tto Osworth (Segall) is an orphan, and all he really wants to do is read and study history. However, he's constantly picked on by the nasty nun who runs the orphanage. After a day of being punished for reading, Otto, exhausted, falls into bed.
A sudden light fills his bedroom, and a big guy and a robot appear out of nowhere. They are arguing about Eli Whitney. When the two discover they are not alone, the big guy points a weapon at Otto and asks him if he's Eli "Whimpy." Otto informs them that not only isn't he Whitney, they aren't even in the right state, and Whitney hasn't been around since the 1700s.
The big guy introduces himself as Officer Buck Tuddrussel (Paulsen), a Time Cop. He is aided by Larry 3000 (Hamill), a robot who has been programmed in etiquette, culture and languages for diplomatic
negotiations. It seems in the year 100 million, all the governments of Earth have merged into one big harmonious supernation, and there's "no more war, no pollution and bacon is good for your heart." The problem is that history has become unstable. In order to keep the perfect future world, Time Cops were created to monitor history and go back in time to fix things when something goes wrong.
The problem is that they don't know anything about history. Otto suggests that he might be the answer to their problem. He knows all about history and he is an orphan. Tuddrussel agrees to let Otto come along.
After a quick trip to their "super-high-tech history-monitoring police satellite," it's off to Savannah, Ga., in 1793 to find Eli Whitney. The problem is that Whitney created flesh-eating robots instead of the cotton gin. But can our heroes convince Whitney that flesh-eating robots are a
bad thing and point him in the right direction before it's too late?
Slapstick that's
strictly for kids
The Cartoon Network's new animated entry Time Squad promises to appeal to both kids and adults, but the slapstick humor is more likely to find an audience with the younger set.
Considering that the series was created by Emmy winner Dave Wasson, it's surprising that Time Squad isn't more unique. The time-traveling aspect could end up being great fun, but we've seen these characters before. There's nothing new about an uppity and cranky robot (Larry 3000) or a kid who's smarter than the adults around him (Otto). The only character with any distinctive qualities is Tuddrussel, who has an enthusiastic child-like nature.
While the characters are likeable, the light tone and silly revisionist history aren't likely to give the adult audience much reason to stay tuned either. Future episodes will feature Betsy Ross as a rock-'n'-roll hippie and Big Al (Albert) Einstein as a used-car salesman. Judging from the pilot episode, it sounds funnier than it plays.
The voice actors do a good job at giving their characters unique qualities and attitudes. It's tough to introduce the premise of a series as well as several characters and have a plot at the same time in the space of a 30-minute episode. The pilot does manage to get it all in, but there's so much exposition there's little time for anything else.
The Cartoon Network has ordered 26 episodes of Time Squad, so the series has a season to develop the premise and characters. With all the talent involved in this series, it will be a shame if it doesn't evolve into at least an entertaining cartoon for children.
