Once again I have found myself watching through the entirety of the 2000's Nickelodeon show from Cartoon Network alumnus Rob Renzetti, MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT.
The show was an immediate favorite of mine as a child and it has a lot of staying power as a piece of animation thanks to its visual style, themes, characters, and sense of humor. It's honestly one of if not my favorite cartoon and I wanted to get some people interested and give them some confidence while watching it. Usually these days people make skip lists for shows, that will probably be the smallest part of this post but I still wanted to give people recommendations and tell them what to look for and expect.
This list will help you find the GOOD EPISODES, GENDER EPISODES, and BAD EPISODES. I will also be providing a link to where to watch it for free below the read more.
As of writing this post the entirety of My Life As A Teenage Robot is available for free at pretty decent visual quality over at archive.org. This is how I rewatched the show.
This is A Complete Series of My Life As A Teenage Robot. All 3 Seasons.
The first suggestion comes for WATCH ORDER. This one is easy, the episodes are ordered as they should be aside from Escape From Cluster Prime parts 1 & 2 (Season 2x09a & b, as listed in the archive.org playlist) which you should watch after having finished the rest of season 2 first.
Season 3 of MLAATR comes out after the events of this special episode so don't save it for the very end.
Now for Content Lists. There are a few categories I'm making lists for. To make this easy keep in mind that pretty much every episode (EXCEPT THE LAST) of this show is totally watchable, even when they aren't great. So these content categories will come with the added modifier that if I think they're VERY GOOD I will highlight them GREEN, and if I think they're BAD I'll highlight them RED. I'll talk about my favorite episodes after we get through these.
GENDER/BODY IMAGE CONTENT
For a lot of you I imagine this is why you're here. Jenny has become a bit of a transgender icon for trans women who watched cartoons in the 2000's. I do want to preface this by saying Rob Renzetti has gone on record saying this was not his direct intention but that he is supportive of the interpretation and as a trans woman I find Jenny's struggles very relatable and in some ways as an autistic person she hits a lot closer to home than other canon trans characters.
So if you want to just watch a couple episodes just to get a shot of gender struggle so you can point at the screen and tell your friends "see! I told you Jenny was trans!" this list will have that. I am also including general body image content on this list because I think that's very relatable for but not exclusive to the struggles of trans women. Any body image centric content on this list will have BI listed after it.
"It Came From Next Door" 1x01a
"Pest Control" 1x01b (BI)
"Raggedy Android" 1x02a (
"The Great Unwashed" 1x06b (BI)
"The Return of Raggedy Android" 1x07a
"Hostile Makeover" 1x09a (BI, and it also makes a great case for puberty blockers imho)
"Tradeshow Showdown" 1x12b
"Victim of Fashion" 2x01 (BI)
"Humiliation 101" 2x03b (BI)
"Weapons of Mass Distraction" 3x01a
Season 1 definitely has the most to do with Jenny's self image, so you'll find it coming up in various episodes. It becomes less apparent as the seasons go on due to Jenny building self confidence.
SHELDON CONTENT
The chaser of the show. Not everyone hates Sheldon, but his crux as a character is being a creep/nerd who doesn't take no for an answer. I think at times his utter depravity as a toaster fucker and the butt of jokes works so I tolerate him for the most part but the way the show plays with his role/the possibility him and Jenny could get together is very Cringe/Cringe Comedy. He also sort of turns into the "gay friend" role in later seasons, which I'm sure a certain kind of person could dig into what that means for the themes of this show. Anyway, here's just a heads up for what episodes center Sheldon if you hate him or love him (???????).
"Attack of The 5½ Ft. Geek" 1x03a
"Ear No Evil" 1x04a
"Shell Game" 1x10b
"Saved By The Shell" 1x12a
"Love 'Em Or Leash 'Em" 2x04a
"A Robot For All Seasons" 2x05
"Dancing With My Shell" 2x07a
"A Pain In My Sidekick" 2x09a
"Designing Women" 2x10a
"Escape from Cluster Prime" 2x13-14 (I mean... he's IN IT... but don't skip this one)
"The Price of Love" 3x06b
"Good Old Sheldon" 3x07b (had this been the last episode with Sheldon in it, my opinion on him would improve greatly)
"Infectious Personality" 3x08a (this episode is mostly just weird)
"Agent 00' Sheldon" 3x09a
Silver Shell stops showing up in season 3. Also by season 2 Sheldon gets a lot of furry/pet play content so... do with that as you will.
