The X's

The X's
Clockwise from top left: Mrs. X, Mr. X, Truman X, and Tuesday X.
Created by	Carlos Ramos
Directed by	Dave Marshall
Starring	Patrick Warburton Wendie Malick Lynsey Bartilson Jansen Panettiere Chris Hardwick Tom Kane Stephen Root Randy Savage
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Production company(s)	Nickelodeon Animation Studio
Release
Original network	Nickelodeon
Original release	November 25, 2005 – December 13, 2006
Website

The X's is an American animated television series created by Carlos Ramos for Nickelodeon. It centers on a family of spies who must conceal their identity from the outside world, but often have trouble in doing so. It was short-lived, with one season and 20 episodes.

Synopsis

The X's work for SUPERIOR. The X's have their daughter named Tuesday, their younger son named Truman and many gadgets at their disposal. An organization called S.N.A.F.U. (Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings) is continually trying to cause trouble for the X's through their plans to take over the world.

Characters

SUPERIOR

• Mr. X (voiced by Patrick Warburton) - Family patriarch, team leader of the X's and the main protagonist of the series, He is 40 years old. Mr. X is the typical sixties expert at hand-to-hand combat. He is similar to James Bond and Maxwell Smart. Although he is a competent spy, he struggles with many everyday issues, such as remembering his name. He is also an excellent cook and is a very strict and stern person. In one episode his shoe phone self-destructed, in parody of both Get Smart and Mission Impossible.
• Mrs. X (voiced by Wendie Malick) - Second in command and combat specialist of the X's, She is 38 years old. Mrs. X is fully trained in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, but she is a repulsive cook. She is an expert at tennis. She is known for administering savage beatings to Glowface (sometimes twice). Her clothing resembles Star Trek uniforms.
• Tuesday X (voiced by Lynsey Bartilson) - The X's oldest daughter and missions investigator. She is 16 years old. Tuesday is the most normal of the team, despite her rather extreme punk-rock garb and frequently changing hair-color. She is also the most knowledgeable of "real-world" behavior, which the other family members either misunderstand or ignore outright. She definitely takes after her mother in savagery and fighting skills, but at heart Tuesday is a genuine teenager who wants to do other things besides spy missions with her family. She easily gets annoyed with Truman for making fun of the size of her huge butt, but despite that, she behaves like a caring sister like in the episode "You Only Sneeze Twice" when Truman's look-alike robot was about to explode, she became worried and in another episode "From Crusha With Love" she guided Truman with his date by advising him.
• Truman X (voiced by Jansen Panettiere) - The X's youngest son and technology expert. He is 10 years old. Truman, is a combination of Bart Simpson from The Simpsons and Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory. Truman is the smartest of all the Xs. His radiation "experiments" cause so many "meltdowns" that the local decontamination Squad are on a first name basis with the "X"s. The enfant terrible of the "X"s; Sometimes he can be a nuisance and make trouble.
• Rex X (vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker) - Truman's dog he got on his 9th birthday from Sasquatch. Rex was meant to kill Truman with Sasquatch controlling Rex with his mind control roar, but after Truman wouldn't fight him because he thought he would finally have the perfect birthday with him and Truman told about all the good times they had. After those words Rex broke free from the mind control and also all the other animals. Later, Rex became an honorary member for SUPERIOR. His first appearance was in "Boy's Best Fiend," and has since appeared in other episodes such as To Err Is Truman".
• Home Base (voiced by Stephen Root) - Home Base describes itself in the title sequence of The X's as "the house they live in", but Home Base is most likely the name for the computerized brain that runs the functions of their house (neither Mr. X nor Mrs. X appear to be competent about household chores, though Mr. X can mow the grass). Home Base serves as advisor, SUPERIOR contact and mission alert for the Xs, and can be contacted from the X-Jet. It also serves as the (somewhat beleaguered) voice of reason in the family. Seen from above, Home Base is shaped like an X. (He is clearly inspired on HAL 9000, the famous board computer of the Jupiter mission in Stanley Kubrick's "2001 a Space Odyssey.)
• The Y's - The Ys', or "Y's Guys" (wise guys) known by The X's. They seem to be of Indian descent. They are also spies, but better. They are The Xs' rival family, even though once they gave them a cappuccino maker. They once wanted to force The X's to give up their job as SUPERIOR agents so they could be replaced by them. They too have a computerized brain that runs their house, but is more sophisticated than Home Base. One of their fans is Glowface.
  • Mr. Y (voiced by Ronobir Lahiri) - Similar to Mr. X.
  • Mrs. Y - Similar to Mrs. X.
  • Seven Y - Similar to Tuesday.
  • Scout Y (voiced by Laura Marano) - Similar to Truman but is a girl instead of a boy.
• The Z's - The Z's are destroyed by the Y's. Truman stated that SUPERIOR said that their death was an accident, but the Y's hinted that their death was no mere accident, but was caused by the Y's.

