The Brak Show
The Brak Show (2000-2003) was a very surreal Quarter Hour Short on Adult Swim, parodying Dom Coms, set (sort of) in the Space Ghost Coast to Coast universe. The show starred Brak and Zorak as high school students in a suburban neighborhood.
It was animated by Wild Hare Studios, which animated Aqua Teen Hunger Force for its first two seasons. Clay Martin Croker, who played Zorak, was also the animation director for both series. It ran for two fourteen-episode seasons before it was unexpectedly cancelled, with viewers not finding out till the end of the episode.
Tropes:
- Aliens and Monsters: The inhabitants of Brak's planet.
- The Cameo: A blink-and-you-missed-it Meatwad riding a scooter/moped.
- The Chew Toy: Zorak, and he deserves it.
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Zorak: Nobody likes me. That's the way I like it. |
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- Darker and Edgier: Season two compared to season one, justified in that season one aired before Adult Swim had "officially" split from Cartoon Network.
- The Ditz
- Everyone Calls Him Barkeep: Everyone calls Brak's parents "Dad" and "Mom". Including campaign advertisements and newspapers.
- In an Adult Swim New Year's Eve bumper, he revealed his name to be Javier.
- Furry Confusion: Used in the Pilot.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Zorak, somewhat muted by the fact that he is The Chew Toy.
- Hey Its That Voice: George Lowe, who played Space Ghost, plays Dad. He also used his regular voice once. Carey Means, who plays Frylock, also plays Thundercleese.
- Cee Lo Green voices Prime Cut Diggity Mo Mack Daddy Jizzabang Doggy Dog Dog in the episode Brakstreet.
- Hey Let's Put On a Show: Psychoklahoma!
- Humongous Mecha: Averted in that Thundercleese is based off one, but he's certainly not as tall.
- Ice Cream Koan: Dad has a lot of these.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Not the official titles, but episodes from early in the show's run started with a parody of a Dom Com, but with Brak's name, much like Ed, Edd n Eddy.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Parodied with the original pilots, Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak.
- Jerkass: Zorak.
- Dad also, though a bit more passive-aggressive about it.
- Large Ham: "I AM RHONDA, FROM THE SEVENTH LEVEL OF YAR!"
- Thundercleese as well.
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Thundercleese: "Is that the best you can do?" |
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- Musical Episode: A majority of the episodes in the first two seasons. But Psychoklahoma especially.
- Negative Continuity, caused by Snapbacks.
- No Indoor Voice: Rhonda of the Seventh Level of Yar.
- No Name Given: Brak's parents. In an Adult Swim bumper during New Year's, his name is Javier and he's not Brak's dad.
- Once an Episode: Brak sings, and Thundercleese blows up Zorak.
- Refuge in Audacity: There's an episode where Dad hits Zorak with his car. Mom expresses hope that he is still alive, so they can snap his neck. Then, she dismembers him, uses his head as a sock puppet, cooks and eats him (both parents even serve some to Brak. Yes: THEY MAKE THEIR SON UNWITTINGLY EAT HIS BEST FRIEND), makes shoes out of his jawbones, has him revived in a tiny, deformed state, brutally murder Clarence off-screen, and cook Clarence into sausages. Christ.
- "Mom" turned out to be an imposter in that one. Not that it lets Dad off the hook...
- The Other Darrin: Very apparent with Mom.
- Spin Off: From Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
- Stock Footage: From Space Ghost & Dino Boy. One episode used Stock Footage from Huckleberry Hound.
- "So you're saying that Huckleberry Hound, a dog who has held several jobs and can tie his own bow-tie, has somehow, for reasons unknown, reverted to a primal doglike state... and he's taken to eating noses."
- Talking to Himself: When Space Ghost visits Dad.
- Too Dumb to Live: Subverted in that Zorak always dies.
- Whole Plot Reference: Braklet, Prince of Spaceland is a take on Hamlet. Of course, this is still The Brak Show so everything is completely insane. For example, there is a lightsaber battle at the end, and a Powerpuff Girls plug.
- The way that episode ended could qualify as a Gainax Ending.
- Widget Series: Also parodies this very trope in "Sexy New Brak Show Go".