville, Don Messick, and Granville Van Dusen, that was originally written by Tom Minton as a 12-minute stand-alone short for Animaniacs, but slotted into Freakazoid! after that series was greenlighted and had an eight-minute opening. The completed 12-minute Toby Danger storyboard was trimmed by director Eric Radomski to fit into the available Freakazoid! time slot.
• Fatman and Boy Blubber – The misadventures of two morbidly obese superheroes, in a parody of the Batman TV series. Their only segment involves them coming to the aid of Louis, an overweight boy who loves sweet buns and is being tormented by bullies. After attempting to capture the bullies, and failing due to their extreme lack of physical fitness, Fatman and Boy Blubber deliver a pseudo-inspirational speech to Louis about their own struggles with being overweight, and how they often end up eating fast food and snacks instead of having sensible meals. When Louis asks what the point of the speech is, Fatman changes the subject to ask if Louis has any more sweet buns in his lunchbox; the hero then tries to confiscate the food, and begins beating Louis up with Boy Blubber when the boy refuses to give it to them. Fatman also makes an appearance during "Hero Boy" where it is revealed the episode is also a storybook being read by Fatman to some children.

  Production

Voicing

Music

Controversy with Mike Allred's ''Madman''

Humor

History

Creation

Premiere, cancellation, and syndication

Reception

Merchandise

Print

Home media

Outsourced producion work

• Toei Animation