Frisky Dingo is an American adult animated cartoon series created by Adam Reed and Matt Thompson for Adult Swim. The series revolves around the conflict between a supervillain named Killface and a superhero named Awesome X, alias billionaire Xander Crews, and much of the show's humor focuses on parodying superhero and action-movie clichés. It debuted on October 16, 2006, and its first season ended on January 22, 2007. The second season premiered on August 26, 2007, and ended on March 23, 2008. A third season was considered, but both the creators and mutually decided against it. The production company, 70/30 Productions, subsequently went out of business in January 2009. A spin-off show, The Xtacles, premiered on November 9, 2008, but only two episodes were aired prior to the production company's closure.
Origins
Frisky Dingo was created by 70/30 Productions, the same group of animators who worked on Sealab 2021. The show's name during development was Whiskey Tango. Because a band was already using the name, it was changed to Whiskey Tango Six. This name was determined not to be sufficiently distinct to avoid infringement suits, so the creators jokingly said they would call the showFrisky Dingo, and the name remained. In episode 113, Killface can be seen entering "Frisky Dingo" into the Annihilatrix launch terminal; this is mentioned in the second episode of the second season, where Sinn/Hooper remarks that "Frisky Dingo" is the launch code for the Annihilatrix. According to an article in Atlanta Magazine, Whiskey Tango Six was going to be the name of the six-member superhero group on which the show focused, headed by husband and wife Jack and Grace Taggart. The team flew around in a spaceship called the Glennis. Killface was going to be the main villain, but not a major character. During revisions of the show's scripts, Killface became the focus of the show. When Whiskey Tango Six was replaced with Xander Crews/Awesome X and the Xtacles is not known.
Characters
The two main characters of the show are Killface, who is a naked, bone-white, red-eyed, earless, talon-toed, spur-heeled,, hairless, muscular humanoid supervillain focused on destroying Earth with his invention, the Annihilatrix; and billionaire tycoon Xander Crews, who fights crime under the superhero alias Awesome X. Both Killface and Xander are voiced by co-creator Adam Reed. The two have an ever-shifting relationship, changing from enemies to unwilling allies on many occasions. Other major characters include Killface's son Simon - voiced by Christian Danley - an overweight, blond-haired, pale-skinned, sexually confused, teenaged Hannah Montana fan, who wears sweater vests and exhibits adolescent rebellion by muttering and breaking cereal bowls; reporter Grace Ryan, former girlfriend of Xander Crews turned into Antagone, a toxic, radioactive ant-powered villainess; Sinn - voiced by Kelly Jenrette - later known as Hooper, originally Killface's sidekick and later his enemy; and the Xtacles, Awesome X's team of easily distracted and remarkably inept, rocket-booted troops.
Setting
Frisky Dingo takes place primarily in and around a large city simply called "Town" or "the Town". Its actual name never being mentioned becomes a running joke throughout the series. Despite its lack of a specific name, maps of "Town" are featured throughout the series, which closely resemble interstate roadmaps of the city ofAtlanta, Georgia, where 70/30 Studios, producers of Frisky Dingo, were based. Additional evidence for "Town" being Atlanta is the presence of buildings suspiciously resembling the Cotton Mill Lofts burning in the second episode, "Meet Awesome-X". Also, in the episode where Killface is pandering to the African American church congregation, he is wearing what looks like Michael Vick's Atlanta Falconsfootball jersey.
Episodes
Season 1 (2006–07)
The first season of Frisky Dingo follows the adversarial relationship between the villainous Killface, who aspires to strike fear into humankind before he drives the Earth into the Sun with his Annihilatrix, and Awesome X, the secret superhero identity of multibillionaire Xander Crews, who dreads retiring after having defeated the last known supervillain.
Season 2 (2007–08)
At the beginning of the second season, Killface is taking credit for "curing" global warming due to the Annihilatrix having moved the Earth a total of three feet further from the Sun before it malfunctioned, and has decided to run for President of the United States. Xander Crews follows suit, reforming his company and launching his own presidential campaign.
Home releases
Spin-off
The Xtacles is a spin-off from Frisky Dingo in which the Xtacles, Xander Crews' private army, take a lead role. The series revolves around the Xtacles' lack of direction following the abduction of their leader by aliens at the end of Frisky Dingo. They take on random missions from President Stan, who returns from the previous series. The series premiered its only two episodes on November 9, 2008.
