Time Squad

Did You Know?

• Time Squad is the final Cartoon Network original series to premiere during Betty Cohen's tenure, as she resigned due to creative disagreements with Jamie Kellner ten days after the show premiered.
• It is the first Cartoon Network original series to be entirely produced by Cartoon Network Studios, no longer a division of Hanna-Barbera following the death of William Hanna in 2001.
• Larry 3000 is voiced by Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
• The series received five Annie Award nominations during its run.
• Creator Dave Wasson described the series as "a C-average student's approach [to history]—a CliffsNotes version of what historical characters did and giving it a twist."

Premise

Set in the year 100,000,000 AD on a satellite orbiting Earth, the series follows Buck Tuddrussel, a muscular and dim-witted officer voiced by Rob Paulsen; Larry 3000, a serious and stern robot voiced by Mark Hamill; and Otto Osworth, an eight-year-old orphan history buff voiced by Pamela Adlon. The trio travels backwards in time to set right the course of history as it unravels. The Time Squad organization ensures that history is maintained and the future protected.

According to Larry 3000, time is like a rope that is woven at one end, ages, and gradually unravels and frays at the other. Historical figures have made different, sometimes anachronistic, choices in life and cannot fulfill their historical roles. Creator Dave Wasson said the show started by knowing what a historical figure did, then finding the most outlandish way he could go wrong. Future Earth is a peaceful utopia where all nations have merged, with no war, no pollution, and bacon good for the heart.

The space station from which they travel is dystopic, featuring a shooting range, a terrarium, and a prison, but is dank, outdated, and unclean, largely due to Buck Tuddrussel, the station's most senior officer. Larry 3000 is a translator robot and former diplomat rendered obsolete when the world's nations merged. Buck's machismo clashes with Larry's sensibilities, and they bicker constantly. Otto Osworth, an orphan from the 21st century, is recruited as the only team member with enthusiasm or competence for the job, though the others rarely listen to his advice.

Production

In early 2001, Cartoon Network confirmed Time Squad as one of four new shows, with a June premiere planned. This followed a $500 million investment the network had received the previous year to fund original programming through 2005. Dave Wasson, who won a Daytime Emmy for production design in 1999 for his Nickelodeon short Max & His Special Problem, created the series. Time Squad first aired on June 8, 2001, at 9 PM EST as part of Cartoon Network's Friday night Cartoon Cartoon Summer block, and the network ordered 26 episodes.