- The Brak Show
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The Brak Show 
Title cardGenre Animated Sit-com
Surreal humorFormat Animated series Created by Jim Fortier
Andy Merrill
Pete SmithStarring Andy Merrill
George Lowe
C. Martin Croker
Carey Means
Marsha Crenshaw
(2000-2002; 2003 & 2007)
Joanna Daniel (2002-2003)Country of origin United States No. of seasons 3 No. of episodes 29 (List of episodes) Production Running time 11 minutes Broadcast Original channel Adult Swim Picture format 4:3 SDTV Original run December 21, 2000 –
December 31, 2003;
May 24, 2007Chronology Preceded by Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Cartoon PlanetExternal links Website The Brak Show is an animated television series that aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. The Brak Show is a spin-off of the animated television series, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and featured recurring characters from Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet. Both programs used stock footage from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost. The protagonist is Brak, voiced by Andy Merrill, who developed a quirky persona for the character.
The Brak Show premiered on December 21, 2000, and ended on December 31, 2003, with a total of twenty-eight episodes. An extra webisode debuted on Adult Swim Video on May 24, 2007.
Contents
Overview
The Brak Show was preceded by two specials, both entitled Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak. Despite the similarities in the titles, the two Brak Shows have very little in common. The former show was a spoof of early sitcoms, while the latter parodied the genre of variety shows. Both of the episodes aired in the United States only once in February and March 2000, although clips of the show could be viewed after the Space Ghost Coast to Coast time slot on occasion. In the United Kingdom only one of the two specials aired on Bravo on August 23, 2006 and then again on December 23, 2007. There are also clips from the shows on The Brak Show Volume 1 DVD and Adult Swim Video.
The Brak Show series premiered unannounced in the early hours of December 21, 2000, along with the "Radio Free Sealab" episode of Sealab 2021.[1] This "stealth" pilot (titled "Leave it to Brak") featured hand-drawn backgrounds and different opening titles. The show's second showing was on Adult Swim's debut on September 2, 2001. As with most of the first original Adult Swim shows it was produced by Williams Street Studios.
The show is about Brak's suburban life with his alien mother and Cuban father. It originally started off as a parody of situation comedies, but just like its sister show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the plot dissolved over time and became increasingly bizarre. The setting is suburbia with an extra-planetary hint. A Saturn-like planet appears in the background on occasion, and many of the extras are aliens. Often, episodes are written doing a parody of stereotypical episodes on regular sitcoms (e.g. The son showing an interest in women, the Dad being reconnected with an old passion, the Mother temporarily leaving after a fight, etc.).
The show was canceled in December 2003. However, Adult Swim announced in a bump on October 22, 2006 that, The Brak Show would return to production as an internet cartoon on the network's website.[2] On May 24, 2007, a single webisode premiered online.[3] No further webisodes have been produced.
On August 1, 2008, Adult Swim had a retro night, an all night marathon of shows featured on Adult Swim during their 2001 and 2002 era, two of the earlier episodes of The Brak Show were aired during the marathon.[4]
Characters
- Brak (Andy Merrill) - is some sort of anthropomorphic "space cat" with an eccentric personality and a speaking lisp. He is quite unintelligent but with a very sweet and gentle personality and seems to be a preteen adolescent. He still has attachments to stuffed animals, yet nonetheless is starting to be attracted to girls. He often randomly breaks into song. The writers use a wide variety of musical styles for the songs--covering jazz, country, showtunes, rap, and rock & roll. He considers Zorak a close friend, although in return Zorak treats him with open contempt. Brak's character is derived from his appearances on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast spinoff Cartoon Planet.
- Zorak (C. Martin Croker) - is another character from Space Ghost Coast to Coast, a human-sized mantis. On this show, he plays the role of an Eddie Haskell character, who is also a sociopathic, sadistic, morally bankrupt misanthrope. He often hangs out with Brak, but usually only as a way to force him into doing something for his own benefit. Zorak considers himself "above" Brak and his entire family, and is constantly criticizing and insulting them. Zorak also enjoys bullying Clarence, the neighborhood nerd. He often gets killed off in the show, in the same way he did in Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Zorak also appeared as a villain in an episode of the Jabberjaw series.
- Dad (George Lowe) - is a small human illegal alien with a Cuban accent, who is extremely self-centered, lazy and nonsensical. Unemployed since 1984, most of his time is spent sitting at the kitchen table and reading the newspaper. An episode seldom goes by without him delivering a moral to the story that is completely incoherent, has no relevance to the situation and typically ends in a non sequitur. Occasionally, he displays prominent womanizing and male-chauvinistic behavior, which is sometimes rebuked by Brak's mom.
