My Neighbor was a Teenage Robot

Szablon:Episode **My Neighbor Was A Teenage Robot** is the original pilot of *My Life as a Teenage Robot*. It first aired as part of the Nickelodeon series *Oh Yeah! Cartoons* on December 4, 1999.

 Plik:My Neighbor was a Teenage Robot-1533334129

## Plot

*Note: The plot of the pilot episode is basically the same as the first official episode of the series, "It Came From Next Door", with some minor differences between the two.*

Tuck, while practicing baseball with his older brother Brad, hits a ball that flies through a window in neighbor Nora Wakeman's front door. Brad instructs Tuck to get the baseball back, but when Tuck knocks at the door, a large shadowy figure appears. It turns out to be a friendly robot girl, who smiles and hands him the baseball. However, Tuck is frightened and flees without taking the ball. He is intercepted by Brad, and promptly informs his older brother that he encountered a robot. Ms. Wakeman overhears this conversation, and Brad tries to explain the situation as he confronts her and speaks to her at the door. But Dr. Wakeman brushes him off and claims that she has “never heard about” baseball, and slams the door in Brad’s face.

Dr. Wakeman bursts into Jenny’s room in the attic, and berates Jenny Wakeman (XJ-9) for having left her room and instructs her that she must not encounter any of the human population. Jenny laments that she cannot make friends, and Dr. Wakeman tells her that she will get used to it before leaving Jenny’s room. When Wakeman leaves the room, Brad walks in through Jenny's window and meets her. The two leave and hang out, playing games and chasing ice cream trucks, among other things, while Tuck reluctantly tags along, still untrusting of Jenny.

As Jenny, Brad, and Tuck are enjoying their ice cream, Jenny suddenly gets a warning from her sensors that a planet-destroying meteor is headed toward Earth. She rockets off to destroy the meteor, and dispatches it quickly, but she accidentally took Tuck along with her, as his shirt had got caught on her wings. While Tuck is a bit charred from re-entry, he is impressed by Jenny's abilities and declares her to be "so cool!". Dr. Wakeman oversees this conversation, and decides that giving XJ-9 some time off couldn't hurt. However, the camera pans out to outer space, where several (presumably hostile) spaceships are closing in on Earth.

## Quotes

*(Brad looks at Jenny's window where Jenny looks at Brad)*

**Nora**: XJ9!! *(Jenny rushes to her bed, looks at her magazine and Nora opens the door)* It seems that *some* young robot has forgotten the rules of this household. You were designed to be the mobile response unit of the Worldwide Emergency Crisis Control Center! When the Center detects trouble, you are to respond quickly and quietly, and return to your room. Your existence is to remain secret to everyone, especially... (Takes a Teen Nation magazine out of a Popular Robotics magazine) teenagers! Do I make myself clear, XJ-9?

**Jenny**: *(muttering)* Jenny.

**Nora**: What?

**Jenny**: Jenny! I changed my name to Jenny! Remember?

**Nora**: Ugh!

**Jenny:** Mom, you just don't understand. Saving the Earth is so... *(kicks ball designed like the Earth on the floor)* boring! I wanna have friends and hang out like normal teenagers do! Not that anyone would wanna hang out with an ugly heap of metal like me.

(Jenny uses her hand lasers to destroy mirror)

**Nora:** Oh, Honey, I understand how you feel. Your powers are still developing, and it's bound to be a confusing time. When you get a little older, you'll see things my way. Now, be a good robot and watch your monitors.

**Jenny:** Yes, ma'am.

**Nora:** That's my XJ-9.

**Jenny:** My name's Jenny.

**Brad:** Hi Jenny, my name's Brad– Whoa, a real life robot!

**Jenny:** A real life teenager! Mom will deactivate me.

**Brad:** Cool room!

**Jenny:** And boys are not allowed in it.

**Brad:** Okay, let's go outside.

**Jenny:** I can't leave.

**Brad:** Come on!

**Jenny:** Let... *(her arm pops off, metal clanking)* go!

*(Brad falls out of Jenny's house with her arm and Jenny rescues him)*

**Tuck:** *(kicking Jenny)* Let go of my brother, robot!

**Brad:** Don't stress it, Tuck. Jenny's cool.

**Tuck:** Excuse me. We're talking about an evil robot cyborg thingy, not, "Jenny".

**Jenny:** Uh, guys, I gotta get back now. *(Jenny flies off)*

**Brad:** But don't you wanna-- hang out? *(Jenny comes back down with an ultimate hard thud Tucker flies off of the ground)*

