My Life as a Teenage Robot is an American animated science fiction superhero comedy television series created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. It was produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Set in the fictional town of Tremorton, the series follows the adventures of a robot super-heroine named XJ-9 (or "Jenny Wakeman", as she prefers to be called), who attempts to juggle her duties of protecting Earth while trying to live a normal human life as a teenage girl.
Renzetti pitched the series to Frederator Studios' animated shorts showcase Oh Yeah! Cartoons and a pilot titled "My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot", which aired on December 4, 1999.
Cancellation
The show's crew revealed on their blog on October 17, 2005, that the show had been cancelled, and that the third season would be the last: "The executives love the show but the ratings aren't good enough for them to give us more episodes." The series wrapped production in April 2006. Following the series' cancellation, Renzetti returned to Cartoon Network Studios, working on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and The Cartoonstitute, before moving on to the Disney Channel to become supervising producer for Gravity Falls. The third season aired on Nicktoons from October 2008 to May 2009, officially concluding the broadcast of the series in the United States.
Broadcast and home media
Nickelodeon premiered My Life as a Teenage Robot on August 1, 2003, at 8:30 PM EST. The show was a part of Nickelodeon's Friday night programming block called Friday Night Nicktoons in Fall 2003, and briefly was a part of the TEENick lineup in 2004 to June 2005. The first season ended on February 27, 2004, with "The Wonderful World of Wizzly / Call Hating".
The second season premiered on December 8, 2004, with the Christmas episode "A Robot for All Seasons". Another new episode was not aired until January 24, 2005. In the second season, a 48-minute, two-part TV movie titled "Escape from Cluster Prime" (which was nominated for an Emmy in 2006) aired.
Since the series' cancellation, reruns continued to air on Nicktoons until April 14, 2013. However, it started airing again on December 13, 2015, lasting until May 15, 2016. From March 2021 to January 2022, reruns of the series aired on TeenNick during its NickRewind block.
In 2021, the entire series was available for streaming on Paramount+. The series was removed from the streaming service on December 19, 2024.
The episodes "See No Evil", "The Great Unwashed", "Future Shock", "A Robot for All Seasons", "Hostile Makeover", and "Grid Iron Glory" were released on Nick Picks DVD compilations. As of December 12, 2011, seasons 1, 2, and 3 are available on DVD exclusive to Amazon.com in region 1. The full series was released across six discs by Beyond Home Entertainment in Australia on February 5, 2012.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
|-
|+My Life as a Teenage Robot home media releases
! colspan=2 rowspan=2|Season
| rowspan=2|Title
| colspan=2|Release date
|-
! Region 1
| Region 4
|-
! rowspan=6 style="background:#0EA4C5"|
| rowspan=6|1
| Nick Picks #1
|
| rowspan=10|
|-
| Nick Picks #2
|
|-
| Nick Picks #3
|
|-
| Nick Picks #4
|
|-
| Nick Picks: 1–3
|
|-
| The Complete First Season
|
|-
! rowspan=3 style="background:#65E000"|
| rowspan=3|2
| Nick Picks: Holiday
|
|-
| Nick Picks #5
|
|-
| The Complete Second Season
| rowspan=2|
|-
! style="background:#81007F"|
| 3
| The Complete Third Season
|-
| rowspan=2|
| rowspan=2|
| rowspan=2|The Complete Series
| rowspan=2|
|
|-
|
|}
Reception
Critical reception
Sean Aitchison from CBR wrote positively of the show stating, "Aside from the look of the show, My Life as a Teenage Robot had a fun premise that made for some great action comedy storytelling, and it definitely holds up [in modern day]. Though the show's depiction of teendom is somewhat outdated, the cliches actually end up working in favor of the humor. Though there's not a lot of story progression throughout the series, My Life as a Teenage Robot is still a whole lot of fun." Joly Herman of Common Sense Media wrote more negatively of the show, saying that, "Though it looks cool and has an upbeat energy, the show can be a bit of a drag. Some kids may enjoy it for the mindless entertainment it intends to be, but know that there are much better uses of a free half-hour."
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Nominee
!Result
!
|-
| rowspan="8"| 2004
| rowspan="5"| 31st Annie Awards
| Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production
| Rob Renzetti for "Ragged Android"
|
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Outstanding Production Design in an Animated Television Production
| Joseph Holt for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
|-
| Seonna Hong for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Outstanding Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
| Janice Kawaye as "Jenny"
|
|-
| Candi Milo as "Mrs. Wakeman"
|
|-
| 56th Primetime Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation
| Seonna Hong
|
| align=center|
|-
| rowspan="2"| BMI Awards
| rowspan="2"| BMI Cable Award
| Peter Lurye for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| James Venable for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2005
| rowspan="3"| 32nd Annie Awards
| Best Animated Television Production
| My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Production Design in an Animated Television Production
| Alex Kirwan for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
|-
| Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
| Candi Milo as "Mrs. Wakeman"
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| 2006
| rowspan="3"| 33rd Annie Awards
| Best Animated Television Production
| My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production
| Bryan Arnett for "Escape From Cluster Prime"
|
|-
| Best Production Design in an Animated Television Production
| Alex Kirwan for My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
|-
| 2007
| Golden Reel Awards
| Best Sound Editing in Television: Animated
| My Life As A Teenage Robot
|
| align=center|
|}
Possible crossover
In May 2026, series creator Jorge R. Gutierrez revealed that he was in talks with Paramount about a potential revival of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera for Paramount+ and expressed interest in having it be a crossover with My Life as a Teenage Robot as well as Invader Zim.
Other media
Jenny was featured as a playable character in the PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS versions of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots with Janice Kawaye reprising her role as the character. Jenny also appears as a playable character in the mobile game Nickelodeon Super Brawl Universe, the fighting game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and its sequel, and the kart racing game Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway alongside Mrs. Wakeman, Brad, and Vexus as Chief power ups, with Kawaye reprising her role in the latter three games. One of Jenny's pre-fight lines in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl ("You wouldn't like my brain! It's all circuity and metallic!") was removed from the game due to its association with an animated porn parody of My Life as a Teenage Robot created by Newgrounds animator Zone. Jenny also appears as a character skin for Smite, and was available during a July 2022 event.
On August 1, 2023, in commemoration of the series' 20th anniversary, creator Rob Renzetti began publishing a web story based on the series in his personal newsletter. Titled "Alternaversity", the story was written by Renzetti, with illustrations initially by My Life as a Teenage Robot art director Alex Kirwan, and later by storyboard artist Heather Martinez. The final chapter released on May 6, 2025.
See also
- Astro BoyJapanese manga series following an android main character.
- Mega Mana Japanese video game series following an android main character by Capcom.
- Robotboya European cartoon with a similar premise of an android trying to be a normal kid.
Notes
References
External links
- Frederator Studios page