Jenny la robot adolescente

Not only is this wonderful cartoon one of the classic superhero shows that we all love, but it also explores the life of a teenage robot who, like all of us, experiences the awkward situations that come along with adolescence. A show that children and teenagers can truly identify with, because they go through the same situations as the main character, Jenny Wakeman, does every day.

Unfortunately however, this show is currently "offline" and only reruns are played on the Nicktoons network. This is believed to be due to ratings and reviews. However, no user rating will truly be correct if you aren't the intended demographic of the show, be your review positive or negative. This show was meant, like many other television cartoons out there, to bring smiles to children's faces, not adults or people who review things for a living. This show was funny, cute and was accompanied by morals and principles that brought fun and learning together, and Nicktoons's popularity has sunken greatly due to its removal of nice shows like this and has thus lost hundreds, even thousands of viewers. This is why Nicktoons should once again broadcast My Life as a Teenage Robot, and go for a fourth season, because this show wasn't meant for being submitted to the scrutinizing eye of reviewers, but to shine its light of knowledge and fun on the children and teenagers that enjoyed this cartoon before it was shut down.

I'd never really heard of My Life as a Teenage Robot, but it caught my eye stumbling across channels one day. I stayed tuned as the episodes kept rolling, and it struck me - this show is really good!

The plot's pretty simple - mad scientist Dr. Wakeman programmed XJ-9 to defend the Earth, but after being discovered by her human neighbors, Brad and Tuck, "Jenny" decides she'd much rather fit in with humans - but has to get over some of the social hurdles of being a 6 foot-tall, steel-plated, heavily armed war machine.

The show does really well with its premise. Even at their extremes, the characters are all likable, and have some great voice talent to back them up. The pacing is very relaxed, without a lot of the exhausting hyperactivity you see in a lot of newer shows.

The animation has a very traditional style. The characters are a mix of '60s Hanna-Barbera, Astro Boy, and Felix the Cat. The backgrounds look hand-painted with abstract Art Deco and Populuxe designs. And despite being a scifi-themed show, there's none of the conspicuous CGI common to classics Futurama and Invader Zim.

I was just getting started with this show when I found out it had been canceled for a couple of years, which is a shame because it still seemed to have a lot of energy in it. I'd call it an underrated classic for fans of scifi and animation, and probably good enough for Nick's intended audience, too.

I've seen the pilot of this cartoon many times on Nick's cartoon anthology program, "Oh Yeah! Cartoons", and it has easily been my favorite from that show. I remember seeing that first six minute short about Jenny the teenage robot torn being the world saving failsafe her scientist mother created her as or her own desire to be a normal teenager and hang out with other kids, and thinking what a great series it would make. I'm more than ecstatic to learn that it will in fact be a series, and am greatly looking forward to it. The pilot episode had great animation and character design reminiscent of Cartoon Network's best work from a couple years ago, before then began producing shows with soulless digital painting techniques. I can only hope that the `Teenage Robot' creators stick to their great style.

So far, Nick's current line-up is pure horror (The Fairy Oddparents, As Told By Ginger, All Grown Up) but only one of them makes an exception: enters the Blue Girl, XJ-9 from the future! (or should I say retro-future in this case!)

My Life As A Teenage Robot is a surprisingly good Nick Toon that tells the story of a girl robot who saves the day by fighting evil alien invaders and other menacing villains from all sides of the world and the universe (hey, that probably sounds like a Powerpuff Girl rip-off but Rob Renzetti, who creates this show, has also worked on several PPG episodes before, so I abide by that fact) while facing challenges as an ordinary teenager in real-life situations! And if you think the word 'teenager' will often lead to concussion that the show will feature head-banging rock songs and typical teenage punks, think again! TR's artwork and background designs are heavily inspired by classic cartoons of the 20s (think of it as an Oswald cartoon in its newer form), out-of-date anime and even classic buildings of the Golden Years while maintaining the very essence that makes every hit show (Samurai Jack, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, PPG) an instant classic.

