The Jimmy Neutron Revival Project

Jimmy and Cindy in Jimmy's lab during the "Love Potion" episode.

The Jimmy Neutron Revival Project was a project led by many fans of the Jimmy Neutron franchise in order to get Nickelodeon to bring it back for new adventures and audiences.

A common drive to achieve a revival is to see the resolution to the many plots and the cliffhangers the show left viewers on when it was ended right before its final season. These include (but are not limited to) Jimmy and Cindy's relationship, the state of Retroville's security from frequent villains, Evil Jimmy's vow to return and Jimmy developing his relationship with the gang.

History

The revival project actually began as far back as 2004 when Season 3 started airing its episodes out of order in the US and therefore, ratings started to decline. After all of Season 3 was completed, Nickelodeon had decided that it would be its last two years before production began on the film, The Ant Bully, according to Ray Chase, a former animator who worked for DNA Productions. Unfortunately, the company shut down after the completion of the film because it couldn't get a follow-up project. However, the staff moved to their partner company, O Entertainment, which evolved into "O-mation" and would produce new projects for Nickelodeon such as Back at the Barnyard.

In 2008, a spin-off series starring Sheen was green-lit for 26 episodes and it premiered two years later, but it ended in one year due to low ratings and negative reception from critics, audiences and fans. As a result, the failure of the series caused the franchise's possibility of coming back to minimize. 

In 2011, a longtime fan of Jimmy Neutron, Brittany Campbell, started this effort as she wanted closure for this show as many of the fans of the show did, and she also wanted the loose ends to be tied up. She spent over 12 years spreading love for the series and building up efforts to bring the show back, especially by working on a petition (which had over 11,000 signatures before it was permanently closed in December 2022) , creating a fan group on Facebook , promoting the show on both Facebook and Twitter, and even by writing a blog about it on Tumblr. She retired in April 2023 citing lack of recognition and middle age. Since then, the movement has largely ended and most of the fanbase has moved on.

In 2012, Ryan Fortier, Edward Pace and Saundra Hall were fans of Jimmy Neutron who frequently wrote fan fiction of the show. They ultimately sent a revival pitch to former directors Mike Gasaway and Keith Alcorn who both agreed to help them. They also contacted former writers Andrew Nicholls and Darrell Vickers for help. The revival project was dubbed "Operation Phoenix."

In 2013, they finalized a proposed Season 4 that they sent to Nickelodeon to possibly bring revive the show. Unfortunately, Nickelodeon replied they were not interested in reviving the show. Their reply was as follows:

"Dear Ryan, Saundra, And Edward,

Thank you so much for submitting your proposal for the fourth season of Jimmy Neutron. The details of your proposal were very impressive. There are several things we consider when looking to bring a show back. The first thing we look for is a new and fresh take on the material that warrants bringing a show back. A good example of this would be Rugrats: All Grown Up. It re-launched the Rugrats franchise, but with a new take on the characters and property. Planet Sheen, the spinoff of Jimmy Neutron, was launched on Nickelodeon and finished its run on Nicktoons fairly recently. Timing wise, it may just be too soon to revisit the same characters. Second, there are serious legal and logistical issues that face a series coming back. This can be very difficult and make it impractical if not impossible to bring back a series.

While almost everyone here at Nick hold Jimmy Neutron in high esteem, we also look forward to finding the next show that will prove to be as successful as Jimmy Neutron, and our other past hits. Unfortunately at this time, we are unable to take the next steps in re-launching Jimmy Neutron. Your script and proposal were well crafted, and I encourage you to work on an original idea. I am sure if you put as much effort and craft into an original idea, as you did into this proposal, you will create something great."

In 2015, they publicly released 2 of the 4 scripts of the proposed Season 4. The 1st script called "Deep Impacts" featured the return of Evil Jimmy who escapes the Dark Matter Dimension with the evil clones and battle Jimmy's class while on a Moon trip. Brobot and his parents also returned to aid Jimmy. The 2nd script called "Three's a Crowd" features Cindy, Libby and Betty getting trapped in Jimmy's lab and are forced to work together to escape.

In 2016, a podcast with the Beanholes detailed further elements of the proposed Season 4. All of their blogs and podcast revealed the following:

• It started out as 18 Episodes and became 26 Episodes.
• 4 individual episode scripts were written and only 2 were released publicly.
• Although the 2 other scripts were not released, their titles and synopsis were released.
  • The first was "A Crime of Confusion" is a comedy heavy episode inspired by the episode of Community titled “Remedial Chaos Theory.”  In this story, the gang is in the principal’s office for breaking Ms. Fowl’s mug.  Due to each character having been distracted by something at the time the mug broke, no one is sure who destroyed it.  Five segments of the episode revealed what each character believed happened and reflected how they viewed the other members of the group.
  • The second was “Interception” a heart-breaking and action-packed story of the gang going inside Sheen’s dreams to remove his obsession with his favorite show Ultralord. It was a parody of Inception.
• Season 4 would be more mature with the main cast putting aside their conflicts and grow into a family.
• Jimmy and Cindy would finally stop fighting, become friends and eventually get together.
• There would be a semi-serialized aspect to the season. Every few episodes would progress the season’s plot.
• The The League of Villains would return and make a more careful plan throughout the season to destroy Jimmy. It would eventually culminate in a finale where all the villains new and old would fight Jimmy and his friends.
• There was consideration for April the Gorlock to return in the finale. But they ended up not including her as the budget to rehire the same voice actress would be huge and they felt that the "Jimmy, Cindy and April conflict" was not needed for the finale by that point.

With Nick's new decision to revive most of their old materials (which right now are; Invader Zim, Hey Arnold, Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life), the same could still happen for Jimmy Neutron. Debi Derryberry has also expressed interest in the series returning on Twitter and at panels.

In 2022, creator John A. Davis revealed a reboot of the show almost happened two years prior in 2020. Everyone was on board from the cast, the animators, Keith Alcorn, and a few Nick executives. However, one of the executives vetoed the project, citing that there "wasn't enough diversity," which caused the whole thing to fall apart. No other talks have taken place since then.

References

• http://jimmyneutronrevivalproject.yolasite.com/about-us.php