''The Mouse and the Monster'' is a 1996–97 American animated series created by Jerry Leibowitz for

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

. It centered around a mouse named Chesbro, and a beatnik monster named Mo. The show was originally part of the

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

network's 1996 UPN Kids lineup alongside other Saban-produced shows, such as ''

Bureau of Alien Detectors ''Bureau of Alien Detectors'' (commonly initialized as ''BAD'') is a 1996 American animated series by Saban Entertainment that aired on the UPN network's weekend-morning cartoon block UPN Kids. It was touted as "X-Files meets the A-Team," and only ...

'' and ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book a ...

''. Reruns later appeared on the

Fox Family Channel The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...

. The show subsequently aired on various Disney Channels in Europe following Disney's acquisition of Saban's library of shows. Ownership of the series passed to

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in 2001 when Disney acquired

Fox Kids Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

, which also includes

Plot

During what would be his final concert, the brilliant pianist Flatnoteski suffered a heart attack and died. Among the front-row visitors were Dr. Wackerstein and his wife and assistant Olga. Dr. Wackerstein immediately claimed Flatnoteski's brain so that the Doctor could create a body to place said brain in and allow Flatnoteski's genius to live on. For this purpose, Dr. Wackerstein created Mo, a cycloptic

golem A golem ( ; he, , gōlem) is an animated, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter (usually clay or mud). The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the l ...

bearing a passing resemblance to

Frankenstein's Monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

. However, even without a brain, Mo had a mind and personality of his own and did not want his own newly created life to make room for a brain that wasn't his. An inhabitant of Wackerstein's castle, a mouse named Chesbro, befriended Mo and helped him to flee. Pals together, they are on the run from the mad doctor.

Characters

* Chesbro "Chez" Mouse: An ordinary yellow former lab-mouse. He is Mo's best friend and travel companion, both on the run from Dr. Wackerstein. He has a pessimistic streak, often feeling regretful for leaving a cheese factory over a laboratory job. Chez is constantly busy keeping Mo (and himself) out of trouble. * Mo: A large blue cycloptic beatnik monster. He's cheerful, impulsive, and generally kind. Having been brought into creation rather than being born, Mo possesses a childlike fascination for things he isn't familiar with. He loves drumming on his

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

in a true beatnik fashion. His favorite food is gumballs, especially Squid-flavored ones. He truly despises

Liverwurst Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver. It is eaten in many parts of Europe, including Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Polan ...

, from having been force-fed the stuff while a captive of the doctor, and can go on a berserk rampage if he even so much as hears the word. * Dr. Wackerstein: A short purple man, who is a lunatic scientist with decent intentions, but insane means. He created Mo so he could place Flatnoteski's Brain inside of his skull, and when he found out Mo had escaped, he chased after him. Wackerstein also has an assistant named Olga, whom he always calls

Igor Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...

; much to her chagrin, and in spite of her repeated corrections. * Olga: A woman with a green complexion, a Slavic accent and a tall pink beehive hairstyle. She is Dr. Wackerstein's wife and assistant. Besides being a performance artist, Olga is a strange, completely inexcitable woman. She often keeps Dr. Wackerstein in line, acting as a voice of reason for his boisterous behavior. What few pleasures in life she has includes her mother's

schnitzel A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutt ...

s, and

interpretive dance Interpretive dance is a family of modern dance styles that began around 1900 with Isadora Duncan. It used classical concert music but marked a departure from traditional concert dance. It seeks to translate human emotions, conditions, situation ...

paired with her own experimental form of music, which generally consists of a

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

playing short notes, accompanied by

off-key Off-key is musical content that is not at the expected frequency or pitch period, either with respect to some absolute reference frequency, or in a ratiometric sense (i.e. through removal of exactly one degree of freedom, such as the frequency of ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

singing. Her catchphrase is: "My name is Olga, you vertically challenged bupkis of a man!" * Flatnoteski's Brain: The brilliant composer and pianist Flatnoteski has died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, but his disembodied brain lives on. It's usually brought along with Dr. Wackerstein, riding in the toddler's seat in the back of the doctor's car. Despite being a disembodied brain, it will often express its feelings to the viewer, in the form of a thought balloon that conveys a brainwave

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

line, which changes to reflect what it's thinking, such as short words like "HELP".

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouse and the Monster UPN original programming 1990s American animated television series 1996 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings American children's animated comedy television series UPN Kids Fox Family Channel original programming Animated television series about mice and rats Animated television series about monsters Television series by Saban Entertainment