I love this weird stuff!  Freakazoid was the third show produced under the supervision of Steven Spielberg.  It followed in the 'footsteps' of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.  To give you an idea of how little appreciation is thrown towards this show, the latter two are currently running in Syndication on the HUB Network, a Channel that runs new shows and older ones (like Batman and Superman).  Why no love for Dexter Douglas?!?  If you don't know about the show, I'll give you what-for...
Frekazoid is the alias of Dexter Douglas, your typical nerd.  Bad posture, glasses- the whole kitten caboodle.  Thanks to a freak accident, he gets sucked into the Internet and the combined data overwhelms his mind, turning him into Freakazoid.

Did that make any sense?  No.  Good- it's not really supposed to.  He has to have an origin story, so there.
The real meat of the show is the characters.  What they do and why is almost secondary.  They include...

1. Inspector Cosgrove: A Police Officer (voiced by Ed Asner) is a deep-voiced guy who is easily distracted.  It's a running joke that Freakazoid goes to him when danger is afoot and they go off somewhere else.  It could be The Jelly Museum, a Go-Kart Track, whatever.
2. The Douglas Family: They don't do much, but they play a nice Midwestern droll to Freakazoid's insanity.  His brother is a jerk, so he usually gets his comeuppance from Freakazoid aka The Blue Guy.
3. Steff: A classmate who's in love with Freakazoid, but can't stand Dexter.  As a parody of Superhero culture, they play with this Lois & Clark dynamic a lot early on.  As shown in 'The Island of Dr. Mystico,' this dynamic is even more confusingly-silly.
4. Roddy: He's a Scottish Computer Programmer (voiced by Craig Ferguson) who has ties to Freakazoid's origin.  He plays a bigger role in the second part of the show.
5. Ingmar: who's introduced as a mostly one-off bit.  The joke: he's a Mute Butler who Freakazoid doesn't watch.  All he can do is wave ineffectively in the background.
6. Professor Jones- Ingmar's replacement is a snooty, but loyal man who doesn't like indignity.  Voiced by the late Johnathan Harris, he's privy to a running joke about the Actor's most famous character- Dr. Smith from Lost in Space.
7. Your Announcer: Joe Leahy voices the show's Announcer.  He likes to chime in when he feels like it and actually acts as a Character in one Episode (I won't say which).  If you ever wanted to see an Animated Narrator playing a real (animated) person *playing a character,* this is your show.
Of course, no hero is complete without his villains.  Rather than having to make my own composite image like I did for The Monster Squad, someone already did...
The show's insanity is really highlighted by the villains it features.  Cave Guy is a super-strong Country Club snob who talks like Thurston Howell.  Candlejack is a spectral entity that appears when you say his name and likes to say 'boo.'  Longhorn is a criminal who got radical plastic surgery to look like a bull and wants revenge on Nashville for rejecting his demo.  Invisibo (who, sadly, only appears twice) is an Egyptian Noble who's invisible and talks like Vincent Price.
Sometimes even the one-off villains are wacky in origin alone.  Arms Akimbo, for example, is a former Male Model who's a criminal since his arms have locked in the 'Akimbo' position.  No, really.
There is something that has to be discussed as well.  There was a controversy when the show Debuted that it was a rip-off of the comic Madman.  I don't agree, but let me just put up this comparison shot all the same.
There are also some differences between Season 1 and 2.  In the first Season, Episodes were made up of three to four segments.  The reason for the multiple parts was to highlight Shorts for ancillary characters.  It's what they did for all of the other shows.

For Freakazoid, you'd get to see The Huntsman, The Lawn Gnomes (sadly, a one-off), Fatman & segments where Freakazoid teaches you Norwegian.  By now, you should realize that I'm not making that last one up.

In summary, Freakazoid is a weird, wacky piece of my childhood.  It has very little continuity, very little common sense and very little to complain about.  As an adult, the show still holds up.  If you can accept that it's not to be taken seriously, you can have a great time.  What other show features Cameos by the President of the MPAA?  What other show features a guy who looks like Lon Chaney Jr and actually transforms into the Wolfman (in fake time-lapse to boot!)?  What other show features a new car for its character, followed by a fake commercial for it (mocking the Cartoon As A Way To Sell Toys cliche)?  Hell, what show could combine a parody of Amadeus with a Guest Appearance by famous Home Repair Guru Norm Abrams?!?  If you haven't seen Freakazoid, you need to.  It's a work of ridiculous art that crazy people like me love.
Got a Cartoon that I haven't featured yet?  If so, shoot me a comment and I'll give it a look.

How do you pick just one?

