My Life as a Teenage Robot

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My Life as a Teenage Robot
"When the world needs a hero, they called her... daughter."
Genre: Comedy
Action
Adventure
Comic Science Fiction
Science fantasy
Superhero
Science fiction
Drama
Running Time: 23 minutes
Country: United States
Release Date: December 4, 1999 (My Neighbor is a Teenage Robot)
July 5, 2002 – April 14, 2006 (Foreign)
August 1, 2003 – September 9, 2005 (United States, Seasons 1 & 2)
October 4, 2008 - May 2, 2009 (United States, Season 3)
Network(s): Nickelodeon
Nicktoons
Created by: Rob Renzetti
Distributed by: MTV Networks
Starring: Janice Kawaye
Candi Milo
Chad Doreck
Audrey Wasilewski
Quinton Flynn
Eartha Kitt
Steve Blum
S. Scott Bullock
Cree Summer
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 40 (76 segments)


My Life as a Teenage Robot, or 'Teenage Robot (abbreviated as MLAATR), is an short-lived American animated superhero science fantasy television series created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. It was produced by Frederator Studios in association with Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Set in the fictional town of Tremorton, the series follows the adventures of a robot girl named XJ-9, or Jenny, as she prefers to be called, who attempts to juggle her duties of protecting Earth while trying to live a normal human life as a teenager.

Renzetti pitched the series to Frederator Studios' animated shorts showcase Oh Yeah! Cartoons and a pilot titled "My Neighbor is a Teenage Robot", which aired on December 4, 1999. Viewer approval ratings led to the commissioning of a half-hour series, which premiered on Nickelodeon on August 1, 2003 in the United States; after airing its first two seasons, the series was cancelled in terms of production because of poor ratings. The completed third season eventually aired on Nickelodeon's sister network Nicktoons from October 4, 2008, to May 2, 2009 in the United States (the season aired in multiple foreign countries in 2005 - 2007), officially ending the series in terms of airing. The series totaled three seasons, each consisting of 13 episodes.

My Life as a Teenage Robot received mostly positive reviews from critics, being nominated for numerous awards, most prominently one Primetime Emmy Award and eleven Annie Awards.

Sypnosis

My Life as a Teenage Robot is set in the fictional town of Tremorton and its themes focus on making lighthearted fun of typical teenage problems and other conventions and drama of the teenage and superhero lives mixed up with a combination of action, adventure, sci-fi fantasy and comedy sequences. The series follows XJ-9 ("Jenny Wakeman", as she prefers to be called; voiced by Janice Kawaye), who is a highly sophisticated state-of-the-art sentient gynoid automaton robot girl created by her mother Dr. Nora Wakeman (voiced by Candi Milo), an elderly robotics scientist, five years prior to the series. Jenny is Earth's protector, armed to the teeth with a wide range of weapons and devices, but all she really wants is to live the life of a normal teenager. She was preceded in development by eight other models; in season one, the episode "Sibling Tsunami" introduced XJs 1–8.

Jenny's friends are her next-door neighbors Brad (voiced by Chad Doreck) and Tuck Carbuckle (voiced by Audrey Wasilewski). Brad is outgoing and adventurous, and is the first actual friend Jenny makes, while Tuck is Brad's rambunctious younger brother who usually tags along on adventures. Another one of her friends is Sheldon Lee (voiced by Quinton Flynn), a somewhat stereotypical nerd who is infatuated with her. Jenny often rejects his romantic advances, but still cares for him as a friend. Fans of the show often speculate on whether Jenny would have ended up with Sheldon or Brad. Renzetti and his team seem to favor Sheldon but refuse to give any definitive answers as to how he would have ended the series if he was given a fourth season.

At high school, Jenny has an ongoing rivalry with the Crust Cousins, Brit (voiced by Moira Quirk) and Tiff (voiced by Cree Summer), the popular girls in school. Dr. Wakeman often tries in vain to control her creation and keep her daughter focused on protecting the planet Earth. Adding to her trouble is that she is constantly being dogged by the all-robotic Cluster Empire, whose queen, Vexus (voiced by Eartha Kitt), wants her to join their world of robots (by force if necessary). Despite it all, Jenny struggles to maintain some semblance of a mostly-human life.

The special of the series, "Escape from Cluster Prime", shows that the alien planet is actually a peaceful paradise for every kind of robot. It's also revealed that Vexus has made Jenny out to be a villain due to her constant refusals to join, blaming her for the missing components that allow robots to transform; Vexus actually has them hidden, to help control the populace.

