7.6 /10 1 Votes
8/10 TV Written by Marc HymanLen Uhley First episode date 14 September 2002 | 7.1/10 IMDb Final episode date 5 July 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Phil LaMarrJeff BennettJustin CowdenTasia ValenzaAlanna UbachJim Cummings Theme music composer Randall CrissmanEd Driscoll Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ozzy & Drix is an American animated television series based on the Warner Bros. film Osmosis Jones. It centers on Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones, a street-smart white blood cell, and Drix, a stoic cold pill, who battle germs and viruses inside the body of teenage boy Hector Cruz. The series is set in a stylized version of the human body which resembles a city, where microorganisms are anthropomorphic.
Contents
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the series aired on Kids' WB for two seasons from 2002 to 2004. It also reran on Cartoon Network from 2004 to 2006, as part of their Miguzi programming block.
Premise
At the beginning of the series, Osmosis "Ozzy" Jones (Phil LaMarr), a white blood cell with little respect for authority, and Drix (Jeff Bennett), a straight-laced and by-the-books cold pill, pursue a Scarlet Fever bacterium (Tim Curry). During the chase, the three get sucked up by a mosquito from their host body, Frank Detorre (Jeff Bennett), and are transported to the body of a teenage boy named Hector Cruz (Justin Cowden). After defeating the virus and settling into their new home, Ozzy and Drix are installed as private investigators, vowing to protect Hector's well-being, and also help him through the trials of adolescence along the way.
Supporting characters include Maria Amino (Tasia Valenza), a female Hispanic white blood cell cop who is highly skilled at fighting; Mayor Paul Spryman (Alanna Ubach), the immature teenage mayor of the city of Hector; Chief Gluteus (Jim Cummings), a gruff old muscle cell who serves as the city's police chief and Maria's superior; Ellen Patella (Vivica A. Fox), an attorney-at-law who helps cells find homes in Hector, and whom Ozzy has a crush on; and the Brain Cell Advisors (Pat Fraley), advisors who help Mayor Spryman run the city due to Spryman being inexperienced with his job.
Recurring characters include The Mole (Jeffrey Tambor), a klutzy former secret agent who holds information on what's going on in Hector; Dander (Frank Welker), Drix's pet dog germ formed from the saliva of Hector's dog Uno; Christine Kolchuck (Kimberly Brooks), a sweet and kind student who is Hector's love interest; Travis Lurn (Rob Paulsen), Hector's classmate and best friend who looks out for Hector when he makes poor decisions; Ricky Sales (Danny Cooksey), the bully at Hector's school; Ernst Strepfinger (Brad Garrett in season 1, Jim Cummings in season 2), a villainous germ who uses a gang of germs and viruses to carry out his dirty work; and Hector's overprotective parents (Alanna Ubach and Joe Lala), who look after Hector's health and his attitude.
Production
Unlike the film it was spun off from, Ozzy & Drix is entirely animated and contains no live-action. The voices of Ozzy and Drix were recast, with Phil LaMarr replacing Chris Rock as Ozzy and Jeff Bennett replacing David Hyde Pierce as Drix. The show is also less violent than the movie, and contains less gross-out humor. Several episodes also recycle footage from it's original film counterpart, Osmosis Jones.
The series has a number of continuity incongruences with the film. In the series, Frank has resumed his unhealthy eating habits, whereas at the end of the movie, Frank commits himself to living a healthier lifestyle after nearly dying. In addition, Ozzy's girlfriend Leah is absent from the series. This is due to the fact that the film was a box office bomb, and when writing the series, Marc Hyman was instructed by Warner Bros. to write as though he was starting over.