SHIPPING CONTENT
Here's a list of some episodes if you're working on fics and need a reference. These eps are focused primarily on supporting whatever argument you're trying to make and I'll try to be impartial in this. Also I'm not really gonna do side characters.
"Hostile Makeover" 1x09a (Jenny x Brad)
"Saved By The Shell" 1x12a (Jenny x Sheldon)
"Love 'Em Or Leash 'Em" 2x04a (Jenny x YK9)
"Bradventure" 2x11a (Brad x Melody)
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles" 2x12b (Jenny x Misty)
"Escape from Cluster Prime" 2x13-14 (Jenny x Vega)
"No Harmony with Melody" 3x02a (Brad x Melody)
"Mist Opportunities" 3x05b (Jenny x Misty) (primarily in conflict however)
"The Price of Love" 3x06b (Jenny x Sheldon)
"Agent 00' Sheldon" 3x09a (Jenny x Sheldon)
"Ball and Chain" 3x11a (Jenny x Brad)
OFFENSIVE
Okay, so what in this show do I think is bad or could offend people? Well, several of the cartoons show other cultures in a way that could be considered derogatory. This is again going to be me trying to be objective because I'm just some white girl who can't make the call for a lot of these, and a lot of these are issues in episodes I like.
"Speak No Evil" 1x05b (Japanese people depicted with yellow skin)
"Around the World in Eighty Pieces" 2x07b (Various cultures depicted in caricature such as the middle east and japan)
"Samurai Vac" 3x13a (SKIP, this one I feel pretty confident in saying the depiction of Japan is offensive and reductive. I also just think this episode is mostly bad and weird? The characterization of Jenny doesn't feel like her at all. The episode after it "Turncoats" isn't really worth a watch either, so you can call your watch through after Queen Bee.)
AVA'S FAVS
Here are the episodes I really like that I think you should definitely give a look! I will mostly be focusing on a few that haven't been mentioned here unless I think they're so good they need to be brought up again.
"It Came From Next Door" 1x01a (Obviously we've been here before, but the first episode of this show is solid enough that even if you just want to watch one episode, the first episode I think can do that for you)
"Raggedy Android/Return of Raggedy Android" 1x02a & 1x07a (These are just two episodes that work well together as dialogues with Jenny's self image/relationship with femininity and they get pretty creepy with it too!)
Various Great Season 1 eps: "Class Action" "Doom With a View" "Unlicensed Flying Object" "The Great Unwashed" "The Boy Who Cried Robot" "Grid Iron Glory"
"The Wonderful World of Wizzly" 1x13a (Rob Renzetti hates Disney part 1)
"Victim of Fashion" 2x01 (Jenny's outfits in this episode are VERY GOOD)
"Mind Over Matter" 2x02b
"Around the World in Eighty Pieces" 2x07b
"Mama Drama" 2x11b (Jenny is a terror)
"A Spoonful of Mayhem" 3x04a (ACAB)
"Girl of Steal" 3x05a (They managed to make their "don't steal" episode very funny and not preachy)
"Indes-Tuck-tible" 3x09b
"Historionics" 3x10b (Rob Renzetti hates Disney part 2)
"Voyage to the Planet of the Bikers" 3x12a
CONCLUSION
My Life As A Teenage Robot is a really exceptional show that I think should be remembered as more than just the vehicle for Jenny's introduction into the world. As an adult watching this show I really can't get over the art. The character design, the shading, the backgrounds, their commitment to drawing crowds as various different character styles. It really was a show that was going for it's style and it cohered very well. The humor also stands alongside other successful comedic shows like spongebob handily. As an adult, the sort of nerdy humor with fewer annoying bits works better for me than going back and watching a lot of cartoons.
As an adult I think I also appreciate how much the show was going for "dealing this situations." Obviously the show has morals for kids, but I think a bit thing it was going for was just showing characters dealing with tough/ridiculous scenarios. The show DOES stuff TO its characters giving what are very simple characters a chance to shine.
It's also very fun to see a character build confidence and earn the forgiveness of people. Obviously the world is unfair to Jenny but at it's core I think it shows a world that cares about her and can appreciate her just as much as it can anyone else. Despite standing out, Jenny is as much appreciated as she is derided. I really loved getting to see the life Jenny had to live, and I hope you do too.
