wait remember time squad it's the combination you get from taking time travel mark hamill
and cartoon network it's also this very obscure memory i've kept with me for a long time that i
am personally happy to scratch the itch of nostalgia for time squad was an interesting
idea of maintaining the course of history and fixing any problems with the timeline to keep
the future as perfect as it is along the way meeting historical figures from abraham lincoln
to leonardo da vinci to george w bush but that one specifically we'll talk about later running
for a short lived two seasons with 26 episodes time squad premiered on cartoon network june 8
2001 until the final episode on november 26 2003 it was popular enough to pave the way
for uncharted 3 subway promotion in 2011 by doing something even better and that's
giving time squad themed toys within the kids meals i don't know why i felt i had to tell
you that right now i'm probably just hungry yeah i'd go back in time for this good luck
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do you mind i'm in the middle of sending an important message time squad a show about earth
being a peaceful unified utopia without conflicts pollution or twitter but in order to maintain
this reality the time squad organization was formed for that exact purpose protecting earth's
peaceful future by making sure the timeline stays in the proper order so basically the tva but with
mark hamill it's an easy enough concept to get behind and it sets in motion your expectations
of what's to come in the show we follow around three time cops well two-time cops and then one
that may be breaking child labor laws buck larry 3000 and otto an odd trio of a big buff not so
smart human a smart but easily annoyed robot and an orphan we'll look into them individually
shortly but traveling back from the year three sorry couldn't help it got the jonas brothers on
the brain the year they actually come from is 100 million a.d a year so far in the future that this
timeline correction job may be a pretty big task overall but what does correcting and maintaining
the course of history actually mean in the case of this show specifically predominantly it means
traveling to major historical events at least up until current history at the time of 2002
and that one time in the year 3000 and we're all looking forward to it and no that is not
another jonas brothers reference but yeah we just don't really get into what happens between
2002 and 100 million just seems like a whole lot was left out there the show would focus on
adventures through time between the time of the dinosaurs and the beginning of the 2000s with a
plethora of famous artists politicians scientists and more from their prospective time periods
usually when we would find them they'd be doing some wacky or weird antics that make them out
of sync with where the timeline would need them to be and the time squad would need to set them
back on the correct course we don't want any branching timelines now do we you'd have stuff
like abraham lincoln trying to become a prankster rather than the president of the united states i
would love to see what that youtube channel would look like here you want it you really want it back
oh well i guess just like that you'd also have stuff like winston churchill just church chillin
in the nude yeah this show played with its large assortment of historical figures in many ways all
for jokes some for the silliness and absurdness of it all and some for the actual satire of the
situation it was a really good blend of comedy action historical events and science fiction
naturally to overlook any issues in the timeline the time trio have their base of operations within
an orbiting satellite which oddly enough serves as a contrast to the high-tech well-organized
life down below on earth as the satellite resembles something much more dystopian now
let's take a look at these three distinctly different characters first let's talk about
buck tud russell the leader of the group here to describe this large and in charge dude the words
would be impulsive and narrow-minded favoring the muscles over the mind his lack of calculation
before doing anything causes some clashes with the team and how to get their job done
despite these what you might consider shortcomings buck on occasion does have this hidden knowledge
showcasing scientific and historical information that does provide aid during their missions even
with his thick southern s tough macho man draw he is voiced by the same person responsible for
this guy yup rob paulson luckily his character doesn't come off as one-dimensional like just
being the buff guy who can use his fists to solve problems instead we get to see him deal
with his anger issues how he views himself as a person and issues within his past relationships
a lot of this is what helps in his nearly father-like relationship with otto otto
osworth is the unofficial newest member of the time squad who joins them after leaving
behind his life in an orphanage back in 2001 thanks to both buck and larry adopting him
to their time traveling family during the pilot episode when buck and larry travel back to 2001
otto endures the cruelness of the nuns at his orphanage as well as the other kids there having a
soft spot the two time travelers despite it being extremely prohibited to do so break the rules and
take otto with them it's a nice introduction to otto and putting this very odd trio together
what makes him useful to the team as his knowledge of history pre-2001 and offers a level ahead to
the group in extreme situations now even though he is kind-hearted and works extremely well when it
comes to problem solving otto is still a child dealing with his smaller world views which is
where both buck and larry come in to aid in those discussions aside from that he can also pal around
and goof off with buck to let out that childlike energy he is voiced by the talented pamela adlon
but while buck is the more rambunctious fun parent we still have to discuss larry 3000 andre 3000's
distant cousin well that was a lie but the name is still great voiced by mark hamill if you couldn't
tell i've said his name probably too many times in this video but i'm not really that sorry for that
as buck's number one partner in his time traveling escapades larry is more of the cranky and slightly
overdramatic type as his role as a translator and diplomat was defunct when peace on earth became a
thing and he was no longer needed now working as a time cop to precisely make sure jumps in
time are executed with no problems or a majority without any problems he adds a level of pushback
to buck's inherent nature he holds a lot of pride in the way he presents himself whether it's his
good manners or his high levels of sass that he can dish out and with their time unit now complete
buck larry and otto go on to deal with so many historical figures what i mentioned at the start
is only the tip of the iceberg with having to make sure people like blackbeard the pirate napoleon
paul revere edgar allen poeck even buffalo bill don't stray the course of the timeline laid out
for them so aside from the main crew we get a large rotating cast of people throughout history
plus a few others that are rather important and i guess this also means that free will doesn't exist
wouldn't otto going with them ruin the timeline somehow unless it was all predestined to happen
anyway you should all go watch the movie pre-destination with ethan hawk back to
what i was saying though the other important characters are sheila tud russell voiced by
mari weiss is buck's ex-wife who is a time squad lieutenant and has a lot of what buck doesn't have
like her cleverness and analytical smarts which help greatly in preserving the timeline making
many appearances throughout the show whether it's for comedic purposes or plot related reasons she
