A twistedly brilliant Saturday morning cartoon by Doug TenNapel (the same man behind Earthworm Jim) and Doug Langdale (who ironically helped make the Earthworm Jim cartoon, despite TenNapel's opposition to it; he would later go on to create Disney's The Weekenders and Dave the Barbarian), Project G.e.e.K.e.R. ran for thirteen episodes in the mid-90's on CBS. However it was doomed from the beginning because the FCC's new educational programming requirements came into effect in January 1997, just as its first season run was ending, and CBS couldn't see it meeting E/I guidelines well enough for a second season.
In an ambiguously future time, Moloch Industries and its CEO, Mister Moloch owns most of the solar system, yet even that is not enough. In order to gain total power, Moloch initiated Project GKR (Geno-Kinetic Research). The aim of Project GKR was to create the perfect corporate warrior; an artificial human with complete control over his molecular structure, whom Moloch could use to crush all who opposed him.
All that was needed was the loyalty program. But then Project GKR was stolen by an Action Girl named Lady Macbeth and Noah, her intelligent Tyrannosaurus pal. Due to the loyalty program having all the intelligence, they end up saddled with Geeker, a Cloudcuckoolander to the extreme who has no real idea just how powerful he really is.
The series' entire run was on Hulu and iTunes at one time, but has since disappeared.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Lady Macbeth prefers not to be called "Becky".
- Aerial Canyon Chase: Geeker (of all people) does this in the second episode, by way of flying a commandeered shuttle straight downward and into a subway tunnel in order to shake off a Pinker fighter. And surprisingly, he pulls it off perfectly. He didn't even realize what he was doing.
- Affably Evil: Moloch's two green henchmen.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: According to Moloch, the central computer at Brightmore Park malfunctioned and went rogue during the park's opening day, killing everyone there. While hiding in the now-abandoned park, Geeker, Lady Macbeth, and Noah have to stay peaceful or otherwise risk triggering the AI's violence.
- Alternate-History Dinosaur Survival: The dinosaurs actually escaped extinction by fleeing underground where they became sapient and formed their own society.
- Artificial Limbs: Becky's left arm.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: one of the many, many things wrong with Geeker.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Noah and Lady Macbeth often fight, with the dinosaur often refusing to allow "Becky" to accompany him on critical missions. Lady Macbeth interprets this as a snub, because she's weaker than him. In actuality Noah can't bear the thought of anything bad happening to his team-mate.
- Bad Future: The plot of the final episode.
- Bait-and-Switch: Probably not played for comedy, but worth a mention. Every time Geeker says "I am so on top of that!", he performs his task successfully and perfectly. You would think someone like him would screw it up all the time.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Doctor Maston.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Geeker is generally peaceful, but hurt his friends and he'll quickly become much more dangerous.
- Body Horror: When Geeker realizes he only has four fingers, and grows more in an attempt to be more normal. He goes a bit overboard.
- Turns out it's a clock, and it happens to be counting down to something.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Averted. This cartoon does not actaully have the same off-the-wall wacky cartooniness as Earthworm Jim.
- Catchphrase: Geeker's "I am so on top of that!" and "Neato torpedo!".
- Lady Macbeth frequently says "I hate you" to Geeker and "It's Lady Macbeth!" every time he calls her Becky.
- Noah has "This can't possibly be good."
- Moloch's angry "Geeker..." each time his plan is foiled.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Geeker takes this up to eleven."I LIKE MARMALADE!"
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Moloch
- Creepy Monotone: How Mr. Moloch speaks.
- Cyberpunk.
- Darker and Edgier: The atmosphere, setting and characters, all except Geeker.
- Deadpan Snarker: Mostly Noah, though Lady Macbeth and Moloch have their moments.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Invoked:Moloch: Once we use Geeker's power to conquer the world, remind me to have anyone who leaves humorous answering machine messages eliminated.
- Every Episode Ending: At the end of each episode, Moloch's plans will have been foiled, and he will utter an angry, "Geeker..."
- Evil Knockoff: Eventually, Moloch creates another GKR closer to his original plan. First it goes renegade. Then Geeker out-crazies it, and defeats it by uploading some of his insanity into its mind, causing it to explode.
- Expy: Dr. Maston is basically a slightly-less crazy version of Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, down to the same voice actor.
- Fantastic Racism: Dinosaurs are not extinct, but are sapient, and the majority have been hiding from humanity in their subterranean city Dinopolis, until it was thought the two species could peacefully co-exist. Humans hate dinosaurs, and those who desire to socialize with man and shop at malls, are immediately subject to ethnic persecution.
- Future Me Scares Me: In the final episode, Becky, Noah, and Geeker travel 100 years into the future, and see a world where a nightmarish Geeker has enslaved the galaxy, and Noah has become an elderly, senile captive. It turns out that Geeker and Moloch had switched minds at some point, though this future was averted by the end of the episode.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Geeker often stumbles upon new applications of his powers by accident.
- Idiot Hero: Guess who.
- Insane Troll Logic: In one episode, Geeker goes in search of Becky and Noah, who have gone missing. Geeker rides a water ride at a broken down carnival, sees the letters S and K fall off of a sign, assumes that they stand for "Special friend" (Becky) and "Kool" (Noah), and uses these "clues" to break into a seafood restaurant and rescue two lobsters from the lobster tank, under the assumption that Becky and Noah had been "lobsterized."
