Fantastic Max

Fantastic Max is an animated cartoon series, originally aired from 1988 to 1990 created by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Kalisto Ltd., Booker PLC and Tanaka Promotion Co. and in association with S4C.[1] It centers on a boy named Maxwell "Fantastic Max" Young who has adventures in outer space with two of his toys: FX, a pull string alien doll from a planet called Twinkle-Twinkle,[2] and A.B. Sitter, a C-3PO-like android made of blocks.[3][4]

Fantastic Max
GenreAnimated
Adventure
Sci-fi
Comedy
Developed byJudy Rothman Rofé
Robin Lyons
Mike Young
Written byKristina Luckey
Judy Rothman Rofé
Directed by
Voices ofBen Ryan Ganger
Nancy Cartwright
Gregg Berger
Elisabeth Harnois
Paul Eiding
Gail Matthius
Don Messick
Benji Gregory
Theme music composerClark Glassman
Michael Tavera
ComposersMichael Tavera
Clark Glassman
Country of originUnited States
United Kingdom
Wales
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producersWilliam Hanna
Joseph Barbera
ProducersCharles Grosvenor
Mike Young
John Parkinson
Jeff Segal (supervising producer)
Running time22 minutes (approx.)
Production companiesHanna-Barbera Productions
S4C
Kalisto Ltd.
Booker PLC
Tanaka Promotion Co.
Release
Original networkBBC 1 (UK)
Syndication (USA)
Original releaseSeptember 17, 1988 (1988-09-17) –
January 21, 1990 (1990-01-21)

History

The show was developed by Judy Rothman and Robin Lyons from Siriol Animation as part of the creation of Kalisto Ltd. and the series was originally called Space Baby before being developed by Mike Young and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions further. In the United States, Fantastic Max ran in syndication for two years as part of the weekly Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera program block. The first episode aired on Sunday September 11, 1988, and the last first-run episode aired on January 21, 1990. Boomerang aired re-runs of the show until November 2013. In the United Kingdom, the series was broadcast on CBBC, but this time all the episodes were split into two parts and the original 1986 pilot episode of the series named Space Baby with the footage that matches the episode "From Here to Twinkle Twinkle" was first broadcast on BBC1 at 3:50pm on December 30, 1987.

Characters

Protagonists
  • Maxwell "Fantastic Max" Young – A baby boy who was given the abilities of speech and intellect by his alien doll, FX. Max is very brave and adventurous, but his actions often get him in trouble. However, despite this, Max cares for his friends and the people he meets. His catchphrase is "Dirty diapers!", which he exclaims whenever things go wrong.
  • FX – An alien doll with magical powers that can create virtually anything, such as a baby-bottle-shaped rocket out of sand which Max uses to travel through space. He is Max's best friend, as shown in "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle" where he was crying after being separated from Max. His catchphrase is "Rocket and Roll!" which is also the command for using his powers.
