Fantastic Max facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fantastic Max
Genre	Animated Adventure Sci-fi Comedy
Developed by	Judy Rothman Rofé Robin Lyons Mike Young
Written by	Kristina Luckey Judy Rothman Rofé
Directed by	Ray Patterson (Supervising) Oscar Dufau Don Lusk Paul Sommer Arthur Davis Carl Urbano Bob Goe
Voices of	Ben Ryan Ganger Nancy Cartwright Gregg Berger Elisabeth Harnois Paul Eiding Gail Matthius Don Messick Benji Gregory
Theme music composer	Clark Glassman Michael Tavera
Composer(s)	Michael Tavera Clark Glassman
Country of origin	United States United Kingdom Wales
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer(s)	William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Producer(s)	Charles Grosvenor Mike Young John Parkinson
Running time	22 minutes (approx.)
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions S4C Kalisto Ltd. Booker PLC Tanaka Promotion Co.
Distributor	Worldvision Enterprises
Release
Original network	BBC One (UK) First-run syndication (USA)
Original release	September 17, 1988 (1988-09-17) – January 21, 1990 (1990-01-21)

Fantastic Max is a British-American animated cartoon series, originally aired from 1988 to 1990 as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, created by Kalisto Ltd. and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and in association with S4C. 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, and A.B. Sitter, a C-3PO-like android made of blocks.

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. AB 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.
• 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

• 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

Season 1 (1988)

Season 2 (1989-1990)

Cast

• Ben Ryan Ganger - Max
• Gregg Berger – AB Sitter
• Nancy Cartwright – FX, Amanda
• Paul Eiding – Mr. Young (Dad)
• Benji Gregory – Ben Letterman
• Elizabeth Harnois – Zoe
• Gail Matthius – Mrs. Young (Mom)

Additional voices

• Lewis Arquette
• René Auberjonois
• George Ball
• Earl Boen
• Susan Blu
• Phillip Boute
• William Callaway
• Hamilton Camp
• Selette Cole
• Townsend Coleman
• Peter Cullen
• Brian Cummings
• Tim Curry
• Jennifer Darling
• Jerry Dexter
• Dick Erdman
• Pat Fraley – Rooty the Carrot
• Jeffrey Fried
• Joan Gerber
• Dan Gilvezan
• Dorian Harewood
• Phil Hartman
• Dana Hill – XS
• Jerry Houser
• Arte Johnson
• Jay Arlin Jones
• Zale Kessler
• Maurice LaMarche
• Michael Lemback
• Aaron Lohr
• Laurence Luckinbill
• Danny Mann
• Kenneth Mars
• Kellie Martin
• Nan Martin
• Chuck McCann
• Anne Marie McEvoy
• Don Messick – King Klutzes
• Jeremy Miller
• Brian Stokes Mitchell
• Howard Morris
• Lorenzo Music – Jackie Loon
• Gennie Nevinson
• Alan Oppenheimer
• Rob Paulsen
• Henry Polic II
• Roger Rose
• Neil Ross
• Ronnie Schell
• Avery Schreiber
• Susan Silo
• Greg Snegoff
• John Stephenson
• Carl Steven
• Howard Stevens
• Andre Stojka
• Russi Taylor
• Susan Tolsky
• B.J. Ward
• Jimmy Weldon
• Frank Welker
• Edward Winter