My Life as a Teenage Robot is one of those shows where at first glance you think the show isn’t gonna be all that interesting but after watching a few episodes and getting to know the characters you quickly see it’s a good show. The show centers around a robot named XJ-9 or Jenny as she prefers to call herself, a robot created by renowned female scientist Dr. Wakeman whose mission is to protect the Earth from monsters, aliens, and any other threats that threatens the safety of the world. The show was created by Rob Renzetti who directed and was the story board artist of both Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. In fact My Life as a Teenage Robot does feel like a cross between Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuffs Girls. Think about it. We have a brilliant scientist (Dexter’s Laboratory) who creates a robot to fight crime and the forces of evil (The Powerpuff Girls). At the beginning of the series we’re told that Jenny has been alive for 5 years and has been kept inside her house unable to interact with the outside world. But that all changes when the local boy Brad and his younger brother Tuck discover Jenny and quickly befriend her making Dr. Wakeman allow Jenny to go out into the world and experience life as normal teenage girl.
The whole show is a cool and creative setup. This is honestly what I think what would have happen if Robot Jones was done correctly. Jenny was created as a teenage robot and she acts like a normal teenage girl. She disobeys her mom, reads magazines and listens to music, has crushes, and is obsessed with looking good and fitting in just like a normal teenage girl. You look at her and say “yeah, I know girls like her” or “this was totally me back in high school” she was just a realistic and likable girl. Despite the fact that she has to balance the life a teenager and superhero she does it quite well and is totally okay with it. She knows what she was created for and does her job to protect the world, her town, and everyone she cares about. She can be a little cocky and overconfident in her abilities but hey that’s just like a teenager. A lot of the other characters are recognizable, relatable, and likable too. Wakeman is your typical embarrassing single mom who’s overbearing and gets on Jenny’s nerves at time but she’s kind, caring, fair, and does what she believes is best for Jenny. Brad’s that goofy but likable boy in high school who thinks he’s a lady man but really he’s not and just wants a little more adventure and excitement in his life. Tucker is the hyperactive boy who is pretty clever and smart despite his age. There’s even another guy named Sheldon another human boy who has crush on Jenny but she only sees him as friend. He’s somewhat of a nerd but he’s quite smart (almost as smart as Wakeman) and kind. According to Rob and his team the plan was for Jenny and him to get together by the end of series but the series got cancelled before they could start setting it up.
The stories for each episode were split into two categories. The first was Jenny fighting against some evil force and running into problems beating it but with the help of her friends she’s able to pull through and the second was Jenny dealing with the daily life of being a teenage robot and trying to fit in at school. I like how we got a superhero story mixed with the daily dilemmas that a teenage girl faced in life. The two factors are mixed in well and they even add in a few episodes where Jenny tries to be human and wants to experience the same things they experience. Like in this one episode Jenny wants to know what it’s like to dream so Wakeman creates for her a dream program where she can experiences dream. But after a while she abuses it and goes out of control with it. This episode also shows the good animation for this show was. Like during her dreams she has one where she’s in an old black and white cartoon and she has a Dr. Suess dream. I forgot to mention the animation is great in this show. Next to Avatar this has to be the best animated show Nickelodeon has ever done. The town where the story takes place in looks like a retro futuristic 90’s town of Chicago but the animation really shines with Jenny where we see her transform her body to various times to take down her opponents. I mean, they get very creative and imaginative with her and her fights. My Life as a Teenage Robot was a very good series and one that both teenagers and those in adolescence could identify with. It was series that was both enjoyable for teenagers and adults.