On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, I saw on DVD… the Freakazoid episode “In Arm’s Way”

The same team behind the Animaniacs and Batman the Animated Series created something of an amalgamation between them with Freakazoid in the late 90’s. Freakazoid was an insane, goofy, wise-cracking superhero that was surprisingly effective at defeating various strange villains. It was a comedy that poked fun at the superhero concept with absurd humor and witty dialogue. I personally loved the show, but it wasn’t very successful. Freakazoid was cancelled after only one season. Reruns aired for a time on Cartoon Network but now it seems the show has simply disappeared into the recesses of television history.  I felt the need to buy the entire series at a comic con and was surprised to find it did in fact have a Christmas episode.

 

Technically, Freakazoid had half a Christmas episode. The show usually was separated into two 11 minute story segments (much the way Spongebob Squarepants does) and the episode “In Arm’s Way” was the first half. The second half was a funny episode called “The Cloud” that had nothing to do with Christmas, so I will focus on the former.

While our hero is Christmas shopping for his friends, a gangster by the name of “Arms” Akimbo terrorizes shopkeepers by ‘coercing’ them to buy his “Oops” insurance. (When asked what Oops insurance was, Arms would break something and say “Oops!”) “Arms” Akimbo got his name due to the fact that his hands are permanently stuck to his hips. He overcame that handicap to become a tough thug that looks and talks like a 1920’s Chicagoland Gangster.

The plot of the episode isn’t that great. It’s the random jokes throughout that really make this worth watching. There’s a running joke that Freakazoid can’t decide what to get his (sort of) girlfriend. He keeps going back and forth between perfume or something weird like a summer sausage shaped like Austria and stuff like that. The episode ends with Freakazoid talking to Cosgrove, a cop friend of his, about the gift for his girlfriend debate. Cosgrove suggests getting her something “a girl would want, like banjo lessons or a new turban.” Cosgrove was my favorite character on the show, in part because he was voiced by Ed Asner, so that was at least a great way to end the episode. All in all, the “In Arm’s Way” wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. If it had been one of Freakazoid’s funnier villains, such as The Lobe or Armondo Guitierrez (voiced by the late, great Ricardo Montalbam) it would have been a lot better.

On the Merry Meter I give “In Arms Way” a 6 out of 10.

Tune in tomorrow when we have Christmas with a psychotic clown. See you then!