''Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?'' (simply known as ''Robot Jones'' or ''WHTRJ?'') is an American

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

created by Greg Miller for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

. It follows the eponymous Robot Jones, a young robot who attends the fictional suburban Polyneux Middle School in a

retrofuturistic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipat ...

version of the 1980s. Episodes follow Robot Jones researching aspects of human life, including music, facial hair, and gym class. Jones has friends in three boys: Socks, Mitch, and Cubey. Robot Jones is often smitten with his crush, Shannon Westerburg, a tall, girl with

orthodontic headgear Orthodontic headgear is a type of orthodontic appliance typically attached to the patient's head with a strap or number of straps around the patient's head or neck. From this, a force is transferred to the mouth/jaw(s) of the subject. Headgear ...

and a

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (Congenital, congenital disord ...

. 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 ''Grim & Evil'' is an American animated television series created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network. It consists of two segments which were eventually spun off into their own series, ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' and ''Evil Con Carn ...

'' 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 Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

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

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 young robot living in a fictional early 1980s version of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

where robots are commonplace. Robot attempts to learn human culture by attending Polyneux Middle School with his new friends: Timothy "Socks" Morton (

Kyle Sullivan Kyle Sullivan is a former child actor, known for appearing on the Nickelodeon TV series ''All That'' and the Fox sitcom '' The War at Home''. Biography Sullivan played the recurring character Dabney Hooper on ''Malcolm in the Middle'' from 2 ...

), a tall boy who loves rock music; Mitch Davis (

Gary LeRoi Gray Gary LeRoi Gray (born February 12, 1987) is an American actor, who has appeared in movies, television and animation. Early life Gary LeRoi Gray was born on February 12, 1987, in Chicago Illinois. Career He is best known for his childhood role a ...

), a

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...

-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 Grey DeLisle (; born Erin Grey Van Oosbree; August 24, 1973), sometimes credited as Grey Griffin, is an American voice actress and singer-songwriter. DeLisle is known for various roles in animated productions and video games. On September 27, ...

), a girl with a large

retainer Retainer may refer to: * Retainer (orthodontics), devices for teeth * RFA Retainer (A329), RFA ''Retainer'' (A329), a ship * Retainers in early China, a social group in early China Employment * Retainer agreement, a contract in which an employer p ...

and

prosthetic In medicine, a prosthesis (: prostheses; from ), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth (Congenital, congenital disord ...

metal leg. In each episode, Robot Jones explores a concept faced by average students, 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 Jeff Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor. He voiced the titular character of ''Johnny Bravo'', Dexter and Dee Dee's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', List of The Powerpuff Girls characters#Ace, Ace, List of The Powerpuff Gi ...

), a

technophobic Technophobia (from Greek τέχνη ''technē'', "art, skill, craft" and φόβος ''phobos'', "fear"), also known as technofear, is the fear or dislike of, or discomfort with, advanced technology or complex devices, especially personal computers ...

principal, Mr. McMcMc (

Rip Taylor Charles Elmer "Rip" Taylor Jr. (January 13, 1931 – October 6, 2019) was an American actor and comedian, known for his exuberance and flamboyant personality, including his wild moustache, toupee, and his habit of showering himself (and others) ...

), a jealous and insecure math teacher, and Lenny (

Josh Peck Joshua Michael Peck (born November 10, 1986) is an American actor, comedian, and YouTuber. Peck began his career as a child actor, appearing in the film Snow Day (2000 film), ''Snow Day'' (2000) and the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''The Ama ...

) 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 ''You Can't Do That on Television'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to A ...

''. 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

Macintalk PlainTalk is the collective name for several speech synthesis (MacinTalk) and speech recognition technologies developed by Apple Inc. In 1990, Apple invested a lot of work and money in speech recognition technology, hiring many researchers in the ...

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

* 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

) * Mitch Davis (voiced by

) * Charles "Cubey" Cubinacle (voiced by Myles Jeffrey) * Shannon Westerburg (voiced by

) * Lenny Yogman (voiced by

) * Denny Yogman (voiced by Austin Stout) * Mom Unit (voiced by

) * Dad Unit (voiced by a text-to-speech program) * Principal Madman (voiced by

Maurice LaMarche Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor. Across a career spanning more than four decades he has voiced Chief Quimby on Inspector Gadget, Egon Spengler on ''The Real Ghostbusters'', The Brain on ''Animaniacs'' and its spi ...