**Jenny:** Did you say you wanna hang out? With me?

*(First Brad rides on a skateboard, then Jenny rides on her skates but Tuck tries to ride on a skateboard then Jenny helps Tuck by giving him a big push that blast him off. then Tuck and Brad are playing with water guns first Tuck shoots Brad, then he shoots Tuck but they shoot Jenny and made her get electrocuted, then Tuck was going to shoot jenny again but Jenny uses a fire hydrant to shoot Tuck. And then Tuck sees the Ice Cream truck but the ice cream went flew then Jenny caught the ice cream truck and bring it back. Brad and Tuck are both eating ice cream except Jenny looks at the ice cream, looks at tuck, then starts eating the ice cream anyway, then rubs her tummy, then looks away, she opens her tummy container pulls out the ice cream out and throws it away.)*

**Brad:** *(Off-screen)* Hey… what are you doing?

**Jenny:** Nothing!

**Brad:** No, your pigtails. They're freaking out.

**Jenny:** Oh no! That's my remote emergency warning system. It tells me when the world is in life-threatening danger. Let me consult the Crisis Control Center.

**Crisis Control Center**: Alert, alert! Giant asteroid approaching Earth. Five minutes 'till Earth is destroyed.

**Jenny**: Oh... If this giant asteroid destroys the Earth, I'll be grounded forever! *(Jenny prepares to take off into space)* Stand back, boys. *(One of the thruster wings grabs Tuck by his shirt)*

**Tuck**: Uh, robot? *(Jenny blasts off)*

**Brad**: Tuck, you gotta admit. Jenny's pretty rad. *(He looks to notice that Tucker is gone)* Tucker?

## Trivia

* While there are some similarities between the *Oh Yeah! Cartoons* short and the first episode, there are some differences as well:
	+ Many of the characters had different designs that were altered for the series:
		- While Jenny's design changed the least, in the pilot she had blue lips, blue hands, and a white strip at the bottom of her skirt.
		- Brad also wore a different outfit, including a sports jacket instead of a vest.
		- Tuck had light-brown hair and blue eyes, and wore a different outfit, including an orange baseball cap.
		- Dr. Wakeman’s design was almost all white and pale colors, almost achromatic, instead of her newer, more colorful design in the series.
	+ In the short, Brad was voiced by a woman (Melissa Denton) before she was replaced by Chad Doreck in the series.
	+ When Nora is seen taking some of the things covering the Crisis Control Center's elements, she takes down a poster presumably for a movie called, "Gigantic", which is a reference to the 1997 movie, *Titanic*.
	+ Jenny's voice sounds more robotic in the pilot because Janice Kawaye's voice was altered using a computer program. The series uses Janice Kawaye's normal, unaltered voice.
	+ For the first episode, "It Came From Next Door", additional content was added to make it last for eleven minutes instead of the pilot's six minutes.
	+ The show itself had a much more generic art style that would be later replaced into the "tomorrowland"-esque, steampunk-futuristic style of scenario, objects and characters, with plenty of slimlines and designs imagined circa the 1920s as how the future would be.
	+ In the 'Oh Yeah! Cartoons' short, Dr. Wakeman talks to Brad and Tuck, whereas in the first episode, she does not speak to them.
	+ In the first episode, Jenny tries to hide from her mom when Dr. Wakeman tells her not to leave her room, but in the short she is sitting on her bed reading a magazine.
	+ In the short, Jenny was not alerted about the meteor by Dr. Wakeman, but by her sensors.
	+ The meteor's class type was not defined in the short. In the first episode, it was defined as a C-class (burns up in the atomosphere) then upgraded to D-class (planet destroyer) because Jenny kicked a hacky-sack onto it.
	+ In the first episode of the series, Tuck actually goes into Dr. Wakeman’s house to get the ball, and finds himself in a dark and spooky lab, where he bumps into Jenny who hands him the baseball. In the short, he does not enter the house, and first sees Jenny directly after he knocks on the door, as she comes out to give him the ball.
	+ A darkened silhouette of Jenny giving Tuck the ball is shown in the first episode, whereas in the pilot, she is not shadowed.
	+ Brad plays with Tuck in the pilot, while in the first episode of the actual series, Tuck plays by himself while Brad reads a magazine, then orders him to retrieve his baseball from Dr. Wakeman’s house when he observes what happened.
	+ In the pilot, Brad overhears Tuck's screaming and runs to him while in "It Came From Next Door", Tuck runs as he screams until a furious Brad blocks him.
* *My Life as a Teenage Robot* was the third short on *Oh Yeah! Cartoons* to become a full-fledged series, the first two being *The Fairly OddParents* and *ChalkZone*.
* Dr. Wakeman's white lab coat and the purple gloves looks very similiar to the design of 'Dexter' in the cartoon 'Dexters Laboratory', who was also voiced by Candi Milo from 2001 to 2003.
* All characters in this short were voiced by women.
* On the official 'Teenage Robot Blog', called 'The Teenage Roblog' the character designer of the show, calling himself "wichobot", once mentioned that his wife preferred the original design of Dr. Wakeman, as it was featured in the 'Oh Yeah! Cartoons' short and "hated the design" of Jenny in this short, which resulted in her design change in the original series, because *"she reacted so strongly about Jenny that it made us reconsider our decision"*

