The X's

The X's
Clockwise from top left: Mrs. X, Mr. X, Truman X, and Tuesday X .
Created by	Carlos Ramos
Directed by	Dave Marshall
Starring	Patrick Warburton Wendie Malick Lynsey Bartilson Jansen Panettiere Chris Hardwick Tom Kane Stephen Root Randy Savage
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (38 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carlos Ramos
Producer(s)	Dave Marshall (supervising)
Running time	24 minutes
Production company(s)	Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Original release	November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25) – December 13, 2006 (2006-12-13)
External links
Website	www.nick.com/x

The X's is an American animated television series created by Carlos Ramos for Nickelodeon. It centers on a family of spies who must conceal their identity from the outside world, but often have trouble in doing so. It was short-lived, with one season and 20 episodes.

Synopsis

The X's work for SUPERIOR. The X's have their daughter named Tuesday, their younger son named Truman and many gadgets at their disposal. An organization called S.N.A.F.U. (Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings) is continually trying to cause trouble for the X's through their plans to take over the world.

Characters

SUPERIOR

• Mr X (voiced by Patrick Warburton) - Family patriarch, team leader of the X's and the main protagonist of the series. He is 40 years old. Mr. X is the typical sixties expert at hand-to-hand combat. He is similar to James Bond and Maxwell Smart. Although he is a competent spy, he struggles with many everyday issues such as remembering his name. He is also an excellent cook and is a very strict and stern person. In one episode, his shoe phone self-destructed as a parody of both Get Smart and Mission Impossible.
• Mrs. X (voiced by Wendie Malick) - Second in command and combat specialist of the X's. She is 38 years old. Mrs. X is fully trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, but she is a repulsive cook. She is an expert at tennis. Mrs. X is known for administering savage beatings to Glowface (sometimes twice). Her clothing resembles Star Trek uniforms.
• Tuesday X (voiced by Lynsey Bartilson) - The X's oldest daughter and missions investigator. She is 16 years old. Tuesday is the most normal of the team, despite her rather extreme punk-rock garb and frequently changing hair-color. She is also the most knowledgeable of "real-world" behavior, which the other family members either misunderstand or ignore outright. She definitely takes after her mother in savagery and fighting skills, but at heart Tuesday is a genuine teenager who wants to do other things besides spy missions with her family. She easily gets annoyed with Truman for making fun of the size of her huge butt, despite that, she behaves like a caring sister like in the episode "You Only Sneeze Twice" when Truman's look-alike robot was about to explode, she became worried and in another episode "From Crusha With Love" she guided Truman with his date by advising him.
• Truman X (voiced by Jansen Panettiere) - The X's youngest son and technology expert. He is 10 years old. Truman is the smartest of all the Xs. His radiation "experiments" cause so many "meltdowns" that the local Decontamination Squad are on a first name basis with the "X"s. The enfant terrible of the "X"s, Trueman can sometimes be a nuisance and make trouble.
• Rex X (vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker) - Truman's dog he got on his 9th birthday from Sasquatch. Rex was meant to kill Truman with Sasquatch controlling Rex with his mind control roar, but after Truman wouldn't fight him because he thought he would finally have the perfect birthday with him and Truman told about all the good times they had. After those words Rex broke free from the mind control and also all the other animals. Later, Rex became an honorary member for SUPERIOR. His first appearance was in "Boy's Best Fiend" and has since appeared in other episodes such as To Err Is Truman".
• Home Base (voiced by Stephen Root) - Home Base describes itself in the title sequence of The X's as "the house they live in," but Home Base is most likely the name for the computerized brain that runs the functions of their house (neither Mr. X nor Mrs. X appear to be competent about household chores, though Mr. X can mow the grass). Home Base serves as advisor, SUPERIOR contact and mission alert for the Xs, and can be contacted from the X-Jet. It also serves as the (somewhat beleaguered) voice of reason in the family. Seen from above, Home Base is shaped like an X. He is clearly inspired on HAL 9000, the famous board computer of the Jupiter mission in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."
• The Y's - The Ys', or "Y's Guys" (wise guys) known by The X's. They seem to be of Indian descent. They are also spies, but better. They are The X's rival family, even though once they gave them a cappuccino maker. The Y's once wanted to force The X's to give up their job as SUPERIOR agents so they could be replaced by them. They too have a computerized brain that runs their house, but is more sophisticated than Home Base. One of their fans is Glowface.
  • Mr. Y (voiced by Ronobir Lahiri) - Similar to Mr. X.
  • Mrs. Y - (voiced by Susan Pari) Similar to Mrs. X.
  • Seven Y - (voiced by Soleil Moon Frye) Similar to Tuesday.
  • Scout Y (voiced by Laura Marano) - Similar to Truman, but is a girl instead of a boy.
• The Z's - The Z's are destroyed by the Y's. Truman stated that SUPERIOR said that their death was an accident, but the Y's hinted that their death was no mere accident, but was caused by the Y's

