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Fantastic Max is a 1988–1990 animated cartoon series, aired as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, created by Kalisto Ltd. and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and in association with S4C. It centers on a diaper-wearing toddler with a mohawk named Maxwell "Fantastic Max" Young who has adventures in outer space with two of his toys: FX, a pull string alien doll from a planet called Twinkle-Twinkle, and A.B. Sitter, a C-3PO-like android made of blocks.
The show was developed by Judy Rothman and Robin Lyons from Siriol Animation as part of the creation of Kalisto Ltd. and the series was originally called Space Baby before being developed by Mike Young and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions further. In the United States, Fantastic Max ran in syndication for two years as part of the weekly Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera program block. The first episode aired on Sunday September 11, 1988 and the last first-run episode aired on January 21, 1990. Currently, Boomerang airs re-runs of the show on Monday–Friday at 10:30 am. In the United Kingdom, the series was broadcast on CBBC, but this time all the episodes were split into two parts.
Heroes
Maxwell "Fantastic Max" Young – A baby who was given the abilities of speech and intellect by FX. Max is very brave and adventurous, but his actions often wind him up in trouble. Nevertheless, Max cares for his friends and the people he meets. His catchphrase is "Dirty diapers!" which he exclaims whenever things go wrong.
FX – An alien doll with magical powers that can create virtually anything, such as a baby-bottle-shaped rocket out of sand which Max uses to travel through space. He is Max's best friend, as shown in "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle" where he was crying after being separated from Max. His catchphrase is "Rocket and Roll!" which is also the command for using his powers.
A.B. Sitter – A toy robot who was brought to life by FX, and his origins were explained in the episode "Straight Flush". He is often trying hard to keep Max out of danger, but it seldom works and he often ends up annoying Max. AB doesn't enjoy going in outer space as much as the others, but he goes anyway in order to keep Max out of trouble. He provides most of the mature humor in the show. He also has the fewest episodes dedicated to him as a whole.
Zoe Young – Max's five-year-old sister who is occasionally dragged into her brother's adventures. Max doesn't think very highly of her, and often calls her dumb. She is rivals with her next door neighbor, Ben. She frequently becomes suspicious of her brother's travels, but Max puts her to sleep so she can't reveal their secret. She is usually reprimanded (and grounded) at the end of Max's travels, especially by her strict Dad, for her impish and mischievous behavior.
Mr. and Mrs. Young – Max and Zoe's parents who are completely oblivious to their infant son's true personality. They seem to pay a lot more attention to Max than Zoe. Their faces and backs of their heads are never seen at all.
King Klutzes – A jovial knight with an orange goatee (and mustache to go with his goatee) who rode a white horse and befriended Max, A.B. and FX when they were lost. He needed their assistance for a riddle involving dragons and the answer, not given until near the end of the episode, was "a zipper". He only appears in "Stitches in Time".
Rooty the Carrot – A giant carrot from a planet inhabited by vegetables, he was taken by Zoe and entered in a carrot growing contest. He enlisted Max's help to escape from a giant rabbit named Fatso who wanted to eat him. He eventually returned to his planet at the end of the episode. His only appearance was in "Carrot Encounter of the Third Kind".
Villains
Bronx – (voiced by unknown) A ringmaster. Only appearance was "Monkey See, Monkey Zoo".
Goldie – A space gypsy. Only appearance was "All in a Babe's Work". His catchphrase was "Goldie the (laughs) Space Gypsy" while gypsy-style music played in the background. He is even seen with two other space gypsy subordinates: Cosmo (voiced by unknown) and Gar. Gar's name is only mentioned once by Goldie himself and, apart from only having one scene, where he fires Max and the gang with a gypsy gun filled with whipped creamvermicelli and speaks no lines, is only given a mere background appearance. Of course, Cosmo and Gar only appear in that one episode.
