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Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?

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Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
Genre
Created byGreg Miller
Developed by
  • Mike Stern
  • Greg Miller
Directed by
  • Greg Miller (pilot, Season One)
  • Rob Renzetti (pilot, Season One)
  • Steve Socki (Season Two)
Voices of
  • Text-to-speech voices:
  • Junior (Original voice)
  • Fred
Theme music composerThe Invisible Car
Opening theme"Do the Robot"
Composers
  • Greg Miller
  • Mike Stern (Season Two)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes13 (27 segments)
Production
Executive producersGreg Miller
Sander Schwartz
Running time22 minutes
Production companyCartoon Network Studios[a]
Original release
NetworkCartoon Network
ReleaseJuly 19, 2002 (2002-07-19) –
November 14, 2003 (2003-11-14)
Related
What a Cartoon!

Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (simply known as Robot Jones or WHTRJ?) is an American animated television series created by Greg Miller for Cartoon Network.[1] It follows Robot Jones, a teenage robot who attends the fictional suburban Polyneux Middle School in a retrofuturistic version of the 1980s.[2] Episodes follow Robot Jones researching aspects of human life, including music, facial hair, and gym class. Jones is guided by his three friends, Socks, Mitch, and Cubey. Robot Jones is often smitten with his crush, Shannon Westerburg, a tall, young girl with orthodontic headgear and a prosthesis. In school, Robot Jones interacts with his teachers, Mr. McMcMc, Mr. Workout, and Mrs. Raincoat; the principal, Mr. Madman; and janitor Clancy Q. Sleepyjeans. His arch-rivals, Lenny and Denny Yogman, try to sabotage Jones's research by making school more difficult for him.

Miller's first pilot aired on Cartoon Network on June 16, 2000, as part of "Voice Your Choice Weekend", a contest in which previously unaired pilots were broadcast for viewers to decide which should be given a full series. Even though the Robot Jones pilot ranked second below Grim & Evil in the event, Robot Jones was greenlit for its own series, which premiered on July 19, 2002. The first season voice of Robot Jones was created with a Microsoft Word 98 text-to-speech function on a Macintosh computer. Beginning with the second season, Robot Jones's voice was dubbed over by child actor Bobby Block, and reruns of the first season were re-dubbed with Block's voice overs.

Premise

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Promotional image featuring the series' main characters. From left to right: Cubey, Socks, Robot Jones and Shannon

Robot Jones (voiced by a text-to-speech program in the pilot and season 1; Bobby Block in season 2 and season 1 reruns) is a teenage robot living in a fictional early 1980s version of Delaware where robots are commonplace.[3] Robot attempts to learn human nature by attending Polyneux Middle School with his new friends Timothy "Socks" Morton (Kyle Sullivan), a tall boy who loves rock music, Mitch Davis (Gary LeRoi Gray), a headphones-wearing boy whose eyes are hidden by his long hair, and Charles "Cubey" Cubinacle (Myles Jeffrey), a shorter boy who loves video games. He holds an unrequited crush on Shannon Westerburg (Grey DeLisle), a girl with a large retainer and prosthetic metal leg.

In each episode, Robot Jones explores a concept faced by average teenagers, such as gym class or competitions. Robot immerses himself in each subject to fully understand it while trying to fit in with his human peers, but this is challenging due to his social ineptitude and others' lack of understanding. As Robot settles in at school, he explores humanoid concepts of his own will. Though the situations he finds himself in are usually at his parents' insistence, others are a result of Robot trying to get closer to Shannon. An example is in "Summer Camp" when Socks convinces Robot to go camping and Robot discovers the ability to feel jealous. Due to his polite nature and short stature, students at his school tend to ignore Robot or are oblivious to his existence. His good grades, poor social skills, and status as a robot are at odds with Principal Madman (Jeff Bennett), a technophobic principal, Mr. McMcMc (Rip Taylor), a jealous and insecure math teacher, and Lenny (Josh Peck) and Denny (Austin Stout) Yogman, two genius twin brothers. At the end of an episode, Robot reads a "data log entry" about what he learned that day and what conclusions he has arrived at on humanity.