Villains

• S.N.A.F.U. - Short for Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings, S.N.A.F.U. is an evil organization that the X's fight.
  • Glowface (voiced by Chris Hardwick) - The X's arch-enemy, leader of S.N.A.F.U, and the main antagonist of the series. Glowface's head is encased in a glass globe with electrical discharges. He wears a rubber suit and gloves to contain his vast energies. His schemes to get rid of the X's include having Mrs. X break her leg on a coffee table and sending them coupons for family portraits. Like traditional evil villains, Glowface is megalomaniacal, arrogant, loudmouthed and delusional, but he possesses little sophistication or maturity, and believes himself to be much more of a threat than he actually is. Similar to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget, and Ernest Blofield from the James Bond series, he also tends to think up idiotic evil schemes like building a giant ray gun in order to bring the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben to life in order for them to wrestle so he can sell tickets. He has very poor teeth and once had to get braces. Glowface is disdainful of his nephew Brandon's crush on Tuesday. Glowface is also allergic to Zucchini and has an unseen way of eating food. The only thing that Glowface and Mr. X have in common are building model train sets.
  • Lorenzo Suave (voiced by Tom Kane) - Member of S.N.A.F.U. and Glowface's right-hand man and butler. Lorenzo seems to be an amalgam of all the villainous second-in-command spy clichés. He is stylishly and impeccably dressed with a mustache, goatee, a scar along one cheek and both an eyepatch and a monocle. Lorenzo is much more intelligent than Glowface, and sometimes has to maneuver him into completing his plans when Glowface begins one of his rants. Though Lorenzo is human, he is most likely S.N.A.F.U.'s mirror to Home Base. He becomes upset when Glowface claims, after he took off his horrid disguise and introduced himself, that no one cares. He along with the S.N.A.F.U. minions are the most commonly appeared S.N.A.F.U. workers of Glowface. One time when Glowface was sick as well as the other S.N.A.F.U. agents, Lorenzo proved to be a better villain than Glowface or any of the others members of S.N.A.F.U. Just as "Glowface" is similar to Dr. Evil, Suave resembles Dr Evil's Number #2 who actually makes his evil organization work. As Tuesday X is the most normal of the X heroines, Suave is the most normal of the S.N.A.F.U. members.
  • Sasquatch (voiced by Randy Savage) - A member of S.N.A.F.U., Sasquatch appears to be an unspecified man-beast and has a roar that can hypnotize or brainwash animals to do his bidding. He is probably the strongest member of S.N.A.F.U. His goal is to return the animals to their rightful place as masters of the planet. He continuously refers to himself in the third person (i.e. "Sasquatch is the mightiest of all!").
  • Brandon (voiced by Jason Schwartzman in "The Spy Who Liked Me", later voiced by David Hornsby) - Member of S.N.A.F.U. and nephew of Glowface. Brandon is a very nice, even somewhat gallant boy, but unfortunately he is working with his uncle as an intern for S.N.A.F.U. He has a crush on Tuesday and the two occasionally date (even planning dates in the midst of a battle) much to the dismay of both the X's (who don't much like the idea of Tuesday dating in general) and Glowface (who doesn't like the idea of Brandon dating the daughter of his nemesis at all). Mr. and Mrs. X are fairly open-minded about the relationship; on the other hand, Glowface harasses Brandon about his new sort-of girlfriend whenever possible. He tends to treat his uncle's plans with either disdain or apathy, and never really acts as a villain.
  • The Scream Queens - Members of S.N.A.F.U. They are a duo of Banshee-esqe cheerleaders with a sonic boom screech. They have various cameos throughout the series.
  • The McVampires - Members of S.N.A.F.U. The McVampires are a family of hillbilly vampires. They are most likely a parody of the infamous hillbillies the McCoys. The family only appears in "Photo Ops."
  • Bio-Harold - Member of S.N.A.F.U. Bio-Harold is a buff guy in a hazmat suit. He only appears in "Photo Ops" and "Homebody."
  • Missing Link - Member of S.N.A.F.U. Missing Link is a dirty guy who looks like a chimpanzee/human hybrid. He only appears in "Photo Ops."
  • Some Old Guy (voiced by Tom Kane) - An old man. He is not actually a real member of S.N.A.F.U. (he just thought that the photo shop where Glowface tricked the X's was the nickel store). He frequently appears as a joke with the rest of the S.N.A.F.U. agents when Glowface introduces all the S.N.A.F.U. agents present in a battle. His voice volume and dramatic tone increase with each name coming to conclusion with the most dramatic introduction being that of "Some Old Guy".
  • S.N.A.F.U. Minions (voiced by Carlos Ramos) - Glowface's Minions and foot-soldiers of S.N.A.F.U. They wear uniforms with their heads encased in globes. Their faces are never seen, but the silhouettes of their heads are seen in those globes. They have their birthdays celebrated each month on a day called "Cake Day" for any foot soldiers who have their birthday in that month.
• Copperhead (voiced by Tom Kenny): Half man, half machine. Unlike Glowface, he never stays in one place for long. It was never actually revealed that he is part of S.N.A.F.U., but he is "The most evil of all evil spies". He has power over magnetism (like that of Magneto in X-Men), but he runs on a large battery in his back.

