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Poseidon Adventure Parody/And Fanboy Is His Name/Lawn Gnomes: Chapter IV – Fun in the Sun/Frenching with Freakazoid is the fourth episode of Freakazoid!. It originally aired on September 30, 1995.

Poseidon Adventure Parody[]

Poseidon

Plot[]

The crew of a ship encounters something very unusual— Freakazoid!

Notes[]

  • This cold-open is a parody of the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure.

And Fanboy Is His Name[]

And fanboy

Plot[]

A sci fi and comic book fan cruises local comic book shops, chasing his celebrity idols. Suddenly, he sees a TV broadcast, and his life has purpose. He decides there and then to devote his life to being Freakazoid's sidekick, Fan Boy! Freakazoid, mourning the loss of his most recent sidekick, Expendable Lad, is in no mood.

Crew[]

Notes[]

  • This episode serves as the proper introduction to the character of Fanboy (barring cameos in musical numbers).
  • This episode introduces the Freakmobile and Freakalair.
  • Dot Warner makes a cameo on a TV set.
    • Dot
      Dot Warner appears to be off-model, and she is depicted wearing her prototype bow instead of her flower. Perhaps the Freakazoid! animation studio (which did not typically animate the Warners) was accidentally sent an early model sheet from Dot's bow-wearing phase.
  • Mike's restaurant, Papaya Queen, refers to a small chain of restaurants in NYC called Papaya King.
  • Harlan Ellison is holding a Pinky and the Brain comic book, referencing Ellison's professed enjoyment of the characters.
  • Mark Hamill, who plays himself, also provided the voice of the Joker on Freakazoid!'s sister series Batman: The Animated Series, as well as Jimmy Joe Jr. in the Pinky and the Brain episode "Brain Acres."
  • Freakazoid's "Hoo hoo! Hoo hoo!" shtick at the end mimics the early Daffy Duck personality from Tex Avery cartoons such as "Porky's Duck Hunt." Daffy is Paul Rugg's favorite character of all time.[2]
  • When Freakazoid says, "Count to 900, and don't get sick!" he speaks in the same voice as Paul Rugg used for the elevator repairman Goyt Fermin in the Animaniacs short "Ups and Downs" (Goyt gave the similar advice, "Don't throw up!").
  • A caricature of Stan Lee can be seen on a photo at the convention.

Lawn Gnomes Chapter IV: Fun in the Sun[]

Lawn gnomes

Plot[]

The Lawn Gnomes lived in Denmark in 995 A.D. They were mischievous creatures who delighted in annoying humans, stealing their food, money, and pants. Even their deity, the Great Mystic Gnome, berated them for being too obnoxious. One day, they ticked off the wrong viking, and he had his brother Rathgar the Wizard place a curse on the gnomes, turning them into statues during the day until they learned to start helping people out of the goodness of their hearts. A thousand years later, they still haven't quite kicked the curse.

Crew[]

Notes[]

  • This is the first and only Lawn Gnomes segment in the series.
  • The concept of this short is a parody of the Disney TV show Gargoyles, which also involves an ancient race of creatures that turns to stone during the day, and a thousand-year curse. The shot of the gnomes awakening under dramatic rainfall (here lawn sprinklers) and yelling, "We are Lawn Gnomes!!" is straight out of the Gargoyles pilot.
  • The numbering of this segment as "Chapter IV" is an obvious reference to the first Star Wars film being Episode IV.

Frenching With Freakazoid[]

Frenching

Plot[]

In the closing segment, Freakazoid provides a lesson in speaking French, the language of love.

Notes[]

  • Some phrases Freakazoid teaches are:
    • "Bonjour, classe!" – Hello, class!
    • "Comment allez vous? Bien." – How are you? Good.
    • "Et maintenant, le lecon du jour." – And now, today’s lesson.
    • "Bon. Merci. Au revoir." – Good. Thank you. Good-bye.

Cast[]

Voice Actors: Character(s):
Paul Rugg Freakazoid, Additional Voices
Stephen Furst Fan Boy
Mark Hamill Himself
Tress MacNeille Christina, Additional Voices
Rob Paulsen Celebrity[3]
Jeff Bennett Mike, Additional Voices
Joe Leahy Our Narrator
Carl Ballentine Huska
Rose Marie Honna
Roscoe Lee Browne Great Mystic Gnome
Larry Gelman Young Quist
Clive Revill Baffeardin
Maurice LaMarche Rathgar
Frank Welker Crow

References[]

  1. This gag credit refers to the fact that the word "bookkeeper" is the only word in the English language containing three pairs of the same letters in a row. The Freakazoid! writers have doubled that! The credit may also be related to a gag credit in Animaniacs Episode 8: "Raccoon Keeper: Kathryn Page."
  2. http://kittysneezes.com/2013/04/20/interview-paul-rugg/
  3. Rob Paulsen is credited very cautiously as "Celebrity" for his impersonation of George Takei.

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