- Mom (Marsha Crenshaw in episodes 1-13 and 28-29, Joanna Daniel in episodes 14-28) - a creature of the same "species" as Brak, with the fashions of a housewife character on a 1950s sitcom. She is largely the only semi-sane character on the show. She displays little romantic or sexual interest in Brak's father, and often does not tolerate him. When she gets drunk, however, she finds him suddenly irresistible. As voiced by Crenshaw, she is most often an homage to June Cleaver and similar motherly characters, with occasional hints of discontent with her husband's laziness and sexism. When Daniel took over the role, Brak's mother inexplicably acquired a British accent, and became far more open in her discontent with domestic life and her annoyance with and disdain for Brak's father. Her change in accent has been commented upon several times on the show.
- Thundercleese (Carey Means) - Brak's next-door-neighbor, a militant Killbot (with the visual appearance of a Gundam or a similar anime-style robot) who is also passionate about his lawn and garden, particularly the gnomes that decorate it. A short-lived shtick on the show involved Thundercleese blasting Zorak often. He is very aggressive and warlike, always speaking in a loud, robotic monotone. When Brak is troubled, no matter what the problem is, Thundercleese invariably suggests swift and brutal retaliation. Thundercleese's social skills are rather lacking, and before social get-togethers he will study very bad "party jokes" in preparation. Thundercleese's creator is claimed to be MoroccoBotix, in an episode of the series, which contradicts a special 2003 New Year's Eve event on Adult Swim in 2003, where it was revealed that Aqua Teen Hunger Force's Frylock created him.
- Clarence (Andy Merrill) - a chubby purple alien and schoolmate of Brak's at Learnmore High School. He was a supporting character on the show who made more regular appearances towards the end of the series. Clarence is very socially awkward, but idolizes Brak. His constant talking often annoys those around him, and when faced with an extremely stressful situation he will wear his mother's sundress and bonnet for comfort. In a rap contest, he revealed that he dearly misses his father, who left them for unknown reasons. In this same contest, he also noted that his mom has since married a man named Gary that he does not like. Many of his appearances end with him being maimed, usually by Zorak.
- Sisto - Brak's brother, and Dad and Mom's other son. He is mostly orange colored. In early episodes, he would make random appearances walking across the scene farting. A scratch-sniff card of him was shown in the episode "Sexy New Brak Show Go".
Episodes
Main article: List of The Brak Show episodesDVD releases
The first fourteen episodes were released on DVD on February 1, 2005, and the remaining episodes were released on August 8, 2006. In addition to being available on DVD, The Brak Show is also available on iTunes and the "Build Your Own DVD" feature on Adultswim.com. The "Build Your Own DVD" release also features the original version of the pilot episode, with hand-drawn back grounds. The webisode is only available on Adult Swim Video.
DVD Name Cover art Release Date Ep
#Additional Information Volume One 
February 1, 2005 14 This two-disc box set contains the first 14 episodes of The Brak Show in production order. Bonus features include commentaries on two episodes, a never produced pilot for a radio version of the show, the Brak presents the Brak Show starring Brak episode, a few segments from Cartoon Planet, and a few "Easter eggs".[5] Volume Two 
August 8, 2006 This two-disc box set contains the final 14 episodes of The Brak Show in production order.[6] There are no bonus features. For this set, Cartoon Network abandoned their usual digipak packaging design in favor of a more traditional amaray style keep case. See also
- List of The Brak Show episodes
- Adult Swim
- Cult television
- Space Ghost
References
- ^ "The Daily Ghost Planet : The Past!". Lustforlunch.com. http://lustforlunch.com/dgp/oldnews.htm#stealth. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "The Brak Show "Space Adventure" Webisode Preview! - toonzone forums". Toonzone.net. http://www.toonzone.net/forums/showthread.php?t=190758. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "Adult Swim Video : Webisodes : Brak Show - Space Adventure". Video.adultswim.com. http://video.adultswim.com/webisodes/brak-show-space-adventure.html. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "Classic Night Schedule". BumpWorthy.com. http://www.bumpworthy.com/bumps/941. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "The Brak Show, Vol. 1: Andy Merrill, C. Martin Croker, Marsha Crenshaw, Carey Means, Don Kennedy, Jim Fortier, Pete Smith (II): Movies & TV". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00069L0YU. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "The Brak Show, Vol. 2: Don Kennedy, Pete Smith (II), Jim Fortier: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FO0AFQ. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
External links
- Official website
- AdultSwim.co.uk - The Brak Show on Adult Swim UK
- The Brak Show at TV.com
- The Brak Show at the Internet Movie Database
- The Brak Show at epguides.com
Space Ghost Coast to Coast Episodes · Album Characters Cast Related shows Space Ghost • Space Stars • Cartoon Planet • The Brak Show • Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1 • Anime Talk Show • Perfect Hair ForeverCategories:- 2000s American animated television series
- 2000 American television series debuts
- 2003 American television series endings
- Adult Swim original programs
- English-language television series
- Space Ghost television series
- Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters
- Williams Street Studios series and characters
- Television spin-offs
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