Minor Characters

• Kimla Meeks (voiced by Ashley Johnson) Tuseday's 1st friend appeared in "A Truman Scorned", "Theater of War", & "License to Slumber". She is a huge fan of science fiction and is also very knowledgeable about sci-fi movies, comics, etc. Kimla also seems to be somewhat naive as she didn't notice Truman's crush on her and that the X's are spies despite her being presented with proof. She appears to have started talking to Tuesday more after their slumber party as they worked together on a school project later in "A Truman Scorned." A running joke throughout the series involves Kimla's "intergalactic chanting."
• Brandon (voiced by David Hornsby) in the episode "The Spy Who Liked Me " when the family discovered that she had a boyfriend and while Mrs. X was shown to be excited and over emotional Mr. X was furious, even thinking that Brandon could be a S. N. A. F. U. agent who was sent to steal the secret of S. U. P. E. R. I. O. R. but Tuesday denied it the idea. He made a full appearance when he arrived at the X's house to pick up Tuesday for their date and after the family embarrass her. As he and Tuesday was about to kiss her bracelet rang and she told him she had to do something and cancelled their date, at the same time Brandon's wristband beeped and he left too. Later at a TV Station as Glowface waited for.
• Skipper Swenson (voiced by Lindsay Sloane) Tuesday's 2nd friend appeared in "License to Slumber". Skipper is generally stuck-up and is rude to Tuesday. She doesn't seem to like Tuesday much and only came to her slumber party because Mrs. X apparently promised to pay her. Skipper seems to be popular and is also shown to have an interest in beauty.
• Annasthesia Montiho (voiced by Soleil Moon Frye) Tuesday's 3rd friend appeared in "License To Slumber". She is a goth girl and notices the strange occurrences at Tuesday's slumber party. She also likes to talk about boys.
• Wally (voiced by Tom Kenny) A friendly neighbor of the X's. He is a devoted father with a wife and child. Wally is generally friendly to the X's when ever he sees them. While he is suspicious of the X's at times, he never catches on that they are spies. Wally first appeared in "Mr. Fix It," and has made appearances in "Mock Tutors," "Y's Up," and "Live and Let Diaper." Although his name is never mentioned in the series, it is listed as Wally in the credits of episodes that featured him.

Episodes

Home media

While the series never saw any full-season releases, there were select episodes included with certain Nick Picks volumes.

Broadcast

Nickelodeon aired 3 episodes for the premiere of The X's on November 25, 2005 at 8:00 PM. The show's regular schedule started with the episode, "Mr. Fix It / Doommates," on December 9, 2005 at 8:30 PM. The majority of the first 13 episodes premiered Friday nights at 8:30 PM. The first half-hour special, "Truman X: Super Villain," aired on June 16, 2006 at 8:00 PM. The airing of the remaining 7 episodes started with the episode "A Truman Scorned / Y's Up," on September 22, 2006 at 9:30 PM. The majority of the remaining 7 episodes premiered Friday nights at 9:30 PM. The Halloween special, "The Haunting of Homebase," aired on October 27, 2006 at 9:30 PM. The episode, "Accidental Hero / Untied" aired on November 25, 2006 at 8:52 PM. This odd time slot is due to an event during commercials called "WACK." The series concluded with the airing of "Theater of War / Breaking Camp" on December 13, 2006. Nicktoons aired reruns of the series until October 13, 2008. Several years later, Nicktoons reran 3 episodes from December 13 to December 20, 2015 as a part of their "Nicktoons Holladays" marathon.

Awards

Despite the show's short run and mixed critical reviews, The X's received numerous accolades, including three Annie Award nominations.^[1]

References

External links

• The X's at TV.com