My Life as a Teenage Robot -- Episodes 101-102

First Aired: 1 August 2003

"It Came from Next Door" (Episode 101)

Directed by: Rob Renzetti

Plotline

Tuck broke a window with a baseball and was ordered by his brother Brad to retrieve it. The house he was forced to enter was the of the creepy mad scientist, Mrs. Wakeman. Spooked out of his mind, Tuck scoped the house for the baseball. When he saw something pick up the ball, he ran out in horror. Tuck told Brad that he saw a robot but Brad was skeptical at first.

Mrs. Wakeman confronted teenage robot Jenny about leaving her room and reminded her she was to wait for signals when trouble arose. Jenny reminded Mrs. Wakeman, who is also her creator and mom, that she would much rather act like a normal teenager rather than a crime-fighting robot who should be preventing a meteor from entering Earth's atmosphere. While still confined in her room, she met the now believing Brad who sneaked through her window. Jenny didn't want her mom to find out Brad was in her room so they ended up outside.

Despite saving his brother from falling to his doom, Tuck still thought Jenny was evil. Brad invited Jenny to hang out with them. Ignoring the meteor threat, Jenny accepted. While they were hanging out, also including a game of hacky-sack which Jenny powerfully bumped and ended up not coming down, Tuck was still skeptical about Jenny's harmlessness. Soon Jenny received an alert that the threat of the meteor approaching Earth became higher.

Jenny zoomed off to take care of the problem leaving another problem on Earth-where was Tuck? It turned out Tuck tagged along with Jenny. Jenny saved the world and returned safely to Earth. After seeing Jenny in action, though a bit "barbecued," Tuck finally realized how awesome Jenny could be. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wakeman looked down on the trio then decided that since Jenny saved the world, an afternoon off would be in both of their favors. Bad idea...

Trivia

• Nickelodeon played this ep sooooo many time when it first came out before the 2nd ep came out. I know from experience.


• In the beginning, after Tuck broke the window, he tried to casually walk past Brad to avoid confrontation. When he did this, he whistled a tune. This is a familiar tune I've heard in other cartoons such as Hey Arnold and maybe even Rugrats. What is the name of that tune?


• The posters on Jenny's wall: Lil'Rover (Taken after "Lil' Bow Wow." See what they did?)(most young rappers put that "lil'" in front of their names in those times (meaning '02-'03)), Robi (I have some idea on who this was named after), Sync'N (N*Sync), and the roll-up poster where Jenny was hiding behind when Mrs. Wakeman found her, Spitney (Obviously, Britney Spears. The only time in the series we will see this poster.) (This scene really gave this episode some age, doesn't it?).


• The layout of the house when Tuck went in there to get the baseball was different than how it will be shown in later episodes.

Goofs

• The Very First Goggle Strap Alert (Moments when Mrs. Wakeman's goggle strap momentarily changes from yellow to black then back again. Happens often throughout the series.): Shortly after Mrs. Wakeman slammed open Jenny's bedroom door to confront her after leaving her room, notice how Mrs. Wakeman's appearance looked a bit off but you can't seem to figure out why. That's because her goggle strap turned black, not yellow like it's supposed to. The yellow strap returned shortly after.


• I say it's a huge goof: why are all the pre-premiere promos soooooo rare? I want to see them again. ("Go get 'em, girl! Teenage robot.")


• No offense to rap fans, but who would think Jenny would be one to listen to rap (hence the Lil' Rover poster)?


• Evil robot cyborg? She is not a cyborg! If she were a cyborg she would look more human-like. She is clearly just a robot with human-like features.


• When Tuck tagged along with Jenny to outer space, how did Tuck survive without any oxygen? Where was Tuck when Jenny was fighting the meteor?


• When Tuck was trying to say "Jenny is so cool!" why did it sound like Jenny was rolling away from the brothers rather than walking away? The way the picture and Jenny "zoomed" away from the brothers and how Jenny made squeaky, geary noises rather than her walking mechanical whirling made it seem like Jenny is on wheels rather than walking.

Quotes

First line of the series Brad: (stops Tuck when he was running out of Mrs. Wakeman's house) "Woah! Slow down there, slugger. You seem to be light one baseball."

Mrs Wakeman: XJ-9! (Slams open Jenny's door) It seems that some young robot has forgotten the rules of this household. You were build for one purpose: to protect the planet earth. Unless you are out saving the world, you should stay in your room.You must avoid unnecessary contact with the human population, especially teenagers. Do I make myself clear, XJ-9?

Brad and Jenny (in unison): "Wow! Look at that! And those! And that hair! (giggles)."

Tuck: "Excuse me! We're talking about an evil robot cyborg, not (tilts his head and lays his cheek on folded hands. His eyelashes are like butterfly kisses) Jeeennnyyy."

TLDR

When Jenny first met brothers Brad and Tuck, she was exposed to the real world for the first time. Brad befriended Jenny at first meeting. It took a little longer for Tuck to accept Jenny as a friend.

"Pest Control" (Episode 102)

Directed by: Tim Walker, Rob Renzetti

Plotline

After a toy racecar broke into an important monitor, Mrs. Wakeman reminded Jenny to treat her body the way it should be treated. Meanwhile, in the broken monitor, a swarm of mutated lab rats planned their revenge against Mrs. Wakeman. The rats put Jenny's body to sleep while they took over her body. The leader rat, Vladimir (Wakeman's "Mr. Scruffles"), screwed off Jenny's head. Her entire body was taken over.

Returning to retrieve his racecar, Tuck tread through Jenny's eerie room to find only Jenny's disembodied head. Tuck blamed himself for this happening. When Brad entered the room, Jenny explained her condition and the three decided on a way of how she could fight the rats without her being in her body.

