My Life as a Teenage Robot

My Life as a Teenage Robot
Created by	Rob Renzetti
Starring	Janice Kawaye Chad Doreck Audrey Wasilewski Candi Milo Quinton Flynn Moira Quirk Cree Summer Eartha Kitt
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	11 minutes per episode, with occasional 22-minute episodes
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	August 1, 2003 – February 17, 2007(still on hiatus)

My Life as a Teenage Robot is an Emmy-nominated American animated television series, produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon cable channel. 13 episodes are still waiting to be aired. The 13 episodes were viewed in South East Asian countries (like Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines) and soon in the UK.

Plot

My Life as a Teenage Robot (MLAATR as abbreviated) stars a 14-year-old 6-foot-6-inch (1.98 m) -tall robot girl named XJ-9 (who prefers to be known simply as Jenny). Jenny lives in the town of Tremorton, Ohio in the (presumed) year of 2072. Jenny likes to go to the mall, fit in at high school, and hang out with her friends Brad Carbunkle and Tuck Carbunkle . Her creator (a.k.a. "Mom"), Dr. Wakeman, designed her as a highly sophisticated battle robot. Brad likes what Jenny does and often helps her out, but his brother, Tuck, doesn't care for action and only gets involved reluctantly. She has an ongoing rivalry with the Krust Cousins, Brit and Tiff, the popular girls in school, and even has a human suitor, a somewhat stereotypical geek named Sheldon, but Jenny loves a robot named the Silver Shell (he was created by Sheldon, who "wears" him like Iron Man wears his suit), but then later disliked him for being a spy. Jenny is also being pursued by Queen Vexus, leader of a robot clan called the Cluster, to join the Cluster. So Jenny can't get her life evened out, but she does what she can.

The series was based on the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short My Neighbor was a Teenage Robot, and was created by Rob Renzetti. In this short, Jenny appeared to look more Japanese, and the episode had an Asian appearance as well, revealing the show's obvious roots in the Japanese anime Astro Boy. The show itself first aired on August 1, 2003, with a different art style and voice cast. The show has never come to DVD on its own, though it has been paired with other Nicktoons, like Danny Phantom on the Nick Picks compilation DVDs.

In the UK no new episodes were shown after season one. The show was cancelled after 3 seasons and 39 episodes. Due to a lack of new episodes and terrible timeslots which lead to low ratings, it was taken off the air from Nickelodeon and later added to the Nicktoons Network lineup in 2006, where it currently still airs. The Third season has already aired on Nicktoons.

Main Antagonist: The Cluster

The Cluster is a society of robots controlled by Queen Vexus in a manner similar to (and probably inspired by) the Borg of Star Trek, except, unlike the Borg, they aren't a group mind; each member of the Cluster is an individual. They seek to enslave humans, and have tried many times to assimilate Jenny.

Jenny was first invited to The Cluster in a very friendly way. Her first invitation was from the Cluster Ambassador or Cluster Drone who was deactivated. Since then, she was ambushed by its queen, Vexus, to join The Cluster, usually by forced control, though they only took control of Jenny twice. Vexus is not easy to recognize, as she often disquises herself as humans or other robots. When undisguised, she is a robot with a queen bee motif.

Vexus claims that the Cluster is a place where robots live in peace, for she feels that the robots of the universe have suffered "discrimination" and "unequal treatment" by humans. However, while the robots on the planet do live in peace, Vexus' true goal is to rule the universe and make the human race (among other species) their slaves.

Cluster Prime, the Cluster homeworld, is the capital of Vexus's empire. On the outside, it appears to be the robotic paradise that Vexus claims it is. Here, the robots work, play, and live peacefully. However, these robots may just as much be slaves to paradise as the humans are slaves to labor, as revealed in Escape from Cluster Prime. In this episode, we find out that Vexus uses lies and deception to keep her "loyal subjects" unaware of her true goals. One such scheme has Vexus hoarding the entire planet's supply of golden computer chips (for powering up a robot's weapon systems) and framing Jenny for the theft to discredit her. This way, Vexus can keep the planet from rebelling against her, and, at the same time, continue to be glorified by her people.

Broadcasting

• USA
  • Nickelodeon (2003-2006)
  • Nicktoons Network (2006-present)
• Canada
  • YTV (2007-present) (went on hiatus for a few years, returning on The Zone (programing block) starting Tuesday September 4, 2007
• Australia
  • Nickelodeon
  • Toasted TV on the Ten network (currently not airing)
• UK
  • Nickelodeon
  • Nicktoons (UK)
  • Jetix (TBA)
• Belgium
  • Nickelodeon
• Netherlands
  • Nickelodeon BeNeLux
• Ireland
  • RTÉ Two
• Germany
  • Nickelodeon (2005-present)
• Austria
  • Nickelodeon
• Asia
  • Nickelodeon
• Maylasia
  • TV9
• Portugal
  • Nickelodeon (2006-present)
• Poland
  • Nickelodeon (PL) (coming in Spring 2008)
• Russia
  • Nickelodeon
• Brazil
  • Nickelodeon (2003-present)
  • Rede Globo
• Chile
  • Mega

Controversy

The show was originally aired in Japan on June 18th, 2004. But shortly after the airing, it was taken off air, deemed too similar to Astroboy.

External links

• My Life as a Teenage Robot at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Teenage Roblog - The Teenage Robot blog