The opening sequence, in which Robot Jones is factory-assembled and inserted into a school bus, is an homage to that of 1980s children's show You Can't Do That on Television. When the title of the show is spoken, a group of young children voice the "Whatever Happened to..." part in unison while the "Robot Jones?" part is done by a Macintosh Macintalk voice known as Trinoids. The first season has children speaking out episode titles while season 2 episode titles are spoken by voices of the characters.

Characters

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Main characters

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Robot Jones (voiced by a text-to-speech program in season 1, Bobby Block in season 2 and season 1 reruns)

Timothy “Socks” Morton (voiced by Kyle Sullivan)

Mitch Davis (voiced by Gary LeRoi Gray)

Charles "Cubey" Cubinacle (voiced by Myles Jeffrey)

Shannon Westburg (voiced by Grey DeLisle)

Production

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Greg Miller's original series pilot aired on Cartoon Network on June 8, 2000, in a contest featuring 11 animated shorts to be chosen for a spot on the network's 2000 schedule.[4] During the weekend of August 25–27, 2000, all 11 pilots aired as part of a 52-hour marathon called "Voice Your Choice Weekend", in which viewers would vote for their favorite pilots.[4][5] While Grim & Evil won the contest with 57% of the vote, Robot Jones came in second place with 23% and was given its own series run beginning July 19, 2002.[6][7][8][9]

Robot Jones's animation style can be seen as a throwback to 1970s and 1980s cartoons such as Schoolhouse Rock!, with an intentionally messy and rough look; it also strongly resembles classic newspaper comic strips such as Calvin and Hobbes. The series' animation technique is different from most American cartoons from the early 2000s. It was animated with traditional cel animation, at a time when many American cartoons had switched to digital ink and paint.[3] The show was animated at Rough Draft Studios in Seoul, South Korea.

Greg Miller stated in an interview on Facebook that he used a Microsoft Word 97 text-to-speech software on his old Macintosh computer for Robot's voice during production for season one, but after the first season was completed, the executives of Cartoon Network didn't like how it sounded.[10] Bobby Block was chosen to take the role of Robot in season two. Robot Jones's text-to-speech voice was also recorded for production of the second season, but because the voice change happened during the production of those episodes, this voice was never dubbed into the final prints. In that interview, he also said that he would want to do a revival of Robot Jones, but it would be up to Cartoon Network.

The aforementioned interview also revealed that the show was originally planned to be about Robot Jones growing up in the style of The Wonder Years only to take over the world in the style of The Terminator, and when asked how the show would have ended, Greg Miller explained it would end in the show's version of the 1990s with Robot Jones rallying a robot army to attack the human race. Greg Miller also mentioned in another interview that he originally planned for the series to have a music videos every episode, each one in a different style of music, but that was ultimately shot down by the network.[11]

Episodes

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Series overview

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Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
Pilot June 16, 2000 (2000-06-16)
1 6 July 19, 2002 (2002-07-19) September 13, 2002 (2002-09-13)
2 7 October 3, 2003 (2003-10-03) November 14, 2003 (2003-11-14)

Pilot (2000)

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TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air date
"Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?"Greg Miller and Rob RenzettiGreg MillerJune 16, 2000 (2000-06-16)[4]

Robot Jones is informed by his parents, Mom Unit and Dad Unit, that he has been put into a human public school that he must now attend. While in math class, he believes that the problems are too easy for him, which results in him getting sent to the principal's office for being condescending to the teacher. Later the same day as all of the school kids are eating lunch, Principal Madman trips on a wire which he later finds out is Robot's charger cable. After finding out it was Robot Jones, he gives him three months detention for tripping him, which angers Robot so much that he starts malfunctioning and firing lasers out of his eyes, setting the room on fire and scaring everyone away. Later, he rants about the humans in the hallway and almost gives up completely on them, until he develops a crush on a girl named Shannon because of her braces, which he designates as "high metal content". He then realizes that humans are not all that bad and that he needs to study them more.

Note: This episode was later aired as the first segment along with "Electric Boogaloo" and "The Groovesicle."

Season 1 (2002)

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No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byStoryboard byOriginal air dateProd.
code
11"P.U. to P.E."
"Vacuum Friend"		Greg MillerGreg MillerKevin Kaliher and Mike SternJuly 19, 2002 (2002-07-19)102

"P.U. to P.E.": Robot Jones fears taking a shower in gym class because he thinks he will rust.

