Babbling Brook | The Brak Show Lyrics, Meaning & Videos
The Brak Show was preceded by two specials entitled Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak. Despite the similarities in the titles, the two Brak Shows have very little in common. The latter show was a spoof of early sitcoms, while the former parodied the genre of variety shows. Both of the episodes aired in the US only once in 2000, although clips of the show could be viewed after the Space Ghost Coast to Coast time slot on occasion. In the UK only one of the two specials aired on Bravo on August 23, 2006 and then again on December 23, 2007. There are also clips from the shows on The Brak Show Volume 1 DVD and AdultSwim.com.
The Brak Show series premiered unannounced in the early hours of December 21, 2000, along with the "Radio Free Sealab" episode of Sealab 2021. This "stealth" pilot (titled "Leave it to Brak") featured hand-drawn backgrounds and different opening titles. The show's second showing was on Adult Swim's debut on September 2, 2001. As with most of the first original Adult Swim shows it was produced by Williams Street Studios.
The show is about Brak's suburban life with his alien mother and Cuban father. It originally started off as a parody of situation comedies, but just like its sister show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the plot dissolved over time and became increasingly bizarre. The setting is suburbia with an extra-planetary hint. A Saturn-like planet appears in the background on occasion, and many of the extras are aliens.
The show was canceled in December 2003. However, Adult Swim announced in a bump on October 22, 2006 that, The Brak Show would return to production as an internet cartoon on the network's website. On May 24, 2007, a new webisode premiered online. On August 1, 2008, Adult Swim had a retro night showing The Brak Show. The Brak Show is currently runing in reruns Sundays at 5:15 am.
Brak (voiced by Andy Merrill) is some sort of anthropomorphic "space cat" (according to one episode) with an eccentric personality and a speaking lisp. He is quite unintelligent but with a very sweet and gentle personality (although very occasionally he displays a more aggressive or sinister side which more closely resembles his original character from Space Ghost and Dino-Boy) and seems to be a preteen adolescent. He still has attachments to stuffed animals (such as "Hippo", who is actually a lobster plush-toy), yet nonetheless is starting to be attracted to girls (as in the episode "Poppy"). He often randomly breaks into (usually non-rhyming) song. The writers use a wide variety of musical styles for the songs--covering jazz, country, showtunes, rap, and rock & roll. He considers Zorak a close friend, although in return Zorak treats him with open contempt. Brak's character is derived from his appearances on the Space Ghost Coast to Coast spinoff Cartoon Planet.
Dad (voiced by George Lowe, who voices Space Ghost in four episodes) is a small (about 4 feet tall, apparently due to a freak accident involving a shrink ray) human illegal alien with a Cuban accent, who is extremely self-centered, lazy and nonsensical. Unemployed since 1984, most of his time is spent sitting at the kitchen table and reading the newspaper. An episode seldom goes by without him delivering a moral to the story that is completely incoherent, has no relevance to the situation and typically ends in a non sequitur. Occasionally, he displays prominent womanizing and male-chauvinistic behavior, which is sometimes rebuked by Brak's mom. If the chair he is always shown sitting in is moved even a fraction of a millimeter, Dad notices immediately because he claims to have it in the "perfect place".
Mom (voiced by Marsha Crenshaw for the first 13 episodes and web episodes, and Joanna Daniel for the remainder of the series on TV) is a creature of the same "species" as Brak, with the fashions of a housewife character on a 1950s sitcom. She is largely the only (semi-)sane character on the show. She displays little romantic or sexual interest in Brak's father, and often does not tolerate him. When she gets drunk, however, she finds him suddenly irresistible. As voiced by Crenshaw, she is most often an homage to June Cleaver and similar motherly characters, with occasional hints of discontent with her husband's laziness and sexism. When Daniel took over the role, Brak's mother inexplicably acquired a British accent, and became far more open in her discontent with domestic life and her annoyance with and disdain for Brak's father. Her change in accent has been commented upon several times on the show.
Zorak Robert Jones (voiced by C. Martin Croker) is another character from Space Ghost Coast to Coast, a human-sized mantis. On this show, he plays the role of an Eddie Haskell character, who is also a sociopathic, sadistic, morally-bankrupt misanthrope. He often hangs out with Brak, but usually only as a way to force him into doing something for his own benefit. Zorak considers himself "above" Brak and his entire family, and is constantly criticizing and insulting them. Zorak also enjoys bullying Clarence, the neighborhood nerd. He often gets killed off in the show, in the same way he did in Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In one episode, he is revealed to have an amazing singing voice.
Zorak also appears as a villain in one episode of the Jabberjaw series.
Thundercleese (voiced by Carey Means) is Brak's next-door-neighbor, a militant Killbot (with the visual appearance of a Gundam or a similar anime-style robot) who is also passionate about his lawn and garden, particularly the gnomes that decorate it. A short-lived shtick on the show involved Thundercleese blasting Zorak often (inherited from Space Ghost Coast to Coast, see above). He is very aggressive and warlike, always speaking in a loud, robotic monotone. When Brak is troubled, no matter what the problem is, Thundercleese invariably suggests swift and brutal retaliation. Thundercleese's social skills are rather lacking, and before social get-togethers he will study very bad "party jokes" in preparation. On the Adult Swim New Year's party it was shown that Frylock of Aqua Teen Hunger Force created Thundercleese, which is why they sound alike (both characters were voiced by Means).
Clarence (also voiced by Andy Merrill) is a chubby purple alien and schoolmate of Brak's at Learnmore High School. He was a supporting character on the show who made more regular appearances towards the end of the series. Clarence is very socially awkward, but idolizes Brak. His constant talking often annoys those around him, and when faced with an extremely stressful situation he will wear his mother's sundress and bonnet for comfort. In a rap contest, he revealed that he dearly misses his father, who left them for unknown reasons. In this same contest, he also noted that his mom has since married a man named Gary that he does not like. Many of his appearances end with him being maimed, usually by Zorak.
