Questions I Still Have About Jimmy Neutron

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Hi all. I'm tired of talking about serious political issues … for now. Today, I want to talk about a show that I remember from my youth. Let's talk about Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

When I was younger, I kinda liked Jimmy Neutron. It wasn't as funny as SpongeBob (SpongeBob was still funny back in those days) but it was good for a laugh every now and then. I want to talk about the show because the show raises a ton of questions. I know that you usually aren't supposed to think about a show too much as you watch it, but the weird things in Jimmy Neutron are so blatant that I can't ignore them.

Questions I Still Have About Jimmy Neutron:

- Why did the animators make some of the characters so ugly? For example, Jimmy's parents are hideous. I get that CGI was still primitive back then, but it's like the animators went out of their way to make the characters as ugly as possible. The CGI in Reboot is even more primitive than the CGI in Jimmy Neutron, and the only characters in Reboot that creep me out are the villains. In Jimmy Neutron, most of the characters are just plain ugly.

- How can Jimmy breathe in space? I get that lots of fictional characters can breathe in space. For example, Mario can breathe in space because he is a magic man who defies the laws of physics. That being said, Jimmy Neutron is supposed to be a science genius. He should know that humans can't breathe in space. It bugs me when the main character of a show is a science genius, but the show is absurdly unscientific.

- In one episode, Jimmy and his friends go back 200 million years. I can usually ignore scientific inaccuracies in shows, but I can't ignore gaping scientific inaccuracies in a show with a (supposed) science genius as the main protagonist. In that episode, Jimmy finds a T. rex … except that 200 million years ago was the early Jurassic Period. T. rex didn't exist yet. Jimmy also find a Leptictidium … which also didn't exist yet 200 million years ago. Near the end of the episode, we learn that the T. rex can destroy big diamonds (the hardest natural substance in the universe) with its skull. Even as a kid, I watched this thinking "Are you freaking kidding me?"

- There is another episode in which Sheen and Jimmy shrink themselves and go inside Carl to cure a disease. In there, they find the viruses that are causing the illness … and they look like bacteriophages. Ummm … bacteriophages are harmless to humans. Look it up. Also, why are the viruses so big?

- If Jimmy is so smart, why does he never safety-test his machines before using them?

- How does Jimmy afford all the materials that he uses to build his machines? Aren't they expensive?

- Many of Jimmy's machines blatantly defy conservation of energy. Therefore, he could solve all of the world's problems with free energy … and he doesn't. What a jerk.

I wish I could provide some insight and answers for you. I remember the show being on, but that's after my time. When I was a kid it was Jonny Quest, Speed Racer, Scooby Do, Jetsons.

I do get the fact that you have questions about aspects of a TV show though. I do that kind of thing a lot and usually ask my wife. She frequently responds with: "It's just a TV show...".

For example, she was watching some reruns of Parenthood in which the patriarch was telling one of his son-in-laws to fight for maintaining a crumbling marriage with one of the patriarch's daughters rather than just give up and get a divorce.

In a subsequent episode, the patriarch has a massive heart attack and chooses not to have a risky operation and instead live out his life with the little time he had left, much to the dismay of his family.

I asked my wife, why was it OK for the patriarch to tell his son-in-law to fight for something important but it was also then OK for the patriarch to essentially "give up" on his own life and chose not to fight?

Her response: "It's just a TV show."...