Planet Sheen | |
Format | Animated television series |
---|---|
Created by | |
Starring |
Jeff Garcia |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Steve Oedekerk Jim Hope (co-) |
Distributor | Nickelodeon Network |
Running time | 10 minutes (5 minutes per segments) |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | Nickelodeon (2010-2011)
Nicktoons (2012-2014) |
Original Air Date | October 2, 2010 –
February 15, 2013 |
Planet Sheen is a spin-off show of the Jimmy Neutron franchise. It is also the final Nicktoon to be produced by O Entertainment and one of O Entertainment's final projects in general.
The series premiered on October 2, 2010, on Nickelodeon, where it would continue to air until August 2011. On May 4, 2012, the remainder of the series aired on Nicktoons until the last episode on February 15, 2013. The show continued in reruns until September 25, 2014.
The series was a critical and commercial failure, causing it to be cancelled after one season with a total of twenty-six episodes. Some episodes that first aired on the main Nickelodeon channel even premiered a year later in September 2014.
Synopsis[]
One day, Sheen sneaks into Jimmy's lab, finds Jimmy's new experimental rocket ship and accidentally blasts himself into outer space. Four million and one light years away, Sheen crash-lands on Zeenu -- a strange planet inhabited by purple and pink aliens called Zeenuians. After using their bathroom, Sheen wants to go home, but his Rocketship got smashed in the crash, and it's his only ride. Luckily, Sheen makes some new friends on Zeenu including Mr. Nesmith-- a super intelligent chimp, Aseefa-- a kind-hearted Glimmorian warrior girl who becomes Sheen's new love interest and Doppy-- a slug-like creature who looks and acts alot like Carl. Unfortunately, an evil villain named Dorkus is super mad that Sheen destroyed his house in the crash, and he's now bent on destroying the pesky Earth boy! With the help of his new friends, can Sheen survive the evil plots of Dorkus and repair his rocket so he can get back to Earth?
Episodes[]
- Main article: List of Planet Sheen episodes
Production[]
Originally, the series was pitched as a show called Red Acres. The show was supposed to be about a fast-food worker who got launched into space, eventually crash landing onto a planet with hillbilly aliens, but Nickelodeon didn't pick it up because they didn’t want a show with a human adult protagonist. The producers then decided to retool it into being about Carl and Sheen stealing Jimmy's rocket and landing on a strange planet, but executives erased Carl from the series and made it just about Sheen. However, the producers still wanted Carl involved, so Doppy (Carl's alien double) was created.
Jeff Garcia reunites for the series as the voice of Sheen, along with new cast members, Bob Joles, Soleil Moon Fyre, Fred Tatasciore, and Thomas Lennon as the voices of Mr. Nesmith, Aseefa, The Emperor, and Pinter, and ones from the original series, Debi Derryberry, Rob Paulsen, Candi Milo, and Jeff Bennett (the voices of Jimmy, Carl, Nick, and Sydney Moist) as the voices of Princess Oomlout, Doppy, Chock Chock, Dorkus and Grish. Besides Sheen, none of the other Jimmy Neutron characters appeared. However, Carl had a cameo in Is This Cute? and Ultra Lord made a guest appearance in Cutting the Ultra-Cord with Jim Cummings respiring his role in that episode.
Originally, the Emperor was going to be evil, and the show would've focused on Sheen being a double agent for the Emperor and the Resistance (led by Aseefa). This was dropped because it was too similar to James Cameron's movie, Avatar.
Reception[]
Planet Sheen received mixed reviews from critics, one of these critics, Emily Ashby of Common-Sense Media gave the series 3 out of 5 stars; saying that, “While there isn't any content that's overtly problematic, there's equally little of any real value to kids.” Despite this, the series was critically panned by fans. It was criticized for making Sheen (the comic relief) the main focus, having nothing in common with the original show, the lack of character development, lazy attempts at humor, lackluster writing and Sheen’s serious character derailment. It’s possible that because the show got very low ratings and aired its episodes out of order, it was cancelled after only one season. It is considered one of the worst Nickelodeon shows of all time. However, it has regained some sort of popularity as a meme, making it ironically good to some people, thus Planet Sheen has regained something of a cult following.
In a Nickelodeon podcast, John A. Davis admitted that Sheen was only a character who worked in small doses, and he regrets working on the show.
This show also has a 2.9/10 rating on IMDb.
Voice cast[]
- Jeff Garcia as Sheen Estevez
- Bob Joles as Mr. Nesmith
- Rob Paulsen as Doppy/Carl Wheezer
- Soleil Moon Frye as Aseefa
- Jeff Bennett as Dorkus
- Candi Milo as Princess Oomlout
- Fred Tatasciore as The Emperor
- Thomas Lennon as Pinter
Trivia[]
- Jimmy is mentioned in the pilot when Sheen questions the initials on the rocket.
- Since the show only lasted one season, it is unknown if Sheen returned to Earth. However, it is implied in the Jimmy Neutron episode The Tomorrow Boys that he eventually does.
- There's also speculation that Planet Sheen might be non-canon.
- There was supposed to be a finale movie that focused on Jimmy and the gang going to rescue Sheen, but due to low ratings, production costs and several writers moving on, the movie was cancelled.
- During the week leading up to the show's premiere episode, there was a marathon of five Jimmy Neutron episodes starring Sheen called "Sheen's Greatest Scenes". As of now, there are four episodes that are known to be in the marathon, these are The Tomorrow Boys, Foul Bull/The Science Fair Affair, Sorry, Wrong Era and Sheen's Brain, the fifth episode is currently unknown.
- This is the first Nicktoon spin-off not to be part of the Rugrats franchise.
- The show premiered on Jeff Bennett's 48th birthday along with T.U.F.F. Puppy.
- This was Steve Oedekerk’s final project before he quit working at Nickelodeon and retired from animation altogether.
- The series is a reference to the Planet of the Apes franchise.