) * Mr. McMcMc (voiced by Maurice LaMarche/

) * Mr. Werkaut (voiced by

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

) * Mrs. Raincoat (voiced by

) * Clancy Q. Sleepyjeans (voiced by

David Koechner David Michael Koechner ( ; born August 24, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. His prominent roles include Champ Kind in the '' Anchorman'' film series (2004–2013) and Todd Packer in ''The Office'' (2005–2013). Koechner first became i ...

)

Production

Greg Miller's original series pilot aired on Cartoon Network on June 16, 2000, in a contest featuring 11 animated shorts to be chosen for a spot on the network's 2000 schedule. 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. While ''

'' 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. ''Robot Jones'' animation style can be seen as a throwback to 1970s and 1980s cartoons such as ''

Schoolhouse Rock! ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, music videos) which aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network AB ...

'', with an intentionally messy and rough look; it also strongly resembles classic newspaper comic strips such as ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was Print syndication, syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin a ...

''. The series' animation technique is different from most American cartoons from the early 2000s. It was animated with

traditional cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there was a shif ...

, at a time when many American cartoons had switched to

digital ink and paint Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there was a shif ...

. The show was animated at

Rough Draft Studios Rough Draft Studios, Inc. is an American animation production studio based in Glendale, California, with a sister studio Rough Draft Korea located in Seoul, South Korea. The studio was founded in Van Nuys, Los Angeles by Gregg Vanzo in 1991. Rou ...

in Seoul, South Korea. Greg Miller stated in an interview on Facebook that he used a

Microsoft Word 97 Microsoft Office 97 (version 8.0) is the fifth major release for Windows of Microsoft Office, released by Microsoft on November 19, 1996. A Mac OS equivalent, Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition, was released on January 6, 1998. Microsoft Offi ...

text-to-speech software on his old

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. Child actor 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 ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super Bowl X ...

'' only to take over the world in the style of ''

The Terminator ''The Terminator'' is a 1984 American science fiction action film directed by James Cameron, written by Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd and produced by Hurd. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cybernetic assassin sent back in t ...

'', 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 video every episode, each one in a different style of music, but that was ultimately shot down by the network. Greg Miller also confirmed a few things on his Twitter about the production. A big inspiration for the visual language was an anime called

Chibi Maruko Chan is a manga series written and illustrated by Momoko Sakura. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of Momoko Sakura, a young girl everyone calls ''Maruko'', and her family in suburban Japan in the year 1974. Maruko is a troublemak ...

where in a dramatic moment or intense emotion the background changes. Another thing borrowed from Chibi Maruko Chan was the characters turning white when they were overcome with emotion. In addition, a lot of speculation began in the 21st Century regarding the character of Principal Madman baring a resemblance to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Miller cleared this up stating he was based on Mr. Schidtler from

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

's ''

'' (portrayed by

Les Lye Leslie Ernest Lye (November 18, 1924 – July 21, 2009) was a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, radio personality and announcer and voice artist. He was an original cast member and played numerous roles on the children's program ''You Can't Do Tha ...

), and that any resemble to the former was coincidental.

Episodes

Series overview

Pilot (2000)

Season 1 (2002)

Season 2 (2003)

Broadcast

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 ''What a Cartoon!'' (later known as ''The What a Cartoon! Show'' and ''The Cartoon Cartoon Show'') is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons; by the ...

'', along with segments of other

Cartoon Cartoons Cartoon Cartoons is a collective name used by Cartoon Network for their original animated television series from July 14, 1997, to June 14, 2004, and produced primarily by Hanna-Barbera and later Cartoon Network Studios. The first Cartoon Cartoon ...

from that time period. Reruns began airing on Cartoon Network's Latin-American sister network

Tooncast Tooncast is a Latin American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International division. It was launched on December 1, 2008; its programming consists of classical animation, both from Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. ...

in 2015, and was added to that region's version of

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

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

References

External links

* (archive) * * pilot foru
at The Lost Media Wiki
{{Portal bar, Cartoon Network, Animation, Television, Cartoon, United States, 2000s 2000s American animated comedy television series 2000s American children's comedy television series 2000s American comic science fiction television series 2002 American animated television series debuts 2003 American television series endings American children's animated comic science fiction television series American English-language television shows Animated television series about robots Cartoon Cartoons Cartoon Network original programming Television series by Cartoon Network Studios Middle school television series American teen animated television series Television series by Rough Draft Studios Television series set in the 1980s Television shows set in Delaware