Dumping Jack Trash – A garbage man who always spoke in rhyme. Only appearances in Season 1 were "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle", "Attack of the Cubic Rubes", and "Beach Blanket Baby", and "Puzzle, Puzzle, Toil and Trouble" in Season 2. He was used to replace Texas Pete from SuperTed when that cartoon phased out in 1988; thereby, like when older characters are dropped and are usually replaced by new characters when it made a sequel show called The Further Adventures of SuperTed, "Beach Blanket Baby" could be the replacement episode in this cartoon for the Superted episode "Superted at the Funfair".
XS – FX's mischievous cousin who first appeared in "Cooking Mother Goose". He also appears in "Boo Who"? and "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle". He enjoys teasing FX for being easily scared, but in "Boo Who?" he becomes a fraidy-cat himself. His command for using his powers is "Rock 'em and Sock 'em!"
Amanda – (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) She is Zoe's friend, but she doesn't seem to be since she doesn't believe in superstitions and ridicules Zoe for acting weird. She even walks out on her and is never seen again in the cartoon. Her only appearance is "Cooking Mother Goose".
Ben Letterman – Even though he is a main character, his only appearances in season one were "Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind" and "From Here to Twinkle, Twinkle". Ben appears in "Boo Who?" and "Ben the Blackmailer" (the only two season two episodes he appeared in) as well. He is the Young family's next door neighbor, and is Zoe's rival. Max, FX and A.B. don't like him very much as he is always bothering them and he is a boaster; plus, he plays all sorts of mean tricks on them. According to Max, Ben is a bigger jerk than Zoe.
Fatso – A big rabbit from another planet that wants to carrotnap Rooty and eat him. His name is pronounced "FahZo" (the t is silent) and his only appearance was in "Carrot Encounters of the Third Kind".
Magellan the Cloud Keeper AKA Evil, nasty, bad-tempered, spiteful, etc. pirate – (voiced by unknown) Self-explanatory, his only appearance was in "Beach Blanket Baby". He is referred to as 'Magellan the Cloud Keeper'. He's so nasty tempered, he refused to help Max, AB, FX and the mermaid (as well as the seahorse), when the beach was about to dry.
Pumpernickel – (voiced by unknown) An evil wizard with black hair and a black mustache who tortured the village peasants to pay him by using the dragon as an incentive. He had a pet raven (named "Blackie") who could talk and tried to take over the whole world especially after imprisoning Max and the gang. The only episode featuring him (and Blackie, for that matter) was "Stitches in Time". He also hates pumpernickel bread. As said at the beginning, rather than the traditional long white beard and hair, this evil wizard has only a mustache and has black hair.
Black-Hole Bart – A villainous cowboy who cheats in rodeos and whips with a whiplash. He only appeared in "Cowboy Max".
Mr. Tartar – A plump villain sporting bling and a blond quiff, who appears with his robot sidekick Mr Wrenchley in the episode "To Tell the Tooth". Tartar is "the most popular man in Tartarville" a town where teeth feature as prominent icons – for example, the buildings all appear to have been constructed in the image of giant molars. Despite the generous and likable image he has cultivated, he has captured the Tooth Fairy and is stealing teeth from under children's pillows with the intention of having her turn them into cash so he can become the richest man in the Galaxy.
Sticky Wicket – A toy designer who kidnaps FX and tries to turn him into a toy line. He is fired from his job when the company he worked with decided to turn to making tires, while Wicket objected to the idea. He began advertising for cookies called Wicky-Biscuits as his new job. Appeared only in "Toys Will Be Toys".
Unnamed Villain – This villain, only appearing in "Movie Star Max" has waited a long time for Max' film festival. During Max' speech after winning the Maxie award, the villain snatches his diaper (as he claims it to be the galaxy's greatest souvenir), embarrassing Max in front of the whole crowd, covering himself with the award. Max later claims that "the joke's on him" when FX asks if he should look for whoever stole his diaper, probably meaning the diaper was dirty.
