Time Squad

Time Squad
250px From left to right, Buck Tuddrussel, Otto Osworth, and Larry 3000
Genre	Science fiction Comedy
Created by	Dave Wasson
Written by	Dave Wasson Carlos Ramos Michael Karnow
Directed by	Dave Wasson Larry Leichliter (co-director, 7 episodes)
Voices of	Pamela Adlon Rob Paulsen Mark Hamill
Composer(s)	Michael Tavera Billy Martin (Season 2 only)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (53 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Dave Wasson
Running time	21 minutes (whole) 11 minutes (segments)
Production company(s)	Cartoon Network Studios
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network
Original release	June 8, 2001 (2001-06-08) – November 26, 2003 (2003-11-26)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Time Squad is an American animated television series created by Dave Wasson for Cartoon Network, and the 10th of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. It follows the adventures of a trio of hapless "time cops" who travel back in time attempting to correct the course of history. The series premiered during "Cartoon Cartoon Summer" on June 8, 2001 and ended on November 26, 2003, airing 26 episodes in total. Wasson described the series as "a C-student's guide to history".

Overview

The show is set in the year 100,000,000 AD, on a satellite which orbits Earth. This future Earth is never visited directly, though it is referred in dialogue as a peaceful utopia where there are no longer any problems to solve. All nations of the world have merged into one, and, according to Tuddrussel, there are "no wars, no pollution, and bacon is good for your heart".

Despite this cheerful vision of the future, the space station on which the characters live and from which they travel to the past is remarkably dystopic. It features a shooting range, a terrarium and a prison for repeat offenders, but it is dank, outdated (for the time) and unclean. Mostly this seems to be down to Officer Buck Tuddrussel (Rob Paulsen), a scruffy and immature perennial bachelor, who nevertheless happens to be the station's most senior officer. There were also several accidents aboard the Time Squad Space Station; most notable of which is the terrarium being broken after Tuddrussel plays golf and breaks the glass shell of the station. This action seems to have no consequences in future episodes.

The only other official member of Buck's unit is Larry 3000 (Mark Hamill), a translator robot and former diplomat who was rendered more or less obsolete when all of the world's nations merged. Buck's mindless machismo clashes with Larry's effete sensibilities, and the two bicker terribly. Added to this the fact that neither of them has any great knowledge of history, they made a rather poor team together.

However, when they encounter Otto Osworth (Pamela Adlon), an 8-year-old orphan who happens to be a history genius from the 21st century, he is quickly recruited and added to the team. Otto is shown to be the only one on the team with any enthusiasm or competence for the job. The problem is, neither of the other two are particularly willing to listen to his advice, and he must often resort to trickery to make sure the mission is completed.

The Time Squad organization is set up to ensure that history is maintained and the future protected. According to Larry 3000 in the episode "Napoleon the Conquered", "time is like a rope", and, as it is woven at one end, ages and gradually unravels and frays at the other. In the context of the show, this often means that historical figures have made different, sometimes anachronistic, choices in life (see free will), and as such will not be able to fulfill the role that history says they fulfilled. An early example of this shows Eli Whitney failing to invent the cotton gin, instead creating a horde of flesh-eating robots (stemming from a desire to create something beneficial to mankind, and a failure to realize that flesh-eating robots would not in fact fulfill that). According to creator Dave Wasson, "[W]e started by basically knowing what a guy did in history, then found the most outlandish way he could go wrong."

Episodes

Main article: List of Time Squad episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	15 (31 segments)	June 8, 2001 (2001-06-08)	March 29, 2002 (2002-03-29)
	2	11 (22 segments)	April 5, 2002 (2002-04-05)	November 26, 2003 (2003-11-26)

Reception

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2001	Annie Awards	Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Production	Cartoon Network Studios	Nominated
		Outstanding Individual Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Television Production	Tim Biskup	Nominated
		Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production	Pamela Adlon as Otto Osworth for "Eli Whitney's Flesh Eating Mistake"	Nominated
2002		Outstanding Character Design in an Animated Television Production	Alex Kirwan for "The Clownfather"	Nominated
		Outstanding Production Design in an Animated Television Production	Dave Wasson for "Keepin' It Real with Sitting Bull"	Nominated

Promotions

Cartoon Network and Subway partnered to release five Time Squad-themed toys in Subway Kids Paks. The promotion lasted from September 30 to November 17, 2002.

External links

• Official website (archive)
• Time Squad at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Time Squad at IMDb
• Time Squad at TV.com