Action Buster is a 2011 animated sketch comedy series based on the cancelled 1996 Nickelodeon television series "KaBlam" and the popular magazine series "MAD". The series different types of segments and shorts with different styles of animation. Similar to KaBlam, the show features an animated host, Stan Lee (voiced by George Lowe; impersonating Jack Benny), who appears in his own animated segments in between.
The first season is animated with cel animation. According to an interview with Koll Robins (creator of the series), he stated that the production is on a high budget and most money is loss. The second season's animation with Macromedia Flash (only the Stan Lee segments are in Flash; not the others).
Characters
A Stan Lee Cartoon
Stan Lee presses a button on his movie projector to reveal the next cartoon, as well as being involved in subplots of their own between the shorts.
Characters
- Stan Lee: Voiced by George Lowe. A 25-year old animated show host who sports a pompodour-like haircut, a red velvet tuxedo, spanking sparky jeans and tap dancing shoes. He was originally a comic artist but later got a job to Channel Kidswatter Productions but the corporation was closed so he moved to a new animation company, Splambeen Inc. His voice is an impersonation of Jack Benny.
- Mr. Kablammity: Stan's network executive and boss who constantly bossess Stan around all day. He is voiced by Keith Scott.
- Spunky: Stan's pet German shephard who constantly barks when Kablammity is around. Spunky speaks English in his mind. He is also voiced by George Lowe.
Interview with a Sidekick
A mockumentary series of shorts featuring interviews of many classic Hannah Barbera cartoon characters served as sidekicks from the 1920s to the 1990s. The main four are Barney Rubble, Boo Boo, Morocco Mole, Robin (Super-Friends animation style) and Chicken. Casey Kasem (voice of Robin) and Charlie Adler reprise their roles.
Huckleberry Hound
A magazine cutout-photo cartoon featuring the adventures of Hannah Barbera cartoon character, Huckleberry Hound. The pilot of the episode was "Sound Hound" and became a regular segment but rarely aired due to the copyight of Hannah Barbera, which seemed no problem for Interview with a Sidekick.
Jazz Hand
An animated cartoon animated in a classic Peanuts 1960's animation style about a man named Norm Bland who was cursed to transform into a jazz singer, parodying black ministrel racist movie, The Jazz Singer.
Characters
- Norm Bland: A 14-year old teenager who was cursed by the all-powerful Taj Mahal to transform into a Jazz Singer. Norm is a carpenter who makes wooden boxes for post offices. He is voiced by Mo Willems (Norm) and Ziggy Marley (The Jazz Singer).
- Shelly: A nerdy girl who seems to hate Norm but crushes on The Jazz Singer.
- Tybor: A jazz beatnik who is the son of street performer, Micky Momo who is actually the great Taj Mahal who cursed him in the first place.
- Micky Momo: An old beatnik who serves as the guidence of the gang who is actually Taj Mahal, the wizard and uncle of Norm Bland who cursed him. He is voiced by musician, Taj Mahal.
Dancing Sushi
The first Macromedia Flash cartoon in Action Buster that was the spin-off of Nicktoons series, Kappa Mikey. The series features the adventures of four sushis trying to hide from an evil sushi chef.
Characters
- Larry: A shrimp sushi wrapped in seaweed and rice. Larry is the most excitable of the group, and is occasionally dim. He is named after company CEO Larry Schwarz.
- Salmon: A piece of salmon sushi. The leader of the group, Salmon is not above causing trouble.
- Roro: Fish eggs wrapped in seaweed, Roro is the weakest, most impressionable, and most child-like.
- Meep: A piece of fish with rice on the back. The only female of the group, Meep is a confident and tactful girl.
- Sushi Chef: The lanky but monstrous sushi chef will stop at nothing to gather the sushi up and prepare them for the next order, but always fails.
Commander 64
A series of cartoons that parodies animation from the 20s and 30s which features 8-bit style music which was composed and played sound chips mined from old Commodore 64 computers. This series follows the adventures of a hometown in a Commodore 64 module where members of the Milatari HQ are being trained under the command of Commander 64.
Baby Talk
A cartoon series that featured some recycled animation from the anime, Dr. Slump. The series features the adventures of a baby named Genny who goes on different situations.
Characters
- Genny: A one-year old infant who is always seen sucking on a pacifier. After a period of sucking, she falls asleep. She speaks in baby talk but is mostly seen sucking. She has super powers that come from her energy bottle.
- Benny: A two-year old girl who is Genny's older sister. She talks alot and is always the one to babysit her little sister but rather talk on the phone and date a man instead of it.
- Angel: An angel creature who feeds Genny her energy bottle which stores herself extra power for fighting crime.
Mad Men
A cartoon that was based on a short cartoon from Sesame Street. This series is about a man named Mr. Draper who boreds with his crew members who look at randomly sketched pictures of cartoon featuring different emotions that the men will later get.
The Chickenbark Programming
The series of shorts that parodies "The Jack Benny Program" which features several characters.
Characters
- Chickenbark: An alien who wears a chicken-styped haircut with a beagle-styled footwear. He is the leader of the gang who makes comical jokes.
- Rochester Van Jones: An African-American man who serves in many jobs. He is known for his hard deep voice. He is voiced by three actors: Mel Blanc, Kevin Michael Richardson and Cedric the Entertainer.
