It Came From Next Door is the first episode of "My Life as a Teenage Robot", the first half of the first episode of season 1.
The episode was produced in 2002 and premiered worldwide on October 18, 2002 in Australia and on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 1, 2003.
It is primarily a remake of the Oh Yeah! Cartoons pilot, My Neighbor Was A Teenage Robot, with a few minor changes and additional scenes.
Summary[]
Jenny (also known as XJ-9, a crime-fighting teenage robot girl created by Dr. Wakeman to be Earth’s protector) makes her first contact with the outside world, meeting Brad and Tuck Carbunkle for the first time. While Brad immediately accepts Jenny as a new friend, Tuck does not quite see her as anything other than a "evil robot cyborg".
Plot[]
The Baseball[]
It Came From Next Door (2002), and thus the series, begins with Tuck, playing baseball, and accidentally hits the ball too hard, causing it to fly through a window in neighbor Dr. Nora Wakeman's front door. His brother Brad instructs him to get the baseball back, but when Tuck knocks at the door, nobody arrives. He wanders inside, seeing various pieces of machinery and robot parts strewn about. When he reaches the baseball, it is handed to him by a shadowy, imposing figure, later revealed to be Jenny Wakeman (XJ-9). Tuck flees in terror without taking the ball, where he is intercepted by Brad and informs Tuck that he encountered a "hideous bloodthirsty robot". Ms. Wakeman overhears this conversation, and Brad tries to explain the situation, but Wakeman slams the door in his face, so he leaves, only to notice the robot while arguing with his brother.
Meet Jenny[]
Dr. Wakeman walks back into her house berates XJ-9, who prefers to be called "Jenny", for having left her room and instructs her that she must not encounter any of the human population, especially teenagers. She instructs Jenny that there is a meteor warning, but Jenny disregards it because most meteors typically burn up in the atmosphere. When Dr. Wakeman leaves the room, Brad climbs in through Jenny's window and meets her. The two leave and hang out, playing hacky sack and chasing ice cream trucks, among other things, while Tuck reluctantly tags along, still suspicious and nervous about Jenny. However, while they were playing, the hacky sack which Jenny booted through the atmosphere became part of the meteor, rendering it a “planet destroyer” class.
Jenny Saves the Day[]
Jenny rockets off to destroy the meteor as soon as she gets the warning, and dispatches it quickly. As she returns to Earth, she and Brad realize in shock that Jenny had accidentally taken Tuck along with her, as he had been inadvertently attached to her wings. While Tuck is a bit charred from re-entry, he is impressed by Jenny's abilities and declares her to be "so cool!", now no longer afraid of her.
Dr. Wakeman oversees this, and decides that giving Jenny some time off couldn't hurt. However, the camera pans out to outer space, where several (presumably hostile) spaceships are closing in on Earth.
Characters[]
Quotes[]
- Tuck: R-R-ROBOT!!! There's a robot inside! A hideous, bloodthirsty robot!
- Jenny: If this D-class dingus destroys the Earth, Mom'll dismantle me!
Changes from pilot to series[]
- In It Came From Next Door (2002), Jenny tries to hide from her mom when Dr. Wakeman tells her not to leave her room, but My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot (1998), she is sitting on her bed reading a magazine.
- In It Came From Next Door (2002), Tuck actually goes into Dr. Wakeman’s house to get the ball, and finds himself in a dark and spooky lab, where he bumps into Jenny who hands him the baseball. In My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot (1998), he does not enter the house, and first sees Jenny directly after he knocks on the door, as she comes out to give him the ball.
- A darkened silhouette of Jenny giving Tuck the ball is shown in It Came From Next Door (2002), whereas in My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot (1998), she is not shadowed.
- In It Came From Next Door (2002), Tuck plays by himself while Brad reads a magazine, then orders him to retrieve his baseball from Dr. Wakeman’s house when he observes what happened. But in My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot (1998), Brad plays baseball with Tuck.
Trivia[]
- Like most episodes of the series, this episode premiered in a handful of countries before the United States.
- This episode (and the series) premiered in Australia on October 18, 2002.
- This episode (and the series) premiered in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2002.
- This episode (and the series) premiered in Mexico on February 7, 2003.
- It is unknown why the American premiere was delayed to August 2003 when the first season was ready to air in 2002, though it could be that Nickelodeon felt that the show was too edgy to air in 2002, so soon after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.
- This episode re-aired on May 1, 2010.[1]
- Brad is the first character to appear in this episode. Tuck is the first character to speak in this episode, and in the series as well.
- One of the disassembled robots in Mrs. Wakeman's house looks suspiciously like Larry 3000 from Time Squad.
- There is a poster of a boy band in Jenny's room that resembles former boy band N*SYNC, titled SYNC'N.
- Similarly, Jenny has a poster of "Spitney" who is a parody of Britney Spears.
- The title is a reference to an often used sci-fi title "It Came From...", which may have begun with the film It Came from Outer Space.
- This episode is a remake of the Oh Yeah! Cartoons short My Neighbor Was A Teenage Robot.
- On the wall of monitors of various different cities, Beijing is listed as Peking. Peking is the pronunciation according to an earlier form of romanization of Chinese; the adaptation occurred in 1949. It is possible this is an intentional anachronism.
- On this wall, Burbank is also listed, which is the home of the Nicktoons Studios as well as Frederator's California branch.
- At one point in the episode, Tuck refers to Jenny as a "robot cyborg." While this may have been for comedic effect, or possibly to underline Tuck's initial fear and suspicion of Jenny, cyborgs are not the same things as robots. The term "cyborg" is short for "cybernetic organism." In order for Jenny to be a cyborg, she would need to be at least partially organic.
- the "Terrific Teen" magazine that Jenny reads is an example of alliteration
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on August 1, 2003, it was actually produced in 2002 according to the credits, as with every other season 1 episode.
- This episode was finished in July of 2002. [2]
- This episode (and every episode up to This Time With Feeling) was added to the United States Copyright Office on December 13, 2002.
- This episode was finished in July of 2002. [2]
- The first draft of this episode's script is dated April 5, 2002.
- The second draft is dated April 9, 2002.
- The third draft is dated April 12, 2002.
- The script was finalized on April 17, 2002.
- The episode's production code is 102-004.
- Unlicensed Flying Object (2002) was the first script written for the series in March of 2002. Despite It Came From Next Door (2002) chronologically being the first episode, it is basically a remake of the pilot (1998) and the decision to write it into an episode was made after the scripts for Unlicensed Flying Object (2002), Raggedy Android (2002), and The Boy Who Cried Robot (2002) were written, thus making It Came From Next Door (2002) the fourth script written for the series.
Gallery[]
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Credits[]
It Came From Next Door / Pest Control (credits)