Every era of animation has shows that become so popular and beloved that they transcend generations, with SpongeBob SquarePants, Batman: The Animated Series and The Simpsons being a few examples. In contrast, however, there are shows that are far more esoteric in nature. Shows that may have only run for a short time, but managed to develop a cult following, living on in the hearts and minds of the dedicated fans who grew up with them. Cartoon Network's Megas XLR was one of those shows.
Created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic, Megas XLR premiered on Cartoon Network on May 1, 2004, after beginning life as a pilot titled LowBrow, which aired in 2002. The main series ran for a total of 26 episodes across two seasons, concluding its run in January of 2005, with reruns airing until about June of 2006.
The series follows Harold "Coop" Cooplowski (David DeLuise), a mechanic from New Jersey who pilots a giant blue robot adorned with hot rod flames named Megas XLR. But how exactly did a professional slacker like Coop get his hands on something that extraordinary, especially at a time when iPhones didn't even exist? Well, for that, one has to go over 1,000 years into the future.
In the year 3037, Earth is at war with an alien race known as the Glorft -- and it's not going very well. At the end of its rope, the human resistance steals a mech from the Glorft, modding it into a war machine named Megas and assigning it to pilot Kiva Andru (Wendee Lee). Their plan is to send Megas to Kiva two years in the past in an effort to change the outcome of a key battle. However, a surprise attack by the Glorft results in Megas' head being destroyed and its time drive being damaged. So, instead of being sent back to 3035, the robot is sent to a junkyard in 1930s New Jersey, where it's discovered by Coop some 70 years later. He soon fixes it up, replaces the missing head/cockpit with a muscle car, gives it a new paint job and renames it Megas XLR (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System eXtra Large Robot).
Kiva travels back in time herself in an effort to retrieve Megas and is distraught to learn what has happened to it -- not to mention who it now belongs to. While Kiva is initially intent on taking Megas back with her, she soon realizes that because of its new modifications, Coop is now the only one who can pilot it. So, she agrees to help him master control of the robot so that he might stand against the Glorft (though they have to move fast, as the aliens have followed Kiva back in time). Furthermore, Kiva -- who is completely unaccustomed to 21st-century life -- now has to tag along on the various misadventures of Coop and his best friend, Jamie (Steve Blum).
What made this premise so popular among Megas XLR's fans largely came down to the show's style of humor, which struck the perfect balance between the extravagant and the mundane. One of the absolute best episodes in this respect is Season 1's "DMV: Department of Megas Violations," in which Megas is (somehow) towed and impounded. In order to get the robot back, Coop must face one of the cruelest trials a human being can possibly endure: spending an entire day at the DMV to get his driver's license renewed.
The show's humor was also rather meta, with one of the best running gags being the buttons on Megas' console, which changed from episode to episode and were almost entirely situational. Take, for example, when Coop is having a hard time defeating an enemy and declares, "Maybe you'll like this better then!" before pressing the button that reads, "This Better Then." There was another time when he was in similar need of some sort of trump card and pressed the "5 Minutes Until End of Episode" button. Megas XLR took inspiration from comic books and other pop culture as well, like with the villain Magnanimous -- an obvious parody of Marvel Comics' M.O.D.O.K. based on (and voiced by) The Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell.
In short, it's clear the creative team behind Megas XLR had a lot of fun making it. As such, the fans had a lot of fun watching it. Its over-the-top premise and delightfully self-aware humor were complemented nicely by the dynamic between Coop, Jamie and Kiva. Coop is the slacker who's actually fairly capable despite himself, Jamie offers comic relief and Kiva is the straight man who also has a nice fish-out-of-water angle to work with. Plus, let's not forget that the show had an absolute banger of a theme song in Ragtime Revolutionaries' "Chicks Dig Giant Robots."
Although Megas XLR wasn't as popular in the mainstream as some of its contemporaries, these aspects earned it a dedicated fanbase. This makes one wonder why it hasn't been seen on television in nearly a decade and a half, especially when the main plot was never resolved and fans would still love to see the show get a proper ending. Well, there are actually some legal issues standing in the way.
Fans have campaigned and petitioned for the return of Megas XLR for years, with the #BringBackMegasXLR hashtag gaining a fair amount of traction back in 2012. These efforts initially seemed successful, with co-creator Krstic announcing plans to revive the show with Chris Prynoski in 2013.
However, Cartoon Network wrote Megas XLR off as a tax loss, meaning the property cannot be utilized in the United States without the network getting into legal trouble. "Effectively Megas has been put in Carbon Freeze, shot into the heart of a sun, and the entire universe around it has been imploded," Krstic said in an interview with United Magazine in 2014. "We've been trying everything and anything for the past ten years to try and get things going again -- from buying the rights back, to licensing to a sanctioned reboot and the answer has always been 'No way.'"
That being said, Megas XLR is by no means a piece of lost media. While it hasn't aired on television in some time, the entire series is available for purchase on iTunes and the Xbox Video store. Furthermore, the character of Kiva even made a cameo in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes' "Crossover Nexus" episode in 2018.
It's unclear if there will ever be some kind of workaround or compromise that will allow Megas XLR to see the light of day again. However, a few things are certain: the show was fun while it lasted, its fans will never forget it and, most importantly, chicks will always dig giant robots.