## Production Notes

* Although this pilot premiered in the United States on December 4, 1999, it was actually produced in 1998 according to the credits.

## Gallery

MNWATR.pngThe opening for the pilot episode.Tuck1STappear.pngTuck's very first appearance in the show, and the first character to be seen and heard in the whole series.Brad1STappear.pngBrad's first appearance in the show.Jenny1STappear.pngJenny's first official appearance in the show.Jenny2NDappear.pngJenny's first FULL appearance in the show, where she can be clearly seen.Ms.w1STappear.pngNora Wakeman's first appearance in the show.Pilotbrad.jpgSketches of Brad’s pilot design.Pilottuck.0.jpgSketches of Tuck’s pilot design.NoraWakeman-Pilot-Sketches.JPGSketches of Dr. Nora Wakeman’s pilot design.Jenny-Pilot-Design-Sketches.JPGSketches of Jenny’s pilot design.PilotBradAndTuck.PNGXJ9 1999 Model.pngWindow.pngMNWATR1.png199901.pngJenny Window.png4465FDB1-8033-4DE4-97AE-F8D32FF8F53F-678-00000038C501E745.jpgF30BA20F-B929-4179-869C-C9852ABCFF7D-214-0000003078AB4146.jpg68D56B31-1757-469B-8165-CB1C15B10915-678-00000038CDFD626C.jpgFAACBD7C-3C72-4F61-91A8-A444891D9C03-678-00000038D18CC06E.jpg2C2A8B5B-3627-4414-BE0F-B1CE2BE5C679-678-000000397822EAA7.jpgMNWATR Photo.pngJenny0.pngScreen Shot.jpgScene1.pngScene2.pngSkateboard.pngJenny as she accidentally pushes Tuck on his skateboard too hard.Scene0.pngScene3.pngScene.pngScene 0.pngEating.pngJenny eating ice cream.Jenny Rubs Her Tummy (Original).pngJenny rubs her tummy seemingly digesting the ice cream.Scene 2.pngScene 3.pngScene 4.pngContainer.pngJenny opens her tummy container1999Container.pngJenny throws away the Ice Cream from her tummy containerJenny Closed Her Tummy Container.jpgJenny closed her tummy containerUndefined - Imgur 3.pngJenny prepares to blast off...Tumblr.pngTumblr2.pngIcon.pngJenny-dirty-(1999).pngTumblr pcla3vu6oT1ux4kazo1 1280.gif
## References

Szablon:Reflist

1. ↑ https://nickstory.fandom.com/wiki/December\_4,\_1999
2. ↑ https://teenageroblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-audience-member.html