Villains

• S.N.A.F.U. - Short for Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings, S.N.A.F.U. is an evil organization that the X's fight.
  • Glowface (voiced by Chris Hardwick) - The X's arch-enemy, leader of S.N.A.F.U and the main antagonist of the series. Glowface's head is encased in a glass globe with electrical discharges. He wears a rubber suit and gloves to contain his vast energies. His schemes to get rid of the X's including having Mrs. X break her leg on a coffee table and sending them coupons for family portraits. Like traditional evil villains, Glowface is megalomaniacal, arrogant, loudmouthed and delusional, but he possesses little sophistication or maturity, and believes himself to be much more of a threat than he actually is. Similar to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, Doctor Claw from Inspector Gadget and Ernest Blofield from the James Bond series, he also tends to think up idiotic evil schemes like building a giant ray gun in order to bring the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben to life in order for them to wrestle so he can sell tickets. He has very poor teeth and once had to get braces. He is disdainful of his nephew, Brandon's crush on Tuesday. Glowface is also allergic to Zucchini. The only thing that Glowface and Mr. X have in common are building model train sets.
  • Lorenzo Suave (voiced by Tom Kane) - Member of S.N.A.F.U. and Glowface's right-hand man and butler. Lorenzo seems to be an amalgam of all the villainous second-in-command spy clichés; he is stylishly and impeccably dressed with a mustache, goatee, a scar along one cheek and both an eyepatch and a monocle. Lorenzo is much more intelligent than Glowface, and sometimes has to maneuver him into completing his plans when Glowface begins one of his rants; though Lorenzo is human, he is most likely S.N.A.F.U.'s mirror to Home Base. He becomes upset when Glowface claims, after he took off his horrid disguise and introduced himself, that no one cares. He along with the S.N.A.F.U minions are the most commonly appeared S.N.A.F.U workers of Glowface. However, when Glowface was sick as well as the other S.N.A.F.U. agents he proved to be a better villain than Glowface or any of the others members. Just as "Glowface" is similar to Dr. Evil Suave resembles Dr Evil's Number # 2 who actually makes his evil organization work. As Tuesday X is the most normal of the X heroines, Suave is the most normal of the S.N.A.F.U. members.
  • Sasquatch (voiced by Randy Savage) - A member of S.N.A.F.U., Sasquatch appears to be half-animal and has a roar that can hypnotize or brainwash animals to do his bidding. He is probably the strongest member of S.N.A.F.U. His goal is to return the animals to their rightful place as masters of the planet. He continuously refers to himself in the third person (i.e. "Sasquatch is the mightiest of all!").
  • Brandon (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) - Member of S.N.A.F.U. and nephew of Glowface. Brandon is a very nice, even somewhat gallant boy, but unfortunately he is working with his uncle as an intern for S.N.A.F.U. He has a crush on Tuesday, and the two occasionally date (even planning dates in the midst of a battle), much to the dismay of both the X's (who don't much like the idea of Tuesday dating in general) and Glowface (who doesn't like the idea of Brandon dating the daughter of his nemesis at all). Mr and Mrs. X are fairly open-minded about the relationship; on the other hand, Glowface harasses Brandon about his new sort-of girlfriend whenever possible. He tends to treat his uncle's plans with either disdain or apathy, and never really acts as a villain.
  • The Scream Queens - Members of S.N.A.F.U. They are a duo of Banshee-esqe sonic-boom-screeching cheerleaders.
  • The McVampires - Members of S.N.A.F.U. The McVampires are a family of hillbilly vampires. They are most likely a parody of the infamous hillbillies the McCoys.
  • Bio-Harold - Member of S.N.A.F.U. Bio-Harold is a buff guy in a hazmat suit.
  • Missing Link - Member of S.N.A.F.U. Missing Link is a dirty guy who looks like a chimpanzee/human hybrid.
  • Some Old Guy (voiced by Tom Kane) - An old man. He is not actually a real member of S.N.A.F.U. (he just thought that the photo shop where Glowface tricked the X's was the nickel store). He frequently appears as a joke with the rest of the S.N.A.F.U. agents when Glowface introduces all the S.N.A.F.U. agents present in a battle. His voice volume and dramatic tone increase with each name coming to conclusion with the most dramatic introduction being that of "Some Old Guy".
  • S.N.A.F.U. Minions (voiced by Carlos Ramos) - Glowface's Minions and foot-soldiers of S.N.A.F.U. They wear uniforms with their heads encased in globes. Their faces are never seen, but the silhouettes of their heads are seen in those globes. They have their birthdays celebrated each month on a day called "Cake Day" for any footsoldiers who have their birthday in that month. Carlos Ramos voices the S.N.A.F.U. Minions.
• Copperhead (voiced by Tom Kenny): Half man, half machine. Unlike Glowface, he never stays in one place for long. It was never actually revealed that he is part of S.N.A.F.U., but he is "The most evil of all evil spies". He has power over magnetism (like that of Magneto in X-Men), but he runs on a large battery in his back.