mainly acts as a foil to buck's personality and approach to being a time cop she also has the
robot xj5 as her time-traveling partner and is the foil to larry being more capable in the field and
he just loves to rub it in larry's face xj5 is voiced by the legendary darren norris as far as
any real villains or antagonists there really aren't any of major note per the structure of
how this show works sure there are some recurring nuisances and some issues in other time periods
they face but there isn't a big overall evil to stop at the end of the day there is time cop jt
laser and his high-tech robot lance 9 trillion one of the best officers in the time squad but
he really is just kind of an arrogant jerk more than anything he is voiced by jim wise and lance 9
trillion is voiced by kevin michael richardson now let's take a look into the creation of the show
and some pretty interesting stuff regarding time squad in general time squad entered the cartoon
network family in the way of cartoon network's cartoon cartoons the network's collection of
original created series that would come out between 1995 and 2003 making it at the time the
10th original for them to produce these original series were produced in a joint effort between
cartoon network studios and hannah barbera but what sets time squad apart from the rest of the
nine cartoon cartoons before it is the fact that it was the first cartoon to be solely produced by
cartoon network studios after they stopped being a division of hanna-barbera when william hannah
passed away in 2001. time squad would also be the last new cartoon network series to premiere
during the founder and at the time president of cartoon network betty cohen's tenure with
the company dave wasson an american animator director writer and voice actor created time
squad you may have heard his name before being attached to other shows like star versus the
forces of evil the buzz on maggie making fiends and more making his work being spread across all
the big cartoon related networks nickelodeon disney and cartoon network being the creator
as well as the writer and director of time squad it gave him a lot more leeway for final control of
the style and tone for the show when brainstorming ideas for some episodes the writing team would
find some historical figure and try and curate the most outlandish and ridiculous situation
for them to be in and for how their story could have gone so wrong as to mess with the timeline
a fun and creative way to come up with why they picked the figures in history they did
and how episodes would play out get your stinky pile of poo fresh delicious stinky pile of blue
michael tavera famous for his music on shows like muchalucha lilo and stitch the series yin yang yo
and the secret saturdays had worked on this show first before any of those adding his
own unique sound to this show the reception though of the show was pretty positive upon
its release with the series racking up five annie award nominations during its two years on the air
now unfortunately they never won any of them but they were at least recognized in a positive light
the show would come to an end after its second season with no real explanation conflicting rumors
of creative differences or firings behind the scenes as well as the final episode itself being
its own mini controversy that we will discuss here shortly whatever the case may be the show
could have gone on for quite some time due to its ability of storytelling in any time period with
any historical figure heck they could have made up anything from the years 2001 to 100 million
if they wanted to outside of animation dave has also written and illustrated the children's book
the big ideas of buster bickles currently he now works on the netflix cartoon the cuphead
show based on the game cuphead as a producer when looking back on the show dave describes
time squad as a c student's guide to history okay way to call me out like that but of course the one
last note the show leaves us on the final episode which almost caused me to make this video here
a bit differently almost as a shockingly weird way this ended type of video instead this is the
controversy of orphan substitute the final episode in 2002 the current united states president was
george w bush in the final episode in 2003 the trio head back in time to 2002 to convince him to
stop focusing on building the world's biggest ball of twine while the rest of the episode centers
around otto being kidnapped by the head none of the orphanage and taken back to do chores and
suffer the same terribleness he once experienced buck and larry eventually end up having to go and
rescue him and that's all fine and dandy i guess but the social commentary at the time the specific
digs in the writing towards the maturity level and intellectual level of the president is what made
this episode stand out more than usual with most historical figures they were all pre-1950s and
sure while they all had jokes at their expense it just came off a bit different as the show directly
mentioned certain policies as well as many more instances within the episode critiquing a sitting
president in the middle of their term some parents would find this as agenda pushing or not necessary
for their kids to watch honestly most of this would fly over a kid's head anyway but to each
their own i guess this episode would only ever air once on tv as the network felt uncomfortable for
re-sparking fear for what had just happened in 2001 and the material in the episode not being
up to what the network would want to show this has been cited as a potential reason
the show didn't continue on but there is nothing official that states this being a concrete reason
so not the craziest controversy but during a time where the united states was in a state of fear and
uncertainty behind the scenes it may have caused more issues than let on as well as the viewers at
home and their families looking back on it today it just seems like timely satire i personally
can't recall it back then as i don't have that recollection of watching it on air at the time
overall though the show was pretty great from the writing to the trio's family dynamic it had a
really cool premise with creative ideas that made each episode fun and as a fan of sci-fi it really
blended together well i really enjoyed re-watching through the whole show again not really knowing
too much other than the characters and the time travel aspect as each episode was a fun surprise
to see where their adventure would take them and how weird the situation they need to fix is it's
a quick watch but one well worth it and while i would have preferred more of the show to have
happened i'm still happy we have as many episodes as we did i just think for cartoon network's first
solely made by them show that they shouldn't have been as hesitant to put a lot behind it like merch
or something because outside of the animation medium there isn't much to time squad there was
that subway promotion with the five different toys i mentioned earlier but other than that there was
just a pc game time squad time travel it should have won an award just for how creative that
title is here you shoot various clocks and you get a higher score it's pretty repetitive with
nothing else to really know the show sadly has fallen into more obscurity as the more time passes
and it's starting to feel like time squad is slowly becoming lost to time but what do you
think of the show were you a fan of time squad if so let me know what your favorite episode is in
the comments below thanks so much for watching the video make sure to hit the like button and
subscribe for more content like this i'll be back with another video soon but until then later
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