My Life as a Teenage Robot -- Episodes 305-306

First Aired: 01 November 2008

"Stage Fright" (Episode 305)

Directed by: Robert Alvarez, Rob Renzetti

Plotline

Having been turned down from many other school organizations, Jenny decided to audition for the school play of Shakesphere's "Romeo and Juliet." When Jenny enthusiastically volunteered to be the first to audition, the director, Mr. Leopold, told people of her type need not audition. Jenny mistook this as actually landing a role without auditioning. when the results were posted, she was upset that her name wasn't on the list. Mr. Leopold thought the only role for her was to be a wardrobe coat rack.

While the "desirable" cast was rehearsing their scenes, ugly aliens broke into the auditorium to warn everybody about the alien invasion by other aliens from their sister planet. Jenny thought these were the evil aliens and attempted to fight them. When the sister planet aliens arrived, everyone was intrigued by how beautiful they looked when they were the ones who aimed to invade. Even Jenny had no desire to fight them but they were wrecking everything. The less eye-pleasing aliens suggested to Jenny not to look at them while defeating. Soon the beautifully evil aliens were defeated and Jenny thanked the other aliens for their help.

Even Mr. Leopold was grateful for what Jenny had done. The play was redone so Jenny would be Juliet and the lead ugly alien would play Romeo. The crowd went wild for this performance. The actors from the original cast groaned while in the audience, wishing the proceeding events had never happened.

Trivia

• This episode guest stars Dee Bradley Baker as Mr. Leopold, the play's director.


• When Mr. Leopold was demonstrating emphasis using close-ups as used in movies, when his mouth was close-up, he whispers "rosebud." This quote was made famous in the movie "Citizen Kane" (1941), Charles Foster Kane's last word while on his deathbed.


• When the spikey-haired kid (later named "Jeremy") whacked his guitar on the floor, it made the famous El Kabong "Kabong" sound effect made famous in the "El Kabong" cartoons.


• While Tuck was not grade appropriately doing his plate-spinning audition, the background music was a knock-off version of "Sabre Dance," a movement in the final act of Aram Khachaturian's ballet "Gayane" (1942) where dancers demonstrated their skills with sabres.


• When the Alex Kirwin-like character and a girl were running from the aliens, he let out a "Wilhelm Scream," a stock sound effect used in many movies since the 1951 film "Distant Drums."

Goofs

• When Jenny was fighting the "pretty" aliens, she skid her head on the stage causing her "bangs" to mess up. Wait, Jenny doesn't have real hair! Could her painted hair have chipped off to cause this effect? We turn back to her again and her "bangs" went back to normal. In the next scene, we see them messed up again.

Quotes

Jenny: "Are you gonna audition?"

Brad: "No way. I'm not joining that dork parade. See ya!"

Mr. Leopold: [speaks powerfully to potential student actors] "This is live theater! You must be huge! You must be epic!"

Jenny: "I am!"

Mr. Leopold: "You must believe!"

Jenny: "I believe."

Mr. Leopold: "You must be big with your choices; over the top with every action so the people in the back row can feel you. You must come out and fill the space completely! There is no such thing as small emotions, only small actors."

students cheer

Jenny: "I'm home."

Brit (as Juliet): "ROMEO, ROMEO, where for art thou, Rooomeeeeeoooooooo!!!!!!!!!??????"

Don Prima (as Romeo): "Like, I'm right here, babe!"

Mr. Leopold: [throws script at Don's head] "Stick to da script. Do it again and bigger!"

Jenny: "Warn us?"

Head Alien: "Yeah, what did you think we were doing?"

Jenny: "Uh, attacking?"

aliens chatter, one says "no, not us."

Jenny: "Well, you can't blame me. You guys come storming in here looking all, you know, the way you look."

Head Alien: "And how do we look?"

Jenny: "Well, you know, evil."

aliens chatter

Head Alien: "Oh, here we go again. I am so tired of this. Why do we even bother?"

Jenny: "But you were yelling 'alien invasion!'"

Head Alien: "OK, who does that? Yelling 'alien invasion' while they're invading? OK, that's just stupid."

Jenny: "So, you're not evil?"

Head Alien: "I don't even want to dignify that with a response. You judged us solely on our looks. Good job."

Jenny: "Oh, I'm just like Leopold."

TLDR

Jenny and the others in the school play learned that even if aliens look ugly, they're not always evil but they can be really talented.

"Never Say Uncle" (Episode 306)

Directed By: Randy Myers, Rob Renzetti

Plotline

Jenny woke up to Mrs. Wakeman's electric address file malfunctioning. When her mom went out to Radio Shed for replacement parts, Jenny looked through the contacts while cleaning up. Mrs. Wakeman returned to find Jenny confronting her about an aunt she never thought she had. Mrs. Wakeman and her sister, Wisteria, the hippy gypsy, were thought to have nothing in common.