  • A.B. Sitter – A toy robot who was brought to life by FX, and his origins were explained in the episode "Straight Flush". He is often trying hard to keep Max out of danger, but it seldom works and he often ends up annoying Max. He acts like a nanny to Max. A.B. doesn't enjoy going in outer space as much as the others, but he goes anyway in order to keep Max out of trouble. He provides most of the mature humor in the show. He also has the fewest episodes dedicated to him as a whole.
  • Zoe Young – Max's five-year-old sister who is occasionally dragged into her brother's adventures. Max doesn't think very highly of her, and often calls her dumb. She is rivals with her next door neighbor, Ben. She frequently becomes suspicious of her brother's travels, but Max puts her to sleep so she can't reveal their secret. She is usually reprimanded (and grounded) at the end of Max's travels, especially by her strict Dad, for her impish and mischievous behavior. She owns a cat named Ursula and a rabbit named Hutch as pets. Zoe is called Suzy in the German dub.
  • Mr. and Mrs. Young – Max and Zoe's parents who are completely oblivious to their infant son's true personality. They seem to pay a lot more attention to Max than Zoe. Their faces and backs of their heads are never seen at all.
  • King Klutzes – A jovial knight with an orange goatee (and mustache to go with his goatee) who rode a white horse and befriended Max, A.B. and FX when they were lost. He needed their assistance for a riddle involving dragons and the answer, not given until near the end of the episode, was "a zipper". He only appears in "Stitches in Time".
  • Rooty the Carrot – A giant carrot from a planet inhabited by vegetables, he was taken by Zoe and entered in a carrot growing contest. He enlisted Max's help to escape from a giant rabbit named Fatso who wanted to eat him. He eventually returned to his planet at the end of the episode. His only appearance was in "Carrot Encounter of the Third Kind".
  • Denise – A baby and a good friend of Max. She attends Sherman's Daycare Center with her friend Magik. She and Magik went into space when Max was bored in Sherman's Daycare center, needed to amuse himself and flew into space. Denise seems to be silent since she can't talk, although she explains with Max and Magik one time when they all said "(laughs) Space Gypsies". She, along with Max and Magik, loves candy (especially bubble gum). She only appeared in the episode "All in a Babe's Work"
  • Magik – A baby and is a good friend of Max. He only appeared in "All in a Babe's Work" Unlike Denise, he speaks well with the phrase "My man" in response to his friend Max. He attends Sherman's Daycare Center. When Max was bored, he wanted to go on an adventure into space with him and Denise. They are later captured by Goldie and his Space Gypsies when they took his gumballs in space and he also doesn't want Denise to see Max being taken into a bath by Zelda, one of the Space Gypsies. He later helped Max save A.B. and FX from Goldie when he tried to sell them for a price. After their space adventure with the Space Gypsies, he and Denise are clever and became a little adventurous. He loves candy especially bubblegum for stopping villains. He only appeared in the episode "All in a Babe's Work"