"Vacuum Friend": Robot Jones befriends a vacuum cleaner after thinking humans and robots cannot be friends.
22"Cube Wars"
"Sickness"		Greg MillerGreg Miller, Kevin Kaliher, and Mike BellKevin Kaliher and Mike BellJuly 26, 2002 (2002-07-26)103

"Cube Wars": Everyone becomes obsessed with solving their Rubik's Revenge (called Wonder Cubes on the show), but Robot Jones' superior mind allows him to solve it almost instantly. The Yogmans sabotage Robot's cube, however, and he begins to malfunction.

"Sickness": The Yogmans prank Robot Jones by inserting a virus-filled floppy disk in Robot's disk drive, and he becomes very ill.
33"Parents"
"Embarrassment"		Greg MillerGreg Miller, Dave Smith, and Paul TibbittDave Smith and Paul TibbittAugust 2, 2002 (2002-08-02)104

"Parents": Robot Jones must bring his parents to parent-teacher night at the middle school. When his parents embarrass him, Robot Jones attempts to manually override them to control their behavior, but fails.

"Embarrassment": Robot Jones wants to ask out Shannon to the Harvest Dance, but his nervousness causes his exhaust to malfunction whenever he gets near her.
44"Politics"
"Growth Spurts"		Greg MillerGreg MillerKevin Kaliher and Mike SternAugust 9, 2002 (2002-08-09)105

"Politics": Robot Jones runs for student council president.

"Growth Spurts": Robot Jones modifies himself to be tall enough to be on the basketball team.
55"Pilot"
"Electric Boogaloo"
"The Groovesicle"		Greg Miller and Rob RenzettiGreg MillerGreg Miller and Mike SternAugust 24, 2002 (2002-08-24)101

"Pilot": Rerun of the pilot episode.

"Electric Boogaloo": Lenny and Denny Yogman try to trick Robot Jones into being his friend so they can steal his brain.

"The Groovesicle": Robot Jones and Socks watch an episode of "The Groovesicle", a music video TV series featuring a performance by a band called "The Lavender Fudge Experience".
66"Jealousy"
"Scantron Love"		Greg MillerGreg Miller, Clay Morrow and Walt DohrnClay Morrow and Walt DohrnSeptember 13, 2002 (2002-09-13)106

"Jealousy": Robot Jones feels jealousy towards an android named Finkman, who manages to make Shannon fall for him (as well as the rest of the school).

"Scantron Love": Robot befriends the school's Scantron machine in order to get the answers for his history tests, and soon passes out the answers to the rest of the students in class.

Season 2 (2003)

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No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleAnimation direction byWritten byStoryboard byOriginal air dateProd.
code
71"Gender"
"Math Challenge"		Don Judge and Tom YasumiGreg Miller, Kevin Kaliher, and Charlie BeanKevin Kaliher and Charlie BeanOctober 3, 2003 (2003-10-03)201

"Gender": Robot Jones struggles to understand the differences between human boys and girls.

"Math Challenge": Mr. McMcMc challenges Robot Jones to a math competition to determine who is the smarter one of the two.

Note: This is the first episode to use the voice actor Bobby Block to play Robot Jones.
82"Family Vacation"
"Hair"		Rich Collado and Dave MarshallGreg Miller, Clayton Morrow and Chuck KleinClayton Morrow and Chuck KleinOctober 10, 2003 (2003-10-10)202

"Family Vacation": Socks goes on a spring break vacation together with Robot and his family, but Robot's parents have an unusual idea of what a vacation entails.

"Hair": Seeing other boys in school with hair makes Robot want hair of his own to impress Shannon, but he must find a creative way to generate some on his metallic body.
93"Garage Band"
"Work"		Don Judge, Brian Sheesley, & Steve SockiGreg Miller, Brian Larsen, & Mike SternBrian Larsen & Mike SternOctober 17, 2003 (2003-10-17)204

"Garage Band": After witnessing girls at their school get excited for a garage band, Robot, Socks, Cubey, and Mitch decide to form a band of their own. But they focus more on being cool rather than actually practicing their instruments, which confuses Robot as to what being in band is about.

