Thugaboo

Thugaboo is a series of children's television specials created by the Wayans Brothers. It first aired on Nicktoons, on August 11, 2006. To date there have been two Thugaboo specials.

Plot

The show focuses on the adventures of a gang of neighborhood kids of different racial cultures known as "The Boo Crew" with D-Roc as the leader, often helping each other out and going to serious situations and learning a lesson in moral. The show features an abstract voice cast starring most of the Wayans family with the animation having some similarity to other black-centered shows such as The Proud Family. The show has a structure combination of African American cultural endurance and adoration with ending music videos from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids and the children-centered oriented program synopsis on young love and romance commonly found in the classic Peanuts cartoon specials. It is remarked as a family classic and one of the first Nickelodeon programs to center on an African American character.

Characters

The Boo Crew

• D-Roc: The leader of the Boo Crew who wishes to be a successful rapper. Without his hat or bandana, he has a huge bald head that bounces and is often made fun of for that ("HAHA! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT WRECKING BALL"). He always plots the get rich quick schemes. A running gag is that when he raps, he sometimes forgets a word to rhyme with one of his dialogue and an angry offscreen listener throws a tomato or pie at his face shouting "It's (rhyming word), STUPID!" and driving off, as comedic humor.
• Dee-Dee: D-Roc's loudmouth sister who wants to be the first female president. She has a crush on DJ.
• Darren "DJ" Jobeley III: A Caucasian boy who acts black with his friends but acts like a British mannered boy to his sophisticated parents (Yo whasup B? How ya feelin? Whats going on yo? Lets bounce, son). As his name implies, he is a mixmaster and carries his own turntable and boom box. He also claims to be mixed and believes that he is part-black often getting offended and aggravated of how the African American people are treated in the past.
• Lissette: A Hispanic singer girl who wishes to be a singer. She has a crush on D-Roc. She carries her baby brother Luiz around in the stroller. She is a skilled master at jumprope. Slim likes her but she does not return the feelings.
• Slim: An overweight boy, despite his name, loves eating and speaks in a slurred voice. He has a crush on Lissette.
• Dirty: A filthy boy who speaks in a gibberish language often translated by the other gang and says "You heard me?" at the end of each sentence. He wears a sneaker necklace and the only thing that's clean is the sneakers that he wears. He is the master at beatboxing often doing it for the kids' raps.
• Money: D-Roc's pet dog who can talk. He is seen wearing a baseball cap and red sneakers. When D-Roc gives him dog food, he ships it to Africa where they use it to build more houses similar to cement or mud.
• Gwenny: An Eco-friendly valley girl who loves the environment by protesting against anything made by manufacturing that harms animals; even though she litters by throwing spray cans on the floor, though she does not notice.
• Chad: A hipster boy who loves skateboarding and is the misfit of the gang because he always has the most misfortunes such as getting a broken arm or falling in a trash can. He is almost never seen without his helmet and skateboard.
• Soo Young: An Asian girl whose father owns many businesses and can create anything with her ideas. She sometimes helps D-Roc for his get rich quick schemes and acts harsh so people can work faster.
• Baby Luiz: Lissette's baby brother who she carries in the stroller and is mostly seen with his blue pacifier and hanging on to his crotch. Despite his age, he starts first grade, shaves and can already talk and rap; but in Spanish unlike his bilingual sister.

Adults

• Momma: D-Roc's cheapskate mother who loves talking on the incredibly long-corded telephone.
• Principal Eyeverson: Also known as Principal Wanderingeye, he is the nearsighted principal at the Boo School who has a lazy eye and has trouble seeing or telling people apart but is very kind and generous.
• Miss Attitude: A lady often speaking in the megaphone (with her lips visible) in charge of the summer program, a mall and as the public speaker announcer in the school often complaining about her job talking care of the Boo Crew for the summer.
• DJ's Dad: DJ's sophisticated father speaking in British mannerism and has Bridge nights.
• Jared: A dim-witted basketball player who never passed the third grade but is a talented athlete. He is a parody of Michael Jordan.
• Lee Young: Soo Young's rich father who owns a taxi service, dry cleaning business, sushi restaurant and a grocery store called Foo's Fruits. Despite being tired, him with only one job would make him a lazy bum. He is nice enough to offer the children snacks of fish.
• Joyce: A rival with Mama who lost to the Bargain fight sale. She may also fight with Mama in the upcoming Thanksgiving sale.
• Mr. Johnson: Diane's father and the owner of the supermarket who sells Air Johnsons.

