Zeroman

Infobox Television
show_name = Zeroman


caption =
format = Animation, Comedy
camera =
picture_format =
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =
developer =
executive_producer = Mark Edwards
Sheldon Wiseman
starring = Leslie Nielsen
narrated =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = CAN
network = Teletoon
Télétoon
first_aired = September 1, 2004
last_aired = January 11, 2005
num_episodes = 14
website =
imdb_id = 0398615
tv_com_id = 30142

"Zeroman" is a Canadian animated television series that is currently on hiatus on the Canadian cartoon network Teletoon (in English) and on Télétoon (in French). It tells the adventures of incompetent sixty-six-year-old postman Les Mutton (voiced by Leslie Nielsen) who also happens to be the superhero known as Zeroman. As Zeroman, Les fights the crime that plagues Fair City in a similar fashion to Nielsen's Lt. Frank Drebin character in the Naked Gun series. A second season is currently in production.

Characters

Les Mutton/Zeroman: Played by Leslie Nielsen, Les comes into the possession of a supersuit with superpowers, turning him into Fair City's hero, Zeroman. When not fighting crime as Zeroman, Les Mutton is an absent-minded postman who still lives with his mother at the age of sixty-three (he'll be sixty-four in three weeks). Zeroman maintains his secret identity similar to Superman, but in reverse, whereas Les doesn't wear glasses and Zeroman does. Even though it's quite obvious that the two are the same person, the people of Fair City (with the exception of Ty, and possibly Gary) cannot seem to tell the difference. Where they would even go as far as telling Les otherwise whenever his cover would be blown. This is obviously a fun jab at how Superman hides his secret identity of Clark Kent. Zeroman's secret hideout is located underground of his mother's house. The main secret entrance is via the toilet in his washroom, when activated by saying the lines of "Come out, come out, come out!", it sends Les through a network of tunnels to the underground caverns of his base. While not explained in detail yet, Les' father was a secret agent. Les also has feelings for his Sally, but can never really express them to her. He can also fight very bad

Jaundice Mutton (Les Mutton's Mother): Jaundice Mutton simply wants her son to finally move out of the house and marry. She is a bitter old woman who is annoyed of her son. Jaundice is also Zeroman's #1 fan, where the irony comes in as she simply loathes her son, but is head over heels for his alter-ego. Les' mother is played by Doris Roberts.

Ty Cheese: Ty Cheese is a former secret agent who aids Zeroman in his fight against the evil-doers of Fair City. Ty provides Zeroman with technological and intelligence support. He apparently is also a homosexual, this has been shown quite a few times during the series. (e.g. Sally's "encounter" with the Robotwoman, which simply resulted in the respone of "It doesn't do anything for me" from Ty. Also in the episode where Zeroman decides to find a successor and rejects the notion of Ty being his heir, Ty initially thinks that it is because of his sexuality, at the end it was because Zeroman wouldn't be Zeroman without Ty there to always help him.) Ty is played by Ryan Reynolds.

Sally Uberchick: Sally is Les' much younger coworker, and love interest. She has strong feelings for Les, and is always waiting for him to make a move, but never does because he is always called to action during their moments together. Sally is also known to be Zeroman's "main squeeze" by the people of Fair City, even though she constantly denies it as there is truly nothing going on between them. This gossip of course, puts her in danger many times.

Gary Glengarry/O Boy: Gary as O Boy is Zeroman's sidekick in-training, constantly getting into arguments with Ty over the matter and other general things relating to their mission. He is also a millionaire and provides the financial backing for the team as well as a host of gadgets and other advanced technology that never seems to work properly.

Rusty Woodenwater: Rusty Woodenwater is former childstar turned criminal mastermind. Rusty was once the most loved television personality of Fair City until he entered puberty. During that life and career changing moment, he had his first acne outbreak on-air during his show, which resulted in the eventual cancellation of his show and the decline of his career. After falling from grace, Rusty went from being famous to becoming infamous as Fair City's most dangerous supervillain. The Zerosuit was also originally made for Rusty, this of course resulted in many attempts at trying to retrieve it from Zeroman which always ended up in failure. Even though he is an evil genius and criminal mastermind, Rusty on occasion throws fits and tantrums, and he has his henchmen Don and Ron do his dirty work due to basically being ineffectual as a villain. And like his archnemesis Zeroman, he also has a poor relationship with his mother. Rusty's most distinguishing characteristics are his mulleted red hair and his annoyingly high-toned voice. Kevin McDonald provides the voice of Rusty.

Don: Don is Rusty's former manager turned henchman, he is dressed up as a 40s style gangster, with a tough, no-nonsense attitude, and the catchphrase "ba-wango". He is modelled after former NHL coach and hockey personality Don Cherry, who also provides the voice for him.

Ron: Ron is Rusty's former publicist turned henchman, unlike his counterpart in Don, he is quite the opposite. Like Don, Ron is modelled after hockey personality Ron MacLean and is voiced by him as well. Don and Ron have similar interactions like their real-life counterparts on the Coach's Corner segment of Hockey Night in Canada.

Mayor MacWadd: He is the friendly, and naive mayor of Fair City. He resembles the character Jay Sherman from The Critic as well as the actor who plays Jay Sherman, Jon Lovitz.

Helga: Helga is the corrupt police chief of Fair City and associate of Rusty's. She is a large woman with a Russian accent.

Zerosuit

The Zerosuit grants its wearer invulnerability, flight, superhuman strength and various other abilities. But, even though the suit grants its user incredible power, the suit is susceptible to anti-static sheets. When affected by them, the suit wearer is incapacitated, handicapped and put through immense pain, also the suit begins to bulge uncontrollably.

Cast

*"Leslie Nielsen"... Les Mutton/Zeroman
*"Norman Mikeal Berketa"... Mayor MacWadd, Bucky Dentyne, Various
*"Don Cherry"... Don
*"Ron MacLean"... Ron
*"David L. McCallum"... Reverend Loveglove, Dirk Dinkle, Various
*"Kevin McDonald"... Rusty Woodenwater
*"Chantal Quesnel"... Sally Uberchick, Robotwoman (2004)
*"Ryan Reynolds"... Ty Cheese
*"Doris Roberts"... Jaundice Mutton (Les Mutton's mother)
*"James Watts"... Gary Glengarry/O Boy
*"J.D. Wilson"... Various

Trivia

Most of the characters are actually modeled after their voice actors, Les/Zeroman, Ty, Rusty, Don and Ron all share many resemblances to their real-life counterparts.

External links

* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/08/11/Arts/nielsen040811.html CBC] (August 11, 2004) - Article on Leslie Nielsen in Zeroman.
* [http://www.amberwoodanimation.com/ Amberwood Entertainment] - The animation studio that produces Zeroman.