25: The Brak Show (2000-2003/Cartoon Network)
Why do I love The Brak Show? Probably because of Andy Merrill. A guy that did a ton of voice work over on (the far better) Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Andy ended up voicing Brak, one of the Ghost’s primary villains on his original show. However, his portrayal of the now infantile-like Brak landed him his own sitcom voicing the character. Yes, I say sitcom because that’s what it (originally) was; featuring Brak now living as a teenager in suburban… well, who knows where, this comedy eventually – like Sealab 2021 with it – devolved into the bizarre.
Lasting only 15-minutes an episode, and only 3 seasons on Adult Swim, the show tackled just about everything a kid in school would go through: parental issues; sibling rivalry; peer pressure; and love. Of course, the fact that Andy Merrill’s voice work created a character that was so gosh darn lovable and genuine… and a character that was a cat-like alien man for no reason helped a ton. The supporting cast of characters were also welcome, from Brak’s alien mother, Cuban father, and his neighbor, Thundercles, a giant war-machine-like super robot.
The plots were concise, the comedy was fast-paced, and the writing was top notch. The Brak Show is one of those guilty pleasure shows that I will love forever. The theme song was even great and brought back nostalgic memories of Leave it to Beaver and the like. While it clearly attempted to showcase good-old-fashioned family values in a sarcastic fashion, Brak did it with a song in his heart and a smile on his face.
Favorite Episode:
“War Next Door” has it all, most notably Zorak’s new singing voice. “What a buuuunch of stupid jerks.”
Favorite Character:
Well, duh. Zorak. Bet you can’t wait until I do SG:C2C, huh?
Added February 22, 2017
Literally watched an episode of this for the first time in years, the other day. Gotta say? It doesn’t hold up.
skylerbartels 
Justin Carrothers
Had to come post on this one. It struck a note with me, since this was among my most beloved cartoons.
War Next Door was great, but my favorites were Goldfish and Hippo. Favorite character was, without a doubt, Thundercles.
Thanks for bringing this up. I’m going to go watch some of this and the Centurions. 😀
May 7, 2011 at 9:58 am
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Benjamin Chilcoat
“3 hams will fill him, 3 hams will thrill him, why don’t you feed him– 3 hams?!”
May 7, 2011 at 11:22 am
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Justin Carrothers
I’m here about the Mr. Tickles operation.
May 7, 2011 at 11:28 am
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Jason Sauer
Well, your list isn’t at all in the order I would have it but at least you’ve got the proper constituents. This show had me at the first episode, when they sing the fight song for Brak’s high school:
“We dig in dirt and hide from birds
That’s the life of a lowly worm
We only come out late at night
That’s our time to squirm!
Run and hide you crimson worm
We’re the Learnmore lowly worms!”
May 7, 2011 at 12:30 pm
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