Antagonists
  • W.T. Twiggins –
  • Bronx – A ringmaster. Only appearance was "Monkey See, Monkey Zoo".
  • Goldie – A space gypsy. Only appearance was "All in a Babe's Work". His catchphrase was "Goldie the (laughs) Space Gypsy" while gypsy-style music played in the background. He is seen with two other space gypsy subordinates, Cosmo and Gar. Gar's name is only mentioned once by Goldie himself and, apart from only having one scene, where he fires Max and the gang with a gypsy gun filled with whipped cream vermicelli and speaks no lines, is only given a mere background appearance.
  • Dumping Jack Trash – A garbage man who always spoke in rhyme. Only appearances in Season 1 were "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle", "Attack of the Cubic Rubes", and "Beach Blanket Baby", and "Puzzle, Puzzle, Toil and Trouble" in Season 2. He was used to replace Texas Pete from SuperTed when that cartoon was phased out in 1988; thereby, like when older characters are dropped and are usually replaced by new characters when it made a sequel show called The Further Adventures of SuperTed, "Beach Blanket Baby" could be the replacement episode in this cartoon for the SuperTed episode "Superted at the Funfair".
  • XS (voiced by Dana Hill) – FX's mischievous cousin who first appeared in "Cooking Mother Goose". He also appears in "Boo Who"? and "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle". He enjoys teasing FX for being easily scared, but in "Boo Who?" he becomes a fraidy-cat himself. His command for using his powers is "Rock 'em and Sock 'em!"
  • Amanda (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) – She is Zoe's friend, but doesn't seem to be, since she doesn't believe in superstitions and ridicules Zoe for acting weird. She even walks out on her and is never seen again in the cartoon. Her only appearance is "Cooking Mother Goose".
  • Ben Letterman – Even though he is a main character, his only appearances in season one were "Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind" and "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle", followed by season two appearances in "Boo Who?" and "Ben the Blackmailer" (the only two season two episodes he appeared in) as well. So he only appeared in episodes A and B, but he also only appeared in episodes X and Y. Both can't be true. He is the Young family's next door neighbor, and is Zoe's rival. Max, FX and A.B. don't like him very much, as he is always bothering them and a boaster, plus he plays all sorts of mean tricks on them. According to Max, Ben is a bigger jerk than Zoe.
  • Fatso – A big rabbit from another planet that wants to carrotnap Rooty and eat him. His name is pronounced "FahZo" (the t is silent) and his only appearance was in "Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind".
  • Magellan the Cloud Keeper AKA Evil, nasty, bad-tempered, spiteful, etc. pirate – Self-explanatory, his only appearance was in "Beach Blanket Baby". He is referred to as 'Magellan the Cloud Keeper'. He's so nasty-tempered, he refused to help Max, AB, FX and the mermaid (as well as the seahorse), when the beach was about to dry.
  • Pumpernickel – An evil wizard with black hair and a black mustache who tortured the village peasants to pay him by using the dragon as an incentive. He had a pet raven (named "Blackie") who could talk and tried to take over the whole world especially after imprisoning Max and the gang. The only episode featuring him (and Blackie, for that matter) was "Stitches in Time". He also hates pumpernickel bread. As said at the beginning, rather than the traditional long white beard and hair, this evil wizard has only a mustache and has black hair.
  • Black-Hole Bart – A villainous cowboy who cheats in rodeos and whips with a whiplash. He only appeared in "Cowboy Max".
  • Mr. Tartar – A plump villain sporting bling and a blond quiff, who appears with his robot sidekick Mr Wrenchley in the episode "To Tell the Tooth". Tartar is "the most popular man in Tartarville" a town where teeth feature as prominent icons – for example, the buildings all appear to have been constructed in the image of giant molars. Despite the generous and likable image he has cultivated, he has captured the Tooth Fairy and is stealing teeth from under children's pillows with the intention of having her turn them into cash so he can become the richest man in the Galaxy.
  • Sticky Wicket – A toy designer who kidnaps FX and tries to turn him into a toy line. He is fired from his job when the company he worked with decided to turn to making tires, while Wicket objected to the idea. He began advertising for cookies called Wicky-Biscuits as his new job. Appeared only in "Toys Will Be Toys".
  • Unnamed Villain – This villain, only appearing in "Movie Star Max" has waited a long time for Max's film festival. During Max's speech after winning the Maxie award, the villain snatches his diaper (as he claims it to be the galaxy's greatest souvenir) embarrassing Max in front of the whole crowd, covering himself with the award. Max later claims that "the joke's on him" when FX asks if he should look for whoever stole his diaper, probably meaning the diaper was dirty.

