After Mike, Lu, and Og Cartoon Network made the stupid mistake of shutting down their own production studio. From now on they would take shows from other channels or other studios. Now everyone can agree that the original cartoons besides Mike, Lu, and Og were great but outside the originals everyone has arguments on which ones were good and which were bad. Some of these shows were good, others were bad, and some you just didn’t know why they were even shown. One of those cartoons that were good was the Time Squad show. This show follows the adventures of time cops who travel back in time attempting to correct the course of history. The show stars Otto, a 10-year old orphan boy from the 21st century with an excellent knowledge of history, Tuddrussel a rough and tough cop who likes fighting, and Larry a robot who is a parody of C-3PO and to make him even more surreal he’s voiced by Mark Hamil of all people. Speaking of voices that’s Milo from The Oblongs doing the voice of Otto. The show takes place in the far future where we’re told all the problems of the Earth are no more but problems in the timeline happen such as some historical figure not doing what he’s supposed to do and the trio has to set them back on track. A lot of people really didn’t get this show and overlooked it but I got it I knew exactly what they were trying to do, they were trying to take a subject that many people didn’t like and tried to make it enjoyable. It didn’t work out as well as they would have hoped but still I did find it funny just for what they did to many of the historical figures. Like for example they turned the Boston Tea Party members into bros, made Beethoven a professional wrestler, made Blackbeard, The Blackbeard the most feared pirate of all time an environmentalist, turned Betsy Ross into a hippie, and my favorite turned Edger Allen Poe The Father of Horror into a kind-hearted person who always saw the bright side of life and instead of writing horror wrote happy friendly books that you wouldn’t believe. That is just hilarious.
Another aspect of the show I like was the group dynamic between Otto, Tuddrussel, and Larry. Otto was the brains of the group but at the same time he was still a child and acted like one always looking up to Tuddrussel and Larry and in some cases actually copying their personality traits showing that he’s a kid and can be influenced by the people around him but at the same time had his own personality and character and would speak up against them if they were doing something wrong. I also liked how Tuddrussel and Larry were the exact opposites of each other. Tuddrussel was a fighter who solved his problems by punching first and asking questions later or never and Larry was the peace keeper who wanted to resolve things peacefully. Despite their differences they did respect one another in fact there’s actually one episode where they accidentally leave Otto back in time and they get into a fight at the station with each other and don’t talk to each other but in the end they make-up and promise to treat each other respectfully and even come to appreciate each others hobbies and duties. There’s another episode where Larry accidently downgrades his mind so he becomes a mindless android who just serves Tuddrussel. At first he’s happy about it but as time goes on he starts to miss the old Larry and tries to get him back. It’s nice to see that no matter how much the two drive each other crazy, there’s a sense of respect and need for each others personality and character that evens them out and how they can’t live without the other. So while the show was mediocre at best I still say I enjoyed its short 2 season run and was well worth watching just to see what they would do to some of the historical figures. It may not have been one of Cartoon Network’s best but I’m glad I watched it.