After receiving the phone call from Jenny to come over, Wisteria arrived to the house. She was not too keen on Jenny being a robot as robots are not made naturally. Mrs. Wakeman met Wisteria's son, Glenn, a small, goopy guy, and likewise did not approve of him. Jenny wasn't ready to give up making peace between the sisters so she broke the wooden wheel of Wisteria's carriage. It would be repaired while she and Glenn stayed. The two guests camped out in an organic house.

That night, Glenn woke Jenny so they could discuss what their mothers had in common. Jenny's mom loved science and Glenn's mom loved the stars. They both would like astronomy. What the sisters couldn't agree upon was what to see, the lunar eclipse or the northern lights. They fought again. The next morning, Jenny and Glenn staged danger so their mothers could save them. When the ploy didn't work, the children started fighting amongst themselves. When their mothers told them reasons not to fight, they thought about each other and made peace. After the peaces was made, a family picture was taken.

The family photo album was coming along. The debate of where a picture will be placed started a dispute between the two sisters. Jenny and Glenn sighed in frustration. Out of all the efforts to unite their mothers, would any effort be the one?

Trivia

• This episode features Jeff Doucette as Glenn. Candi Milo voices both Mrs. Wakeman and Wisteria.


• Electric address file: When you can't say "Rolodex" out of fear that the copyright police will clobber you.


• Mrs. Wakeman knows some famous names and numbers: Robert Oppenheimer, Albert, Einstein, and Tiny Tim (Tulip Lane - having sung "Tiptoe through the Tulips").


• Shows the age of this episode - Mrs. Wakeman mentioned streaming detective movies. Not renting, not watching, not downloading illegally (not that I condone it)...


• Seeing that Wisteria's last name is also "Wakeman," this also confirmed that Mrs. Wakeman never married. They were probably originally going to have her widowed early in the series' production but they somehow changed their minds but still use "Mrs." in Mrs. Wakeman's name. Perhaps they saw that the show going in more of a humorous direction so they decided to cancel all mentions of death but keep Jenny's mom as Mrs. Wakeman most of the time (but that's just a theory). This shows there was no Mr. Wakeman.


• Meaning of the name "Wisteria" (Oxford Dictionary): climbing shrub of the pea family with hanging clusters of pale, bluish lilac flowers.


• Mrs. Wakeman has one flexible nose when she was closely nose-to-nose with Wisteria's horse.


• When Mrs. Wakeman was making toast with a Bunsen burner, a slight headline underneath the lunar eclipse article read, "EAT TOAST." I guess that's what inspired Mrs. Wakeman to make toast that morning.


• When Mrs. Wakeman and Wisteria were attempting to save their children, Wisteria alluded to two songs: the well-known campfire gospel song "Kumbaya" and "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon.

Goofs

• Nora vs. Noreen: I guess she goes by both names. Early in the ep, the scrapbook has her name as "Noreen" yet in the credits she's Nora. I guess communication with the team had broken down by this point in the series as the writers could not come to an agreement on how the first name should be addressed.


• How did Jenny call Wisteria to come over? I'm pretty sure to Wisteria, telephones are "not natural."


• So, Jenny had no problem introducing herself to Cousin Glenn as "XJ-9." She must have matured some since early on in the series, namely early season 1.


• If that wasn't enough, later on in the episode Mrs. Wakeman called whom she would address as "XJ-9" "Jenny."


• goggle strap alert: Before Mrs. Wakeman hugged Wisteria, her goggle strap was its normal yellow. During the embrace, it turned black until the scene changed.


• That wasn't the first time in this episode that happened. It first happened when "Noreen" was telling Wisteria how long it had been since they last spoke.

Quotes

Glenn: "My favorite science is Astro-nommy and there's gonna be a loony éclair tonight."

Mrs. Wakeman: "You're right, a lunar eclipse. There's hope for you yet, my boy. A toast."

gives Glenn a piece of toast

Glenn and Mrs. Wakeman: "To science!"

after installing one back replacement wheel on Wisteria's horse wagon

Jenny: "That's one wheel that won't break again."

Wisteria: "What about, um, that one?" [points to front wheel of wagon]

Jenny breaks that wheel

Jenny: "Oh, well. Back to the old workshop."

Jenny and Wisteria laugh while the horse is disappointed he has to stay one more day

Wisteria and Mrs. Wakeman beginning to fight again over where to put a picture in the family album

Mrs. Wakeman: "Oh, that's ridiculous!"

Wisteria: "Who are you calling ridiculous?"

Mrs. Wakeman: "If the mood ring fits."

TLDR

Mrs. Wakeman and her sister reunite for the first time in years. Can their children find a way to help them get along?

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