Episodes

Pilot

The pilot episode of Fantastic Max, then known as Space Baby, was originally produced in the UK by Siriol Animation in 1986, and premiered on BBC1 in 1987.

Title Original broadcast date [UK] Plot of episode
"Space Baby"December 30, 1987A strange and scary story about a baby known as Max, who got lost at Cape Canaveral, when his parents turned their backs, until he got lifted onto a rocket ship which suddenly blasted off and sent Max on a journey into space. Later on, FX cries with homesickness until Max and A.B. Sitter decide to send him home back to Twinkle Twinkle. The trouble is, the nasty garbage man Dumpin' Jack Trash is on their tail and Max's nosey sister, Zoe, doesn't know where Max is. Further on, after their time on Twinkle Twinkle, A.B. and Max decide to travel home to until FX changes his mind and decides to travel home with both of them at the last minute.

Season 1 (1988)

The first season of Fantastic Max was broadcast in the United States on Saturday mornings from September 17 to December 10, 1988, and in the United Kingdom on BBC1 from September 13 to November 28, 1989. In the UK, episodes were split into two parts and aired on successive days. Episodes 1-8 premiered on Wednesdays before moving to a Monday premier for the remainder of the season.

# Title Original broadcast date [US] Original broadcast date [UK. Episode 1] Original broadcast date [UK. Episode 2] Plot of episode
1"The Loon in the Moon"September 17, 1988September 13, 1989September 14, 1989A.B. is frustrated because Max never listens to him, so he suggests that Max create a new plastic parent – so he does.
2"Toys Will Be Toys"September 24, 1988September 20, 1989September 21, 1989A toy manufacturer named Sticky Wicket can't think of a new idea for a toy, so he steals FX and pretends to have invented him.
3"All in a Babe's Work"October 1, 1988October 4, 1989October 5, 1989Max is bored when he has to spend all day in a day care center, so he takes his baby friends into space.
4"The Big Sleep"October 8, 1988October 11, 1989October 12, 1989FX's cord gets pulled out of shape and ruins his voice, so the gang goes back to Twinkle Twinkle in search of his doctor to fix it. (NOTE: This episode contains guest appearances by George Jetson (from The Jetsons), Space Ghost and The Great Gazoo (from The Flintstones) in non-speaking cameos)
5"Attack of the Cubic Rubes"October 15, 1988September 27, 1989September 28, 1989Max takes A.B. and FX to colorless planets (literally) with crayons, but after they meet color lovers Alan and Neil, things get out of hand.
6"Monkey See, Monkey Zoo"October 22, 1988October 18, 1989October 19, 1989The gang visits an interplanetary circus and discovers that the ringmaster had kidnapped the animals and is making them perform against their will.
7"Cooking Mother's Goose"October 29, 1988October 25, 1989October 26, 1989Max is bored with fairy tales until the gang goes into storybook world. Things are fine until FX's mischievous cousin, XS, comes along and makes everyone dance to music—which distracts them from their duties.
8"Journey to the Center of my Sister"November 5, 1988November 1, 1989November 2, 1989Zoe gets plagued with Nasal Bathrobe, the virus from Osirus, on the day of her birthday party. By order of Agent Wally, Max and company have to capture the virus or else they'll never go into outer space again.
9"Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind"November 12, 1988November 6, 1989November 7, 1989Zoe grows a giant carrot for a vegetable competition, but the carrot, named Rooty, appears to be alive. He enlists Max's help to save him from a rabbit named Fatso, who wants to eat him.
10"The Baby Who Fell to Earth"November 19, 1988November 13, 1989November 14, 1989While on a mission, Max is thrown out of his rocket and is grabbed by astronauts who mistake him for an alien. Everyone on Earth thinks Max's baby talk are an alien language and that his clothes are alien as well.
11"Beach Blanket Baby"November 26, 1988November 20, 1989November 21, 1989Max and his friends enlist the help of Dumpin' Jack Trash to help find the plug of planet Beachball before it drifts fatally close to the sun.
12"Stitches in Time"December 3, 1988November 27, 1989November 28, 1989The gang takes Stitches through time via the rocket, but Stitches is a baby at heart, which gets him into trouble.
13"From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle"December 10, 1988FX is deeply homesick so he ponders going back home to Twinkle Twinkle, but Max is reluctant to let him go. (NOTE: This episode is a shortened version of the original Space Baby pilot where all the content is from. Also, this is the only series 1 episode that was only broadcast and never commercially released.)

Season 2 (1989-1990)

The second season of Fantastic Max was broadcast in the United States on Sunday mornings from October 29, 1989, to January 21, 1990, and in the United Kingdom on BBC1 as 13 single episodes split into two parts.

