Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade

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Dirk Niblick (right) and his neighbor, Mr. Beasley.

Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade was an animated segment on the PBS television show Square One Television.

The title character, Lt. Dirk Niblick, was tasked in each segment with helping friends through practical dilemmas through the use of mathematics. Episodes frequently centered on outsmarting scam artists who used deceptive language to attempt to trick the protagonists out of money or property. Most episodes also featured Dirk having one or more telephone conversations with his mother (shown as a silhouette in a house reminiscent of Norman Bates' house, and speaking in an unintelligible high-pitched warbling chatter).

Supporting characters on the show included Dirk's two young friends, the brother-and-sister pair Fluff and Fold Noodleman, and Dirk's neighbor, Mr. Beasley. (Mr. Beasley also appears to be the neighbor of Mathnet's George Frankly.)

The Dirk Niblick segments were notably similar in appearance to the 1965 cartoon Roger Ramjet. This is no coincidence—Fred Crippen animated for both, and Gary Owens voiced both title characters. [1]

The show was revived on Noggin for a few years before Noggin became half Nick Jr, half The N.