Recap / Freakazoid Season 1 Episode 12

Release Date: February 10, 1996

House of Freakazoid: A werewolf who somehow knows about Dexter's secret identity visits his home to ask his assistance for a cure.

Sewer or Later: Cobra Queen makes a getaway through the sewers, and Freakazoid does not want to go after her because sewers "smell like poo gas!"

Tropes Found in “House of Freakazoid”:

• Continuity Nod: Lonnie tries to get in the house by claiming to be Dexter's driving instructor.
  Douglas: Dexter's driving instructor is a Scotsman.
• Homage: To Universal Horror, specifically The Wolf Man and its sequels.
• Horrifying the Horror: Eventually, the Wolfman is desperately trying to escape Freakazoid's "help".
• Magical Romani: Parodied with an Expy of Maleva, Maria Ouspenskaya's character in The Wolf Man. She appears briefly, making a reference to the movie's "Even a man who is pure at heart" poem and then asking for car fare.
• Monster Mash: Though primarily focused on Freakazoid meeting the Wolfman, the episode ends on the stinger of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and a Mummy showing up to the house.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Being an Expy of Larry Talbot, Lonnie is modeled after Lon Chaney Jr.. Likewise with the Expy of Maria Ouspenskaya's character.
• Our Werewolves Are Different: Lonnie Tallbutt is essentially the classic Universal Horror Wolf Man werewolf that changes every full moon, but can apparently be cured by being sent into the internet.
• Scare the Dog: Lonnie entering Dexter's room causes Mr. Chubbikins to yowl and scamper off... directly into a closed window. Twice.
  Lonnie: Sorry. Pets don't like me.
• Shockingly Expensive Bill: Referenced by Freakazoid after successfully curing Lonnie:
  Freakazoid: [Breaking the Fourth Wall] Wait'll he gets my bill!
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: At the beginning of the segment, Lonnie wears a black raincoat and gray tie. When he returns to the Douglas household after being cured of his lycanthropy, he's wearing a white jacket and pale blue tie.
• Werewolves Are Dogs: Freakazoid talks to Lonnie Tallbutt in werewolf form as though he were a dog. Pretty much averted with werewolf Lonnie's actual characterization, which is essentially the same as the werewolf in The Wolf Man (1941).

Tropes Found in “Sewer or Later”:

• Friendly Enemy: Cobra Queen apologizes for mistaking Freakazoid for another hero, saying it's just so dark in her lair. Freakazoid gives her some advice about hanging up Japanese lanterns, which she thinks is a good idea. Then the fighting starts.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Paul Harvey narrates a flashback showing that Cobra Queen used to be a mere shoplifter, but her using an experimental lotion left in the Sun too long transformed her into a snake-themed supervillain.
  Paul Harvey: And now you know the rest of the backstory! Good day!
• Gilligan Cut: Freakazoid asserts that is absolutely no way whatsoever that he's going down into the sewers. It then cuts to the sewers, but he's really not there; he's at home watching TV. He's down there after the commercial break, though, much to his extreme displeasure.
• Hero of Another Story: Atomic Boy has apparently clashed with Cobra Queen multiple times.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • Despite his absolute and repeated refusal to go into the sewer, Freakazoid eventually heads down there.
    Freakazoid: It's my civic duty! Besides, if I don't, the show just kind of sits there.
  • Freakazoid gets the better of Cobra Queen by mocking her Sssssnake Talk and suggesting she say alliterative saying to prove him wrong. She passes out from repeated failed attempts to do so, prompting Freakazoid to question why that actually worked to begin with.
• Recognition Failure: Cobra Queen initially mistakes Freakazoid for Atomic Boy, due to how dark it is in her lair.
• Shout-Out:
  • When refusing to go into the sewer, Freakazoid is at home watching Animaniacs.
  • Freakazoid annoys Cobra Queen by saying she sounds like Sylvester the Cat.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Cobra Queen commands a pair of large and fearsome-looking snakes, though still subject to the usual zany slapstick on this show.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Freakazoid is able to defeat Cobra Queen by getting her to try and say a difficult tongue-twister, which she incapable of saying due lisp, until she passes out from trying to.
• You Have Failed Me: Cobra Queen threatens to turn one of her snakes into "a large wallet" in the event of failure.