Episodes

#	Original Airdate	Title	Overview	Production Code
1	November 25, 2005	AAIIEE, Robot!	Mrs. X breaks her leg. To solve this problem, Truman builds a replacement. This doesn't seem to work too good. First Appearance: The X's, SNAFU, and other characters.	105A
		Mission: Irresponsible	Superior decides to take Mr. and Mrs. X out of their rank because of destroying Stonehenge, putting Truman and Tuesday in command.	105B
2	November 25, 2005	License to Slumber	Mrs. X arranges a slumber party for Tuesday. But during it, the family begins to fight Glowface. Tuesday tries to cover up the truth of her family.	103A
		Three Days of the Coin Op	Truman's unauthorized upgrade of Home Base forces the computer offline for a day.	103B
3	November 25, 2005	Photo Ops	The X's get a family portrait taken to try to blend in as a normal family.	101A
		Boy's Best Fiend	After missing every Birthday celebration, because of the missions, Truman gets a puppy for his birthday and names it Rex, but it turns out it was from Sasquatch, a S.N.A.F.U agent. Agent Sasquatch had turned all of the U.N leaders into animals.	101B
4	December 9, 2005	Mr. Fix It	Mr. X continues trying to be a normal dad. He learns that normal dad's fix things, so that's what he begins to do.	104A
		Doommates	Truman and Tuesday have to share a room.	104B
5	December 16, 2005	Secret Agent Manual	Mrs. X and the kids trick Mr. X into giving them stuff they want by rewriting his official spy manual to include the items they desire.	102A
		The Spy Who Liked Me	Tuesday's first date is with a guy who's too good to be true: in fact, he's a spy working undercover for Glowface.	102B
6	January 13, 2006	To Err is Truman	Truman attempts to be good and refrain from pulling pranks for one entire day, so that he will be allowed to join his family at the "world's greatest" amusement park.	106A
		No More Mrs. Nice X	Mrs. X is filled with peace and tranquility after she returns from a retreat, but unfortunately these qualities prove useless when confronting Glowface. Guest starring: George Takei as Tranquilizer	106B
7	February 3, 2006	On Her Majesty's Postal Service	Mr. X gets a job as a mail man.	108A
		Pinheads	Tuesday wants the family to learn how to bowl.	108B
8	February 17, 2006	From Crusha with Love	A girl at school picks on Truman. He finds out that it is because she likes him.	111A
		Xcitement	Mr. X has a dirty little secret that's locking him away from being a spy and hanging with his family. But what could it be?	111B
9	February 24, 2006	You Only Sneeze Twice	The entire family gets sick, except Tuesday. The family is under her care. But what will they do when she's called on a mission?	110A
		X Takes a Holiday	Mr. and Mrs. X go on a relaxing date. But while they're away, Tuesday and Truman throw a party. Then Glowface attacks Homebase.	110B
10	March 3, 2006	Mock Tutors	Truman and Tuesday are failing their cooking and tennis classes (Tuesday with cooking; Truman with tennis) and are forced to go to Summer School if they fail even more. So they try to help them with those subjects. Mrs. X helps Tuesday and Mr. X helps Truman; the only problem is that Mrs. X {a good tennis player} is a terrible cook and Mr. X {a good cook} is a terrible tennis player!	109A
		Meddle Mouth	Truman finds the perfect opportunity to irritate Tuesday when she gets braces. He interferes with her braces and makes her act crazy.	109B
11	March 17, 2006	Family Issues	In their continuous effort to be like "normal families," the X's visit a family counselor to see what kind of issues "normal families" have.	107A
		Truman's Choice	Truman gets a chance to capture the most wanted villain, which is Copperhead. The family begins to suck up to him in order to get to capture Copperhead with him.	107B
12	April 7, 2006	Wealth vs. Stealth	When the X's win a billion dollars, they must balance their new fame and fortune with their spy work.	112A
