Jimmy neutron is a science fiction franchise targeted at children. The series makes jokes about classic science fiction tropes and modern media, all while challenging the idea of a nuclear family. Most of the content from the Jimmy Neutron universe exists in the form of a television series, however, the first big release for the franchise exists as a full-length feature film released in theaters. The movie: Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) was nominated for best animated feature, losing to Shrek (2001). Jimmy Neutron follows the classic science fiction (sf) tropes of alien abduction and last people on Earth.  In the 60 episodes spanning 3 seasons, the writers of Jimmy Neutron reference every main topic discussed in our COM 200 class lectures. From Week 2 George Melie’s A Trip to the Moon (1902) to Week 8 X-Files (1993) similarities can be seen in the Jimmy Neutron. The consistent claim in the franchise is that brains beat braun. The characters in the show are not monochromatic and do not all have hegemonic lives.  Jimmy Neutron, the show’s protagonist, is different because of his massive brain, large head, and short height.Jimmy’s town of Retroville is the modeled after the 1950’s nuclear family. Much of this is reflected in the visuals and retro hangout spots like “Sam’s Candy Bar.” 

 

Jimmy Neutron was initially created by John A. Davis in the 1980’s while Davis was in his 20’s. It was abandoned, revisited, and eventually produced into a 40 second short in 1995. With the help of Steve Odenkirk at DNA Productions, the short was expanded into a 13-minute pilot. During early talks with Nickeloden, the idea of doing a Jimmy Neutron TV show and film became the consensus idea. It was Davis who suggested producing the film first, so the animation team could produce all the characters and elements at theatrical quality and then re-use them in the TV show. 

 

Nickeloden was skeptical about releasing a film without a show to build character hype, but with a strong pre-release campaign airing several Jimmy Neutron shorts between Nickeloden progrmans, the film was a huge success. While operating on a $30 million budget, Jimmy Neutron grossed over $102 million worldwide and was nominated for Best Animated Feature. The TV series ran for 60 episodes over 4 years, and even had a spinoff series called Planet Sheen (2010).   

 

The writing staff of Jimmy Neutron, was made up of John A. Davis, Steve Odenkerk, David N. Weiss, and J. David Stern. These four were responsible for expanding Davis’ idea into the well balanced universe audiences saw on screen. While Davis, Odenkirk, Weiss, and Stern were responsible for the film, the tv show features 24 credited writers over the course of the series. 

 

Just in terms of run time, the team created stories that ran as short as 30 seconds that were released before the feature to build hype for the characters, all the way up to multiple full length releases. The first full feature release was the 2001 film that launched the franchise into the eyes of audiences and commercial success, however, the team followed up with two made for tv movies that were Operation: Jet Fusion (2005), which guest starred Christian Slater in a James Bond type role named Jet Fusion. The team also produced “Win, Lose, Kaboom” (2004) a three part tv release guest starring Tim Allen. In addition to these long stories with theatrical production quality, the production team also released 3 two part episodes, and 3 more two-part crossover specials with another hit show from the Nickeloden network called The Fairly Oddparents. The star’s main character was named Timmy Turner.  “The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour” was such a success with audiences that the two teams produced the sequels “Part 2: When Nerds Collide” and “Part 3: The Jerkinators.” All of this to say that the stories Jimmy Neutron and his friends follow are rarely predictable, leaving audiences excited audiences and offer limitless potential for creators. 

 

In Episode 45, “The N Men” Jimmy uses one of his new inventions to turn himself and his friends into superheroes. The gang does a superhero genre-hybridity episode. The episode ends with Jimmy and his friends fighting the military and then each other and everything working out after a big apology, similar to traditional superhero movies. But as in all Neutron stories, Jimmy does the right thing and puts aside his ego for his friends safety.

 

The feature film from 2001 starts with Jimmy making alien contact. The aliens, called Yolkians, worship a large chicken, and capture the adult-earth population for food, leaving all the children of Retroville behind. Now alone in Retroville like the case of The World, The Flesh, and The Devil, Jimmy and his friends quickly discover life in a deserted city is not a great as they thought it would be. After experiencing the highs and lows of a now deserted town, Jimmy and friends build a fleet of space craft, and set off on an odyssey to rescue their parents from the Yolkins. An Oddessey in 2001! These writers! We see examples of great inventions, deserted towns, space travel, and alien interaction in just the initial film. The production team was clearly well versed in mainstream media and it shows through in every story Jimmy and his friend’s encounter.

 

 

For diverse representation, the show does well. Of Jimmy’s four closest friends, two are male and two are female. His best friends, Carl and Sheen are great supportive sidekicks that have their own shortcomings. Carl is Jimmy’s white friend, he is a overweight hypochondriac, allergic to everything, and lacking self-confidence. Sheen is a Mexican descendant and lives in a single parent household with his Dad. Sheen was written to be a Japanese character, but the production could not find a Japanese voice actor to play Sheen. They expanded the casting call and settled for Jeff Garcia. After rewriting Sheen to be Mexican it is hard to imagine the character any other way. Garcia play one of the more exciting characters and even lived to have his own spinoff series Planet Sheen (2010).

 

The girls, Cindy and Libby, both have strong traits as well. Cindy is a practitioner or Tai-Chi and martial arts. In addition to her physical strengths, she is the second smartest person in class, behind Jimmy, and always competing with Jimmy and often beating him. While Cindy is the blonde blue-eyed love interest of Jimmy, Libby is a strong Black female character who loves music. While she isn’t featured hugely in the orginal film, she is definitely a supporting character and has several episodes in which she has main storylines. In Episode 46 “The Tomorrow Boys,” Libby is the supreme overlord of earth. For all the characters existing in the show, very few have the exact same shade as one another, which is just like real life. 

 

 

Davis, John A, director. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Paramount Pictures , 2001. 

 

Davis, John A. The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Episode Episode 1-60, Nickeloden , 20 July 2002. 

 

DeMott, Rick. “The Rise of Jimmy Neutron .” Animation World Network, 19 Dec. 2001, www.awn.com/animationworld/rise-jimmy-neutron. 

 

Grant, Stacey. “How Jimmy Neutron Went From A Childhood Nickname to A Major Franchise.” MTV.com, 12 Dec. 2016, www.mtv.com/news/2962083/jimmy-neutron-john-a-davis-interview/. 

 

Mallory, Michael. “A Boy and His Franchise.” LA Times, 11 Nov. 2001, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-11-ca-2777-story.html.