Other characters

• Diane Johnson: A multiracial (mixed) girl and classmate of D-Roc whom he has a crush on. Her father is the owner of Johnson's Supermarket who produced the Air Johnsons shoes which no one bought and liked D-Roc for being the first customer to actually buy them and love them. She is based on the Little Red-Haired Girl.
• O. Jenkins: An African man who is friends with Money and receives dog food from him every day to help build the houses. D-Roc tried to sell his sneakers to him but he and his tribe didn't like it so they returned it.
• Big Kid: A humungous boy with a name tag "HELLO! MY NAME IS BIG KID!" on his overalls whose face is hidden and was accused by Dee Dee of cutting in line and threatened to rip D-Roc's face off. D-Roc was terrified of his size and corrects him by saying that she didn't say "cut in line", she said "read the sign", promoting him to get angrier by ripping D-Roc's face off because he can't see the sign due to his height. He does not like to be accused of anything and does not wish to be violent but only does if he's accused. He runs home crying to his mom saying that he hurt D-Roc making his mom yell at him to make her a cheese sandwich.

Parodied characters

• Simon Cowell - He was seen in a cutaway gag where Lisette was imagining to be in American Icon (parody of American Idol) and insults her singing but has a liking for Hung's singing.
• Jay-Z - D Roc's favorite rapper who appeared in two daydreams where he asks D-Roc to help write some raps for his next album due to his Air Jaretts sneakers and another where he quits rapping because D-Roc wore Air Johnsons sneakers.
• God - A cutaway gag shows him dismissing D-Roc's plead for $150 for Air Jaretts for the same reason that his mom gave him, and told him that he even rejected his son's pleas.
• Jesus - A cutaway gag features him upset that he would get laughed at for wearing Air Johnsons and he would get laughed at and as he goes to the ocean, he sinks while the Johnsons float.
• Paula Abdul - She was seen in a cutaway gag where Lisette was imagining to be in American Icon and did not like her singing.
• Randy Jackson - He was seen in a cutaway gag where Lisette was imagining to be in American Icon and did not like her singing.
• William Hung - He won over Lissette and just like his original audition, he stated that he had no professional training and sang "She Bang" by Ricky Martin but unlike his audition, he was accepted. (THAT BOYS A GENIUS)
• Superman - Made a cameo appearance in an Air Jaretts commercial wanting the sneakers.

Synopsis

1. The Boo Crew: "Sneaker Madness" - When D-Roc sees a pair of expensive sneakers called Air Jarretts (a parody of Air Jordans), he wants his mother to buy them to wear at school in order to look cool. His mother purchases a cheaper priced pair of Air Johnsons instead. Afraid of looking bad to his crew, D-Roc asks Soo-Young to make Air Jarretts out of Air Johnsons and when they work out well, they realize they can make money by converting the shoes. Their plan to make money eventually goes awry and D-Roc is taught a lesson about being himself.
2. The Boo Crew: "Christmas Special" - D-Roc, Dee-Dee, DJ, Money, Lissette, Slim, Chad, Gwenny, Soo Young also known as The Boo Crew are working together to find a way to bring the true meaning of Christmas home to less fortunate young Gavin and his family.

Music

Thugaboo has premiered two music videos using characters from the specials, "Just Be U" and "Gimmie Gimmie." Similar to Fat Albert, it teaches kids about moral lessons and virtues.

External links

• Official Boo Crew website
• Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness at the Internet Movie Database
• Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Roc's Street at the Internet Movie Database