		Wee House	Sick and tired of being short, Truman builds a small replica of Homebase for him to live in until he misses his family.	112B
13	June 16, 2006	Truman X: Super Villain	When the X's punish Truman for hotdogging a mission and blowing up the X jet by selling all his spy gadgets in a garage sale, Glowface convinces the boy to join S.N.A.F.U. His first mission: destroy the X's, but Truman becomes good again and apologizes to his family and rejoins the X's and Superior before they can defeat Glowface and Mr. X and Mrs. X give Truman back his spy gadgets.	113
14	September 22, 2006	A Truman Scorned	Truman has a crush on Tuesday’s friend Kimla. Truman realizes there’s only one way to get past this "little kid" thing – he has to tell her he’s really an international super spy. Not surprisingly, Kimla doesn’t believe him. What is surprising is that she continues to disbelieve his story even when he sneaks her along on a mission and the truth is right in front of her nose.	114A
		Y's Up	The archenemies of the Xs, the Ys, move in next door. The Xs suspect that they are up to no good, but can prove nothing until the Ys show their true agenda.	114B
15	September 29, 2006	Quit Your Day Job	When Tuesday is suspicious of Brandon, the X's find out he is a part-time S.N.A.F.U. agent.	115A
		Missing Home	Homebase explodes when the X's forget his birthday. Without Hombase, the X's need to survive on their own.	115B
16	October 6, 2006	Live and Let Diaper	The X's have to watch a neighbor's baby, and they can't change its diaper. Will they be able to ever change a diaper?	117A
		In-Law Enforcement	The X's try to prevent Mrs. X's parents from realizing that they're spies when they come for a visit.	116A
17	October 13, 2006	Train Rex	After the X's go on a mission, Truman has a single day to train Rex or else he will go to the pound.	116B
		Homebody	Truman creates a body for Homebase so he could carry the Xs' weapons, which the X's do not like.	115B
18	October 27, 2006	The Haunting of Homebase	Truman attempts to scare his family and turns Homebase into a haunted house, but Glowface takes control of the Homebase and soon, Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. X are zombies. Can Truman stop Glowface's evil plot before his brain is eaten?	120
19	November 25, 2006	Accidental Hero	Truman saves a baby from one of his own paintball traps and is hailed as a hero; Tuesday tries to expose him.	119A
		Untied	After his tie reflects off onto Glowface's base walls, he suffers a tie loss. He now can't fight. Can the other X's save him from his loss of "tie-tie", or will the X's become nothing?	119B
20	December 13, 2006	Theater of War	Brandon will do Romeo in the school play, and Seven Y competes with Tuesday to see who will be Juliet in the play.	118A
		Breaking Camp	Mr. X takes Truman to his favourite childhood camp, hoping he'll love it too. Turns out he doesn't, much to Mr. X's dismay.	118B

Awards

Despite the show's short run and mixed critical reviews, The X's received numerous accolades, including three Annie Award nominations.^[1]

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Episode	Result
2006	Artios	Best Animated Voice-Over Television Casting	Sarah Noonan and Meredith Layne	—	Won
2006	Annie Award	Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production	Hong Li	"You Only Sneeze Twice"	Won
2006	Annie Award	Character Design in an Animated Television Production	Carlos Ramos	"Homebody"	Nominated
2006	Annie Award	Character Design in an Animated Television Production	Eric Robles	"You Only Sneeze Twice"	Nominated

See also

• The Thundermans, a 2013 Nickelodeon live-action sitcom also exploring a superhero family concept

References

1. • The X's at the Internet Movie Database

External links

• The X's at TV.com