Editing Freakazoid! (section)

==History==

===Creation===
{{quote box|quote=I mean, it probably would not have worked as a straight super-hero show. It was really neither fish nor fowl. It was such a weird idea that it probably needed to be a comedy more than an adventure show.|source= [[Bruce Timm]], ''Modern Masters Volume 3: Bruce Timm''<ref name="mmv3">{{Cite book |last=Nolen-Weathington |first=Eric |title=Modern Masters Volume 3: Bruce Timm |date=June 1, 2004 |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-893905-30-6 |page=52}}</ref>|width=30%}}
''Freakazoid!'' was created by animators [[Bruce Timm]], who had previously produced ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', and his writing partner [[Paul Dini]], who was also a story editor for ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''.<ref name="dvdint1">{{Cite AV media |title=Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid: Season 1. Special Features: The Original Freak |date=2008 |display-authors=etal |type=DVD |publisher=[[Warner Home Video]] |people=[[Tom Ruegger]], [[Bruce Timm]]}}</ref> Timm was called upon by [[Steven Spielberg]], who Timm said "liked" Timm's ''Batman'' series, to help create a new superhero show.<ref name="Timm">{{Cite news |last=Lamken |first=Saner |year=2000 |title=The Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Timm! Bruce Timm Interviewed by Brian Saner Lamken |url=http://www.twomorrows.com/comicology/articles/01timm.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060604020156/http://www.twomorrows.com/comicology/articles/01timm.html |archive-date=June 4, 2006 |work=Comicology |publisher=TwoMorrows |issue=1}}</ref> After a meeting with Spielberg, Timm said that Spielberg had "really liked" the idea for the series,<ref name=Timm/> after which Timm and Dini created the character Freakazoid, an edgy superhero with a manic personality. Timm came up with the name for the character naturally, as he recalled, "The name 'Freakazoid' just kind of jumped out of me, I don't even know where from. I said 'Oh, yeah, 'Freakazoid', that might be an interesting name.'"<ref name="dvdint1" /> Dini and Timm have also discussed their desire to create a TV show about the [[Creeper (DC Comics)|Creeper]], another comic character.

Timm originally created ''Freakazoid!'' to be a serious "adventure show" with some comedic undertones.<ref name="dvdint1" /> However, his initial idea for the series did not come to be, as he stated:

{{blockquote|text=I don't mind that it's not on my résumé. [Laughs] I bailed on it really early. It started out as an adventure show, but it ended up turning into more and more of a comedy show; every time we'd have a meeting with Steven, the concept would kinda [sic] change, and it kept leaning more and more towards zany comedy. It really started out almost like [[Spider-Man]], on that level of, like, a teenage superhero. And it reached a point where it became a comedy with the ''Tiny Toon Adventures''/''[[Animaniacs]]'' kind of humor. (...) I don't have anything against that; I just don't have a flair for it, so I bailed—I just hung out here while my staff had to do the show. [Laughs]<ref name=Timm/>}}

After Timm left the series, [[Tom Ruegger]], who developed the other Spielberg series ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and ''Animaniacs'', was brought in to re-develop the series Timm had created "from the ground up".<ref name="dvdint1" /> Ruegger's version of the series used some of Timm's designs and concepts, but Timm said that the series was "radically altered" to become the comedy series that was more to Spielberg's liking.<ref name="dvdint1" />

Ruegger then began writing stories for the series, and came up with a pile of very short segments. Spielberg liked what Ruegger had written, but wanted longer stories for the series as well. Ruegger then asked writers [[John P. McCann|John McCann]] and [[Paul Rugg]] to come onto the series to write longer, more elaborate stories for the series and, according to Rugg, "(...) figure out what this [''Freakazoid!''] was going to be, and the answer was like, 'We didn't know', and still don't".<ref name="dvdint1" />

===Premiere, cancellation, and syndication===
{{Main|List of Freakazoid! episodes}}
''Freakazoid!'' premiered on [[Kids' WB]]'s Saturday lineup on September 9, 1995.<ref name="comedy" /> During its run, ''Freakazoid!'' came across problems of appealing to its target demographic, young children. [[Tom Ruegger]] said that ''Freakazoid!'' had done poorly in ratings because the audience that the series gathered was older than the target audience.<ref name="dvdint1" /> Also, ''Freakazoid'' ran into timeslot problems. Writer [[John P. McCann|John McCann]] said that the time slot of the series changed frequently: "They put it at eight o' clock in the morning, 3:30 in the afternoon, they shifted it all around; we couldn't even find it, and we wrote the thing".<ref name="dvdint1" /> The series ran on [[Kids' WB]] until February 14, 1997, when it was canceled due to poor ratings, airing only one complete season and part of a second season.<ref name="comedy" /> Rugg said the series' demise was the result of a combination of people not understanding the series, time slot changes, appealing to the wrong demographics, and that "(...) there aren't a lot of [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen boxes]] in federal prisons. Had there been, I'm telling you, we'd still be on the air today".<ref name="dvdint1" /> However, the show was later picked up by [[Cartoon Network]] and was rebroadcast from April 5, 1997, until March 29, 2003.<ref name="comedy" /> The series had a total number of 24 episodes. In 2006, ''Freakazoid!'' was one of the shows scheduled to be broadcast on the AOL broadband channel, [[In2TV]]. The show is currently available to stream for free on [[Tubi]].<ref name="in2tv">{{Cite press release |date=July 31, 2006 |title=AOL to Launch New Video Portal |url=http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1220659,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070802060125/http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1220659,00.html |archive-date=August 2, 2007 |access-date=June 29, 2007 |website=Time Warner Newsroom |publisher=Time Warner}}</ref> In Italy, ''Freakazoid!'' along with ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', ''Animaniacs'' and ''Pinky and the Brain'', was shown on [[RAI]] and later [[Mediaset]]. In Japan, ''Freakazoid!'' along with ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' was shown on [[TV Asahi]]. As of 2016, the show also currently airs on [[Tooncast]]. Starting on June 25, 2024, the show aired on [[MeTV Toons]].

===Reception===
The series won a [[Daytime Emmy Award]] for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.<ref name="dvdint1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Freakazoid! on WB |url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/freakazoid/cast/201491 |access-date=May 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120919021713/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/freakazoid/cast/201491 |archive-date=2012-09-19 |website=[[TV Guide]]}}</ref>

[[Bruce Timm]] said that the series still has a cult following of fans who ask him questions about the series whenever they meet him.

According to Timm, the character's co-creator, he actually has a preference for the second season:
{{blockquote|text=BRUCE: I actually liked the second season better than the first season. The second season was less ''Animaniacs.'' It was more ''[[Monty Python]]'', it was much more surreal. It was less hip, topical in-jokes, and---

MM: And more eating cotton candy in the Himalayas.

BRUCE: And the weird ''[[Astro Boy]]'' parody and stuff like that. I thought that stuff was much funnier and much more unique. The first season, to me, was just ''Animaniacs'' with a super-hero in it.<ref name=mmv3/>}}