Vladimir and his gang of lab rats (in Jenny's body) stormed into Mrs. Wakeman's lab to get their revenge and they raised Cain. Before anymore damage could be done, Brad and Tuck came in with Jenny's head screwed on to Tuck's racecar, zooming in to fight the thieves of her body. This was only to realize that the lab rats had access to Jenny's super powers while all Jenny could do is ram into her body's metallic toes. When things weren't going well, Brad, Tuck, Jenny, and Mrs. Wakeman made a plan. That plan included immersing the rat-infested metal body into the backyard pool. All the rats emptied into the pool while Vladimir went down with the body, only to be saved by Mrs. Wakeman.

When pest control came to sift out the rats out of the pool, Vladimir was in a rat cage after being saved by Mrs. Wakeman. Vladimir was still plotting his revenge. Mrs. Wakeman had a very embarrassing surprise for him.

Trivia

• In case someone is reading this and has not seen this episode or has only seen it once, to clear up confusion, Mrs. Wakeman called her main lab rat "Mr. Scruffles." The rat didn't like that cutesy name so he called himself Vladimir, as he is a Russian mouse (or at least a mouse with a Russian accent).


• Notice in the title card the hammer and sickle was printed on the ball of that rat's ball-and-chain, a Communist symbol from the Russian Revolution.


• In this episode and "It Came from Next Door," Tuck walked through eerie places to retrieve items that have broken through glass barriers (once to get his car back and the other to retrieve the baseball, respectively).


• This was the first time Jonny Zoom (The name of what seemed like a famous fictional racecar driver in the MLAATR universe. It was the brand of racecar that crashed into that monitor.) was mentioned in this series. The next and last time Jonny Zoom will be mentioned will be in "Unlicensed Flying Object."


• After being instructed to stay in her room and watch her monitors, Jenny had to stay awake when the rats were playing music to get her to sleep so they could invade her body. I liked it as Jenny said, "...and watch for trouble." It was like she was talking right to us, thus breaking the 3rd wall.


• When the rats scurried on Jenny's bedroom walls to get to her body, you could see a framed photo of a tubed-powered machine that was labeled "grandma." Aw! Jenny's grandma?


• A Klaxon alarm blared when Jenny's body was giving off a warning while the rats took it over.


• This was one of the only times we saw Mrs. Wakeman's pool in her backyard. It just reappeared then disappeared throughout the series. The second and last time we see it in the series will be in "Toying with Jenny" (S2).


• There were several Mickey Mouse references in this episode. Look at the rats' hands and the pants Mrs. Wakeman made for her "Mr. Scruffles."

Goofs

• One of the racecar tracks in the beginning was called the "Raging Robotic Ponytail Plunge." Was there a reason why it was the "...Ponytail Plunge" and not the "...Pigtail Plunge"? Jenny has Pigtails so I don't know how a ponytail would have worked with this unless it goes some way I cannot describe.


• Why was Jenny looking at a screen that said "52 seconds to launch"? Is this because she was making sure a rocket ship's lift-off was pulled off successfully?


• When Jenny's head was screwed on to Tuck's racecar, Mrs. Wakeman asked Brad and Tuck to bring "Jenny" to a pit stop, and not XJ-9.


• In the scene when Brad and Tuck were piloting the racecar in Mrs. Wakeman's lab, viewers could see that Brad and Tuck's pants went from grey and blue to green. By the end of the episode, both of their pants go back to their regular grey and blue color.

Quotes

Tuck: "(laughs) Ah man! I can't wait to try my new super hyposonic drag racing mean machine. OK, the remote control is all set. Is the track ready?"

Brad: "Just one last run-through. Let see: 'Upside Down Shortcake,' 'Super Twist-Zilla,' 'The Mega-Fudge Brownie,' 'Swoop-de-Loop Swoop,' and the piece de resistance, 'Raging Robotic Ponytail Plunge.'"

[Jenny positions herself on her place on the track then gives the OK.]

Brad: "Alright, Tuck. All systems are...GO!"

Rat 1: "There she is!"

Rat 2: "It's Wakeman!"

Rat 3: "We should strike now!"

Vladimir: "No! We must have patience, comrades. Indeed, we have suffered much under the cruel tyranny of Dr. Wakeman. Our once strong, thick tails have been made thin, stringy, and limp; our subtle, sensitive ears - blackened, misshapened; and our sleek forepaws mutated into swollen, freakish HANDS!" (thunder claps)

(rats scream)

Vladimir: "But soon we will have the vehicle for our revenge."

Tuck: (crying) "Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, Jenny! You were the best freaky (gasp), creepy (gasp) robot friend (gasp) a boy could ever ha-ha-ha-ha-havvveee"

Jenny: "Hey! Who are you calling 'creepy'?"

Tuck: "THE HEAD LIVES!"

Vladimir: "Wakeman!"

Mrs. Wakeman: "Yes? Oh, hello there. S-Say, what are you doing with XJ-9's body, Mr. Scruffles?"

Vladimir: (gets more angrier denoted by a "doing" sound) No longer do I go by that clownish, lab-given name. I am Vladimir. Behold your doom!

Mrs. Wakeman: (worried) "Oh, um, you...uh... you seem a little upset."

Knocks stuff off a desk

Mrs. Wakeman: "Now...uh...let's not do anything rash. Uh-Huh huh. Can't we discuss this over a plate of cheese?"

Vladimir: "You can't buy us off with your cheap, dime-store cheese."

Mrs. Wakeman: "But it's imported!"

TLDR

Mrs. Wakeman's lab rats plot their revenge. They used Jenny's body for this attempt.

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