# Title Original broadcast date [US] Original broadcast date [UK. Episode 1] Original broadcast date [UK. Episode 2] Plot of episode
1"Boo Who?"October 29, 1989September 12, 1990September 13, 1990XS pays as a visit on Halloween, challenging FX's bravery on Halloween and it is up to Max and A.B. to help FX
2"Ben, the Blackmailer"November 5, 1989September 19, 1990September 20, 1990Ben videotapes Max's latest trip into space, and he blackmails Max into letting him come along on the next voyage in exchange for his silence.
3"Cowboy Max"November 12, 1989September 26, 1990September 27, 1990Max's latest babysitter turns out to be Hoo Jipson, a famous outer space rodeo star.
4"Straight Flush"November 19, 1989October 3, 1990October 4, 1990A.B.'s body is stolen by a plumber. When they go on an adventure, the plumber and Max trade, when the plumber finds a rare "hairball extractor". Then A.B. gets his body again. A.B. tells Max about being the baby, then Max says that FX and Max were born before him, so technically, Max says that A.B. is the baby, so they dress him as a baby. Max says that he and FX decide when A.B. sleeps.
5"Rats Like Us"November 26, 1989October 10, 1990October 11, 1990While visiting Buckyland theme park, Max and company encounter a friendly family of rats who are desperate for food, and they in turn do what they can to help.
6"Grab Bag Rag"December 3, 1989October 17, 1990October 18, 1990Max wishes that he had special powers like FX, so he decides to visit a place where he can learn all the best magic acts.
7"Movie Star Max"December 10, 1989October 24, 1990October 25, 1990Max attends a film festival with himself as the main attraction.
8"To Tell the Tooth"December 17, 1989October 31, 1990November 1, 1990The gang goes after the tooth fairy after s/he takes Max's tooth from under his pillow and doesn't leave him any money.
9"Dr. Max & Baby Hyde"December 24, 1989November 7, 1990November 8, 1990After being covered with a shimmering ray, Max develops a more selfish and cruel personality.
10"Guess Who's Coming to Dinar?"December 31, 1989November 14, 1990November 15, 1990A sultan mistakes Max for his long-lost son.
11"A.B., Phone Home"January 7, 1990November 21, 1990November 22, 1990Max's constant crank telephone calls result in a long bill, and he has to work at an interplanetary phone company to pay it off.
12"Puzzle, Puzzle, Toil & Trouble"January 14, 1990November 28, 1990November 29, 1990Max winds up on a fairground full of games. But he lets his winning streak get in the way of things.
13"Blarney Fife" (an obvious reference to Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show)January 21, 1990December 5, 1990December 6, 1990After an accident, A.B.'s foot squeaks, so the gang travels to Ireland to find a good cobbler. The cobbler they find is a leprechaun named Blarney Fife who is trying to keep the map to Leprechaun Land from a greedy sneak named Pete O'Moss.

Home media

Between 1989 and 1991 four videos were released by the BBC, whereas the three episodes of the British showings on each of the VHS tapes were made into 20 minute stories.

VHS Name Catalogue Number Release Year Episodes
Fantastic Max 1:
"The Loon in the Moon"		 BBCV 4300 6 November 1989
  • "The Loon in the Moon"
  • "Toys Will Be Toys"

  • "All In A Babe's Work"
Fantastic Max 2:
"Attack of the Cubic Rubes"		 BBCV 4315 2 April 1990
  • "Attack of the Cubic Rubes"
  • "Monkey See, Monkey Zoo"
  • "The Big Sleep"
Fantastic Max 3:
"Cooking Mother's Goose"		 BBCV 4408 1 October 1990
  • "Cooking Mother's Goose"

  • "Journey to the Center of my Sister"

  • "Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind"
Fantastic Max 4:
"'The Baby Who Fell to Earth"		 BBCV 4486 4 March 1991
  • "The Baby Who Fell to Earth"
  • "Beach Blanket Baby"
  • "Stitches in Time"

During 1991 Abbey Home Entertainment also released three separate VHS videos with two episodes on each one to which one of them ("Boo Who") which was exclusively released in the Children's Classics range at WHSmith. Also in June 1991, Tempo Kids Club released one single video with one episode on it called "Movie Star Max" (94932).

VHS Name Release Year Episodes
Fantastic Max: "Cowboy Max" (94692) 18 February 1991
  • "Cowboy Max"
  • "Straight Flush"
The New Adventures of Fantastic Max: "Movie Star Max" 3 June 1991
  • "Movie Star Max"
The New Adventures of Fantastic Max: "Rats Like Us" 1991
  • "Rats Like Us"
  • "Grab Bag Tag"
The New Adventures of Fantastic Max: "Boo Who?" 1991
  • "Boo Who?"
  • "Ben the Blackmailer"

No DVD releases have been made to date, in either the United Kingdom or the United States.

Cast

Additional voices

References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 197. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. "Fantastic Max". TV.Com. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  3. "Fantastic Max". 80's Cartoons. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 321. ISBN 978-1476665993.
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