My Life as a Teenage Robot

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.

I first came across this show while I was channel surfing through the cable program that I just recently received. Since I've only seen a partial portion of the show, the plot and the concept were abstruse to me. My first impression of "My Life as a Teenage Robot" was indifference; I thought it was one of those shows that Nickelodeon inserted just to fill in the gap for their TV schedule. However, I discovered that my assumption had been wrong.

The subsequent week, I watched the show again and again and again.. I just totally became addicted to it! Rob Renzetti did a marvelous job(along with his other fine works such as "The PowerPuff Girls", "Dextor's Laboratory", and other Cartoon Network shows); I believe this is one of his greatest work ever. The story revolves around a semi-angst teenager, named Jenny, whose covetousness is to be accepted in her society. The only thing that's different from Jenny and everyones else is that... well she is a alien/monster fighting robot formally known as XJ-9. The repressive milieu which she resides in usually has her mother forbid her to do anything but save the world and go to school. The tasks that she must accomplish in order to save the world often hinders with her teenage life. She wants to become a real human and just enjoy her life like any other teen. This show's concept is similar to other films such as "Pinocchio", "Astro Boy", "A.I", etc. Just like those films, Jenny acquires knowledge as she gains experience even though Miss Wakeman clearly states that she would be a teenager forever, but metaphorically she is growing up.

Other characters include her next door neighbor and best friend, Brad. She admires Brad because she believes he represents the paradigm of all teenagers; being cool, popular, and acquiring stereotypical teenage quality. However, in veracity, Brad would rather go on adventures like what Jenny does everyday of her teenage life. There's also the mischievous Tuck, who is also known as Brad's brother. Of course and then there's Miss Wakeman, the mad scientist who created XJ-9. At first Miss Wakeman's perspective of XJ-9 was just merely an evil-fighting invention, but her perspective changes as she starts acknowledging Jenny as her daughter. The voice(along with the accent) of Miss Wakeman depicts her disposition perfectly! Also who can ever forget the Jenny-obsessed underdog whom everyone loves, Sheldon. His attempts to get Jenny's attention are just down-right hilarious!

The animation of this show is pretty much similar to Renzetti's other cartoons. The animation is drawn simply and the colors blend in with the environment. This show also has tons of cultural reference as well, including literal and pop culture. For example, in one of the episodes, they made an allusion to "Catcher in the Rye" and "The Boy who Cried Wolf". This show contains a variety of genres, tons of humor, plenty of action, and even a little romance and drama.

Even though I still haven't seen most of the other episodes, "My life as a Teenage Robot" is in one of my top TV shows list. In my notion, this show is much superior than the other flamboyant shows on Nick such as "Spogebob Squarepants" and "The Fairly Oddparents".(Although I have heard substantially positive comments about 'Invader Zim', I really can't compare it with other shows, since I have never seen it for myself) So don't feel reluctant to watch "My Life as a Teenage Robot", you'll be surprised on how much you'll be entertained. Hopefully the DVD will come out soon and that Nick won't cancel this outstanding cartoon.

What can I say. I'm a sucker for new ideas. My Life as a Teenage Robot mixes old school animation with Frederator's elete team of animators. I think this show will be most liked upon fans of The Fairly Oddparents and those who also liked Invader Zim.

Probably one of my favorite characters on the show would have to be Sheldon. While he is a geek, he tries hard to gain Jenny's attention. This is what makes the show worth watching.

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.