With a ton of Episodes/Segments to choose from in Freakazoid's 2 Seasons, I was pretty torn.  Deep down, I knew that it had to be 'The Island of Dr. Mystico.'  It riffs on Mad Scientist Movies, movies about mutants and even throws a nod to Plan 9 From Outer Space.  Throw in Leonard Maltin and a former Secretary of State & you've got a real winner.  This one sums up the show pretty well, throwing in more 4th Wall breaks than usual and just generally being silly.  To see a glimpse into something that's even better as an Adult than as a kid, read on...
Leonard Maltin introduces the Episode by saying that it's 'one of the most pointless Freakazoid adventures ever made.'  He also explains that it was popular with Critics, until they realized that it wasn't European.

After that, he's abducted by a giant Ape-Man.  No, really.
The 'plot' involves Freakazoid flying all of the show's major criminals- Cave Guy, Longhorn, Candle Jack (who doesn't appear when you type his name...I hope), Cobra Queen and The Lobe- to France, Europe (as they call it).  We don't want them, after all.

It's around this point that they throw in a great Plan 9 homage.  Here's a side-by-side comparison of the infamous 'Boom Mic Shadow' moment.
This show takes nothing serious- which is why I love.  Case in point: Freakazoid tells The Lobe to look out 'the left side of the plane' over the P.A. and suddenly appears on the wing, just to scare him.  Ha.
The titular Dr. Mystico uses an extremely-silly device to cause them to crash on his titular Island.  Just look at that.
The group gets picked off one-by-one by mysterious foes.  That leads to a random aside about...
The Buddy System.  It's stuff like that- plus the monkey footage- that makes me love this show.  You were never quite sure what would happen next.

They actually joked on Commentary for 1 Episode about how a segment had a coherent, straight-forward narrative.  The reason: it was guest-written by Paul Dini.  Classic.
Dr. Mystico finally reveals himself and wants to take some time to savor his victory.  However, Freakazoid has a harsh truth for him.
He explains that he wants to make half-man/half-orangutan mutants to conquer Cleveland...I mean, the World.  With our heroes, Leonard Maltin and Henry Kissinger (I won't SPOIL how) in his clutches, who can stop him?

Well, it's Freakazoid's new Intern, of course.  He shows up with the key to their cell, their messages and some coffee in about ten seconds flat.  Only on Freakazoid, folks.
Our heroes decide to take a stand.  They have great powers and they're going to fight, dammit!
On second thought, never mind.  They just run away instead.

See you in Season 3.  Oh...right.  Never mind.  The End.
Freaking awesome!  Freakazoid was a silly show.  The thing about it was that it was the natural escalation of WB Shows starting with Tiny Toon Adventures.  The shows grew up with my generation and helped us turn into insane adults.  Thanks, Cartoons!  In the 2nd Season, the show transitioned into full-length Episodes, as opposed to three or four short segments.  While I'm torn on that, it does help in cases like this.  The Episode really has 'room to breath' here and let the silliness sink in.  The 4th Wall is smashed to pieces on numerous occasions in this Episode alone.  In one bit, we learn that 'Freakazoid only acts that way for TV.'  Mind you, this is said by his cartoon girlfriend.  Go ahead- rationalize that.  I love that there was a kid's show that referenced Plan 9 From Outer Space (among others) as well.  It's just a nice touch to show that they are not pandering to the lowest common denominator.  If you like wacky stuff, you really need to check this show out.  It's the only show I can think of to break the 4th Wall, teach you basic Norwegian and reference an Ed Wood film.  What do you think, Kissinger?
Up next, Spider-Man graces the segment yet again (it's just that weird!).  The story involves people from the future, Doctor Octopus and the common cold.  Stay tuned...

I love Freakazoid.

Is anyone surprised?  This crazy Cartoon was the follow-up to Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs, but, sadly, wasn't as popular as Pinky & The Brain.  Good show too- just not as weird and random.  It only got two Seasons- bummer.  Regardless, it was great.  Here's the theme song (just not in English)...
The show was full of weird and crazy moments.  In the next clip, the story just completely stops to settle a debate between characters (two of which aren't on the show)...
Next up, a two-part bit where the late Jack Valenti tries to explain the Film Ratings System.

Yes, this show is so good that it makes me laugh about a subject I have serious issues with (PG-13 for The Lone Ranger?) and with a guy that I really hated.  Awesome.
Lastly, a brief morality tale from Freakazoid.  For some reason, I really want Cookies...
That's just a taste of things to come.  For a more in-depth look at the show, keep an eye out for the imminent return of Forgotten Toons.

Oh and there's going to be a Part 3.  Count on it!