Why It Saves Tremorton

  1. Unique animation style and background design that blends 1930's-40's art decor with character designs styled like the old Disney cartoons, some are even Anime styled such as the character designs and facial expressions for the Robots. It helps that it's been animated by Rough Draft Studios.
  2. Plenty of likable characters like Jenny, Brad, Brit and Tiff, and Tuck.
    • Jenny is a lovable main protagonist.
  3. Jenny Wakeman is a very relatable, adorable, and ass-kicking teenage girl. She later on became a fan-favorite/fan service amongst people.
  4. Cool and memorable villains like the Cluster and the Space Bikers. Vexus, in particular, is the series' main antagonist and is voiced by the late Eartha Kitt, who also voiced Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove.
  5. Apart from saving the world, Jenny's motives and situations are extremely relatable to teenagers, such as just wanting to hang out with friends rather than the deadly responsibilities she has to overcome that'll distract her from doing that.
  6. Many funny moments, such as Jenny's temper tantrums and Smytus' "disguise" as an Ukrainian model, a shout out to Ruslana winning the 2004 Eurovision song contest, and a singer behind Wild Dances playing on Vladivostok FM from Rockstar's best video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
  7. Teaches morals and principles that brought fun and learning together, such as not letting drama overcome your personal life.
  8. Cleverly hidden adult jokes.
  9. An original, exciting, and inventive plot of a teenage robot daughter who has to constantly save the world while also wanting a normal teenage life.
  10. Adventurous, relatable, and creative episode plots, even if they take it from high school comedy/dramas. Therefore, this show bring us many great episodes such as:
    1. "It Came from Next Door" (which started the series on a high note)
    2. "Pest Control"
    3. "Reggedy Android"
    4. "Class Action"
    5. "Doom with a View"
    6. "Ear No Evil"
    7. "Unlicensed Flying Object"
    8. "Party Machine"
    9. "Speak No Evil"
    10. "See no Evil"
    11. "The Great Unwashed"
    12. "The Return of the Reggedy Android"
    13. "Sibling Tsunami"
    14. "Hostile Takeover"
    15. "Grid Iron Glory"
    16. "Dressed to Kill"
    17. "Shell Game"
    18. "Daydream Believer"
    19. "This Time With Feeling"
    20. "Tradeshow Showdown"
    21. "Victim of Fashion" (which started season 2 on a high note)
    22. "Mind Over Matter"
    23. "Humiliation 101"
    24. "A Robot For All Seasons"
    25. "Sister Sledgehammer"
    26. "Around the World in 80 Pieces"
    27. "Armagedroid"
    28. "Robot Riot"
    29. "Bradventure"
    30. "Toying with Jenny"
    31. "Weapons of Mass Distraction" (which started season 3 on a high note)
    32. "There's No Place Like Home School"
    33. "Stage Fright"
    34. "Never Say Uncle"
    35. "A Spoonful of Mayhem"
    36. "Enclosure of Doom"
    37. "Legion of Evil
    38. "Teen Idol"
    39. "Good Old Sheldon"
    40. "Infectious Personality"
    41. "Trash Talk"
    42. "Agent 00 Sheldon"
    43. "Puppet Bride"
    44. "Labor Day"
    45. "Voyage to the Planet of the Bikers"
    46. "Queen Bee"
    47. "Samurai Vac"
  11. Very well-done drama and romance that is handled better than most of later Nickelodeon sitcoms.
  12. Amazing and Entertaining Action Sequences.
  13. Awesome, memorable and catchy theme song.
  14. Great techno soundtrack that gives huge 2000s feel.
  15. Good voice acting from: Janice Kawaye, Candi Milo, Chad Doreck, Audrey Wasilewski, Quinton Flynn, Cree Summer, Eartha Kitt, S. Scott Bullock and Steve Blum.
  16. Memorable quotes such as, "We haven’t been getting our recommended daily allowance of iron!", "You wouldn't like my body, it's all circuly and metallic!" and let's not not forget this memorable quote: "Milk it for as long as you can!".
  17. The TV Movie special Escape from Cluster Prime released in 2005 was good.

Rusty Qualities

  1. There are some mean spirited moments.
  2. There are some pretty unlikable characters like the Crust Cousins, Brit and Tiff, who bully Jenny at school, though they do undeniably make good antagonists towards her. Plus, both Brit and Tiff have good chemistry and Moira Quirk and Cree Summer are good at making very unpleasant characters.
    • Dr. Wakeman is a unlikable mother to Jenny who in the “Dancing With My Shell” episode, told Jenny she can’t take a boy with her, which is sexist, she also even grounded Brad and Tuck in one episode despite that Brad and Tuck are not her minors to ground.
    • Sheldon is a rather unlikable character that always stalks Jenny and is a pervert.
    • Tuck's overly mischievous personality occasionally makes him unlikable as well.
  3. Unfunny toilet humor from time to time, like Dr. Wakeman telling Tuck that she is not wearing pants at the end of the episode "Armagedroid".
  4. Sadly, just like Drawn Together, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom and other lesser known shows, it ended too early and fast with only 3 seasons and 40 episodes, probably because it's not as popular as other shows such as Spongebob SquarePants and The Loud House, and has no signs on making a return, aside from cameos in certain games.
  5. "I Was A Preschool Dropout" is considered as one of the weakest episode of the series.
  6. The US airing had a two year hiatus in 2006 and 2007, as there weren't any new season or episodes in those years.

Trivia

  • In the episode where Jenny goes back to preschool, she tells Brad she was only born five years ago, from their time, and Brad then begins to list a number of events that all happened at that time. One of these was "Super Bowl 100". Given 2004 was Super Bowl 38, and in the show, five years had passed since "Super Bowl 100", this would make the show take place in 2071. Add 62 to 38 to get Super Bowl 100, which makes the year 2066 (2004 + 62), plus five years since SB 100 makes it 2071.
  • The show is known for encouraging Nickelodeon to green-lit more action-adventure-oriented cartoons such as Danny Phantom and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • Messmer's, the soda fountain that appears in several episodes, is named after Otto Messmer, creator of Felix the Cat. The entrance is even shaped like the face of a black cat.
  • Rob Renzetti has been known to interact with the fandom to this day, even going as far to allow any sort of fan art, including realistic pin-up and sexy poses, unless it crossed the pornographic line.
    • Speaking of which, Just like Teen Titans, which also aired in 2003, it spawned several 18+ parody videos by ZONE-SAMA, which can be found on Newgrounds and YouTube.
  • Doujinshi of Jenny is common in Japan, which isn't really surprising, considering it's like their beloved Astro Boy, and she's a badass adorable robot girl. Even better, her voice actress is Japanese.
  • The show is also very popular in Latin America, if the fanbase and many Spanish videos are any indication, to the point that in a contest, when the show still aired, they beat SpongeBob SquarePants in a popularity contest.

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