- Dalia: A mindless zombie girl who doesn't talk much. She laughs very crazy.
- Ghoulia Yelps: A zombie who serves as the brains of the group who only speaks zombie. She has a crush on a zombie named Slow-Moe.
- Sy: A Mexican dancer who is known for saying "Si!". Sy's full name is Seymour Somez Rodriguez. His original voice actor was Mel Blanc for 8 shorts total but after the short "Hiding Child", the contract with Warner Bros. Animation and the company that makes the shorts have expired leading the character to be voiced by Debi Derryberry.
- Tenma: A girl with the brains of a cat.
American Dragon: Yokyo
A Japanese animated series of shorts based on the 2D animated Disney Channel TV series, American Dragon: Jake Long. This show is about Jake Long, a 13-year old boy hunting for magical creatures.
Scenes featuring violence, blood, actual weapons such as guns and references to Japanese culture were removed during English production of American Dragon.
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
An animated version of the 1993 live-action series "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers". All of the characters from the original series reprise their roles (except Thuy Trang who was replaced by Janice Kawayne and Richad Genille who was replaced by Jack Black). It features some footage from the same Japanese show MMPR was based on "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger".
New Dog, Old Tricks
This segment parodies that of Disney's Teacher's Pet. This series revolves around a talking beagle named Samie who disguises himself as a human in order to go to school with his master, Kyle. Along with going to school he has to deal with problems such as his dog instincts, his dog-hating principal and him going home on time. The theme song of the series is "I Wanna Be a Boy" which was from the Teacher's Pet series.
Characters
- Samuel "Samie" Kenderson/Sedric Mendleheimer XII: The main character of the series. He is a 12-year old (84 in dog years) English beagle who speaks with an Americanized accent. He wishes to become a human boy to be with his master, so he disguises himself as a boy named Sedric Mendleheimer to do so. He is voiced by comedian, Jerry Trainor.
- Kyle Kenderson: An average 12-year old boy who was the only known who knows of Samie's ability to speak English and that he is really a dog. Kyle was excited that Samie could be able to come with him to school but was very afraid that he may get into trouble. He feels very embaressed that his mother is his teacher. Kyle keeps a secret diary, similar to that of Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He is voiced by child actor, Leo Howard.
- Ms. Lou Kenderson: Kyle's mother who is also his teacher. He sometimes embaresses Kyle but later stops in later episodes of Action Buster.
- Melvin: The family's pet parekeet who serves as the brains for Samie. He speaks with a thick Brooklyn accent and sometimes calls Samie "Mac". He is voiced by Al Pacino of "Scarface" fame.
- Principal Strickland: The principal of Meriwether Lewis Middle School who has a rivalry with dogs. His catchphrase is "I hate dogs!". He appreciates Kyle but despises Samie because of his intrest in dogs (Samie is a dog). He is voiced by Phil LaMarr.
- Ian Wekowski: Kyle's weird friend who keeps stinky food in his backpack, does crazy things and makes Kyle laugh. He is voiced by Tom Kenny using a higher pitch of Spongebob's voice.
The Off-Beats
An animated cartoon created by Mo Willems (also created "Sheep in the Big City"). This series aired in KaBlam from 1996 to 1997. Due to it's popularity it spun off into two television series. These sets of shorts are animated with a Flash style parodying anime. The series is about a group of misfits who try to have fun, even with a gang of snobby kids.
Characters
- Betty Anne Bongo: Betty Anne is the realistically thinking "leader" of the clique. She usually can be found playing her bongo set. She also often sang her own little theme song, the lyrics consisting of: "My name is Betty Anne Bongo, I sing this little song-O, I sing it all day long-O!"
- Tommy: Tommy loves his plaid coat, so much so that in one episode it is the basis for the plot. On numerous occasions he will break his calm demeanor and lose his temper, usually startling his friends and himself.
- Repunzil: Repunzil is the youngest in the clique, and at times can be quite naive. She is known for her floor-length hair.
- August: August is the most technologically inclined of the Off-Beats, even though his inventions, are most of the time, failures. He is also the person who most wants to be liked by the populars. In one episode, he actually did gain respect from them, in the end only to be foiled by his love for paddle-ball.
- September: August's sarcastic talking dog, usually ambivalent to most situations and plot-lines. Despite that, he does enjoy the company of the Offbeats.
- Grubby Groo: The beatnik-looking adult friend to the Off-Beats, and the only one who realizes how big of jerks the populars are.
The Populars
- Tina: Tina is the mean-spirited leader of the Populars. If the Off-Beats ever have any [shown] self-esteem, she is there to squash it.
- Beth: Tina's sidekick in the group. It's her job to warn the Populars whenever a grown-up is near; she usually shouts, "Adult!" Then the Populars begin their phony "nice" act. Once she and Tommy fell in love with each other, and they had to keep it secret.
- Billy: A boy who wears a red beanie cap. A running gag in the series usually involved Billy saying something that would get Tina mad, and then the Populars would literally throw him out of the group, causing Billy to crash into something.
The Ranting Swede
The short that appears at the end of every single episode in which it was from the 2000 television series, Sheep in the Big City. The narrator states "I scream, you scream, we all scream with a Ranting Swede" in which the Ranting Swede rants about several objects and situations. The swede is voiced by Kevin Seal.