Stripperella

Background

Stripperella's powers include enhanced reflexes and senses, an astonishing intelligence, superhuman strength, jumping extremely high, "sexy" martial arts and "killer" moves. She has twice claimed to be impervious to all temperatures and weather conditions, but this has only been casually tested on screen. She generally has access to a number of Bond-esque, super-technological devices of questionable usefulness. She is also able to use her extravagant blonde hair as an effective parachute.

She has a brother named Chipperella (Jon Cryer), who also happened to be a stripper living the double life as a superhero and secret agent. He was briefly mentioned when Stripperella temporarily lost faith in her crime fighting abilities after having been shrunken by Small Fry. He appears in a flashback as a hunky blonde and is affectionately referred to by Erotica and Chief Stroganoff as "Chip."

In a humorous anecdote, Stroganoff tells Stripperella that her brother's memory was erased, later being mostly restored except for the word 'quit' which was forever erased from his memory.

Stripperella debuted on Spike TV in the spring of 2003 and lasted one season with 13 episodes. Anderson described it as not being a raunchy show, despite obvious double entendres and topless nudity (which was blurred out when shown on Spike TV).

The animation style changed halfway through the show's run, becoming brighter and revamping the looks of many of the show's major characters. Stripperella, for example, was now drawn with a cowl having larger eyeholes, similar to Batgirl's. Fellow stripper Persephone now had a darker complexion and an accent that inexplicably changed from episode to episode.

In Australia, Stripperella began airing uncensored on SBS TV, starting Monday March 13, 2006 at 21:00 local time (9:00PM), after having previously been restricted to early-morning airings on the Nine Network.

In the United Kingdom, Stripperella is aired uncensored as part of the U.K. incarnation of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. In Germany, the show aired uncensored on Comedy Central Germany available for all audiences.

In Italy, it's aired on FX Italia, uncensored and unrated; in Latin America is transmitted by MTV Latin America; and in Brazil was transmitted by Multishow.

Recurring characters

Episodes

Note: What follows is the chronology according to the DVD release. Spike TV aired the episodes out of order. The air dates have not been changed.

Comic books

Originally there was to have been a promotional Stripperella comic published by Humanoids Publishing (publishers of Métal Hurlant magazine) alongside the animated series, but creative differences between TNN/Spike TV and Pamela Anderson saw it canceled before publication.

Critical reception

Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gave the show a positive review, saying that it was "unexpectedly clever, albeit sometimes crude", and that its "tongue in cheek" humor was reminiscent of the 1960s Batman series.

DVD

The Complete DVD boxed set released on February 22, 2005 contains uncensored versions with a new opening theme replacing the original Kid Rock song.

Legal controversy

In 2003, ex-stripper Janet Clover, a.k.a. "Jazz", a.k.a. "Stripperella", filed a lawsuit in the Daytona Beach, Florida circuit court against Viacom, Stan Lee, and Pamela Anderson, claiming she is Stripperella's true creator and Stan Lee stole her idea when she discussed it during a lap dance. Clover filed the original suit herself without an attorney as she said she couldn't afford the $6,000 lawyer fee.

The lawsuit attracted the attention of local media, and the story was picked up by the Associated Press and national media, including People and Entertainment Weekly, upon which attorneys in New York City learned about the case and subsequently offered their services. Clover moved to dismiss her own suit before it could be challenged and had a practicing attorney refile it, specifically targeting Lee. This as well as creative differences led to the show's demise.