- Later that same episode, he receives a video message from Becky (who, for the record, is as human as ever), assumes she sent it psychically from her "mutated lobster brain," and replays it forwards, backwards, and upside down until it gives him something in the language of the "crab-men" (who may or may not exist In-Universe; it's not important).
- Invincible Hero: Geeker is this due to his powers, but his inability to fully master his powers or reach his full potential prevent him from getting rid of any threat he comes across.
- Involuntary Shapeshifter: Geeker. Constantly.
- Keet: Geeker.
- Large Ham: Doctor Maston. Hey, it's Charlie Adler, what did you expect?
- Mad Scientist: Doctor Maston, who is a mastodon Mad Scientist. So mad that when Geeker was going to explode in the first episode, he planned on dying with his creation, even though he already admitted the explosion would equal that of a small thermonuclear bomb.
- Never Say "Die": a particularly egregious example, since the characters are usually in danger of being "destroyed" several times an episode.
- Nice Guy: Geeker. Despite his insanity and power, he doesn't want to destroy or hurt anyone and simply wants to make friends with anyone he meets. He even refers to his enemies as friends who are trying to kill him. However, when his friends are hurt, he unleashes the darker aspects of his powers.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Everyone (even Noah the dinosaur) is drawn in a fairly realistic style...except for Geeker.
- Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: In one episode, when Geeker sacrifices himself to avert the destruction of a sizable chunk of the planet, his ever-begrudging caretaker Lady Macbeth (who had treated him more as stolen goods than a... er, sort-of-humanoid companion) actually breaks down and cries at his obvious and horrible destruction... only to have Geeker pop up behind her and ask why she's crying.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted; both creators have the first name Doug; in fact, a company they created was called Doug 2.
- Opening Narration: Billy West starts out reading the opening narration as GKR, using a gravelly voice. Then, right when you think this show is an action drama à la X-Men: The Animated Series, West flawlessly switches voices and reads the rest as Geeker.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: deliberately parodied when Geeker puts on a mask to "disguise" his identity as Geekman. Keep in mind that even the general public can instantly recognize him in his various forms due to his consistent color palette, and his Geekman costume is basically his standard outfit but with muscles.
- Physical God: Geeker has complete control over his molecular structure and the ability to control other matter the same way. That's Dr. Manhattan-level superpower. In addition to being invulnerable to damage. The Bad Future episode shows just how unstoppable he could be if his abilities are ever used for evil.
- Punch-Clock Villain: In one episode, the Pinkers decide not to pursue Geeker in the middle of a very dangerous situation, because they aren't paid enough.
- Reality Warper: It's implied that this is what Geeker would be if he wasn't a erratic moron."It's not like I could turn into a monster.(shapeshift!) ...Or shoot heat rays out of my eyes.(laser!) ...Or turn Mr. Moloch's dinner into a spider..."(Description Cut)
Mr. Moloch: "...GAH!" - Shadow Discretion Shot: in "Noble Savage" when a sewer gator presumably meets its end.
- Stable Time Loop: Implied in "12 Chocolate Monkeys," and it's because of this that Noah loses the will to fight Moloch. However, it is later averted.
- Success Through Insanity: Geeker being who he is pulls this off quite frequently. He even defeats his evil duplicate by uploading some of his craziness into him.
- Super Prototype: The reason why Moloch and Doctor Maston need Geeker back so badly. Their attempts to replicate the process, to make another artificial human (ideally more stable), have ended with failure after failure.Dr. Maston: SUCCESS! WILL BE MIIINE! [latest attempt fails] ...Darn it.
- Super Zeroes: Of the "has great powers, but no talent to use them" type. Still manages to foil the bad guy, somehow.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: Moloch, when his mooks fail him. So, once an episode or so.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Noah really likes breath mints. Says they're the best thing humans ever invented. For Geeker, it's chocolate monkeys.
- Tsundere: Becky, Type A.
- Ultimate Life Form: Geeker was intended to be this. ...Doesn't quite take. He's effectively invulnerable, doesn't even need to breathe, can manipulate all matter, can intuitively understand technology, and is effectively immune to all disease, even bioengineered ones like Larry.
- During the episode that a robotic duplicate of GKR was made, Geeker begins using his powers effectively for the first time, ultimately fighting the duplicate in a battle in space where the two of them are fighting by throwing energy blasts at each other. The two fight on a nearly god-like level, neither able to overpower the other. After he defeats the duplicate by forcing his own defective programming into the robot's brain, Geeker quickly forgets how he was able to do all of that cool stuff. So, long story short, physically, Geeker IS an ultimate life form, he just lack the mental capacity to make use of his powers.
- Used Future: Neo-Denaire, where the main characters live, is a prime example of this.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: (Type 1) Becky and Geeker. She hates being the nanny of a super-powered moron, and lets him know about it all the time. Geeker never gets it.
- One episode, in which she believed Geeker had died, finally had Becky cry and admit that he was her friend.
- The Virus: Larry, an intelligent mutant cold virus bioengineered by Moloch Industries sent to capture Geeker. Anyone he spreads his virus towards has their mind possessed by Larry and displays trademark Black Eyes of Evil
- Why Did It Have To Be Worms: Becky really hates worms.