But that's not all, folks! Every episode is as sweet as the rest, thanks to its inventive ideas, fluid animation (the best examples include Jenny's transformations and even in one scene where Jenny outfashions her rivals by revealing her fancy costumes, in which I personally think is the best I've seen in recent years), wonderful voice acting and colorful character personalities! The music is, unlike the usual pop songs that are often heard in teenage-themed shows like As Told By Ginger, surprisingly pleasant and is predominantly reminiscent to the ones heard in Tartakovsky/McCracken shows, in addition to the cool techno music.

To sum it up, MLAATR is cute, funny, unexpected and a real blast to watch from start to finish. It is hard to underestimate a Nick Toon like this one, especially when you have no idea what the Blue Girl has up her sleeves!

In 2004, I decided that I had it with Nickelodeon, so I retired myself from watching it further. The reason? It's because ever since we entered in the 21st century in 2000, Nick has usually released shows with quality that ranged from mediocre (Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron, As Told by Ginger, a lot of the Teenick shows, etc.) or very bad (Butt-Ugly Martians, Chalkzone, and the extremely short-lived Action League Now). Once in a blue moon, however, a decent, or even good, show appears such as Fairly Oddparents and Invader Zim (I never loved Zim, but at least it was better then some of the crap Nickelodeon viewers get today. Shame on Nick for canceling it unfairly!). So when "My Life as a Teenage Robot", or MLAATR for short, was first introduced in 2003, I found myself enjoying much of what it had to offer.

The story involves a robot created by Dr. Wakeman to help protect earth from disaster and/or crime (yes, this concept has been used several times before), but this robot has the personality of a female teenager. So, while the robot's codename is XJ9, she prefers to be called "Jenny." She's willing to do her job in keeping the world safe, but she also wants to live a normal teenage life in high school and hang out with friends. This is where she meets Brad and Tuck, two human brothers who live within Jenny's neighborhood. Brad is a fellow classmate of Jenny's in high school, while Tuck is more around elementary school aged. Brad tries being cool to fit in with the crowd while Tuck is immature, silly and obnoxious at times. But hey, that's how brothers are with their different behaviors. They both eventually get along with Jenny very well. Later on in the series, Jenny meets more friends such as Sheldon, a nerdy geek who develops a crush on her, and some rivals like Brit and Tiff, AKA "The Krust Cousins," as well as villains that interrupt her daily life. And that's the basic plot of most episodes.

When it comes to the characters I mentioned above, they all have a purpose and are pretty likable, except for Brit and Tiff, who always try to find ways to humiliate Jenny and hurt her feelings. Some of the episodes I've seen through the entire series were fairly enjoyable to watch. They were usually filled with interesting humorous moments, action-filled scenes, and even brief bits of suitable character development/drama. The comedy is sometimes a little childish, but it usually does not make you cringe and it can get a laugh out of everyone at times. The plots and themes presented in the show seem to capture many people's different interests as well.

The animation and art style of MLAATR is pretty unique. It makes use of old-school character design elements from the 1930's, but makes them fresh and appealing with colorful technology we have today. A similar amount of praise can be said about the sound work. The music isn't too memorable, but it does get the job done with upbeat, catchy music for the standard scenes, and trance music for the fighting/action scenes. The voice acting in this show doesn't disappoint, and a few voices may sound familiar to cartoon fanatics. A shout out must be given to Janice Kawaye for her cute, appealing, and fun performance as Jenny.

I haven't really watched this show ever since I gave up on Nickelodeon in 2004. From time to time, I check in on the channel to see what they do these days. As of this writing in 2006, they haven't changed too much. There are a couple of new shows being made, but they don't look special to me (The upcoming Mr. Meaty, for instance, looks terrible and retarded). Unfortunately, it looks like Nickelodeon canceled MLAATR at some point. I'm somewhat disappointed in this. Viacom, the parent company of Nickelodeon, always seems to cancel their good shows prematurely if they do not meet the sky-high profits of shows like Spongebob Squarepants.

"My Life as a Teenage Robot" may not have the same level of appeal like the great Nicktoons of the 90's (Rocko's Modern Life, Doug, early Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Catdog, etc.) did, and there are a couple aspects of the overall show that I don't care much for, it was still enjoyable for what it was and I feel it's better then many of the Nickelodeon shows being aired today. I hope it gets a good DVD release someday.