"Work": Robot Jones gets a job at JNZ to make extra money, but finds it increasingly difficult to stay awake juggling a job, school, and time at the arcade with friends.
104"The Yogmans Strike Back"
"Hookie 101"		Don Judge and Tom YasumiGreg Miller, Charlie Bean, and Kevin KaliherCharlie Bean and Kevin KaliherOctober 24, 2003 (2003-10-24)206

"The Yogmans Strike Back": After another failed attempts to corner Robot, the Yogmans hypnotize Robot's friends and turn them into an amalgamation robot called the "Yogstrosity".

"Hookie 101": Robot, Socks, Cubey, and Mitch all play hookie.
115"House Party"
"School Newspaper"		Don Judge and Steve SockiGreg Miller, Clay Morrow and William ReissClay Morrow and William ReissOctober 31, 2003 (2003-10-31)203

"House Party": Robot Jones throws a big party at his house while his parents are away, but worries about getting caught by Gramps Unit, who dislikes humans.

"School Newspaper": On Madman's order, Robot Jones gets a job for the school newspaper and ends up writing stories that embarrass the principal.
126"Safety Patrol"
"Popularity"		Rich Collado and Tom YasumiGreg Miller, Mark O'Hare and Carl GreenblattMark O'Hare and Carl GreenblattNovember 7, 2003 (2003-11-07)205

"Safety Patrol": When Robot Jones is put on the school's safety patrol, his programming for perfection causes him to go overboard with enforcing the rules.

"Popularity": Robot Jones sends a decoy version of himself to school so that he can attend a robotics expo, but the decoy ends up becoming popular with his classmates.
137"Summer Camp"
"Rules of Dating"		Brian Sheesley, Rich Collado and Steve SockiGreg Miller, Chris Reccardi & Paul TibbittChris Reccardi and Paul TibbittNovember 14, 2003 (2003-11-14)207

"Summer Camp": Despite disliking the outdoors, Robot Jones tries to impress Shannon by showing off his nature skills at a summer camp.

"Rules of Dating": Robot attempts to impress Shannon, but his efforts are marred by restrictions enforced on him by the "Laws of Robotics".

Broadcast

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After production ceased on Robot Jones, it aired in syndication before being removed from Cartoon Network's schedule, but episodes were available online on Cartoon Network Video for a short period.

From 2005 to 2006, Robot Jones reran sporadically on The Cartoon Cartoon Show, along with segments of other Cartoon Cartoons from that time period.

Reruns began airing on Cartoon Network's Latin-American sister network Tooncast in 2015, and was added to that region's version of HBO Max in 2022.

Robot Jones made a cameo appearance on the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus" that aired October 8, 2018, along with other Cartoon Network characters from current and ended shows. This marks the first appearance of Robot Jones's character since the show's cancellation and the first time since the first season where the character's voice was provided by the Microsoft Word 97 text-to-speech programmed voice.

Notes

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  1. ^ The pilot episode was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 689–690. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 900–901. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ a b Sissario, Ben (July 14, 2002). "For Young Viewers; A Retro Robot Who's Big for His Age". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. ^ a b c DeMott, Rick (May 10, 2000). "Cartoon Network Navigates 10 New Pilots". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  5. ^ Schultz, Paul (July 30, 2000). "An Animated Election". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2 December 2012.[dead link]
  6. ^ Dempsey, John (August 29, 2000). "'Billy & Mandy' Beats Out 'Robot,' 'Longhair' to Get Greenlight". Variety. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  7. ^ DeMott, Rick (August 28, 2000). "Only One Grim Survivor of Cartoon Network's Voice Your Choice Weekend". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on October 1, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
  8. ^ Macmillan, Alissa (February 22, 2001). "'Toon Net Sets 2 New Series". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  9. ^ Owen, Rob (July 11, 2002). "'Robot' Premieres". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  10. ^ Operation Robot Jones (2013-03-30). "Here is the interview with Greg... - Operation Robot Jones | Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
  11. ^ "The Mighty Ones Season 2 w/ Greg Miller". The Mighty Ones Season 2 w/ Greg Miller - YouTube.
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